17 Tips to Avoid Crowds at Disney World

If you’re traveling to Walt Disney World there is one thing you need to know. It is crowded. And by crowded, we mean really crowded. Whether it’s for a new ride opening, something special like the holidays, or just when everyone else seems to be visiting, it can get crowded. So much so that ride lines become unbearable. But there are things you can do. So how can you still have fun during crowded times? And not feel like you just wasted thousands of dollars to stand around in the hot Florida sun. Here are our best tips Avoid Crowds at Disney World.

Like most families, we have visited Disney World during some pretty crowded times. Even with all the Disney Crowd Calendars and the best tips, you may still find unbearable crowds at Walt Disney World. So unbearable for us in fact, that from day one we quickly came up with ways to get there at a less crowded time. Thankfully, the cheapest times to visit Walt Disney World typically also have the fewest crowds and are also the times we can most afford to go. And while this works, for us, it may not for everyone. 

Of course, you didn’t spend thousands of dollars on a Disney Trip to not ride your favorite ride, or wait in line all day, or not get your dining reservation, right? Luckily, we’re rounded up some tried and true tips for Disney World when it’s busy.

Use Early Theme Park Entry

Disney Resorts get Early Theme Park Entry, which allows you access to the parks 30 minutes before other guests. Thirty minutes may not seem like a lot, but if you can be at the gates even earlier than your early entry time, that is best. Of course, if you’re using this strategy at Magic Kingdom, be sure to read up on how the Magic Kingdom early entry works, since it’s different than the other parks.  And Check the Walt Disney World Parks Calendar for opening times at each park. 

Disney Pro Tip: If you’ve missed your first choice Lightning Lane selection, use this time to head to that ride, and check the line wait. While some popular Disney rides will still be crowded at rope drop, you may get lucky. 

Book an Early Morning Breakfast Reservation

One of our favorite ways to beat the Crowds at Disney World is to make an early morning breakfast reservation.  Not only does this get you into the parks before everyone else, but if you time it right, your breakfast can actually be finished before other guests arrive. With this strategy, you’ll be closer to your favorite rides, experiences, and shops before the crowds even start arriving! And you can snag a spot in the front of the line at your favorite rides first.

Disney Pro Tip: The Best Restaurants to use this strategy are Garden Grill at EPCOT, Akershus at EPCOT, Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom and Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. These restaurants will get you inside the park, close to rides you may want to prioritize. 

Start Late, Stay Late

We also sometimes just start late and stay late. This keeps us out of the 10 a.m. park entry rush, and away from the early morning race to rides. This means we can enjoy a nice Breakfast at Disney World and head into the parks around lunch. That way, while everyone else is eating lunch, we can head to ride lines with lower wait times. Starting late and staying late also helps if you plan to see the Starlight Parade and Happily Ever After Fireworks at Magic Kingdom, or Luminous at EPCOT. These nighttime shows are great, but can be tough to get through after a long day. 

Disney Pro Tip: If a few late nights are in your plan, prioritize Disney Resorts that have great transportation options, like the Skyliner, Monorail or Boat service. That way you don’t have to wait for an hour at the bus depot for a ride back to the hotel. 

Ride Popular Rides at Lunchtime Between 12-2 pm

Between the hours of 12 noon and 2 pm, people are typically eating lunch. During this time you’ll also notice all the Park Hoppers leaving the parks, to go to the next one. As such, planning popular rides you may have missed during lunch hours is one of our best Disney Ride Strategies.

Disney Pro Tip: Popular rides at Disney World almost always have lines in the morning. If you’re discouraged by the lines, plan to head those rides right before closing time. The lines are always naturally shorter at nighttime, and as long as you’re in line before the park closes, you’ll be able to ride it before you leave. 

Consider Using Lightning Lane

Disney offers a fee based service called Lightning Lane to help you skip the line at rides. And on busy days it can be a godsend. Especially at Magic Kingdom. Although it can definitely be considered a splurge at between $15-$30 per person per day. It also can be really helpful for managing ride wait times during higher crowd levels.  Spending less time in line will help you enjoy your vacation. And while we generally prefer to travel to Disney World on a Budget, we also value our time, and Lightning Lane may be a good option.

Disney Pro Tip: Plan to stack your rides with Lightning Lane. Choosing the earliest timed rides available when you book your rides, means that you’ll have more time to choose additional rides once your initial ones are finished. This means, you can have a days worth of amazing rides lined up, if you choose those first rides of the day for early times. Since you can only hold 3 rides at a time, as soon as you scan into a Lightning Lane, you should be booking your next one. 

Take a Break Between 3-4 pm

Disney parks are the busiest between 12 pm – 4 pm. For this reason, we recommend you be anywhere else. Especially during the hot summer months at Disney when the afternoons are hot and crowded. Because of this, we recommend you leave the parks between 3-4 pm. During this time of day, people are flooding in from other parks, trying to get in their last rides before heading off to dinner, or back to the resorts with tired children. Here are our best recommendations for where to take a break at Walt Disney World Parks to keep out of the heat, crowds, and busiest times of day.

Disney Pro Tip: There are plenty of places to take a break at Disney World both inside and outside of the parks. And choosing the best places can be an experience in itself. Take your break time to explore nearby resorts, or grab a coffee. 

Leave the Parks

Sure you’re at Disney to enjoy the parks but you also just want to enjoy your vacation. If you can’t handle the crowds, use the heavily crowded afternoons to take a break from the parks. If you’re at Magic Kingdom head to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge by boat for some much-needed downtime. Or perhaps you’re at Animal Kingdom; then hop the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the animals and grab a great lunch while you’re there. And if you’re Epcot or Hollywood Studios, then entire Disney Boardwalk is within walking distance, offering beaches, restaurants, lobbies, and gift shops. 

Disney Pro Tip: Don’t take the bus. Leaving the parks in the middle of the day is great, but prioritize places you can go via skyliner, boat or monorail to save transportation time. 

Grab a Meal at a Disney Resort

Don’t eat at the parks. Not only is the food better at resorts, where they’re not serving 75k people a day, the atmosphere and dining options are too. Check out all the Disney Resort Restaurants for great quick serve meals, or sit down dinners. In close proximity to the parks, you can head to the monorail resorts, boardwalk resorts or skyliner resorts for great resort food options. 

Disney Pro Tip: Our favorite place for lunch near Magic Kingdom is the Contempo Cafe in Disney’s Contemporary Resort, or Gasparilla Grill at the Grand Floridian. Both are easy to get to by walking path or monorail and offer great budget-friendly quick service meals. 

Eat at Off-Peak Times

When planning your meal times consider the benefit of eating off-peak times. Tables at Quick Service restaurants will be hard to find during peak meal times, and booking your Table Service reservation may mean crowded restaurants and waiting longer to be seated. An 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. lunch will have shorter wait times, just like a 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. dinner. 

Disney Pro Tip: Planning to eat off regular meal times cut down your wait times for food and gets you into the parks when everyone else is eating. This means shorter lines at rides when you’re ready for them and better table availability when you’re ready to eat. It’s really a win-win all around.

Reconsider your Disney Transportation Choices

Waiting for buses at Disney World can be upwards of an hour during busy times and times when everyone else is leaving the parks. This can also be said of the monorail. If you’re ever been to Disney World for a late night party you know what we mean. Also, consider this a reminder that Disney Transportation is always complimentary and not obligated to get you ANYWHERE at a certain time. That said, be mindful to build in enough time if you have reservations, or need to be somewhere by a certain time.  

Disney Pro Tip: Prioritize transportation when choosing your resort. Resorts on the Disney Skyliner  and the Disney Boardwalk get you close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, while resorts on the Monorail get you close to Magic Kingdom. Be sure to take note what transportation options your resort offers. 

Upgrade your Disney Resort 

We always recommend staying at one of Walt Disney World’s Resorts for ease and convenience. But there are certain resorts, like the All Stars Resorts, that often host school groups, teams, and travel companies, that can make them feel chaotic and crowded. To avoid this, we always recommend, upgrading to a Moderate level resort if you can’t deal with the crowds. Check out the Categories of Disney Resorts at Walt Disney World to figure out which one would be best for your family. 

Disney Pro Tip: For your best chance at staying out of crowds at your Disney Resort, check out the Walt Disney World Events Calendar. Here you’ll get details on visiting groups, and holidays, as well as events, festivals and more to be aware of that may affect your visit. 

Use Mobile Order for Meals

Ahhhh. How glorious is it to be able to order your food in the My Disney Experience App, and then just have it show up on the counter, without needing to wait in line? Pretty glorious. You can Mobile Order most all your Quick Service Restaurant meals at Disney World and it just pay for it in the app. It’s simple and a huge time saver. 

Disney Pro Tip: And if you just need a Disney Snack, but don’t want to have to wait in line for it, many snacks are available in the app to mobile order too! Be sure to check it ahead of time, before you settle in a line.

Use Mobile Check-Out at the Gift Shops

One of the places you will see the most crowds at Disney are the gift shops. And it doesn’t matter when you go, they are always busy. Thankfully, Disney Gift Shops are now equipped with Disney Mobile Self-Check Out that is oh-so-convenient! All you have to do is scan the QR code to check out and scan the items you are purchasing. This saves time because you don’t have to stand in line. Then just grab a bag at a Mobile Checkout station on your way out. A cast member can confirm your purchase, and you’re on your way. No line waiting required. 

Disney Pro Tip: You can also pay with Disney Giftcards, and use your discounts in the app too! So be sure to double check your account, and make sure that the right cards are loaded, and discounts are applied! 

Get an After Hours or Party Ticket Instead

During the highest crowd times, we recommend just skipping the day ticket to the park altogether. Instead, use that ticket money to grab a  Disney After Hours Ticket or a Party ticket, if you’re visiting during the holiday season. This strategy means you can skip the busy parks during the day and head to Disney Springs, or take some much-needed resort downtime. And since the after hours events are limited capacity, you can ride more and do more during your visit. This tactic to avoid daytime crowds can work for any Disney Party. Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party, Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are all paid events that have fewer crowds than during the day.

Disney Pro Tip: Check the party arrival times before you go. Often a holiday party has a 4pm arrival at Magic Kingdom arrival, while an After Hours Party lets you arrive at 7pm. Either way, this gives you extra hours to be in the park, before your event starts and can help you maximize your time, without worrying about the crowds.

Know Where to Expect Crowds

Typically all the Walt Disney World Parks are busy during the weekends, holidays and sometimes evenings. But it does make a difference if you know the Best Days to Visit Each Park, which will naturally put you in the parks with lower crowds on certain days. That said, there are also typically crowded times that you can avoid.

• In EPCOT, festivals will be busiest from Thursday- Sunday. Avoid evenings and the weekend to make the most of those events.
• Magic Kingdom is the busiest park during the holidays. Avoid Mondays in Magic Kingdom, as this is when everyone starts their vacations and is always extra crowded on Mondays.
• Hollywood Studios is Disney Worlds smallest park, and fills up the fastest. Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge are generally crowded. 
• Animal Kingdom has lots of room to spread out, so crowds aren’t felt here as much. However, you can always expect long waits at the rides in Pandora. 

Take the Secret Shortcuts at Each Disney Park

From pathways near the Tree of Life that help you avoid the midway crowds to hidden walkways in Hollywood Studios. From heading into the giftshops to turning left instead of right, there are ways to avoid the packs of people. Check out the Secret Shortcuts at Walt Disney World that can help you get from one place to the other.

Skip the Holidays

If you’re traveling during the holidays, know that Walt Disney World can get crazy crowded during the holiday season too. This includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Christmas seasons. It can get so crowded, in fact, that sometimes Walt Disney World parks reach maximum capacity. And even have to stop letting guests enter! Because, yes, it is that crowded at Disney for the holidays. And so it goes that just as the most magical time of year approaches, so does the most crowded time of year.

Avoid Crowds at Disney

If you’re visiting Disney World during a busy time of year, then be sure to plan ahead with how to avoid the Disney Crowds. From taking shortcuts through the parks, to just leaving when it gets too bad, there are options!