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Credit: DisneyStrange things are occurring at Magic Kingdom Park.
Known as the Disney Park that started it all, Magic Kingdom is the crown jewel of Walt Disney World Resort. The Disney World theme park draws in more crowds each year than any other theme park in the world, and for good reason.
Magic Kingdom is home to several iconic attractions, like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight, Jungle Cruise, and “it’s a small world”. The theme park also just officially opened TRON Lightcycle / Run after more than a half-decade of construction on the attraction, which is located next to Space Mountain. While this is certainly an impressive sight to behold, Disney isn’t done there. Disney is rumored to be planning a massive expansion, titled “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” which could include Encanto, Coco, or even Disney Villains.
Magic Kingdom is divided into several lands, including Frontierland, Liberty Square, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland. Of course, we couldn’t forget to mention the iconic Main Street, U.S.A., that every Guest walks down when they enter the theme park and beloved Cinderella Castle, which is at the center of it all.
Recently, Twitter account @bioreconstruct shared an aerial photo of Magic Kingdom, where we can see some interesting developments taking place. First, we can see the refurbishments and refreshments happening at Cinderella Castle, which has resulted in the construction walls going up around the iconic landmark. But, what might be more interesting is the crowds that we see around the castle.
Aerial photo of Cinderella Castle with boom lifts and a crane at the base. Regular refurbishment, as well as removing the 50th anniversary decorations.
Aerial photo of Cinderella Castle with boom lifts and a crane at the base. Regular refurbishment, as well as removing the 50th anniversary decorations. pic.twitter.com/nVyKjGi3z2
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) May 12, 2023
Obviously, this photo isn’t a complete picture of the Disney Park, but the amount of people we see walking through the main hub of the theme park is uncanny. Typically, there is very little room to maneuver while walking down Main Street, U.S.A. and this doesn’t change in the central hub, where hundreds of Guests normally line up to get pictures in front of Cinderella Castle.
However, in this photo, we can see very few crowds and it was shared on a Friday, nonetheless, which is absolutely rare. Honestly, if you were just looking at this photo without any understanding of when it was taken, you might think that it was an aerial photo of Magic Kingdom during the COVID pandemic when capacity was severely limited.
A quick check at the My Disney Experience App showed that wait times were uncommonly low, with Haunted Mansion showing its unique “13-minute” wait time several times throughout the day. For those who don’t know, both Haunted Mansion and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Disney’s Hollywood Studios show a “13-minute” wait time when the ride is essentially a walk-on.
This certainly was a fun time to be in the Parks for Disney Guests, but fans shouldn’t expect this to become the norm. With Memorial Day weekend right around the corner, summer crowds will begin to take over Walt Disney World Resort. As a result, we’ll start to see wait times soar to the highest they’ve been since spring break crowds were in the Disney Parks and they’ll remain relatively high throughout the summer– with a few downtimes here or there– before crowds pick up in a major way in the fall for Halloween celebrations, followed directly by Christmas and Holiday celebrations.
What’s your best memory of Magic Kingdom? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!