Visitors Guide to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World opened October 1, 1971 with its plus-sized version of Disneyland – the Magic Kingdom. Welcoming more than 17 million visitors last year, the Magic Kingdom is the world's most-visited theme park and the anchor of the four-park Walt Disney World Resort, which also includes EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom.
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Our recommendations below come from our year-end survey of Theme Park Insider readers. Locations with star ratings ★ ranked especially highly among our readers.
What to Do
Readers' Picks
- Haunted Mansion ★ ★ ★
Dark ride with "999 happy haunts," located in Liberty Square
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure ★
Disney's "The Princess and the Frog"-themed makeover of the former Splash Mountain log flume ride. Height requirement: 40 inches
Other Attractions
Starting on Main Street, then turning right at the hub into Tomorrowland and continuing counter-clockwise around the park. Click the 🎦 symbol to watch on-ride or show video for select attractions.
Main Street USA
- Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade: Daytime parade. 🎦 Video
- Disney Starlight: Nighttime parade. 🎦 Video
- Happily Ever After: Fireworks and projection show. 🎦 Video
- Town Square Theater: Meet Mickey Mouse
- Walt Disney World Railroad: One-way shuttle to and from Fantasyland during Villains land construction
Tomorrowland
- Astro Orbiter: Jets ride
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: Interactive dark ride. 🎦 Video
- Carousel of Progress: Audio-Animatronic show in a rotating theater. 🎦 Video
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor: Interactive screen show
- Space Mountain: Indoor family roller coaster. Height requirement: 40 inches.
- Tomorrowland Speedway: Drive a car on this track ride.
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover: Elevated track ride. 🎦 Video
- TRON Lightcycle Run: Vekoma launch roller coaster. Height requirement: 48 inches. 🎦 Video
Fantasyland
- The Barnstormer: Vekoma junior coaster. Height requirement: 35 inches
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant: Jets ride
- It's a Small World: Dark ride
- Mad Tea Party: Teacups ride
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Dark ride
- Mickey's PhilharMagic: 3D movie
- Peter Pan's Flight: Dark ride
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Princess Fairytale Hall: Character meets
- The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: "Snow White"-themed family roller coaster. Height requirement: 38 inches. 🎦 Video
- Under the Sea - Voyage of the Little Mermaid: Dark ride
Liberty Square
- Hall of Presidents: Movie and Audio Animatronic show. Warning: sometime disruptive crowds
Frontierland
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Outdoor family roller coaster. Height requirement: 40 inches
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree: A new version of the Country Bears' Audio Animatronic show, featuring country-flavored versions of Disney songs. 🎦 Video
Adventureland
- Jungle Cruise: Narrated boat ride
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin: Zamperla Jets ride
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Indoor boat ride. 🎦 Video
- Swiss Family Treehouse: Walk through with many stairs
- Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room: Audio Animatronic show
Coming Next
- Villains Land: Now under development behind Big Thunder Mountain, this expansion will include two new attractions. Opens spring 2030.
- Cars rides: A national park-themed cross-country adventure and a kiddie ride will open in Frontierland at an undisclosed date, replacing the now-closed Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
Where to Eat
Recommended
- Jungle Navigation Co. Skipper Canteen ★
Table service with world cuisine in Adventureland
The Jungle Navigation Co. Skipper Canteen is the Magic Kingdom's home for Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Photo by Robert Niles
Buy Tickets
Park Map
Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida – about 24 miles from Orlando International Airport (MCO).
Note that Disney no longer provides free Disney's Magical Express bus service to and from the Orlando airport for its hotel guests.
If you are renting a car while visiting Orlando, you can save on toll road fees by getting a Visitor Toll Pass at the Orlando airport rather than renting a toll transponder from your rental car company: Toll Discounts Return for Orlando Theme Park Visitors
Best Time to Visit Disney World?
Disney's theme park ticket prices vary by day, so you can use Disney's pricing calendar [scroll down] to see which days have the highest expected crowds. The lower the price for a ticket, the smaller the expected crowd that day.
According to the travel agents at Academy Travel, these are the dates when you will find the lightest crowd levels at the Walt Disney World theme parks in 2026:
- January 12-29
- February 2-5
- April 20-May 2
- May 5-16
- August 24-September 5
- September 8-26
- November 12-20
- December 1-12
On the flip side, large crowds will fill the parks on runDisney weekends:
- January 7-11
- February 26-March 2
- April 16-19
In addition, crowd levels are high during:
- any U.S. holiday week
- President's Day week through Spring Break in mid-April
- first week in November (the infamous "Jersey week")
- the week of Thanksgiving
- from mid-December through early January
Strategy
Before You Go
For assistance in planning a Walt Disney World vacation, please contact our travel agent for a free, no-obligation vacation quote.
Dining reservations can be made via the Disney World website or our travel agent, and each date's reservations open 60 days in advance, at about 5:45am Eastern Time. Disney's on-site hotel guests may make reservations for their entire stay (up to 10 days) starting 60 days before their check-in date. That gives Disney's on-site hotel guests an advantage in making reservations for the most popular restaurants.
Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests may purchase and book line-skipping "Lightning Lane" access for their entire stay (up to 14 days) starting seven days before their arrival. Other theme park guests may book Lightning Lanes up to three days in advance of their visit. Please see The complete guide to Disney's Lightning Lane for more information on this important option.
Itinerary
Disney's hotel guests get 30 minutes of early access to each of the resort's four theme parks every day. So hotel guests should plan on an early start each morning to take advantage of empty queues. Unfortunately for guests staying off site, this new early admission policy means that they no longer have any opportunity to be the first to enter any Walt Disney World theme park in the morning.
The longest wait here throughout the day tends to be Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so even with Disney's hotel guests getting a head start, it's still a good candidate to make your first ride when the park opens. The next-worst queue is Peter Pan's Flight, though if you wish to skip that attraction, there's better use of your time elsewhere in this park. If Pan's a must, though, hit it after Seven Dwarfs.
Space Mountain, TRON, and Jungle Cruise are the next longest waits in the park. We recommend doing Space Mountain as soon as you can in the morning, perhaps after Seven Dwarfs. But leave Jungle Cruise until mid-afternoon, when the parade draws crowds away from many attractions. Or go for it later in the evening, when crowds come down across the park. It's a great ride at night, too.
After Space Mountain and TRON, cut back across the hub to Haunted Mansion and Tiana's, then pick up rides as you wish, at your convenience.
On most days, you don't really need to buy your way into Disney's Lightning Lanes to experience the top attractions in the park, though we would consider getting a Lightning Lane Single Pass for TRON and Seven Dwarfs before buying the Lightning Lane Multi Pass in the Magic Kingdom on its busiest days.
