Disney World President's Day 2026: Why Magic Kingdom Beat The Crowds

Magic Kingdom was the park to visit on President’s Day if you were looking to beat the highest wait times. Although wait times were high, Magic Kingdom did not have the highest wait times for key attractions. For UK visitors, this park would have given the best overall experience for wait times and number of attractions experienced in a day.

While the queues at Hollywood Studios and EPCOT made the headlines for all the wrong reasons this President's Day; 130 minute wait times: President’s Day best and worst Disney World queue times 2026. Magic Kingdom was busy but didn’t have the biggest wait times, proving that size really does matter when it comes to the number of attractions.

Magic Kingdom: A Quieter Park On Busy Days?

On a major US holiday like President's Day, you would expect Magic Kingdom, the home of the Castle and the very heart of Disney, to be the most congested place on Earth. But the data for 2026 tells a different story.

While Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom all buckled under 130-minute wait times, Magic Kingdom's heaviest hitter, TRON Lightcycle / Run, never broke the 100-minute barrier at key peak times in comparison to other parks. Here’s the stats:

A comparison bar chart showing the highest recorded wait time for each of the four Disney World parks on President's Day 2026. Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom are all shown reaching a peak of 130 minutes, while Magic Kingdom's peak is significantly lower at 95 minutes.

Why Size Makes A Difference

The secret to Magic Kingdom's success during a crowd surge is capacity. Magic Kingdom is the smallest park by square feet, but it has the highest attraction capacity. On President’s Day 2026 Magic Kingdom had 22 ride based attractions open in comparison to 11 at EPCOT, 9 at Hollywood Studios and 5 at Animal Kingdom. This means that Magic Kingdom absorbs higher crowds across a greater number of rides.

44.4% of Hollywood Studios rides hit 100+ minute waits.
0% of Magic Kingdom rides hit a 100 minute wait.
27.3% of EPCOT rides had a 100+ minute wait
28.6% of Animal Kingdom rides had a 100+ minute wait.

Magic Kingdom can spread its crowds across dozens of high-volume omnimover style rides like Haunted Mansion and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover. This is shown by the data from ride wait times we collected during the day. Hollywood Studios reached a wait time saturation point for many guests with 44% of its major attractions hitting a 100-minute wait or higher. It’s the point, if not sooner, that a lot of UK visitors decide not to wait in lines.

In contrast, 0% of Magic Kingdom's rides broke the 100-minute barrier. With over triple the ride landing spots for crowds, Magic Kingdom effectively diluted the holiday influx, keeping its average wait time to a resort-low 58 minutes.

Opening Times Impact Wait Times

Our trend analysis shows that while other parks had wild wait time spikes, (like Soarin' Across the World jumping 80 minutes in just two hours due to a different major attraction experiencing ride down time), Magic Kingdom wait times remained remarkably stable throughout peak hours and well into the evening. Here are the top headline attractions and their wait times at Magic Kingdom:

A line graph showing wait time stability at Magic Kingdom throughout President's Day 2026. The graph tracks five major rides including TRON and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The lines remain relatively flat and consistent between 50 and 95 minutes, demonstrating that the park avoided the extreme 130-minute spikes seen at other Disney parks.

By staying open until 11:00 PM, Magic Kingdom offered 37% more operating hours than Animal Kingdom. This longer time combined with the number of open ride type attractions prevented the midday bottleneck for wait times that was seen in other parks.

Should You Visit Magic Kingdom on Busy Days?

The data shows that Magic Kingdom absorbs crowds well and wait times stay lower simply because it offers more ride based experiences. That does not mean that the park feels less crowded, especially when it comes to watching fireworks. However, if you are looking to avoid long wait times on busy days in Disney World, Magic Kingdom is a good choice.

Planning to visit Magic Kingdom on a busy day will currently help you spend less time waiting in queues overall during peak hours, and you are going to get more rides done without spending money on Lightning Lanes.

If you are visiting during a peak holiday period, don't let the icon status of Magic Kingdom scare you off. Because of its sheer scale and operational endurance, it remains the most efficient park in Disney World when the crowds are at their highest.

Magic In A Minute

Magic Kingdom has the lowest wait times during a busy 2026 President’s Day, showing that planning to skip the iconic Disney Park is not the right strategy if crowds are high. Magic Kingdom has more ride experiences to help absorb crowds in 2026, so if you are looking for shorter wait times consider this in your planning.