Our Best 2025 Magic Kingdom Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children

Here are three new Magic Kingdom touring plans for parents with small children. These plans are updated to include the new standby line for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. And these plans are similar to the three new Magic Kingdom touring plans for teens and adults, using Tiana’s Bayou Adventure’s standby line I recently described. Using these plans, you should be able to save hours in line and still see the park’s best attractions for small children in one day. To save money, none of these plans use Disney’s Lightning Lane service.

Since these plans are designed for parents with small children, we’re going to select different Magic Kingdom attractions. We’re going to substitute thrill rides like TRON Lightcycle / Run for more kid-friendly attractions like Dumbo the Flying Elephant. We’re also going to include Disney’s Festival of Fantasy parade, Happily Ever After fireworks, and two character greetings: Mickey Mouse, and Princess Tiana and a Visiting Princess.

All three versions of this touring plan for small children use our latest wait time models. These models have created our best touring plans to date for Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT. We’re on schedule to have these new wait time models available for everyone at the end of this month.

These are Magic Kingdom touring plans without Lightning Lane. Using Lightning Lane Single Pass or Multi Pass can cost $150 or more per day for a family of four. If you’re willing to be at the park for Early Theme Park Entry, we think it’s possible to save that money and have only one or two waits between 30 and 55 minutes in line. If you’d like to use Lightning Lane, our touring plan software will help identify the best Lightning Lane choices for your day.

Here are the assumptions we’re making for these new Magic Kingdom touring plans:

• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has not experienced downtime before your arrival
• You want to see all of the best attractions in the park in one day
• You’ll stop for around 60 minutes for lunch and 45 minutes for dinner, with plenty of time for other breaks throughout the day
• You won’t use Lightning Lane
• The Magic Kingdom is open until at least 9 p.m.
• Early Theme Park Entry begins at 7:30 a.m.
• A Walt Disney World crowd calendar forecast of 6 out of 10 for the Magic Kingdom

On days when Tiana’s runs reliably, actual wait times (not Disney’s posted estimates) seem to be peaking at around 70 minutes. However, Tiana’s breaks down frequently and we can’t predict when. When the ride re-starts, Disney prioritizes guests who’ve purchased Lightning Lane passes and were not able to use them during the downtime. That greatly increases the waits in line for guests using the regular (“standby”) line.

If you experience very high wait times at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, there’s a good chance it because the ride experienced an outage earlier in the day.

2025 “Rope Drop” Magic Kingdom Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children

This plan is for people who will do whatever it takes to be at the front of the rope drop crowd for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during Early Theme Park Entry. And here’s a blog post that explains what “front of the rope drop crowd” means.

1. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland
2. Ride Peter Pan’s Flight
3. In Adventureland, take the Jungle Cruise
4. See The Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square
5. Meet Tiana and a Visiting Princess in Fantasyland
6. See Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
7. Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Frontierland. We think this should be your longest wait of the day, and less than 60 minutes on an average day.
8. Work in a visit to Tom Sawyer Island around lunch. The closest quick service restaurant is Pecos Bill’s in Frontierland. In Liberty Square, the Columbia Harbour House is the highest rated quick service restaurant in the park. Columbia Harbour House is also around the corner to your next attraction.
9. Ride It’s a Small World in Fantasyland
10. Climb the Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland
11. Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
12. See the Festival of Fantasy parade from the east side of Main Street USA. If you’re on Main Street facing Cinderella Castle, east is on your right. It’s the same side the Main Street Bakery Starbucks is on.
13. Meet Mickey Mouse at the Town Square Theatre
14. Take some time for a break, then eat dinner and let the crowds leave the park. If the park is open until 8 pm, you’ll have about 45 minutes until your next step. If the park is open until 10 pm, you’ll have closer to two hours.
15. See Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland
16. Work in the Happily Ever After fireworks around the next couple of steps. The best viewing spots are in the Central Hub near Cinderella Castle. Plan on arriving at least an hour early for the best seats, and at least 30 minutes in advance for decent viewing locations in the hub.
17. Ride The Barnstormer in Fantasyland
18. Ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant
19. See The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
20. If time permits, see Mickey’s PhilharMagic

The strategy for this touring plan is to see two of the most popular attractions in Fantasyland during Early Theme Park Entry, with minimal waits. This is only possible if you’re among the first few dozen guests to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. And like our new Magic Kingdom touring plans for adults, this plan has you heading to Adventureland next, to take advantage of low lines at Jungle Cruise before it gets busy.

At its current pace, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure should be the highest rated attraction in the Magic Kingdom by Summer 2025. That means long waits, especially when it’s warm.

Some guests will line up for Tiana’s at Early Theme Park Entry, even though the ride doesn’t start running. until regular park opening. We think that’s a terrible strategy because those guests are giving up very low wait times for four or five other attractions, and still waiting 30 minutes for Tiana’s. And the total wait for those four or five other attractions will definitely be more than the time they saved at Tiana’s. It just doesn’t make sense.

The middle part of this plan includes lunch, high-capacity attractions such as Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean, and parades and breaks.

If the park is open past 8 pm, you’ll have time for an afternoon break of at least an hour. While you’re relaxing and recharging, other guests will start leaving the parks. The later you stay, the more people will leave the park. And that means lower waits in line for you.

The plan ends with the evening fireworks and the last few attractions of the day, in Fantasyland.

The next version of this plan is for guests who will use Early Theme Park Entry, but can’t bet at the front of the rope drop crowd for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

2025 Magic Kingdom Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children – Using Early Theme Park Entry without Rope Drop

This touring plan includes the exact same attractions as above. The attractions are in a different order because we’re not rope-dropping the park. You’ll still be able to complete the plan in one day.

Is Magic Kingdom Early Entry Worth It?

We estimate that not rope-dropping the park results in about 50 to 60 more minutes in line throughout the day. There’s still more than an hour and a half for breaks in the plan, plus lunch and dinner. And using some form of Early Theme Park Entry is definitely better than showing up at regular park opening or later. We think that this plan avoids at least one extra hour of waiting in line as compared to the next plan, which doesn’t use Early Theme Park Entry.

Here’s the plan:

1. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland
2. In Adventureland, take the Jungle Cruise
3. Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Meet Tiana and a Visiting Princess in Fantasyland
5. See Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
6. See Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland
7. Work in lunch around seeing The Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square. The closest quick service restaurant is Cosmic Ray’s in Tomorrowland In Liberty Square, the Columbia Harbour House is the highest rated quick service restaurant in the park. Columbia Harbour House is also directly across from Haunted Mansion.
8. Ride Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland
9. If the park is open past 8 pm, take a break after lunch. You’ll have 30 to 90 minutes, depending on how late the park is open.
10. See the Festival of Fantasy parade from the east side of Main Street USA. If you’re on Main Street facing Cinderella Castle, east is on your right. It’s the same side the Main Street Bakery Starbucks is on.
11. Meet Mickey Mouse at the Town Square Theatre
12. Climb the Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland
13. Visit Tom Sawyer Island in Frontierland
14. See Mickey’s PhilharMagic in Fantasyland
15. See The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
16. Eat dinner while other guests are leaving the park
17. Ride It’s a Small World in Fantasyland
18. Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Frontierland. Crowds should have dropped from their mid-day peaks, especially around dinner time.
19. Work in the Happily Ever After fireworks around the next couple of steps. The best viewing spots are in the Central Hub near Cinderella Castle. Plan on arriving at least an hour early for the best seats, and at least 30 minutes in advance for decent viewing locations in the hub.
20. Ride The Barnstormer in Fantasyland
21. Ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant

This plan leaves Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for around dinnertime. You’ll ride while many other guests are sitting down to eat, and this should reduce your time in line.

The next plan is for guests who are admitted to the park after Early Theme Park Entry – at official park opening.

2025 Magic Kingdom Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children – Without Early Entry

I’ll be blunt here: thousands of people will already be in lines ahead of you by the time you’re allowed into the park. There’s no way around it unless you want to pay a lot more for Lightning Lane. On av average day, you’ll probably have 5 or 6 waits of between 30 and 60 minutes using this plan. And it requires more walking. The good news is that it’s still possible to see everything in the park in one day. That’s still cheaper than buying two days of admission to the Magic Kingdom.

 

The strategy for this plan starts out with you going to the attractions in the park with lines that are still relatively low. Here’s the plan:

1. See Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland
2. Ride The Barnstormer in Fantasyland
3. See Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
4. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland. The good news is that there should be a slight lull in wait times here. The Early Entry crowd will already be done, and the late-arrival crowd still isn’t in the park.
5. Meet Tiana and a Visiting Princess in Fantasyland
6. See The Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square
7. Work in lunch around Peter Pan’s Flight. The closest quick service restaurant is the Columbia Harbour House. It’s also the highest rated quick service restaurant in the park *and* between Peter Pan’s Flight and Haunted Mansion.
8. Ride Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland
9. In Adventureland, take the Jungle Cruise
10. See the Festival of Fantasy parade from the east side of Main Street USA. If you’re on Main Street facing Cinderella Castle, east is on your right. It’s the same side the Main Street Bakery Starbucks is on.
11. Meet Mickey Mouse at the Town Square Theatre
12. Climb the Swiss Family Treehouse in Adventureland
13. Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Visit Tom Sawyer Island in Frontierland
15. See Mickey’s PhilharMagic in Fantasyland
16. Ride It’s a Small World in Fantasyland
17. Eat dinner while other guests are leaving the park
18. Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Frontierland. Crowds should have dropped from their mid-day peaks, especially around dinner time.
19. Work in the Happily Ever After fireworks around the next couple of steps. The best viewing spots are in the Central Hub near Cinderella Castle. Plan on arriving at least an hour early for the best seats, and at least 30 minutes in advance for decent viewing locations in the hub.
20. See The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
21. Ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant

What’s Next For These Magic Kingdom Touring Plans

Let me know how these plans work, please. We’re still in the very early days of using a standby line at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. And Disney’s going to announce a closing date for Tom Sawyer Island at some point, which will increase its crowds. I’ll update these plans if those things make material changes to these plans’ wait times. Until then, I’d love to hear what attractions you’d change in this plan. Drop your comments below – and thank you!