Credit: Marada, FlickrGuests are pushing for changes at Disney World after a scary experience at Magic Kingdom.
Disney’s operations are widely regarded as some of the most efficient in the theme park industry. From transportation to guest flow, the company has spent decades refining systems designed to move tens of thousands of people smoothly. Even so, peak periods can expose weaknesses.
Massive Crowds Spark Scary Situations at Magic Kingdom
Last week, guests complained about a severe “bottleneck” at Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, shortly before nighttime entertainment. Crowding during fireworks is expected, but several guests said conditions crossed from uncomfortable into genuinely alarming.
“The walking path basically became a funnel with no actual path,” one guest wrote on Reddit. “People were standing in it, sitting and laying in it, parking strollers in it, and it reached a point where everyone just trying to pass through got trapped.”
Another guest has since detailed another scary experience that occurred earlier in the month.
They said they tried to leave the park before the nighttime spectacular, Happily Ever After, but found themselves stuck in place for more than 20 minutes, unable to move with the crowd.
“I love Disney, but I have to be honest, Magic Kingdom is the park I look forward to going to the least during the evenings,” the guest wrote on Reddit. “There was a massive crowd of people also trying to leave, but none of us could move, and I was trapped in a sea of people for well over 20 [minutes] just standing there unable to move. I get that [it’s] during the holidays, but man, it was honestly scary, and I feel like something really needs to be done to address that the show makes it nearly impossible to move through the park and just fricken GET OUT.”
The Magic Kingdom firework show crowd control is getting out of hand
byu/Lunnalai inWaltDisneyWorld
They added that the experience has kept them from returning since.
Other guests chimed in with advice for navigating holiday crowds. Common suggestions included exiting through the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A., or waiting out the fireworks before attempting to leave the park.
High Attendance Hits Disney World
The complaints come as Magic Kingdom continues to see extremely high holiday attendance. In recent weeks, the park has repeatedly reached capacity for its nighttime parade, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, with crowd control measures tightening around Main Street, U.S.A.
While visiting on December 4, we heard announcements around the park confirming that viewing for the first parade performance of the night was already at capacity. The second showing, however, was noticeably less crowded.
Other Inside the Magic writers have heard similar announcements for the Starlight parade at the park this month.
Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, additional performances of Fantasmic! have been added to the calendar in an attempt to mitigate the heavy crowds expected between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
With holiday crowds showing no signs of slowing, some guests are now questioning whether Disney needs to rethink crowd control strategies during peak nighttime events, especially as fireworks and parades continue to draw massive numbers into tight spaces.