Hey y’all! As y’all know, I’ve been to Disney World many many times. Many of these times have been during Disney’s peak seasons including spring break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. During these times, Magic Kingdom and sometimes other parks often hit capacity, meaning they limit the people entering the park. This actually happened to me this past Christmas. Magic Kingdom hit capacity around 11am. Thankfully my father & I had dining reservations & are annual pass holders so we were allowed in. Even when the parks are not at capacity, it can seem insanely busy & overcrowded. This can lead to frustration during your vacation causing you to not enjoy yourselves. But that’s why I’m here. I’m going to give you my personal tips & tricks to avoid (or make the best of) crowds at Walt Disney World.

  1. CROWD CALENDARS – Check crowd calendars before you plan your trip. These are a great tool to use when trying to avoid crowds in the parks. They tell you when race weekends are, cheer competitions, school breaks, anything that can cause additional crowds. If you want to be there for these special events, however, there are other ways to make the most of your vacation.

  2. DINE DURING OFF HOURS – Most people eat lunch between 11-2 and dinner 5-7. This means that during those times, the restaurants will be very crowded. BUT, this also means that the rides will be less crowded. If you’re traveling with older children or adults who can manage an unusual meal schedule, try to eat a late lunch or early dinner & maybe a late night snack. This not only cuts down on your ride wait times but also food wait times because the restaurants will be less crowded as well.

  3. UTILIZE MOBILE ORDERING – My Disney Experience is your best friend. Use it. New to the app, recently, is mobile ordering. This can be used in many restaurants around the World but NOT ALL OF THEM. In the Magic Kingdom, you can order from Aloha Isle, Casey’s Corner, Columbia Harbour House, Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, The Lunching Pad, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café, Pinnochio Village Haus, and Tomorrowland Terrace. In Epcot, you have 3 options: Electric Umbrella, Liberty Inn, and Sunshine Seasons. In Hollywood Studios, ABC Commissary, Backlot Express, Catalina Eddie’s, Fairfaxe Fare, Pizzerizzo, and Rosie’s All-American Café all offer mobile ordering. As well as Flame Tree Barbecue,  Harambe  Market,  Pizzafari,  Restaurantosaurus, and Satu’li Canteen in Animal Kingdom. To mobile order using the My Disney Experience app, you go to the home page > scroll to “My Plans” > click “Order Food”. Once here, you can scroll through your restaurant options & view the menus of each restaurant. You place your order & pay all within the app. All that is left to do is tell the app you are ready for them to make it & then pick it up when you arrive!

  4. FASTPASS+ – Yes this service helps a TON! And, no it does not cost extra. Fastpass+ allows you to “reserve access to select Walt Disney World theme park attractions, entertainment, and Character Greetings in advance”. Three of these reservations are complimentary to all ticket holders. All three FP+ must be within the same park. If you are staying in a WDW resort hotel during your trip, you can reserve all of your days FP+ reservations 60 days in advance from the day you check in. But, if you are staying off property, you can only make your reservations 30 days in advance.

  5. EXTRA MAGIC HOURS – Resort guests are given what are called “extra magic hours”. These are times before the park opens or after the park closes that only Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can enter the park and get on rides. Anyone can access within the app to find out what park has these on which days. My pro tip when it comes to EMH, is to take advantage of them, but ONLY be in that park for the extra time, not the whole day. The park with EMH will more than likely be busier than the other parks that day because resort guests who only have one park per day tickets will be there. This means BUY PARK HOPPER. It is 100% worth it. This way, you can go to the park with EMH in the morning (if available) stay ’til lunch time then hop over to a different less crowded park for the rest of the day. Likewise, if a park has evening EMH, you can go ahead and enjoy another park during the day then hop over to the park with EMH for the night. This way, you get to take advantage of your extra time in the parks as a resort guest as well as shorter lines at other parks.

Well, there ya have it. My top 5 ways to avoid the crowds at Walt Disney World. If you have your own tips that you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment about them! Thank you!