Do You Need More Than One Day at Magic Kingdom?

Magic Kingdom is often considered the “main” park of Walt Disney World. With the castle, classic rides, characters, entertainment, and general Disney ambiance, it’s no surprise that this is the most popular theme park on property.

When planning a vacation to Walt Disney World, it’s important to think about how many days you’ll need in order to see and do everything that you’re interested in. You’ll want to make sure that you carve out enough time to fully experience everything that each park has to offer.

Can Magic Kingdom be done in one day? Let’s take a look! We’re going to explore the different offerings that are available to help determine if one day is enough time or if multiple days should be dedicated to this park.

The Most Popular Theme Park on Earth

Magic Kingdom is easily the most popular theme park at Walt Disney World. Not only that, it’s the most popular theme park in the entire world. Guests travel far and wide to see the beautiful Cinderella Castle and experience the magic that fills this park.

While it’s the most popular, it’s surprisingly not the largest of the four theme parks. It’s actually the smallest! Magic Kingdom  takes up a total of 107 acres. For comparison, Hollywood Studios measures in at 135 acres, coming in behind EPCOT, which is 300 acres, and leaving Animal Kingdom as the largest park with 580 acres.

However, even though Magic Kingdom isn’t the largest park, you shouldn’t let its size fool you. Within its six themed lands, Magic Kingdom holds the largest number of rides on property, as well as other attractions and offerings.

Can Magic Kingdom Be Done in One Day?

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Due to the fact that Magic Kingdom has so much to offer and is extremely popular, we recommend that you dedicate at least two days to this park. While you can experience quite a bit in one day, especially if you’re utilizing Lightning Lane Passes, multiple days will give you the chance to fully experience the park without feeling the urge to rush. A lot of magic can be missed if you’re trying to get through as many activities as possible, as quickly as possible. Your experience will be much better if you’re able to take your time to fully enjoy yourself at The Most Magical Place on Earth.

That being said, we do understand that it’s not always an option to visit a park multiple times during a trip. If you only have one day that you’re able to set aside for Magic Kingdom, that’s ok. While we feel like two days is better, you can still have an absolutely magical time in a single day. By prioritizing the activities that are most important to you, making advanced reservations, and using the tools within the My Disney Experience app, you’ll be able to have a successful day at Magic Kingdom. For helpful tips on how to make the most out of a single day at Magic Kingdom, check out our Magic Kingdom 1-Day Itinerary.

Now, let’s take a look at everything that Magic Kingdom has to offer!

What Types of Rides are at Magic Kingdom?

Magic Kingdom not only has the largest number of rides, it also has the widest range of ride styles. With a nice mixture of slow rides, dark rides, and thrill rides, Guests of all ages can enjoy fun-filled days at Magic Kingdom. This is one of the reasons why this park is so appealing to families. While there are thrilling rides for the older crowd to enjoy, such as TRON Lightcycle / Run and Space Mountain, there are also plenty of rides that have no height requirement that children and adults can enjoy together.

Magic Kingdom is also home to a number of rides that are quintessentially Disney. Timeless classics such as “it’s a small world”, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise have drawn Guests to this park for years, and keep them coming back again and again.

Can't-Miss Magic Kingdom Rides

For thrill seekers, TRON Lightcycle / Run is a must. When riding TRON, you’ll enter a computerized world and take part in an exciting race. While this ride isn’t very long, lasting only about one minute, a lot is packed into this coaster. One of the most appealing things about TRON is its unique, motorcycle-style ride vehicle. It’s also the fastest coaster out of all the Disney Parks, launching from 0 to 59 miles per hour in less than three seconds. 

Another great ride at Magic Kingdom is the newly opened Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Guests can experience an all-new journey with Princess Tiana as she sets her sights on a new goal. The ride features beloved characters from The Princess and the Frog, as well as new faces. There’s also a musical score with a variety of catchy new songs. The animatronics on this ride are some of the best out of all of Walt Disney World, with extremely impressive features and capabilities.

As I previously mentioned, there are quite a few classic rides that you won’t want to miss out on at Magic Kingdom. Some of the best include Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. While both of these rides take you on vastly different journeys, they both showcase the genius of the earliest Disney Imagineers. With exquisite storytelling, distinctive musical anthems, and vintage animatronics, you’ll feel as though you’ve traveled back in time to the early days of Disney.

Space Mountain is another oldie, but goodie that must be on your list of things-to-do. This retro-feeling indoor roller coaster takes Guests on an exciting space mission. The entire ride takes place in total darkness, with only the light of twinkling stars around you. As you journey through space, making your way down to Earth, you’ll experience sudden twists, turns, and drops, making the ride unpredictable and fun.

One of the more low-key rides that I would highly recommend riding is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. This elevated ride provides exceptional views of Tomorrowland and other parts of Magic Kingdom. (You can get some beautiful sights of the castle from this ride!) PeopleMover also passes through a number of buildings, giving you unique glimpses of Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and Star Traders. You also have the opportunity to see the model for Progress City, which was Walt’s original vision for EPCOT.

Managing Magic Kingdom's Large Number of Rides

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I personally always recommend using Lightning Lane Passes in order to make the most of your park time. Especially at Magic Kingdom. Not only does Magic Kingdom have a large number of rides, many of them are extremely popular. As we just saw, the can’t-miss rides aren’t simply thrill rides. There are also multiple family-friendly rides that Guests flock to, which results in long wait times.

With a combination of the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and the Lightning Lane Single Pass, you can quickly and easily get through a large portion of rides by avoiding the regular Stand-By lines. In between your pass times, you can enjoy some of the less popular rides that have lower wait times, as well as other Magic Kingdom offerings.

If you don’t plan on using Lightning Lane Passes, I would recommend coming up with a plan for your day. You can strategize by rope dropping, prioritizing your top-picks, and skipping rides that aren’t that important to you. With more than one day at the park, you’ll have a better opportunity to accomplish more. However, if you only have one day, you’ll want to manage your time wisely and avoid unnecessary waits.

If you find that you still have a ride that you want to ride at the end of the day, go get in line for it! As long as you’re in the queue before Magic Kingdom closes, you’ll be able to ride. The Cast Members will simply cut off access to the ride at park closing. Everyone who’s already in the line will be able to ride.

Enchanting Entertainment Offerings

The most commonly thought of forms of entertainment at Walt Disney World are parades and fireworks. However, Magic Kingdom offers so much more than that. From live entertainers, to stage shows, cinematic experiences, and even a comedy show, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

One show that I highly recommend seeing is Mickey’s PhilharMagic. This 4-D cinematic experience immerses Guests into different movies such as The Lion King, Aladdin, Coco, and Peter Pan. While enjoying the 3-D sights on the 150-foot-wide wrap around screen, Guests also experience special effects such as splashes of water and gusts of wind that make the experience even more realistic.

For some humorous entertainment, you can stop by Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. This is always a must see for my family and I. During the show, Mike Wazowski and other citizens of Monstropolis try to make the audience laugh, so they can fill up a canister with gigglewatts. Guests can take part in the show by submitting their own jokes for the monsters to use. They may even be chosen at random by one of the friendly monsters to become part of the act. This has happened to me on multiple occasions. While slightly embarrassing, it’s always a fun experience!

As someone who enjoys seeing characters at Walt Disney World, I always make sure to watch all of the cavalcades and parades that are available. Currently, there are two on the schedule – the Adventure Friends Cavalcade and the Festival of Fantasy Parade. The Adventure Friends Cavalcade includes more characters than any other Walt Disney World cavalcade has before. Look for friendly faces such as Woody and Jessie, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Miguel, Moana, Bruno, and more! Festival of Fantasy is a beautiful full-length parade. During this parade, floats glide down Main Street, while dancers and characters happily greet the Guests of Magic Kingdom to upbeat, regal fanfares.

As the sun sets, and the park starts to calm, it’s time to gather with friends and family in front of Cinderella Castle to watch Happily Ever After. This nighttime spectacular displays a beautiful combination of fireworks, lights, lasers, and special effects. A delightful story is told through song and projections that are displayed on Cinderella Castle and down the buildings of Main Street, U.S.A. The fireworks show is always such a special part of our vacation and a magical way to end a fun-filled day.

Whether you’re working with one or multiple days, you shouldn’t have a problem finding time to enjoy the available entertainment offerings. Most of the shows hold lower wait times throughout the day, while others, such as the parades and fireworks, have no specific wait times at all.

However, if entertainment isn’t on the top of your priority list, avoiding it all together is a great way to save some time. Additionally, rides and attractions often see much lower wait times while these shows are taking place. Specifically during the fireworks show! You can use this to your advantage and knock out quite a few activities while others are enjoying the show.

Furthermore, it’s very common for Guests to leave the park immediately after the fireworks show. Especially families with younger children. The park, however, remains open after the fireworks. Since many Guests end up leaving, consider sticking around and accomplishing even more with the lower crowds and shorter wait times.

The Best Places to Meet Characters at Magic Kingdom

A Guest-favorite experience at Walt Disney World is the character interactions. Magic Kingdom offers a wide variety of opportunities to meet and see favorite Disney characters. These characters are able to be seen during shows and parades, at Character Dining experiences, and through meet and greets.

Currently, at Magic Kingdom, you can meet multiple Disney Princesses, classic Disney characters, and also some new faces.

If you’re interested in meeting the princesses, make sure to head to Princess Fairytale Hall. Here, there are four different princesses that are available to meet. The princesses that can generally be found here are Cinderella, Elena of Avalor, Rapunzel, and Princess Tiana.

For classic Disney characters, you’ll be delighted by the meet and greet selection at Pete’s Silly Sideshow. At the sideshow, you’ll have the opportunity to meet Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Daisy. Plus, rather than wearing their standard outfits, they’re decked out in fun circus attire!

Those who enjoy Disney’s newer movies will be thrilled to know that there is now an Encanto meet and greet at Fairytale Garden. After enjoying a conversation with the upbeat and spunky Mirabel, you’ll be able to pose with her for a picture in the beautiful courtyard that’s located outside of Casa Madrigal.

While some Guests wouldn’t dream of missing out on character meet and greets, it’s not for everyone. If you have no desire to meet characters, this is something else that you can skip in order to save time. If you do enjoy characters, but are pressed for time by only having one day at the park, pick which characters are the most important to you and only take the time to visit them.

Dine with the Characters of Magic Kingdom

There are three locations at Magic Kingdom that offer character dining experiences.

Cinderella’s Royal Table and The Crystal Palace both provide opportunities to meet characters during your meal. While you dine, the characters will make their way around the dining area and visit each table. During this time, Guests are able to interact with the characters, have their picture taken, and get autographs. At Cinderella’s Royal Table, Guests will see Cinderella as well as other Disney Princesses. At The Crystal Palace, friends from the Hundred Acre Wood join you during your meal.

The other dining location with a character experience is Be Our Guest Restaurant. Here, Beast walks around the dining areas and thanks Guests for joining him for a meal in his castle. However, this is simply a character viewing. Guests are not able to take pictures with Beast or ask for his autograph.

Even though you can't meet Beast, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Be Our Guest Restaurant. The atmosphere, itself, is worth the visit. Dining in the Beast's castle, with intricate details both inside and out, feels very special. You'll have the opportunity to dine in The West Wing, The Rose Gallery, or The Grand Ballroom. While The Rose Gallery isn't a room that we see in the film, The West Wing and The Grand Ballroom are picture perfect representations of the locations we're familiar with. For my meal, I was seated in The Rose Gallery. However, I was able to explore each location and take pictures.

During my meal, the Beast made an appearance two times. He came out and gave a bow and a wave to show his appreciation to his Guests. He then took a stroll through the dining room. While I love meeting characters and would have loved to meet Beast, this experience was satisfactory. Especially since Beast isn't a character that's often seen!

While I personally enjoy character dining, I wouldn’t recommend taking the time to do it if you only have one day at the park. Since these are full-service meals, they take up a decent amount of time. I wouldn’t advise that you take precious park time in order to do these meals.

However, like I said, I do enjoy character meals and think they provide special experiences that aren’t available at standard restaurants. Visiting Magic Kingdom more than one day would give you the time that’s needed to enjoy one of these dining experiences as well as the other offerings throughout the park.

Magic Kingdom Has Even More to Offer

Besides the rides, attractions, and entertainment offerings, there are also a number of Enchanting Extras available at Magic Kingdom. Guests can enjoy specialty experiences such as a royal makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or a magical haircut at Harmony Barbershop.

My daughter has visited Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique multiple times. This princess makeover is so special for the child that's experiencing it as well as for the adults who are witnessing it. From helping them into their gown, to watching the transformation take place, it's heartwarming to see the excitement and confidence boost that happens as a result of this makeover. I've never seen my daughter feel as magical as she does after leaving Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

Her first time at the boutique was when she was four. Even though multiple years have passed, she still very much enjoys this experience. Her most recent visit was just a few months ago. At age 10, she still loved being transformed into a Disney Princess.

Those looking for a more futuristic experience should head to Tomorrowland Launch Depot. Here, Guests can go through a Grid Digitization Portal and make Tron-inspired action figures that are personalized to look and sound just like them.

Enchanting Extras are another thing that I wouldn’t recommend taking the time to do if you only have one day to work with. However, these experiences can be so magical and often create some of the best memories. This is another example of why having more than one day at Magic Kingdom can be so beneficial. There’s so much to see and do at the park, and multiple days can give you the time that’s needed to fully experience it all.

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