A little extra Magic goes a long way, especially at Walt Disney World! As a guest at any Walt Disney World resort or hotel located on property you gain exclusive access to Extra Magic Hours. Extra Magic Hours are select times prior to park opening and following closing when guests are able to explore the park with limited attraction wait times.
A planner at heart, our vacations revolve around Extra Magic Hours. Understanding that being at the parks late into the day exhausts us, my family always makes sure to take advantage of early and late Magic Hours to be able to ride all of our favorite attractions without large lines and still be able to spend time pool side in the afternoon.
As with anything related to a Disney vacation, there are some tips and tricks when tackling Extra Magic Hours at each park. The strategies I use for specific attractions and parks are below!
Magic Kingdom
Growing up and even now the magic of Walt Disney World has always lived in Magic Kingdom. Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel are all timeless attractions that continue to create the most memorable experiences. The best part about Magic Kingdom is there is an attraction for everyone, but this can also make it difficult when trying to strategically plan your Extra Magic Hours.
The moment we arrive and moments before we leave you can find us at Magic Kingdom! Soaking up every ounce of magic, we love to take advantage of any additional time in the park. Due to the amount of attractions, planning out this extra magical time can be helpful and we organize this time differently for both early and late Extra Magic Hours.
Early Magic Hours offer a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of riding those rides at the top of your list that you may not have a FastPass+ for. This usually means that we start at Space Mountain and work our way over to Pirates of the Caribbean, depending on wait times of course! Usually, Splash Mountain will be skipped until later in the day to avoid being drenched. The reason for beginning at this side of the park for early Magic Hours is simply by preference and feeling as though covering ground (and riding as many rides as possible) is easier based on park layout and the number of guests in that area. This may differ for the time of year you visit.
Late Magic Hours are the best! The crowds at night and those taking advantage of late Magic Hours are significantly lower than in the morning. There truly isn’t anything like walking around the park at night with barely anyone around, unbelievably magical! Every time we have gone we were able to ride every popular ride in the park with no wait at all! Again, this probably varies based on the time of year, but regardless of when you visit heading over to see the castle at night is a must do!
Epcot
Epcot is an absolute favorite at Disney! The shopping and culinary experiences are phenomenal as well as the attractions! Each year we go, we always say we don’t spend enough time there. This year, we took a different approach and spent about two full days there and utilized the Extra Magic Hours.
Similarly to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, depending on the time of year, Extra Magic Hours are held in the morning and at night. Based on the park hours and the time in-between when the park opens and World Showcase opens I prefer to take advantage of the Late Magic Hours. This way, I don’t feel like I have to rush out in the morning to wait in a crowd of people for bag checks and then rides with an awkward gap in between park openings.
At night our strategy usually is as follows: get a spot to watch IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth on the bridge right after Mexico. Then, as the Fireworks come to a close make our way pass the Odyssey Center straight to Test Track. At this point in the night, the wait is typically about 20/30 minutes including the queue to create your own sports car. After this, we make our way to Soarin'. Once we have hit our favorites we make our way back to the Grand Floridian just after the onslaught of people have already exited. Timing is everything in having the whole visit flow together and Extra Magic Hours help so much!
Hollywood Studios
Jam out with Aerosmith on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, travel to the twilight zone with the Tower or Terror, become a Rebel spy and fight the Empire on Star Tours or ride on Slinky Dog in Toy Story Land, the options are endless! Hollywood Studios has so many action packed rides that it taking advantage of Extra Magic Hours is a must!
Traveling with kids, friends or your other half will all determine how you decide to tackle Extra Magic Hours at Hollywood Studios. Those of you who are bringing kids, I suggest rushing over to Toy Story Land to get in line for Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Saucers. They are both kid friendly and typically have long wait times as they are brand new. Any one seeking some thrill should head over to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Since Tory Story Land has opened it has taken away the demand for these popular attractions making it easy to ride either of these rides, three, four or five times before the park opens.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is full of exciting new attractions that you can take advantage of during Extra Magic Hours. In my experience, AK typically has Extra Magic Hours during the morning. If this is the case for you as well I would suggest taking the following steps to make sure you can get on all the major attractions before the park opens and is flooded with guests.
Early Magic Hours begin at 8AM and end once the park opens at 9AM. A trick to taking advantage of Magic Hours is to arrive before 8AM, probably around 7:15AM and immediately head over to The Flight of Passage to get in line, there will be a line so just prepare yourself. As soon as it is officially 8AM they will open rides and because you’ve arrived early you will be some of the first people on The Flight of Passage so once you have finished there walk across the pathway to the Na’vi River to get in line before it gets too long. At this point, it should be no later than 8:30, which leaves you with a couple of options. (1) head over to Expedition Everest and ride about three or four times until the park opens or (2) get a spot on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. The best choice for us has been to do a little of both! Grab a quick seat on Everest and haul butt to the safari! The pace you feel like best suits your vacation style is the one you should choose. Either way, you have hit the three top attractions in the park all before 9AM!
Disney Style Highlight:
A Disney Wardrobe wouldn’t be complete without a Haunted Mansion tank top! Typically, I won’t purchase Disney clothing merchandise because I don’t want to match with everyone in the parks, but when it comes to the Haunted Mansion, I just can’t help myself!
The Haunted Mansion attraction at Magic Kingdom has been my favorite since I was little. Surprising, I know, since I’m the biggest chicken when it comes to anything remotely spooky, but I simply can’t help loving it. Due to the fact that I just can’t get enough, I couldn’t help but to add this tank to my Disney collection!
My specific tank top can only be purchased at Memento Mori. The classic wallpaper print lines the front and back of this Racer back tank top and the back has an additional bit of black lace. There is a similar tank top available online if you download the app shopDisney. When you are looking make sure to search “The a Haunted Mansion” and it will come up about half way through the product list. As always, my shorts are from Madewell and are my absolute favorite, especially paired with traditional white converse!
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