Magic Kingdom has the most rides out of any park at Walt Disney World and in order to truly make the most of the day, you need to go in with a strategy. There's no dilly dallying or time for indecision when you walk through those front gates. You're on a mission and any wrong step could result in disaster! All joking aside, it is important to have a plan since the park is so ride dense and by following a few simple tips, you could ideally get on all of the rides you want to ride by the end of the day.
Whether or not you are using Genie Plus, I absolutely recommend that you take advantage of the 30 minute morning extra magic hours that are given to all guests staying at a Disney resort. You are allowed into the park 30 minutes before the general public and will therefore be able to knock out at least 1 ride before the park gets fully crowded.
During this time, your only competition is other Disney resort guests, which is still quite a few people. As such, you really should be planning on arriving at Magic Kingdom at least 30-45 minutes before the Extra Magic Hours begin. Usually Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom begin at 8:30am. That means I try to get onto the Disney transportation to the park by 7:15am-7:30am to arrive at the park by 7:45am-8:00am.
Those taking advantage of Extra Magic Hours should not be tempted by the Castle and photo ops during this time. You need to make a beeline for Tomorrowland, where the Extra Magic Hours rope drop occurs. That is the only location that you can reach rides from during the Extra Magic Hours and you will only be able to ride rides in Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. The rope is dropped at 8:30am, and so goes the crowd- word to the wise, try to weave in and out of the strollers and motorized scooters, which crawl along at the speed of molasses and hold you back from your rope drop goals.
Genie Plus Strategy
The first Strategy I will describe is if you are planning on using Genie Plus for a day at Magic Kingdom. This plan assumes that you will be spending the entire day at Magic Kingdom and will not be park hopping. It is my opinion that Genie Plus is most valuable at Magic Kingdom, and therefore this is the Strategy to choose, if you can swing it financially.
Genie Plus can be purchased on the day of use, anytime after midnight. The price per person is dependent on the day (projected crowd level) and the park you plan on using it. As expected, Magic Kingdom is the most expensive park to purchase Genie Plus for. It is around $25 per person for the one day's use. This is high and can be very pricy if there are a lot of people in your group. However, Genie Plus will allow you to book a Lightening Lane once for every ride in that park. You select a return timeframe for a particular ride and when that time comes around, you get to join the Lightening Lane line, which moves much faster than the normal line. I personally think it is worth the extra money because I do not like standing in lines over 30 minutes long and it makes the day much more enjoyable. Since you are not spending the majority of your day waiting in line, you have more time to take in the atmosphere at the parks and move at a more laid-back pace throughout the park.
After purchasing Genie Plus, you are able to book your first Lightening Lane at 7:00am. This is where our Magic Kingdom Strategy begins. The first Lightening Lane I suggest booking is Big Thunder Mountain or Haunted Mansion. Those are the 2 big rides in the Frontierland/Liberty Square area now that Splash Mountain has been retired (don't get me started on this). This first Lightening Lane must go hand in hand with the following Early Magic Hours Strategy:
When the Early Magic Hours rope drop occurs, most people are going to head to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. That is a mistake, because the lines builds up fast and by the time you get in the line it will likely be close to an hour wait or more. Such a waste of the morning hours in Magic Kingdom, since that is when the lines will be the shortest until later in the evening. I also personally do not think Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is worth a wait that long.
Instead, speed walk a little further into Fantasyland to Peter Pan. This ride will have an extremely long wait the entire day up until park close. This is your chance to get on with a minimal wait. When we did this strategy, we only waited 10 minutes, which was basically how long it took to walk through the entire queue.
After riding Peter Pan, head back to the hub in front of the castle and get prepared for the "normal" rope drop at Adventureland, which will take place at the official park opening. I always plan on rope dropping Jungle Cruise or Pirates. Ever since the release of the new Jungle Cruise movie, it has been one of the longest lines at Magic Kingdom, and therefore rope dropping really decreases your wait time. It also leaves you the opportunity to ride it again later in the day by way of Genie Plus, since you are not using Genie Plus for the first ride (it is such a different experience riding at night versus during the day). After getting off Jungle Cruise, follow the path to Pirates, which is still a very short wait so early in the morning.
At this point it will probably be around 10:30am. This is the time of day when it starts getting busier and the use of Genie Plus is extremely helpful. It is likely that the first Lightening Lane you were able to get is around this time, so you can keep going down the path into Frontierland (my personal favorite land in Magic Kingdom) and head over to Big Thunder Mountain or Haunted Mansion, depending on which you chose. I personally would choose Big Thunder Mountain because I love this ride and waiting in this particular line is typically long and seemingly never-ending.
If your first Lightening Lane is before 11am (2 hours after official park opening) you can book your next Lightening Lane after tapping into the ride. If your first Lightening Lane is after 11am, you can book your next Lightening Lane at 11am. I like to book my Lightening Lanes with a couple of considerations in mind:
1) Popularity of ride- These rides are more difficult to get a Lightening Lane for. That means that the next Lightening Lane may not be until much later in the day, meaning you cannot hop from ride to ride using Lightening Lane. However, during that gap in Lightening Lanes you can use the My Disney Experience App to see wait times on rides near you, to knock out a couple of low wait rides.
2) Area of Park- Sometimes it is nice to book Lightening Lanes based on where you are in the Park. This is particularly helpful in Magic Kingdom since it is such a large park and will help save you some steps and prevent zig-zagging all over the park.
You should also be aware that the Festival of Fantasy Parade is at 12pm and 3pm. I always try to line up my Lightening Lanes to ensure I will be available either at 12pm or 3pm to catch one of the parades. You definitely don't want to miss the parade, as it features many iconic characters, so make sure you don't have a conflict for both times.
As the day goes on, you can keep making your way clockwise around the park, using a combination of Lightening Lanes and posted wait times to get on most if not all the rides. Don't forget that you can use the Lightening Lane to ride the rides you rope dropped for a 2nd time, seeing as you did not use up your Lightening Lane for the first ride. I personally like to save my Jungle Cruise Lightening Lane for the evening, as it is a completely different experience to ride this ride in the dark.
I also really like to ride Big Thunder Mountain at night. I will wait to ride this after the fireworks, since crowds usually disperse during the later hours of the night as families bring their kids home to go to sleep. There is no better feeling than walking through Frontierland at night, legs sore from a day of walking, and going on the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness to end your magical day!
This Genie Plus strategy has worked very well for me every time I go to Magic Kingdom. Yes, it does mean that you get to ride the "big rides" only once, since you are only allotted one Lightening Lane for each big ride. However, if there is a "big ride" I want to ride more than once, I use the My Disney Experience App to check wait times and try to return when the wait time is shorter than 45 minutes. This strategy will definitely get you on most of the rides in Magic Kingdom, whereas the times I haven't used Genie Plus, I sometimes only get on 4-5 rides in the entire day. Needless to say, I HIGHLY recommend using Genie Plus in Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom Strategy Without Genie Plus
If for whatever reason you choose to take on Magic Kingdom without Genie Plus, I still have some tips to make the most of the day. It is my advice to start your day in the same manner as if you were going to use Genie Plus. Make sure you utilize the morning Extra Magic Hours. The morning Extra Magic Hours only apply to Tommorowland and Fantasyland and therefore, it is most beneficial to plan to ride either Peter Pan or Space Mountain. I personally don't like to start the morning with Space Mountain because 1) its too early to be riding such an intense thrill ride and 2) I have yet to take my Castle photo and I don't want to deal with the wind blown hair. Therefore, I am heading to Peter Pan.
Then, continue to follow the same normal rope drop strategy as I wrote about above. I will always advise rope dropping Jungle Cruise since it is not part of morning Extra Magic Hours, meaning that the crowd will not have already formed while you are partaking in the Extra Magic Hour fun. Its 2 fresh rope drops and 2 chances to hop right on popular rides with no wait. Everytime we've rope dropped Jungle Cruise, we've been on the first boat out of the dock. After de-boarding Jungle Cruise, you still have a good chance of getting onto Pirates with minimal wait. The line at Pirates is fun to have at least a short wait in anyways because most importantly its air conditioned, but it also has that distinct Pirates smell and has fun props to look at.
Once off Pirates, it will come down to utilizing the My Disney Experience App to check wait times. This will probably result in a lot of zig-zagging around the park and if you wear a fitbit like I do, you will notice close to 30,000 steps by the end of the day. Just be warned that the wait times are not your secret knowledge, and if you see a 20 minute wait at Haunted Mansion, so does everyone else in the Park and it will probably be closer to 30-40 minutes by the time you make your way over there.
This strategy will still get you on a good number of rides, depending on how crowded the park is that day. It also offers a good bit of flexibility, as you are free to roam more than you might if you were sticking to the schedule of the Lightening Lanes. You may casually decide to do a character meet and greet or stop and grab a Cheeseburger spring roll from the cart outside Frontierland. However, if waiting in long lines is not your things and you would find it frustrating to only ride 5 rides that were all an hour wait, then maybe this is not the Strategy for you, and you should consider paying the extra fee to utilize Genie Plus.
Final Thoughts...
Whether you choose the Genie Plus Strategy or the No Genie Plus Strategy, you will have a Magical Day at Magic Kingdom. You're in Disney World after all! Disney World has become very complicated for people who've never been, and unfortunately, you do need to put some planning and strategy in to make sure you are able to take advantage of all the Parks have to offer. However, I have become a fan of using Genie Plus in Magic Kingdom. The way I see it- you are already paying a large amount of money to be in Magic Kingdom. I would rather pay an extra $25 to have an amazing day and ride everything I want to ride, than to waste the whole day in lines and leave disappointed at the end of the day, especially if I only have one Magic Kingdom day on a particular trip. I hope these Strategies are helpful in deciphering the crazy web of planning that Disney World has become.
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