Looking for the best and worst days of the week to visit each park at Walt Disney World? This strategy guide covers Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, offering info about when the wait times are lowest and highest, plus commentary about weekdays vs. weekends, special events, and more. (Updated October 12, 2024.)
Like many of our planning resources, this is a ‘teach a person to fish’ rather than ‘giving a person a fish’ post. This is to say that we spend a lot of time explaining the why of crowd patterns so you can understand what’s happening, how dynamics might differ during your dates, or if it’ll actually matter to you.
This can be overwhelming for some people, so we’ll start with the two biggest lessons up front. First, every single park at Walt Disney World is busiest on Mondays. If at all possible, you shouldn’t do any parks on Monday. If you must, do Animal Kingdom on Monday since it’s the lowest stakes park.
Second, all of this matters a lot more from August through December than the rest of the year. This is due to Magic Kingdom closing early for special events. Skip down to the ‘Party Season’ section towards the bottom if you’re visiting during this timeframe. The zig when they zag advice there is really important!
When it comes to choosing the best and worst times to visit Walt Disney World, there’s a lot to consider. If you’re singularly focused on avoiding long lines, we recommend consulting our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar to choose travel dates. That gets updated fairly regularly, with each individual month receiving a refresh right before it begins for optimal accuracy.
If you’re more concerned with the quality of the overall experience, we also have something more holistic and, frankly, practical: our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 to 2026. Once you narrow down the week you want to visit Walt Disney World, it’s time to start thinking about which days of the week to do each park.
That’s where this post and its updates come into play…
For much of the last three years, conventional day of the week advice for Walt Disney World was wrong. Capacity constraints and park reservations were big factors, Annual Pass sales were limited to the lowest tier that blocked out weekends, and ticket deals were irregular by historic standards. All of this upended our normal recommendations up until 2024.
Thankfully, attendance and crowd dynamics have started to normalize. Park reservations went away for many guests, good-to-go dates were added for Annual Passholders and Cast Members, more Annual Pass tiers are now being sold, and ticket deals have not excluded weekends. Consequently, typical weekly attendance and crowds patterns among the parks have also started to normalize.
The biggest change that we’ve observed throughout 2024 is that the ‘wonky weekends’ phenomenon that we’d observed for the last year-plus is now more or less a thing of the past. During this time, weekends were the slowest days of the week at Walt Disney World and it was a night-and-day difference between weekends and weekdays. Not only was the wait times spread pronounced, but this also subverted expectations, since it was pretty much the opposite of historical norms.
In any case, ‘wonky weekends’ is now a thing of the past. Sunday is still one of the better days of the week to visit, but Saturday has become far worse. In fact, Saturday is currently the second-busiest day of the week on average across all of Walt Disney World after Monday. Sunday is tied for the best, but that’s seasonal-dependent. Just wanted to share this update to start, as it’s a big one–and a return to normal (for the most part).
Accordingly, here’s our new advice for best days of the week at Walt Disney World in 2024…
Hollywood Studios
Okay, so we just wrote that weekends are no longer slower–but that’s across all of Walt Disney World. Fridays through Sundays remain good days to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is especially true if you do the weekends late or early.
Sunday nights are the absolute best time to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you’re arriving late (after 4 pm), you can accomplish a surprising amount in that half-day at DHS. Frankly, it’s difficult to explain the ‘why’ of that at this point. One possibility is that locals still do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Sunday, but do so during the middle of the day and depart early.
This causes a big spike in midday wait times, resulting in both those guests and others bouncing early…and shorter wait times in the afternoon and evening. It’s also possible that locals are less inclined to do rides, especially ones with higher wait times.
DHS is a bad option on Mondays and Tuesdays. This is because it’s usually the #2 priority park (after Magic Kingdom) for most guests, so guests end up doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier in their trip…which usually means Mondays or Tuesdays.
Objectively, Wednesday or Thursday are the absolute best options–the lowest wait times of the week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If neither of those days work, Friday through Sundays are almost as good–potentially better if you arrive early or stay late. Basically, crowd levels start out strong to begin the week and drop significantly on Wednesday.
EPCOT
EPCOT is the worst pick on weekends because it’s the biggest “local’s park” at Walt Disney World, and EPCOT is more popular with Floridians than tourists. Although the gap has closed a little with the debuts of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, it’s still true.
This is an example of where analyzing wait time data would get you into trouble, as you would (incorrectly) conclude that it doesn’t really matter which day you do EPCOT. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and there’s arguably no park where choosing the right day of the week is more important from a qualitative perspective, but not a quantitative one.
Wait times don’t tell the full story–or even the main one–when it comes to EPCOT on weekends. Since locals are less likely to do rides, they add to ‘feels like’ crowds and congestion without making attraction wait times noticeably worse. This is still a negative, as lines for food booths are longer and World Showcase is generally less pleasant on the weekends.
You’re also more likely to encounter groups Drinking Around the World on Saturday and Sunday. For those of you who want to relive your glory days by attending an open air frat party, this might sound appealing. We’re not teetotalers or anything, but this sometimes can be a tad too much for a family-friendly theme park. Even if it doesn’t cross the line (and it very well may not for you), World Showcase is significantly more crowded and congested on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Again, this is is a qualitative assessment, and not a quantitative one. Wait times are not significantly worse at EPCOT on weekends. Since most of the aforementioned audience is visiting to drink, they have minimal impact on the wait times for rides. (Lines for food booths are a totally different story!)
As such, you might be able to “beat” the weekend crowds at EPCOT simply by arriving early, doing World Showcase first, and then doubling-back into Future World (or whatever they’re calling those “neighborhoods” now) in the early afternoon. That’s a savvy strategy, and one we recommend in our EPCOT 1-Day Itinerary.
Our actual advice is visiting EPCOT on a weekday. Wednesdays through Friday are all equally good. As EPCOT has added more top-tier attractions, it’s now also a high-priority park, and has the worst wait times Mondays and Tuesdays. Avoid those days.
Animal Kingdom
As a general matter, Animal Kingdom is the park that requires the least strategy and is the easiest place to beat the crowds in all of Walt Disney World. It doesn’t require buying Lightning Lanes, and is pretty easy to knock out everything–and then some–if you stay for a full day.
Objectively, the best days to visit Animal Kingdom are weekdays. Average daily wait times are lower Tuesday through Friday than they are Saturday or Sunday. Once again, Wednesday is the best day of the week–but you can’t do every park on Wednesday, so Animal Kingdom is a good option on Monday or Tuesday, when every other park is significantly busier.
Weekend wait times are only “worse” at Animal Kingdom due to the middle of the day. If you’re staying on-site and taking advantage of Early Entry (or even going in the first couple hours the park is open), it’s pretty easy to beat the crowds. Moreover, there’s a pretty steep fall off in wait times during the last couple hours Animal Kingdom is open. This one does vary by season (during the holidays, it’s less likely to be true) but is accurate to some degree throughout the entire year.
That makes Animal Kingdom trickier than other parks at Walt Disney World in terms of our recommendation. Statistically, it’s a “bad” park to do on Saturday or Sunday. However, we don’t hesitate to visit it on either of those days because it is so easy to outsmart the crowds–just arrive early and/or stay late, and do shows or animal exhibits midday when crowds peak.
For this same reason, Animal Kingdom is a fine option on Monday or Tuesday when the other parks are busier. You might not be able to avoid every park these days, in which case Animal Kingdom is your best (or least-bad) pick. Even on crowded days, the strategy for Animal Kingdom is relatively simple, as covered in our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary.
Honestly, our best advice is to choose your days for Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT first. Whatever day is left over can be “assigned” to Animal Kingdom. Don’t worry too much about this park.
Magic Kingdom
Historically, the worst day of the week at Magic Kingdom is Monday, and by a wide margin. Avoid Magic Kingdom on Mondays if at all possible.
Outside of Party Season, Magic Kingdom is a great pick Wednesday through Thursday. The best day of the week in Magic Kingdom from an objective perspective is Wednesday. This is true even with Extended Evening Hours in Magic Kingdom, which do not noticeably move the needle on daytime crowds.
Locals tend to visit on weekends, with Saturday being more likely than Fridays or Sundays. Then there are Southerners who take long weekend trips, impacting all three days (but again, Saturday disproportionately). Still, these demos are all smaller than tourists, so none of them are truly terrible.
Finally, tourists most frequently start their trips on the weekend, and Monday is the most common first day in the parks for them. In disproportionate numbers, out-of-state vacation-goers do the most popular or their favorite park first, and that’s usually Magic Kingdom. They are less likely to visit Magic Kingdom in the second half of the week.
This leaves Thursday and Friday as the least busy days of the week at Magic Kingdom during normal times of the year. Sunday has also emerged as a surprisingly uncrowded day at Magic Kingdom. We’re hesitant to recommend visiting on Sunday because historical wait time data suggests this will change, but it has certainly been a good option lately.
Magic Kingdom can be more challenging when it’s busy, but it’s still possible to have a satisfying and productive day in the park. We’d recommend buying Lightning Lane Multi-Pass in Magic Kingdom, or at least using Early Entry. Follow our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary if you want to beat the crowds without either.
Party Season
Party season in Magic Kingdom encompasses early August through late December–a pretty big chunk of the calendar–when the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) special events are held.
On days when the party is held, Magic Kingdom opens at 8 am or 9 am and closes to regular ticket holders at 6 pm. On non-party days, Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am and closes at 10 pm or 11 pm. In other words, the park stays open 5 hours later to regular guests when MNSSHP and MVMCP are not held.
Most visitors behave accordingly, making the intuitive choice and visiting Magic Kingdom when they can spend 4-5 extra hours in the park. That seems like the “obvious” decision, as more time in the park–not to mention actually being able to see the fireworks and Magic Kingdom at night–is the smarter strategy.
Unfortunately, that is not true. Everyone making the intuitive decision throws a monkey wrench into attendance and crowd dynamics during the party season. The consequence of that guest behavior should likewise be obvious: Magic Kingdom is significantly less busy during the day time hours on dates when parties are held in the evening, and much more busy on non-party days.
To put this into context, Magic Kingdom regularly has 9/10 or 10/10 crowd levels on non-party days, with Mondays and Saturdays being the worst. By contrast, Magic Kingdom typically has 1/10 to 4/10 crowd levels on party days. That amounts to an average wait time differential of about 20 to 30 minutes per ride, which adds up over the course of the day to the point that you can accomplish more in the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
As a result, we strongly recommend doing Magic Kingdom during the days shortened by the Halloween or Christmas, and then Park Hopping to another park before 4 pm. Guests of the events can start entering Magic Kingdom at 4 pm, and this ‘mix-in’ time with regular day guests is when the park goes from blissfully uncrowded to busier. (We usually aim to leave by 3 pm.)
Even though non-party days offer significantly longer hours, you’ll still come out ahead by avoiding Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and other non-party days. Despite far few hours on a party day, you will almost always come out ahead thanks to the time saved waiting in lines.
There’s another upside to visiting Magic Kingdom during the day when a party is held at night: earlier opening times on many/most dates. This is a huge advantage, as covered in Photo Report & Strategy: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am. Suffice to say, there’s a big difference in crowds for Early Entry on a day when Magic Kingdom opens to the public at 8 am v. 9 am.
The big downside to attending Magic Kingdom on a party day is having to leave by 6 pm. This means missing the fireworks and usually evening in the park. The upside is that you can see fireworks from outside the park–or you can Park Hop back to Magic Kingdom on a non-party night. Just brace yourself for significantly higher crowds than what you experienced on the party day, as many people will have the same idea!
There’s also a flip side to all of this, which is that the other 3 parks are slightly less crowded on non-party days and more crowded on party days. If you think about it, this makes sense–Magic Kingdom crowds don’t exist in a vacuum. If less or more people are in one park, the opposite is true in the others.
As a result, all three other parks become better options on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays during Party Season. We still don’t actively recommend doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a Monday–since that’s its busiest day of the week (see above), but it’s not as bad on a Monday during Party Season as it is the rest of the year.
The converse is also true: EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom are worse options on days when the parties are held in Magic Kingdom. None of this is as pronounced as it is with the roller coaster crowds in Magic Kingdom, though. With 3 other parks to absorb the displaced guests, the impact is lower on each of them than on Magic Kingdom itself.
During Party Season, we’d recommend Animal Kingdom on Monday, EPCOT on Wednesday, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Saturday. That’s really the cleanest advice for navigating the complex crowd dynamics of Party Season. This supersedes all of the park-by-park recommendations above.
If you don’t mind more congestion or a more ‘lively’ atmosphere, do DHS on Wednesday and EPCOT on Saturday. That’s technically the slightly better advice from an objective perspective, but we really don’t like EPCOT on weekends, especially during Food & Wine (which is the exact same time of year).
If you have Park Hopper tickets, the most straightforward option is bouncing to Magic Kingdom on Monday night after tackling Animal Kingdom. Again, just be warned that crowds will be heavier, especially for fireworks viewing.
Apologies for this lengthy explanation, but this is the most important consideration in choosing your day to visit each park during Party Season. More than anything else, the crowd patterns this time of year are the most consistent and predictable–this same dynamic has played out with MNSSHP and MVMCP for years.
It’s also where most guests ‘goof up’ and choose the intuitive-but-incorrect approach. While it doesn’t encompass the entire calendar, it does apply to 5 months of the year–if you’re visiting during this stretch, we’d highly recommend buying Park Hopper tickets and following this advice!
Best & Worst Days at WDW Recap
We’ve covered a lot of ground and it can be overwhelming, so let’s try to break down the best and worst days to visit each park at Walt Disney World in a more concise manner:
Visit on These Days:
- Wednesday and Thursday do Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday is also good at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if staying late
- Thursday or Friday do Magic Kingdom
- Wednesday through Friday do EPCOT
- Any weekday do Animal Kingdom–if you must do a park on Monday, make it DAK
- Party Days do Magic Kingdom if able to Park Hop elsewhere
Okay to Good Days:
- Fridays and Saturdays are fine at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday is good at Magic Kingdom, with nights being best
- Weekends are fine at EPCOT if arriving and leaving early
- Saturday and Sunday do Animal Kingdom if arriving early or staying late
Avoid These Days:
- Saturday, Monday and Tuesday don’t do Magic Kingdom
- Monday and Tuesday don’t do Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Saturdays and Sundays don’t do EPCOT if staying all-day
- Saturdays and Sundays don’t do Animal Kingdom if arriving late and leaving early
With it laid out like this, you should see that some days are consistently the best and worst for multiple parks. This means that during the course of an average vacation, you might have no choice but to do certain parks on days that are not objectively as good. Don’t worry about that, as explained in the final section…
How Much Does Day of the Week Matter?
Average wait times can vary by 3 to 10 minutes on the best versus worst days of the week at each park. That may not seem like much, but a 10 minute difference is actually huge. Over the course of the day, that can means spending an hour (or more) less time waiting in line if you choose correctly.
However, it’s not usually a 10 minute difference–that’s an extreme example. You also probably wouldn’t choose the worst days if picking at random, nor would you accidentally go at only the time of day when crowds are heaviest and the gap is highest. So in practice, you can probably expect to save only a few minutes per ride by making good choices with the day of the week you visit each park. That’s not a ton of time, but it does add up over the course of a trip.
During Party Season, choosing the best days and avoiding the worst matters a lot more than all other times of the year. Especially if you’re visiting during the final three months of the year, picking the right day can be make-or-break in your perception of crowds. Even then, there’s typically much more of a difference in crowds between weeks rather than within them.
Accordingly, choosing a good time to visit Walt Disney World is significantly more important than how you allocate your days within the week. Even more important is arriving early and/or staying late, which is the simplest way to beat crowds at Walt Disney World. Late morning to mid-afternoon is the busiest time of day at every single park, and when wait times are the worst.
Just as crucial is having savvy strategy. Picking a great day or week to visit can make touring the parks significantly easier, but so too can having a good itinerary that zigs when others zag. Then there’s the option of buying your way out of crowds with Lightning Lanes, which is another good fail safe option. Speaking of which, we have a comprehensive Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for those who want to thoroughly master the latest generation of paid FastPass.
Choosing the best days of the week–and avoiding the worst ones–at each Walt Disney World theme park comes after all of those things. To be sure, it’s a good practice and worth keeping in mind that Magic Kingdom is best on Thursday or Friday, or that EPCOT should be avoided on weekends.
It’s also useful for those boxed into less than ideal travel dates due to school or work schedules. Same goes for anyone who realistically won’t have the option to arrive early or stay late (there’s a reason those times are most advantageous–because it’s simply not feasible for many families with small children). Ditto anyone who doesn’t want to pay extra for Lightning Lanes on principle, or because it’s not in their vacation budget. For anyone this describes, carefully choosing days of the week for each park can relieve some pressure and result in shorter wait times.
With that said, we wouldn’t upend our previously-planned schedules to account for this. In the past, we’ve offered day of week recommendations and have received frantic questions from readers who already have their Advance Dining Reservations set, and have made meticulous plans for each park, wondering if they should throw it all away and start from scratch.
The answer, without exception, is a resounding “no.” Day of the week matters, but not that much. Moreover, day of the weeke recommendations are pretty easy to disrupt. All it really takes is inclimate weather (relatively commonplace in Florida) or inordinate attraction downtime. Either of those things can be enough to turn a “bad” day into a “good” one in terms of wait times, or vice-versa.
Ultimately, simply by virtue of researching and reading a post about the best and worst days of the week to visit every park at Walt Disney World, you’re better equipped to avoid crowds than 95% of guests–but because you’re almost certainly not reading just this strategy. While the advice here is theoretically useful, it’s pretty far from make or break.
You’re much better off using the other resources on this blog to choose good months or weeks to visit. If that’s not an option (or even if it is), remember to arrive early or stay late. Failing that, use our itineraries to prioritize attractions in the best order. Don’t want to do that for some odd reason, spend the money on Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and buy your way out of lines. If you’d rather not spend money and go with the flow during a midday-only visit…I guess this is the best advice for you!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Which days are your favorites for each of the parks? Think it’s good advice to avoid EPCOT on weekends, even if it’s not supported by wait times? What about weekends at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Any other best or worst days at each of the Walt Disney World theme parks? Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
