Magic Kingdom

Park Dedication

WALT DISNEY WORLD is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney… and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney’s dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place … a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn – together. -- Dedication, 1971

Park Overview

After Disneyland opened to huge popularity, it was quickly surrounded by competing businesses. Disney wanted to have a buffer to separate its next park from the competition, so the atmosphere could be more controlled. This lead them to Project Florida. For Project Florida, Disney bought land in secret; this allowed the company to purchase all the land surrounding their future parks, totaling about 27,000 acres. This allowed Disney to create an entire world with controlled theming, products, and guest experience. The first offering for project Florida was the Magic Kingdom, which opened in 1971.

The Magic Kingdom used all the experience of Disneyland as a starting point. While Disneyland was built from dimensional flats made by film makers, the Magic Kingdom was developed by a team with experience in architecture and urban planning. This meant that the park was built with future growth in mind. Walkways were larger, attractions were more spread out, and the scale and grandeur were much larger. The Magic Kingdom was roughly double the size of the original Disneyland, which allowed for smoother operations. In many ways, this was Disneyland 2.0.

In early designs, the park offerings were expected to be very different from Disneyland. Dark rides would have focused on Cinderella and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow instead of Snow White and Mr. Toad. Instead of a Pirates of the Caribbean ride, there was going to be a cowboy western called Thunder Mesa. The general approach to the park was the same, but the two were going to be very distinct. As plans solidified, the thought process leaned toward risk aversion, and Disney determined that while some people would visit both parks, many guests would visit either Disneyland or Walt Disney World. Disney could build the same rides in both places, and it would bring the product to a new market. As a result, the attractions were changed to be more in line with what Disneyland already had. Since then, the Magic Kingdom has continued to grow. Today, several of its headliners are shared with Disneyland. These rides, like Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, are now staples across the Disney portfolio. But each park is peppered with enough unique attractions to retain its own identity.

Wait Times

Below are graphs showing wait times for some of the key attractions at the park. We track posted wait times, and use them to predict what wait times will be each day. We make live updates to these predictions, so they will adjust to the current crowd levels in the park. The orange line with the circle markers shows the wait times that Disney has posted today. The blue line shows our prediction. The light-gold shaded region shows wait times that we would consider average – these are the range of wait times you can expect on a day that’s not too crowded or too slow.

Fantasyland

Tomorrowland

Frontierland

Adventureland

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