Walt Disney World (FL)

Memorial Day At The Magic Kingdom

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Every year in May the Stats Team reviews the crowd level predictions for Memorial Day weekend with great scrutiny. We do this because the wait time data that we collect from our fabulous Lines users and hard-working staffers tells us that Memorial Day Monday is a great day to visit the Magic Kingdom.

How can that be? Holidays are usually super crowded at the Magic Kingdom, right?

Well yes, that is why it always catches us off-guard. But Memorial Day seems to be a perennial exception to that rule because of the Extra Magic Hour at the Magic Kingdom on the Sunday evening. Guests seem to get their fill and save the holiday Monday for another park.

Due to a decrease in closing hour to 10pm, today’s crowd calendar update has lowered the estimated crowd level at the Magic Kingdom to 5.9, down from 8.6 and labelled it as the best park*. This is a little lower than what we have seen in years past on Memorial Day at the Magic Kingdom. Check out these wait time examples from last year.

Space Mountain (peak posted time was 50 minutes, actual peak was more like 40)

Buzz Lightyear (peak posted time was 40 minutes, actual peak was more like 15)

Big Thunder Mountain (peak posted time was 40 minutes, actual peak was more like 30)

Last year, these wait times translated to a level 6.8 at the Magic Kingdom, not bad for a holiday. If you find yourself in The Magic Kingdom on Sunday and Memorial Day Monday, let us know how it was. Were we right?

*Epcot was the park previously listed as the Best Park but is still a good option and listed as neutral. If you took our advice and booked dining reservations for Epcot for this day I wouldn’t change them, Epcot handles larger crowds well. If you have the option to visit the Magic Kingdom in the morning then hop to Epcot, that might be a good plan.

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Fred Hazelton

Fred Hazelton maintains the crowd calendar, theme park wait time models and does hotel rate analysis for the Unofficial Guides. He's also done the models for the new mobile wait times product Lines. Fred Hazelton is a professional statistician living in Ontario, Canada. His email address is fred@touringplans.com. You can also follow him on Twitter: @DisneyStatsWhiz.

8 thoughts on “Memorial Day At The Magic Kingdom

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  • Well? Anyone have info. on how MK was crowdwise on Memorial Day 2012? I notice the EMH’s are on Sunday again this year and I am wondering if MK will be better to visit on Sunday or Monday(Memorial Day) this year?

    Reply
  • Good news! Monday is our last day and we plan to spend it at MK.

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  • Has there been any confirmation that Epcot still “hold its crowds well” after Test Track’s closing?

    Reply
  • I am sooo glad to read this. We have ADR at CRT on Monday and I was worried about the crowds being bad at MK.

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  • I’ll be there on Memorial Day, and I can’t wait!! I did the MK on Memorial Day in 2008 and it was fabulous. I’ll let you know on Tuesday if it is anything but fab again this time around. Thanks for the updates as always.

    Reply
  • On upcoming memorial day, studios crowd predicted at 9.4 compared to 2011 was 5.5. Curious if anything other than the 2012 closing time at 1am vs 2011 close at 10pm driving the increase. thanks!

    Reply
  • Since we arrive on that day we are planning to hit up EMH at the Magic Kingdom after dinner at Epcot. Hopefully it won’t be a mob scene!

    Reply

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