How To Lose Wait At Walt Disney World: In Line, That Is!

There is nothing worse. You plan, plan and plan some more. The kids are excited. No one can sleep on the nights before your trip. You arrive at Walt Disney World, raring to go, only to have to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait again.

It seems like the whole trip has been hurry up and wait and now it’s time to go home. All this money, time and energy spent and you feel like all you’ve done is wait in line.

Fear not! This primer will share with you the best tricks of the trade so you can minimize wait time and truly enjoy your vacation. Over the years we’ve tested our theories and tested them again. My husband is amazed how much we are able to accomplish in a day, so amazed that by the end of the trip he needs a vacation from our vacation.

Get Up Early

I’ve said this before (and before and before) and I’ll say it again. Get. Up. Early. Arrive before “rope drop,” which is when the park opens. Arriving about 30 minutes before is good, 45 minutes before it opens is even better.

Have A Plan Of Attack

Know The Heavy Hitters: Knowing which attractions are the heavy hitters is half the battle. Go there first. Or (and) have FastPasses in place. I say “Or (and)” because I have a competitive family that LOVES Toy Story Mania in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We always make a beeline for that attraction as soon as the park opens and then use a FastPass later in the day to try to beat the top score in our family. We are sometimes able to ride it two times in a row, depending on how quickly we’ve been able to get there and how crowded the park is that day.

Magic Kingdom Heavy Hitters – Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

EPCOT Heavy Hitters– Test Track and Soarin’. (Do not waste a FastPass on Spaceship Earth unless you absolutely must ride in the morning. Lines are very manageable later in the day for this attraction.)

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Heavy Hitters – Toy Story Mania, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror

Animal Kingdom Heavy Hitters – Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids and Dinosaur

Know The Lay Of The Land: A good guidebook has a layout of each park. Or you can go to the Disney World site and use their interactive maps. Have an idea of the direction you need to go before you get there.

Know When To Arrive: EARLY! (see above)

Avoid Peak Times and Peak Seasons

Unless it’s a completely empty day, we are rarely in the parks between 2pm and 7pm. We are back at our resort: napping, swimming, reading, restoring. Mid-day is when the parks are at their fullest. Avoid, if at all possible. But if it’s not possible (you have a one-day pass, you’re staying offsite, etc.) this is the perfect time to sit back, people watch and stop to look the ducks. Each park has attractions that handle crowds well and get you out of the heat.

Perfect Mid-day Attractions

Magic Kingdom – People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Walt Disney World Railroad, Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor

EPCOT – Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Living With The Land, travel movies and shows around World Showcase (China, France, American Adventure). On a cool day, the outdoor live entertain abounds. Check the Tip Board at the front of the park for show times.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular

Animal Kingdom – Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo – The Musical, It’s Tough To Be A Bug

Along with avoiding the busiest time of day, you’ll want to avoid visiting during the busiest time of year. We’ve been many times at Christmas. The decorations alone will turn any Scrooge into one of Santa’s Helpers. It’s one of our favorite times to visit. It’s cooler. It’s beautiful. But it’s crowded during that week of Christmas and New Years. Very crowded. Can’t move another step, can’t see your feet crowded. We’ve witnessed wait times of up to 6 hours. Six! It’s crazy busy at this time of year so if you must go during this week, prepare to move at a snail’s pace and know you will NOT see it all. Other peak times include Thanksgiving, Spring Break season and holiday weekends.

Extra Magic Hours

Extra Magic Hours (EMH) are a perk for guest staying on Disney property that allow them to enter the parks an hour early or stay in the parks a few hours later, depending on the rotating schedule.

Now here’s a tip everyone can gain from. Even if you don’t stay on property, you can partake in Extra Magic Hours, avoiding long lines with this simple tip:

Go to the park, first thing in the morning, that had Extra Magic Hours the night before. For example, if Magic Kingdom was open until 2am, an extra 2 hours later for resort guests only, go to Magic Kingdom the very next day.

Especially if you are an off-site guest, avoid the EMH park like the plague. And then, visit that park the next day. You will see a drop in attendance at that park, leaving more elbow room for you.

If you are staying “on-property” it gets a little trickier. We like to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours in the morning. Most of the attractions are open, crowds are lighter and you can pack a lot in those first two hours. However, at night, we haven’t always found EMH to be advantageous. First of all, I need to qualify this by saying I’m not much of a night person. I’d much rather get up early than party hearty late. That said, we’ve found that after the official closing time, less attractions are open, pushing guests to migrate toward the same rides. For us, EMH in the evening is a shot in the dark (pun intended.) Use at your discretion.

Use The My Disney Experience App

You can manage your entire vacation, from resort and dining reservations to FastPass times all with the My Disney Experience App. There is also a tab to check wait times on park attractions and we’ve found this app to be the most accurate out of any we’ve tried. I used to keep a couple apps like this one open and at the ready, so I could compare throughout the day. They have all been deleted. My Disney Experience is, by far, the most accurate one.

You can use this app to check wait times on attractions that you don’t have FastPasses for. You can see if you have time to ride Tower of Terror before your dinner reservation. You can determine if it’s worth the hike from Tomorrowland to Frontierland for another go down Splash Mountain.  Worth every penny — it’s FREE!

Skip The Parade

My kids have never been much into the parades, much to my chagrin. This tired old mom would love a break sometime. But we’ve been able to take advantage of next to nothing lines during the parades and fireworks shows – and that makes missing it all worth it in my book. My daughter and I were trapped one trip because of a parade in Frontierland. We ran back and forth between Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, riding more times that I can count. This past visit, arriving later in the evening, we rode the Walt Disney World Railroad to the back of Magic Kingdom. We walked onto Dumbo and Barnstormer and then thought, let’s try Seven Dwarves Mine Train. It was less than a 30 minute wait when all was said and done – pretty good for a new attraction that has 2-3 hour waits mid-day.

These tips have stood the test of time and we now enjoy the majority of each park within the first four hours of the day. Then, the rest of the day, we relax, enjoy an off-beat activity, swim or take a nap in the shade. Your trip doesn’t have to be chaotic and trapped in never-ending queues. Follow these tips and enjoy a magical vacation!