Is it possible to do the Magic Kingdom in one day?

[maarch]

It is possible to leave Magic Kingdom having the feeling you've seen everything, if you :

1- Make a list of your MUST DO
2- Arrive at park opening ( or near it )
3- First thing you do is get a Fast Pass
4- Before going to your Fast Pass, go and pick up another Fast Pass, and so on
5- Don't go for the character ( you will see PLENTY on the cruise with less waiting time )
6- Do not wait for parade or firework more than 10 minutes before them.
7- Start your day from Adventure Land ( after getting a fast pass ). Most people start from the right ( Tomorrow Land, to the left ). So this way you will go against the crowd and avoid big wait ( expect in New Fantasy Land. so maybe get your first Fast Pass there )
8- Make all your shopping at the end of the day. ( you will avoid spending way to much this way, and spending way to much time in store. Most of the item throughout the park will be find in the Emporium on main street anyway )

Additional note : If you can, get the Disney apps to know waiting time at different ride, it should help you.

Enjoy Magic Kingdom and Epcot and have fun on your cruise.

 

[Cat0727]

I personally can't get everything I want to do/see in one day at MK. That being said, it depends on your personal touring plan and the attractions you want to ride and see. Have fun!

 

[zeferjen]

It is possible. DD and I did it last April. We did every ride and show at MK on a day that it opened at 7 am. We even did the horse drawn carriage down Main St. We also took a long afternoon break back at the resort. A few attractions were closed for maintenance, but not many, I think 2 or 3. Liberty boat was one. The keys to us doing this successfully were that it was just DD and I so no little kids/old body issues, we are Disney World vets having been over 40 times and we arrived for a 7 am opening. We got so much done those first two hours. I posted our exact itinerary the next day while still at DW and a lot of people essentially posted that they didn't believe me Trust me, my life is not so pathetic that this would occur to me. We didn't even plan it. Once we realized how much we had done by 9 am we just set the challenge. You know, we weren't even rushed. We did all the big stuff early in the morning and the shows for after our break in the evening.So yes, it is possible.

Can you link to your itinerary? We will be there over spring break this year

 

[writersblock42]

The Unofficial Guide to Disney World has a one day touring plan. No, you will not be able to see all the attractions, visit with all the characters and see the parades but you can get a good taste. I am actually more worried that you cannot do Epcot in one day because that is my favorite park and I think it is huge. I think MK has a lot of great attractions but others are meh to me.

 

[SpacePlace]

Sit down with your children and go to disney.com, look at the maps for MK and the "every parent comes out tired (epcot) park", and make a list of the rides that are must-do for the kiddos. Use the maps to make an itinerary of a "round-trip" for hitting all these must-do attractions, characters, parades, shops, etc. (in other words, minimizing your walking distances to maximize your time there). good luck

 

[FortForever]

It is possible to leave Magic Kingdom having the feeling you've seen everything, if you :

1- Make a list of your MUST DO
2- Arrive at park opening ( or near it )
3- First thing you do is get a Fast Pass
4- Before going to your Fast Pass, go and pick up another Fast Pass, and so on
5- Don't go for the character ( you will see PLENTY on the cruise with less waiting time )
6- Do not wait for parade or firework more than 10 minutes before them.
7- Start your day from Adventure Land ( after getting a fast pass ). Most people start from the right ( Tomorrow Land, to the left ). So this way you will go against the crowd and avoid big wait ( expect in New Fantasy Land. so maybe get your first Fast Pass there )
8- Make all your shopping at the end of the day. ( you will avoid spending way to much this way, and spending way to much time in store. Most of the item throughout the park will be find in the Emporium on main street anyway )

Additional note : If you can, get the Disney apps to know waiting time at different ride, it should help you.

Enjoy Magic Kingdom and Epcot and have fun on your cruise.

This is the same advice I was going to give with the exception of #7. I'm not sure about that, but could be.

It looks like MK is open 9 to midnight both days with both days being a 6 out of 10 on the crowd scale. If you are there at rope drop with a touring plan, I believe you can do all the things you want in one day. Of course, that is assuming you don't want to do every attraction.

Try to eat lunch either before or after traditional lunch time to avoid wasting lots of time waiting for food. As the PP stated, don't be distracted by characters since you are going on a cruise. That is a much more relaxed environment for meet & greet.

If I were in your shoes, I would plan to make the circle MK twice. I would do the headliners and more popular rides early (utilizing fastpass.) Then, I would spend the later day doing the circle again while doing the shops and lesser attractions.

Epcot has a crowd level of 2 out of 10 on Sunday and 3 out of 10 on Monday. Even though both are low, if the kids will let you, I would do Epcot the first day. Also, you won't be as worn out as if you did MK the first day. The cruise will be a welcome change of pace after a full day at MK.

 

[North of Mouse]

We will be visiting the park on May 3-4. We would like to see all of the Magic Kingdom in one full day, and then go to Epcot the second. This is our first trip with our kids (ages 7 & 10). We are then going on a Disney Cruise.

What are the lines like at that time of year? Is it possible to get enough done in one day to feel like we have seen everything we would be interested in? We can do both days at Magic Kingdom, but I would love to see Epcot too.

Thanks!

Not for us, maybe for some. We don't just *do* parks, we relax and enjoy them. It's never about seeing how many rides/shows we can do at any given time, that would stress me out and I'd never enjoy it. That's not really what Disney is all about IMO. We like the ambiance as much, or more so, than the attractions.
It can't be rushed.

 

[Planogirl]

We have often seen everything at least by our definition. However, we don't do meet and greets, see the afternoon parade or castle court shows, or spend a lot of time dining and we save the shopping for elsewhere. You do have to get there at opening, plan wisely and use the slower rides for resting. You also have to plan wisely for parades and fireworks if those are a priority.

 

[trishwal]

We had to go have our son's glasses fixed when he broke them so we ended up only spending about ten hours (noon to 10) at MK last summer, but still managed to have a full day! Here's what we did (our kids are 12 and 15):

Haunted Mansion (it was closed last time we were going to be SURE not to miss it)
Tomorrowland Speedway
People Mover
Carousel of Progress
Buzz Lightyear Spin
Space Mountain (fast pass)
Late Lunch at Cosmic Ray's
Tom Sawyer Island (never miss it)
Hall of Presidents
Dessert at The Plaza Restaurant
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (fastpass)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain (fastpass)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (fastpass)

For some reason we just strolled around Fantasyland. We missed the Parade but saw Wishes. It was a VERY rainy day yet we quite enjoyed ourselves, which was most important. And besides, we're going back THIS summer, and usually go only every four years so probably we'll be able to make up what we missed.

Have a great trip!

 

[maarch]

This is the same advice I was going to give with the exception of #7. I'm not sure about that, but could be.

It looks like MK is open 9 to midnight both days with both days being a 6 out of 10 on the crowd scale. If you are there at rope drop with a touring plan, I believe you can do all the things you want in one day. Of course, that is assuming you don't want to do every attraction.

Try to eat lunch either before or after traditional lunch time to avoid wasting lots of time waiting for food. As the PP stated, don't be distracted by characters since you are going on a cruise. That is a much more relaxed environment for meet & greet.

If I were in your shoes, I would plan to make the circle MK twice. I would do the headliners and more popular rides early (utilizing fastpass.) Then, I would spend the later day doing the circle again while doing the shops and lesser attractions.

Epcot has a crowd level of 2 out of 10 on Sunday and 3 out of 10 on Monday. Even though both are low, if the kids will let you, I would do Epcot the first day. Also, you won't be as worn out as if you did MK the first day. The cruise will be a welcome change of pace after a full day at MK.

It's actually something I saw in a tour book for disney. I never believe there was such effect in MK, but since it's circle and people tend to go to the right by default ( human nature ) I decided to give it a try.

Since then, I always start from the left. To my surprise there is a crowd difference in the morning if you start in Adventure Land. I'm not saying you will save hours worth of time, but it'll make visiting the park a bit more enjoyable having to go through less people and waiting a bit less at every rides.

 

[Timandalicia]

We will be visiting the park on May 3-4. We would like to see all of the Magic Kingdom in one full day, and then go to Epcot the second. This is our first trip with our kids (ages 7 & 10). We are then going on a Disney Cruise.

What are the lines like at that time of year? Is it possible to get enough done in one day to feel like we have seen everything we would be interested in? We can do both days at Magic Kingdom, but I would love to see Epcot too.

Thanks!

The question really is, should you do both parks during your visit. That answer is yes. And those are the right 2 parks for your kids ages and the amount of time you have

 

[eeyoresmom]

Can you link to your itinerary? We will be there over spring break this year

Added the link to my first comment Just wanted to add too, this was before LM and Belle were open.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We were there in June. First time my wife or either kid had been there. It took from rope drop to midnight, but we did everything WE wanted to do including the princess lunch.

But we skipped a lot - in fact, whole sections of the park.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

I was at MK for one day in January, during marathon weekend. We were just two adults, so factor in the fact that we didn't have kids with us. We arrived after rope drop by probably 45 minutes. Park was open until 10. We did:
Peter Pan (twice)
IASW
Pooh
Teacups
Dumbo
Goofini
LM
Haunted Mansion
Country Bears
BTMRR
POTC (twice)
Tiki Room
Jungle Cruise
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
People Mover
COP
Buzz Lightyear
Laughfloor
MSEP
Wishes

We also ate lunch at BOG.

No, it wasn't LITERALLY everything. But it was the vast majority of non-meet-and-greet attractions. So I'd say, yes, you can leave MK feeling satisfied with what you've seen after one full day.

 

[Fjobe]

I know that I cannot do everything that I want to do in one day at MK. I have been at MK 5 days in the last 2 years, and I still haven't done everything I want to do (of course, there have been many rides repeated in that time too). I do think, however, that you can leave there after a single day feeling satisfied with what you have done. Given the option, I would choose one day at MK and one day at Epcot.

 

[Love Tink]

Since then, I always start from the left. To my surprise there is a crowd difference in the morning if you start in Adventure Land. I'm not saying you will save hours worth of time, but it'll make visiting the park a bit more enjoyable having to go through less people and waiting a bit less at every rides.

Pretty sure most people on here would argue that, if you are trying to max out your number of attractions per day, the best advice is actually to go straight forward to start the day - to Fantasyland.

OP - you can absolutely see "all" of MK (the way most rational people would read the term) in one long day. Arrive early and be smart about how you tour. We never have any trouble getting on every attraction we care about (we pretty much skip Country Bear Jamboree, the riverboat and Tom Sawyer's island now that the paint brushes are no more), and many of them twice.

Are your kids into thrill rides? If so, I suggest you consider DHS instead of Epcot for your second day. I love Epcot! But DHS is my kids' favorite park. (Just a thought. Epcot is great, too.)