In search of the very best and worst days of the week to go to every park at Walt Disney World? This technique information covers Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, providing information about when the wait instances are lowest and highest, plus commentary about weekdays vs. weekends, particular occasions, and extra. (Up to date September 3, 2025.)
Like a lot of our planning sources, it is a ‘educate an individual to fish’ somewhat than ‘giving an individual a fish’ submit. That is to say that we spend quite a lot of time explaining the why of crowd patterns so you possibly can perceive what’s occurring, how dynamics would possibly differ throughout your dates, or if it’ll really matter to you.
This may be overwhelming for some individuals, so we’ll begin with the three greatest classes up entrance. First, each single park at Walt Disney World is busiest on Mondays. If in any respect attainable, you shouldn’t do any parks on Monday. If you happen to should, do Animal Kingdom on Monday because it’s the bottom stakes park. Saturday is a detailed second as a day to keep away from, particularly because it’s widespread with locals, exacerbating congestion.
Second, the very best day of the week at Walt Disney World is Wednesday. Taking {that a} step additional, Wednesdays by Fridays are the very best stretch of the week, albeit with Friday nights being busier. Conversely, the second half of Sundays is best than the primary half. This isn’t fairly the across-the-board recommendation of avoiding Mondays, however when you’ve got a 3-day park day window to focus on, Wednesdays by Fridays is the profitable selection.
Lastly, this issues far more from August by December than the remainder of the 12 months. Selecting the very best day of the week is a good suggestion if attainable from January by July, however extremely essential for the ultimate few months of the 12 months. For our newest replace, we’ve refreshed the ‘Celebration Season’ part and highlighted it on the high for these visiting in the course of the subsequent few months. The zig once they zag recommendation there must be a high precedence for upcoming visits, particularly from roughly Columbus Day by Christmas!
Relating to selecting the very best and worst instances to go to Walt Disney World, there’s loads to think about. If you happen to’re singularly targeted on avoiding lengthy traces, we suggest consulting our 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar to decide on journey dates. That will get up to date pretty usually, with every particular person month receiving a refresh proper earlier than it begins for optimum accuracy.
If you happen to’re extra involved with the standard of the general expertise, we even have one thing extra holistic and, frankly, sensible: our checklist of the 10 Finest and 10 Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2025, 2026 & 2027. When you slender down the week you wish to go to Walt Disney World, it’s time to begin interested by which days of the week to do every park.
That’s the place this submit come into play, beginning with Celebration Season at the beginning…
Celebration Season
Celebration season in Magic Kingdom encompasses early August by late December–a reasonably large chunk of the calendar–when the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Celebration (MVMCP) particular occasions are held.
On days when the social gathering is held, Magic Kingdom opens at 8 am or 9 am and closes to common ticket holders at 6 pm. On non-party days, Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am and closes at 10 pm or 11 pm. That means MK is open 5 hours later to common visitors when MNSSHP and MVMCP usually are not held.
Most guests see this and make the intuitive selection of visiting Magic Kingdom once they can spend further hours within the park, expertise night, see Starlight evening parade and Fortunately Ever After fireworks. It’s the “apparent” resolution, as extra time within the park is the sturdy visitor desire.
Everybody making the identical intuitive resolution throws a monkey wrench into attendance and crowd dynamics in the course of the social gathering season. The consequence of that visitor habits ought to likewise be apparent: Magic Kingdom is considerably much less busy in the course of the day time hours on dates when events are held within the night, and far more busy on non-party days.
Magic Kingdom usually has 7/10 or above crowd ranges on non-party days, with Mondays and Saturdays being the worst.
Against this, Magic Kingdom usually has 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges on social gathering days. That quantities to a median wait time differential of about 20 to half-hour per journey, which provides up over the course of the day to the purpose which you could accomplish extra within the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.
The large draw back to attending Magic Kingdom on a celebration day is having to go away by 6 pm. This implies lacking the fireworks, Starlight, and normally night within the park. That is why we extremely suggest Park Hopper tickets throughout Celebration Season, in any other case you’re confronted with a tough dilemma.
When you’ve got Park Hoppers, the apparent play is visiting in the course of the day on 6 pm cut-off dates, after which hopping again for night on 11 pm closing nights. Simply brace your self for considerably increased crowds than what you skilled on the social gathering day, as many individuals may have the identical thought!
Particularly, we suggest Park Hopping to a different park earlier than 4 pm. Visitors of the occasions can begin getting into Magic Kingdom at 4 pm, and this ‘mix-in’ time with common day visitors is when the park goes from blissfully uncrowded to busier. (We normally intention to go away by 3 pm.)
There’s one other upside to visiting Magic Kingdom in the course of the day when a celebration is held at evening: earlier opening instances on many dates. It is a big benefit, as coated in Photograph Report & Technique: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am. Suffice to say, there’s a giant distinction in crowds for Early Entry on a day when Magic Kingdom opens to the general public at 8 am vs. 9 am.
There’s additionally a flip facet to all of this, which is that the opposite 3 parks are barely much less crowded on non-party days and extra crowded on social gathering days. This could make sense, provided that Magic Kingdom crowds don’t exist in a vacuum. If much less or extra individuals are in a single park, the alternative is true within the others.
Because of this, all three different parks turn out to be higher choices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays throughout Celebration Season. We nonetheless don’t actively suggest doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a Monday–since that’s its busiest day of the week, but it surely’s not as unhealthy on a Monday throughout Celebration Season as it’s the remainder of the 12 months.
The converse can be true: EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom are worse choices on days when the events are held in Magic Kingdom. None of that is as pronounced as it’s with the curler coaster crowds in Magic Kingdom, although. With 3 different parks to soak up the displaced visitors, the impression is decrease on every of them than on Magic Kingdom itself.
Complicating issues much more is that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a part of the Celebration Season fray in November and December because of Disney Jollywood Nights. Though issues might change in 2025, Jollywood Nights had a negligible impression on crowd dynamics in every of its first two years.
Because of this, we’re making the possibly complicated and ‘conflicting’ suggestion to keep away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Jollywood Nights days. This 12 months, Jollywood Nights is held choose nights from November 8 to December 22, 2025. Word that November dates are set for choose Saturdays and Mondays, whereas December dates fall on choose Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
Avoiding these Jollywood Nights dates must be easy-enough, and according to our recommendation beneath. It mainly narrows our suggestion to doing DHS on a Thursday in December, with each Wednesday and Thursday nonetheless being honest sport in November. Straightforward sufficient!
Taking {that a} step additional, we’d suggest Animal Kingdom on Monday or Friday and EPCOT on Wednesday or Thursday throughout Celebration Season. That’s the simplest recommendation for navigating the complicated crowd dynamics of Celebration Season. This supersedes all the park-by-park suggestions beneath.
If you happen to don’t thoughts extra congestion or a extra ‘vigorous’ environment, EPCOT on Sunday can be an choice. Sunday additionally stays an excellent decide for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Wednesday is nice (besides on DJN dates in December 2025). When you’ve got Park Hopper tickets, probably the most simple choice is bouncing to Magic Kingdom within the night after tackling Animal Kingdom. Once more, simply be warned that crowds might be heavier, particularly for Disney Starlight: Dream the Night time Away and Fortunately Ever After.
Apologies for this prolonged clarification, however that is the most essential consideration in selecting your day to go to every park throughout Celebration Season. Crowd patterns this time of 12 months are probably the most constant and predictable–this identical dynamic has performed out with MNSSHP and MVMCP for years, and it makes a big distinction at Magic Kingdom. Whereas it doesn’t embody the whole calendar, it does apply to five months of the 12 months–when you’re visiting throughout this stretch, we’d once more extremely suggest shopping for Park Hopper tickets and following this recommendation!
If you happen to’re visiting someday outdoors of Celebration Season (so mainly 2026) or need extra complete recommendation, right here’s our clarification of the very best & worst days of the week at Walt Disney World…
Hollywood Studios
Though weekends have gotten busier throughout the board at Walt Disney World, Fridays by Sundays stay good days to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That is very true when you arrive early or keep late.
Sunday nights are the very best time to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you happen to’re arriving late (after 4 pm), you possibly can accomplish a stunning quantity in that half-day at DHS. Frankly, it’s tough to clarify the ‘why’ of that at this level. One chance is that locals nonetheless do Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Sunday, however achieve this in the course of the center of the day and depart early.
This causes a giant spike in noon wait instances, leading to each these visitors and others bouncing early…and shorter wait instances within the afternoon and night. It’s additionally attainable that locals are much less inclined to do rides, particularly ones with increased wait instances.
DHS is a foul choice on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is because it’s normally the #2 precedence park (after Magic Kingdom) for many visitors, so visitors find yourself doing Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier of their journey…which normally means Mondays or Tuesdays.
Objectively, Wednesday or Thursday are the very best choices–the bottom wait instances of the week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If neither of these days work, Friday by Sundays are nearly pretty much as good–probably higher when you arrive early or keep late. Mainly, crowd ranges begin out sturdy to start the week and drop considerably on Wednesday.
EPCOT
EPCOT is the worst decide on weekends as a result of it’s the most important “native’s park” at Walt Disney World, and EPCOT is extra widespread with Floridians than vacationers. The hole has closed a bit of due to Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and Take a look at Observe 3.0, but it surely’s nonetheless true.
Wait instances don’t inform the total story–and even the primary one–with regards to EPCOT on weekends. Since locals are much less more likely to do rides, they add to ‘seems like’ crowds and congestion with out making attraction wait instances noticeably worse. That is nonetheless a adverse, as traces for meals cubicles are longer and World Showcase is usually much less nice on the weekends.
You’re additionally extra more likely to encounter teams Ingesting Across the World on Saturday and Sunday. For these of you who wish to relive your glory days by attending an open air frat social gathering, this would possibly sound interesting. We’re not teetotalers or something, however this generally could be a tad an excessive amount of for a family-friendly theme park. Even when it doesn’t cross the road, World Showcase is considerably extra crowded and congested on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays.
That is is a qualitative evaluation, and never a quantitative one. Wait instances usually are not considerably worse at EPCOT on weekends. Since many of the aforementioned viewers is visiting to drink, they’ve a minor impression on rides. However even objectively, Saturday is the third busiest day of the week for wait instances.
You would possibly be capable to “beat” the weekend crowds at EPCOT just by arriving early, doing World Showcase first, after which doubling-back into Future World within the early afternoon. That’s a savvy technique, and one we suggest in our EPCOT 1-Day Itinerary. If you happen to should do a weekend, select Sunday (it’s objectively slower), arrive early and keep till park closing. Noon is the worst as locals arrive later and depart earlier.
Our precise recommendation is visiting EPCOT on a weekday. Wednesdays by Friday are all equally good. As EPCOT has added extra top-tier points of interest, it’s now additionally a high-priority park, and has the worst wait instances Mondays and Tuesdays. Keep away from these days.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is the park that requires the least technique and is the simplest place to beat the crowds in all of Walt Disney World. It doesn’t require shopping for Lightning Lanes, and is fairly simple to knock out all the pieces–after which some–when you keep for a full day.
Objectively, the very best days to go to Animal Kingdom are weekdays. Common each day wait instances are decrease Tuesday by Friday than they’re Saturday or Sunday. As soon as once more, Wednesday is the very best day of the week–however you possibly can’t do each park on Wednesday, so Animal Kingdom is an efficient choice on Monday or Tuesday, when each different park is considerably busier.
Weekend wait instances are solely “worse” at Animal Kingdom because of the center of the day. If you happen to’re staying on-site and benefiting from Early Entry (and even going within the first couple hours the park is open), it’s fairly simple to beat the crowds. Furthermore, there’s a fairly steep fall off in wait instances over the past couple hours Animal Kingdom is open. This one does fluctuate by season (in the course of the holidays, it’s much less more likely to be true) however is correct to a point all through the whole 12 months.
That makes Animal Kingdom trickier than different parks at Walt Disney World by way of our suggestion. Statistically, it’s a “unhealthy” park to do on Saturday or Sunday. Nevertheless, we don’t hesitate to go to it on both of these days as a result of it’s really easy to outsmart the crowds–simply arrive early and/or keep late, and do reveals or animal displays noon when crowds peak.
Our greatest recommendation is to decide on your days for Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT first. No matter day is left over might be “assigned” to Animal Kingdom. Don’t fear an excessive amount of about this park. Even on crowded days, the technique for Animal Kingdom is comparatively easy, as coated in our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary.
Magic Kingdom
The worst day of the week at Magic Kingdom is Monday, and by a large margin. Keep away from Magic Kingdom on Mondays if in any respect attainable. Tuesdays and Wednesdays also needs to be averted, however they’re not almost as unhealthy as Mondays.
Locals have a tendency to go to on weekends, with Saturday being more likely than Fridays or Sundays. Then there are Southerners who take lengthy weekend journeys, impacting all three days (however once more, largely Saturday). Nonetheless, these demos are all smaller than vacationers, so none of them are actually horrible.
Lastly, vacationers most incessantly begin their journeys on the weekend, and Monday is the most typical first day within the parks for them. In disproportionate numbers, out-of-state vacation-goers do the preferred or their favourite park first, and that’s normally Magic Kingdom. They’re much less more likely to go to Magic Kingdom within the second half of the week.
This leaves Thursday and Friday because the least busy days of the week at Magic Kingdom throughout regular instances of the 12 months. Sunday has additionally emerged as a surprisingly uncrowded day at Magic Kingdom. We’re hesitant to suggest visiting on Sunday as a result of historic wait time knowledge suggests this may change, but it surely has actually been an excellent choice these days.
Magic Kingdom might be more difficult when it’s busy, but it surely’s nonetheless attainable to have a satisfying and productive day within the park. We’d suggest shopping for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross in Magic Kingdom, or at the very least utilizing Early Entry. Observe our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary if you wish to beat the crowds with out both.
Finest & Worst Days at WDW Recap
We’ve coated quite a lot of floor and it may be overwhelming, so let’s attempt to break down the very best and worst days to go to every park at Walt Disney World in a extra concise method:
Go to on These Days:
- Wednesday and Thursday do Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday can be good at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if staying late
- Thursday or Friday do Magic Kingdom
- Wednesday by Friday do EPCOT
- Any weekday do Animal Kingdom–when you should do a park on Monday, make it DAK
- Celebration Days do Magic Kingdom if in a position to Park Hop elsewhere
Okay to Good Days:
- Fridays and Saturdays are superb at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Sunday is sweet at Magic Kingdom, with nights being finest
- Weekends are superb at EPCOT if arriving and leaving early
- Saturday and Sunday do Animal Kingdom if arriving early or staying late
Keep away from 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 must see that some days are constantly the very best and worst for a number of parks. Which means that in the course of the course of a median trip, you may need no selection however to do sure parks on days that aren’t objectively pretty much as good. Don’t fear about that, as defined within the remaining part…
How A lot Does Day of the Week Matter?
Common wait instances can fluctuate by 3 to 10 minutes on the very best versus worst days of the week at every park. That will not look like a lot, however a ten minute distinction is definitely big. Over the course of the day, that may means spending an hour (or extra) much less time ready in line when you select appropriately.
Nevertheless, it’s not normally a ten minute distinction–that’s an excessive instance. You additionally in all probability wouldn’t select the worst days if choosing at random, nor would you unintentionally go at solely the time of day when crowds are heaviest and the hole is highest. So in observe, you possibly can in all probability count on to avoid wasting only some minutes per journey by making good selections with the day of the week you go to every park. That’s not a ton of time, but it surely does add up over the course of a visit.
Throughout Celebration Season, selecting the very best days and avoiding the worst issues much more than all different instances of the 12 months. Particularly when you’re visiting in the course of the remaining three months of the 12 months, selecting the correct day might be make-or-break in your notion of crowds. Even then, there’s usually far more of a distinction in crowds between weeks somewhat than inside them.
Accordingly, selecting an excellent time to go to Walt Disney World is considerably extra essential than the way you allocate your days inside the week. Much more essential is arriving early and/or staying late, which is the best approach to beat crowds at Walt Disney World. Late morning to mid-afternoon is the busiest time of day at each single park, and when wait instances are the worst.
Simply as essential is having savvy technique. Selecting an ideal day or week to go to could make touring the parks considerably simpler, however so can also having an excellent itinerary that zigs when others zag. Then there’s the choice of shopping for your means out of crowds with Lightning Lanes, which is one other good fail secure choice. Talking of which, we have now a complete Information to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for individuals who wish to completely grasp the newest era of paid FastPass.
Selecting the very best days of the week–and avoiding the worst ones–at every Walt Disney World theme park comes in spite of everything of these issues. To make sure, it’s an excellent observe and value conserving in thoughts that Magic Kingdom is finest on Thursday or Friday, or that EPCOT must be averted on weekends.
It’s additionally helpful for these boxed into lower than ultimate journey dates because of faculty or work schedules. Identical goes for anybody who realistically gained’t have the choice to reach early or keep late. Ditto anybody who doesn’t wish to pay further for Lightning Lanes. For anybody this describes, fastidiously selecting days of the week for every park can relieve some stress and lead to shorter wait instances.
Furthermore, day of the weeke suggestions are fairly simple to disrupt. All it actually takes is inclimate climate (comparatively commonplace in Florida) or inordinate attraction downtime. Both of these issues might be sufficient to show a “unhealthy” day right into a “good” one by way of wait instances, or vice-versa.
Finally, just by advantage of researching and studying a submit about the very best and worst days of the week to go to each park at Walt Disney World, you’re higher geared up to keep away from crowds than 95% of visitors–however since you’re nearly actually not studying simply this technique. Whereas the recommendation right here is theoretically helpful, it’s fairly removed from make or break.
You’re significantly better off utilizing the different sources on this weblog to decide on good weeks to go to. If that’s not an choice (and even whether it is), bear in mind to reach early or keep late. Failing that, use our itineraries to prioritize points of interest in the very best order. Don’t wish to try this for some odd purpose, spend the cash on Lightning Lane Multi-Cross and purchase your means out of traces. If you happen to’d somewhat not spend cash and float throughout a midday-only go to…I assume that is the very best recommendation for you!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study motels on our Walt Disney World Lodges Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the pieces it’s essential to know!
Your Ideas
Which days are your favorites for every of the parks? Suppose it’s good recommendation to keep away from EPCOT on weekends, even when it’s not supported by wait instances? What about weekends at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Another finest or worst days at every of the Walt Disney World theme parks? Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
