Spending a FULL day at Magic Kingdom - Schedule Breakdown & Highlights
Our Walt Disney World trip officially kicked off with our first park day at Magic Kingdom! I was so excited to be here and finally be in this park that I can only remember seeing online! I couldn’t wait to try all the new rides that I’ve never experienced like Tron: Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and check out beloved classics like Peoplemover and Carousel of Progress!
Thankfully, because we were staying on-property, we were able to take advantage of the early theme park entry to get a head start! Other than our dinner reservation at Be Our Guest Restaurant and shows that I wanted to see, we didn’t have any set plans, so we tried to stay flexible with our day and see where it took us. It was definitely a packed day with lots of great rides and shows and by the end of the day I was exhausted, but just so thrilled to be there.
Schedule
| Time | Activity | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 6:10AM | Waited at the Magic Kingdom bus stop | Art of Animation |
| 6:20AM - 6:37AM | Bus ride to Magic Kingdom | |
| 7:10AM | Scanned into Magic Kingdom | |
| 7:30AM | Walked to TRON Lightcycle / Run | Tomorrowland |
| 8:02AM | TRON Lightcycle / Run (No wait after opening) | Tomorrowland |
| 8:20AM | Space Mountain (10 min wait) | Tomorrowland |
| 8:40AM | Coffee at Joffrey's Revive Coffee Kiosk | Tomorrowland |
| 8:50AM | Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (28 min wait) | Fantasyland |
| 9:45AM | Photos and Shopping | Main Street U.S.A |
| 11:10AM | Mickey's Magical Friendship Faire | Cinderella's Castle |
| 11:40AM | Sunshine Tree Terrace | Adventureland |
| 12:20PM | Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade | Main Street U.S.A |
| 12:45PM | Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor | Tomorrowland |
| 1:20PM | Peoplemover (14 min wait) | Tomorrowland |
| 1:45PM | Carousel of Progress (No wait) | Tomorrowland |
| 2:30PM | Snack at Columbia Harbour House | Liberty Square |
| 3:10PM | Mickey's Philharmagic | Fantasyland |
| 3:30PM | Be Our Guest Restaurant | Fantasyland |
| 5:40PM | Photos in front of Cinderella Castle | Cinderella Castle |
| 6:15PM | Beignets at Golden Oak Outpost | Frontierland |
| 6:30PM | Pirates of the Caribbean (16 min wait) | Adventureland |
| 7:00PM | The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (20 min wait) | Adventureland |
| 7:35PM | Found a spot for fireworks viewing | Cinderella's Castle |
| 8:00PM | Happily Ever After fireworks show | Cinderella's Castle |
| 8:25PM | Peter Pan's Flight (26 min wait) | Fantasyland |
| 9:00PM | Haunted Mansion (14 min wait) | Liberty Square |
| 9:30PM | The Barnstormer (8 min wait) | Fantasyland |
| 9:40PM | Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (29 min wait) | Fantasyland |
| 10:30PM | Exited Magic Kingdom |
Getting to Magic Kingdom
To get to Magic Kingdom from Art of Animation, we needed to take the bus. Based on some general information I found online, the buses would start operating around one hour before the earliest park opening (7:30AM for the early entry park guests). I wasn’t sure how early people line for the buses, so I planned to get to the bus stop a little earlier than 6:30AM just in case the line got long. When we got to the bus stop, there was one family in front of us so the line wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t until shortly after that more guests started to line up.
Rope drop
We were really excited to try TRON Lightcycle / Run, but we saw that the TRON ride doesn’t start operating until the park opens at 8:00AM. Since we wanted try to take advantage of those extra 30 minutes, we figured we’d try to get in a different ride before heading to TRON, so the initial plan was to ride Space Mountain first.
However, as we were waiting for early entry to start, we realized that most people were headed to TRON, so they were all prepared to wait the 30 extra minutes, which means the line for TRON when it actually opened was going to be looong. So we changed our plans and decided to go to TRON first instead, and good thing we did! By the time we got off the ride, the standby line for TRON was 85 minutes!
Also, the walk from the rope drop start to the actual TRON queue took about 10 minutes, so really we only stood in the queue waiting for about 20 minutes!
I also think rope drop is handled quite efficiently! There was a row of cast members in front of the whole group of people entering Tomorrowland, and each CM broke off in a different direction to head to a different attraction. Guests had to stay behind the CM at all times so no one was able to run ahead or anything which kept things pretty orderly!
Rides
TRON Lightcycle / Run
This ride was SO cool!! The ride vehicle is so fun, and the launch is so smooth! I love speedy coasters, and this one was just so much fun!
I also thought the technology used to facilitate the queue was really efficient and innovative too! Because of the ride vehicle, you have to put all of your loose items in a locker before you get on the ride. The lockers are locked and unlocked using your park admission ticket, so I used my MagicBand+ for mine (my friends used their hotel keycards for theirs). When you get off the ride, you end up on the other side of the locker where you can unlock it and grab your items without interfering with the guests who are getting on the ride. It felt so efficient and smooth, and their use of the MagicBand+/tickets felt really seamless!
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
A very cute ride! It’s very reminiscent of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in that it’s more of a speedy ride, not so much a drops ride. The ride queue is also very cutely themed with oversized gems and some small interactive activity areas.
One thing in particular that makes this ride unique is the ride vehicle. Guests sit in a log-shaped coaster cart, but the cool thing about it is that it actually rocks back and forth! It adds an extra unexpected feel to the ride and the rocking is actually quite smooth too.
We actually ended up riding this ride twice (and it was the only ride we rode more than once!) because it was fun and something our whole party really enjoyed!
The photopass opportunity on this ride is pretty fun since they also have a video photopass! That’s definitely something we don’t have at Disneyland so it was a surprise to me when I saw in the app!
Space Mountain
Space Mountain here is a bit different from the one in Disneyland. This one consists of one-person rows instead of two.
I did notice as well that this ride is especially bumpy, more than I’m used to at least.
Peoplemover
I know this one in particular is a beloved classic, so I was excited to see what it was all about. I can say, it definitely didn’t disappoint! The Peoplemover is just a chill ride that takes you on a little tour around Tomorrowland. It’s route goes through some of the Tomorrowland attractions, so you can see them from a different angle, which was fun! The vehicle itself is not big enough to fit 6 adults comfortably, but we tried anyway so we could all ride together. We were definitely squished, so I would recommend splitting up if your party is larger than 4 people for a more comfortable ride!
Carousel of Progress
Another classic ride I was excited to try for the very first time! Though, I guess this is more of an attraction than a ride.
Entering the Carousel of Progress is like entering a small theater where there’s a stage in front. At first, when we were waiting for the show to start, we were wondering what made this ride a “carousel” (we all came onto this ride without any prior knowledge about it!). So when the seats started moving, my mind was blown!
The storyline and the characters themselves are at times on the cringey side, but I will say it’s really cool to see what kind of innovations and futuristic imaginings from the past came true and what didn’t.
The song is also awesome, and I loved it! The one annoying bit was that someone somewhere kept standing up?? So our ride in particular kept getting stopped and a cast member had to keep getting on the intercom to ask them to sit down.
Peter Pan’s Flight
Peter Pan’s Flight is always a classic and is still one of my favorite Disneyland rides to date. Nothing beats the feeling of being on a flying ship!
This Peter Pan’s Flight was no exception, and I was happy we got to ride it!
Barnstormer
Barnstormer was a fun ride in the Storybook Circus area! I’m sad we didn’t visit this area until late into the night! But we did find our way here eventually, and the carnival theming was so cute! This ride reminds me of Goofy’s Sky School in Disney’s California Adventure!
Other Attractions
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
If you like interactive shows, you’ll definitely have fun with this one; if you don’t, you might not be a huge fan since they did pick members of the audience to interact with! These shows are so fun though, especially when they interact with kids, and I just love seeing what the characters are going to do and how they respond. I’m definitely a person who doesn’t like being part of the interaction, so I was a little stressed, but it was still really fun!
Mickey’s Philharmagic
I haven’t seen Mickey’s Philharmagic in a couple years, so it was fun to watch this one again, and also to see new scenes that I don’t think I’ve seen before! The Coco section in this one was really beautiful and I really loved seeing it!
Also the Donald at the end of the show!! Loved it, would highly recommend swinging by the Philharmagic to give it a watch, especially if you’re looking to escape the heat or for a little rest.
Food
We actually didn’t eat too many different things while we were at Magic Kingdom. I think we tried to prioritize more rides and attractions than food experiences, and honestly looking at the different quick service offerings, there wasn’t a lot that called to me. But here’s some of the things we did try!
Strawberry Dipped Mocha
Location: Joffrey’s Revive
Price: $6.49
This was a much needed caffeine kick, and it was tasty too! The strawberry flavor was probably the most prominent, but you could also taste the dark chocolate really well too, so I think overall it was a really well-flavored drink that basically tasted like chocolate covered strawberries. You could still taste the coffee too, so the bitterness from that helped balance out the sweetness from the strawberry, though it did still lean on the sweet side.
I Lava You Float
Location: Sunshine Tree Terrace
Price: $7.29
The I Lava You float from Sunshine Tree Terrace is an orange whip with strawberry soda, passion fruit syrup, and pop rocks. This was really refreshing, especially in the warm afternoon. I didn’t know how much I’d enjoy an orange whip, but it was great! There was a lot of tartness and fruitiness that was overall very refreshing. The pop rocks gave an extra fun texture to it, which was nice, though I could have done without it!
Lobster Roll
Location: Columbia Harbour House
Price: $18.99
The lobster roll comes with chilled lobster pieces in a mayonnaise sauce with some shredded lettuce on a white bread bun, and also comes with a side of fries. This was pretty good and kept us satiated during the park day, but I would say that the flavor is pretty mild. I also think I would have liked it more if the bun was a little toasted.
Tiana’s Famous Beignets
Location: Golden Oak Outpost
Price: $7.29
I love the Disneyland beignets, so I was excited to try this one. These beignets come in a set of 3 pieces with powdered sugar and drizzled honey.
Unfortunately, these beignets were quite dry, and didn’t feel all that fluffy to me, not sure if it was just an older batch? There also wasn’t much honey on it, so it didn’t seem like the honey made much an impact on the flavor. Also, because these beignets come in a tray and not a bag, the powdered sugar is only on top of the beignet, so the rest of it doesn’t really have sugar on it, and I like a well-coated beignet.
Be Our Guest Restaurant
Price: $72.00
I’ll be diving into my experience at Be Our Guest restaurant with a more in-depth review in my next blog post, but I’ll touch briefly on it here too!
Overall, it was a fun experience being immersed in Beast’s castle for our meal. I appreciated the decor and the cast members who helped make the experience fun as well. The food was better than I was expecting, maybe because I came in with somewhat low expectations (based on previous reviews I read before my trip).
Beast comes through the dining rooms every so often, so we saw him quite a few times!
They also give you plenty of time to walk around the restaurant and get all your photos and whatever you want too after your meal which is nice. I’m glad they don’t rush you out or anything after your meal is over!
Shows
Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire
This show has quite a few runs throughout the day, so that makes it pretty easy to catch. I thought it was a really cute show and I liked that they incorporated different characters into it like Tiana, Naveen, and Louis; Anna, Elsa, and Olaf; and Rapunzel, Flynn, and the ruffians. They had pretty long scenes and did a lot of singing and dancing and overall it was just really cute to see the Sensational Six interacting with characters from all these different stories. The show was actually longer than I was expecting. For some reason, I thought it was going to be like a 5-minute show and it ended up being around 20 minutes long.
The wildest part to me was the fireworks that they lit up during the daytime. I guess it shouldn’t be that shocking, and yet I was in awe that they would light fireworks during the day. So cool!
Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade
The Festival of Fantasy Parade was another fun show we got to see during the daytime at Magic Kingdom! The floats were really pretty and elaborate, and the Maleficent dragon float was so incredible to me. I really wasn’t expecting flames!! (Also given what happened to the Fantasmic dragon at Disneyland, I was surprised they were still using flames, but I guess this one’s still solid!)
We watched the parade from under one of the eaves on the sidewalk. I was a bit surprised that we were allowed to stand there to watch, and that we were asked to move from a cast member, and it made me realize that the sidewalks at Magic Kingdom are so wide. We were able to stand and watch the parade comfortably, and guests were able to walk through without any issues or crowding. That seems near impossible at Disneyland, so that was a pleasant surprise to me!
Happily Ever After Fireworks Show
Wow, this show made me nearly speechless. It’s so incredible, I was in awe.
I had never seen the show through videos or anything ahead of time, but I did really enjoy the Happily Ever After soundtrack song, and I’ve obsessively listened to that since it came out. So seeing the fireworks timed with this song that I’ve come to love so much along with the beautiful projections on the castle was really amazing.
Not to mention, the fireworks at Magic Kingdom are HUGE. They’re so in your face and giant, and they feel almost enveloping that I was just mindblown staring at these fireworks and just could not believe how big they were! Floridians get to enjoy this on the regular??
Honestly, this show is so stunning and I wish I could just watch it over and over again. It really made me question if I thought this was a better show than Wondrous Journeys, and that’s saying something. (I re-watched Wondrous Journeys, and it’s safe to say that’s still my #1 fireworks show).
I also lucked out with a really near-perfect view of the show. This is super rare for me because I’m short and basically never get a good view of the fireworks, so it all just really added to the experience. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was!
Highlights
TRON
TRON was such a cool ride!! I can’t believe how smooth and fast the ride is, and just how much fun it is. I really wish we could have ridden this ride multiple times, especially at night so we could see everything lit up!
Happily Ever After
I’m a sucker for a good fireworks show, and Happily Ever After is a GREAT fireworks show.
Photopass
This was actually an unexpected highlight for me because I usually don’t pay much mind to photopass photos. But Walt Disney World does photopass differently - they take the photo at the most interesting times, so you have no time to “prepare” for the photo. It’s so unexpected (at least for me it was), but it makes the photos come out even funnier and I loved that!
It’s also really cool that they do photopass videos! Definitely not something I was familiar with before this trip!
Other notables
I go to Disneyland a lot but it was my first time at Walt Disney World so I was really taking note of the things that are different / the same between the parks and also things about WDW that I really liked or wasn’t a huge fan of.
Space
Wow does space do wonders! Even though the park was busy it never felt overly crowded. Obviously Disneyland is a much smaller area so things are more condensed, but having space among other guests was really nice. Also the sidewalks on Main Street felt super wide! During the parade there were people watching at the edge of the side walk, and there was still plenty of space for guests to walk in the walkway AND we were able to hang out under the eaves of the shops to watch without getting in anyone’s way or being asked to move by a CM!
Rope drop organization
I really appreciated the way they do rope drop at WDW, especially for the really popular rides. Having the CMs control the traffic is really smart and way more organized, and also less frustrating/stressful for people across the board.
At Disneyland and even Tokyo Disney, rope drop feels like mayhem, so I’d really love this kind of implementation at the other parks too.
Limited quick service foods
There’s plenty of dining options around the park, but I personally didn’t find a lot of the quick service options super enticing. Maybe I’m spoiled at Disneyland because they’re constantly having different seasonal foods that sound really interesting to me to try, but the Magic Kingdom options seemed a bit limited. I did notice that they have a lot of restaurant options, and character dining experiences like Be Our Guest in particular, but since I enjoy prioritizing rides, I usually look for relatively quick and easy options.
Recap
Overall, we had a really great first day, and it was an awesome way to kick off our trip. We basically hit up everything we wanted to do - we missed a few of the smaller rides but all in all we got to all of our must-do activities. In total, we did 13 attractions! I’d say that was pretty successful.
I feel like there were still parts of the park we didn’t really explore because it was so big, so the next time around it would be fun to spend a little more time exploring, now that I have a better idea of how the park is laid out!
