You’ll find lots of shopping and dining along Magic Kingdom's Main Street as you walk toward Cinderella Castle. It’s a great place for some photo ops, and our favorite place to watch the parade.
Just walking down Main Street U.S.A., hearing the music and seeing the sights, is an iconic Disney experience, so try to take in the ambiance even if you’re just rushing off to your first ride!
You may want to visit later in the day when you want a break from rides, but remember that Main Street gets very busy right at the end of the day when the park is closing and everyone is either heading out of the park or watching the fireworks show.
Need a lift down Main Street? If you arrive at the Magic Kingdom early enough you will have the opportunity to ride one of the Magic Kingdom’s turn of the century Main Street Vehicles.Typically, these vehicles only run from park opening to about 10 -10:30 am. You can hop aboard one of four different types of turn of the century vehicles at Town Square and take a one way trip to Cinderella Castle or meet them at the central Plaza for a trip back to Town Square.
You can ride in a horse-drawn trolley, omnibus, jitney, or fire engine.
Riding one of the vehicles is a fun and unique way of experiencing Main Street.
This ride is perfect if: You want to feel extra special on your journey from the park entrance to the castle.
Magic Kingdom's Horse-Drawn Street car is a turn of the century trolley pulled by a horse.
The Omnibus is a gas powered, double decker bus.
The Jitney is an early automobile that typically has no roof.
The Fire Engine is a replica of very early working fire trucks.
On Main Street U.S.A., you’ll find the Walt Disney World Railroad. In fact, the train station platform takes center stage at the park entrance. You can take the railroad to get to other areas of the park — there are additional stations in Frontierland and Fantasyland — or just enjoy a round-trip tour of the park!
This ride is perfect if: You love trains, classic Magic Kingdom attractions, or you’re tired of walking and want a lift to your next destination!
The Swiss Family Treehouse is a fun walkthrough attraction where you get to see the treehouse made by the Swiss Family Robinson, who were shipwrecked on an island.
If you walk through without pausing too much, the entire walk-through should take about 15 minutes.
Don’t miss the plaques throughout the tree (left) that tell, in journal form, the story of the Robinsons and their sons: Fritz, Ernst, and Francis.There are plenty of story elements to keep you entertained through the 116 stairs you’ll have to climb. But don’t worry, because you get a great view from the top!
This attraction is perfect if: You don’t mind stairs! Little ones will probably enjoy the walkthrough but older kids might prefer to skip it in favor of a more exciting ride.
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin is a Dumbo-style ride where you ride magic carpets in a circle. There are controls in the front seat and the back seat that respectively control the carpet up-and-down and tilt it forward-and-backward.
This ride is perfect if: You’re a big Aladdin fan, have little ones, or the fireworks are going on \(try to catch the fireworks while on the magic carpet it can be, well, magical!).
The Jungle Cruise is a calm boat ride that takes you through a jungle filled with animals (mostly not real!). You ride in a large tour boat that is great for fitting big groups of people together.
The ride is made better by the cast member on each boat known as the Skipper. They are known far and wide for their, ahem, hilarious jokes.
This ride is perfect if: You want a calming, sit down ride that’s sure to make you laugh!
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is opening June 28th 2024 in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. The new attraction is replacing Splash Mountain at both Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California.
A description of the ride on Disney's official website reads, "Join Princess Tiana and jazz-loving alligator Louis on their journey through a shimmering bayou as they prepare for a spirited celebration during Mardi Gras season.
"Along the way, you’ll see familiar faces and make new friends as you’re brought into the next chapter of Tiana’s inspiring story," it adds.
This ride is perfect if: You love water rides and are ready for the big drop, which Disney World describes as a “5-story plunge!”
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a thrilling coaster with twists, turns, and more! The ride is set in an old western mining town, where you climb aboard a train car. The train takes you through the wild Big Thunder Mountain, in and out of caves, and down big drops. There are many set pieces that immerse you in the story and make the experience all the more fun!
One awesome thing about Big Thunder Mountain is the ride time. While many coasters feel like they are over as soon as they start, Big Thunder goes for 3.5 minutes. With several speed changes throughout, you’re never bored!
This ride is perfect if: You’re a middle-range thrill seeker — Big Thunder is fast and exciting without any major hills or drops.
The Jungle Cruise is a calm boat ride that takes you through a jungle filled with animals (mostly not real!). You ride in a large tour boat that is great for fitting big groups of people together.
The ride is made better by the cast member on each boat known as the Skipper. They are known far and wide for their, ahem, hilarious jokes.
This ride is perfect if: You want a calming, sit down ride that’s sure to make you laugh!
This attraction is a play area, fun for guests of all ages. To get to the island, you take a short, standing raft ride. When you get off, there are different paths to run down and lots of play areas to climb and explore.
This attraction is perfect if: You have kids who need to get their energy out!
Country Bear Jamboree is a show featuring a cast of animatronic bears singing a variety of country tunes. It’s like the Tiki Room…but with bears.
Some people feel the bears have outstayed their welcome at Disney, but for others their vacation wouldn’t be complete without hearing their favorite furry crooners.
Whatever your take, this can be a great way to sit and cool down for a little while and will probably keep little ones entertained.
This ride is perfect if: You need a break from the heat and walking, or you have a nostalgic connection to the bears.
The Hall of Presidents is a theater that offers a show all about the American presidents. The animatronics are realistic portrayals of the real people who have run America, and new ones are added every time a new president is elected.
This attraction is perfect if: You have a favorite president or simply love learning about American history!
The Liberty Square Riverboat is a steam-powered paddle wheeler that takes its passengers along the Rivers of America, around Tom Sawyer Island. You’ll see a variety of scenes and get a view of the park from a new angle. There are four decks to choose from, with limited seating, so be prepared to stand for the duration.
This ride is perfect if: You want to see the Magic Kingdom from the water, ride on an authentic steam-powered boat, and you have at least 20 minutes to spare!
Haunted Mansion is a fun and creepy ride through a ghost-filled mansion. The ride vehicles are known as Doom Buggies, which take you on a
slow, spooky trip through the Haunted Mansion. The ride experience is
very detailed, with many things to look at while you take your journey. I think it’s one of the best rides at Magic Kingdom.
The Haunted Mansion attraction is dark and may be too scary for some young children because of its haunted theme. However, the ride does not
contain any blood or jump scares, and plenty of smaller children enjoy it.
This ride is perfect if: You enjoy looking at spooky scenes and don’t mind an occasional scare!
The Prince Charming Regal Carrousel is a classic carousel ride that features beautiful and brightly-colored horses that take you on a majestic ride. People of all ages can enjoy this magical adventure!
This ride is perfect if: You love a classic carousel!
Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a 3D musical show that features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and more of your favorite Disney characters.
You’ll enjoy hearing some of the catchiest Disney songs with captivating visuals on screen.
This attraction is perfect if: You love Disney music and want to sit for a few without slowing down on your attraction itinerary.
On Peter Pan’s Flight, you’ll ride a flying ship through Neverland, seeing everything from beautiful mermaids to horrible Captain Hook’s ship! This ride is a great adventure for kids who’ve seen Peter Pan or the Tinkerbell movies and already love the characters.
The journey with Peter Pan and his friends also has a happy ending — Captain Hook is stuck on top of Tick-Tock the Crocodile, almost being eaten, and everyone is safely transferred back to the world outside of Neverland.
This ride is perfect if: Your kids love the fun characters from the Peter Pan movie!
“it’s a small world” is one of the best known Disney classics. The slow-moving boat ride takes you through scenes around the world, where many animatronic dolls sing as they show off their country’s culture in traditional outfits and musical instruments. You can also spot many Disney characters as dolls in their countries, such as Moana and Ariel.
This is a lovely ride for the whole family to enjoy! The song, which shares the same title as the ride, is very catchy and easy to get stuck in your head. The boat goes smoothly and slowly, so it is not a wet ride at any point, nor does it have any drops or sudden movement. This makes it a perfect ride for kids to ride with their family!
This ride is perfect if: You enjoy calmer, classic rides and don’t mind having the song in your head for the rest of the day!
The Journey of the Little Mermaid is an underwater adventure (don’t worry, you won’t get wet), where all the mermaids and other sea creatures live!
Enter your clamshell and Scuttle the seagull will tell you the story of the Little Mermaid, while you sing along to songs from the movie.
This ride is perfect if: You have a variety of ages in your group and/or you love The Little Mermaid songs.
The Barnstormer is a junior roller coaster. Make your way to an open-air barn where Goofy—known as The Great Goofini—performs his world-famous aerial stunt show.
Climb aboard a wacky stunt plane and hold on tight as you take to the skies above Fantasyland.
Ascend to the top of a wooden observation tower. Then, brace yourself as you swoop through the busy barnyard, darting and soaring before “landing” safely during the grand finale.
It’s a goofy good time for kids—and aspiring pilots of all ages!
This ride is perfect if: You have little ones for that first time roller coaster experience
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is a popular flying ride where you can choose to fly as low or as high as you want as you go around in a circle. The ride vehicles are Dumbo elephants that are controlled by the rider with a joystick that allows you to choose how high you’d like to fly.
Each elephant seats 1–2 riders — perfect for a parent and child to ride together. The joystick is easy to use and it’s fun for kids to have control.
This ride is perfect if: You have young kids who enjoy being able to control and do things by themselves!
The Mad Tea Party is a spinning teacup ride that is sure to make anyone dizzy! The teacups come in different colors and designs in the whimsical Alice in Wonderland style. It was one of the first Disney rides, and the Magic Kingdom version is modeled after the classic 1955 attraction in Disneyland.
The ride is known for being dizzy and spinny, but there’s also the option to enjoy a calmer spin, as the wheel in the middle of the teacup controls your spinning speed. However, if you’re riding with your kids, they’ll probably want to go full blast and spin as fast as possible!
This ride is perfect if: Your family loves Alice in Wonderland as well as dizzy spinning rides!
On The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, you’ll board your honeypot ride vehicle and ride right into the pages of the book. You get to experience Pooh’s story firsthand and say hello to all the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood. Just keep an eye out for heffalumps and woozles!
This ride is perfect if: Your kids love Winnie the Pooh and want to enjoy a fun kiddie ride with lots of magic, story, and fun.
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a coaster with lots of high-speed fun and beautiful visuals both inside the mine and at the mountain peak. You’ll see the dwarfs as they work inside the mine and then sing their iconic song as they head home from work.
The coaster is fast and exciting, and most middle-range thrill seekers will handle it just fine.
This ride is perfect if: You want to ride a fun coaster with beautiful visuals that the whole family can enjoy.
At Princess Fairytale Hall, you’ll get to meet Cinderella and her princess friends. Little ones will be starstruck as they get to really meet and interact with their favorite royalty. This is a major photo op, so get your camera ready or let the PhotoPass expert work their magic for you.
This attraction is perfect if: Your little ones want to meet their favorite princess.
This attraction is unique in that you can be part of the show! First, you’ll walk through Belle’s Cottage, Maurice’s Workshop, and then be transported into the Beast’s Castle.
With the help of a cast member, volunteers are assigned roles to help tell the story of Beauty and the Beast as a surprise for Belle (who plays herself in the retelling). The roles are all very easy to perform, and cast members are there to guide the performers. Any kids who want to participate will be included, although there are a couple of special roles that get to do a few extra things.
When the performance is over, all kids get a chance to take a picture with Belle and get a bookmark to keep.
This attraction is perfect if: Your kids want to be part of the show!
You’ll ride on motorcycle-like ride vehicles, leaning forward and racing your opponents to survive.
TRON is an indoor/outdoor coaster that uses lights and sounds to make the experience all the more thrilling. It is the fastest roller coaster at any Disney park in the world.
This ride is perfect if: You’re a coaster lover who has to try the latest and greatest rides!
Get ready, racers! At Tomorrowland Speedway you’ll drive your own car around a winding track. This was an original attraction when Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, and people still flock to it today!
This ride is perfect if: You want to control your own vehicle and race your friends!
Space Mountain is an indoor, dark coaster. The ride sends you into the darkness of space with twists and turns among the stars. Medium to high-level thrill seekers will love this ride. The coaster itself is pretty tame, but because of the cover of darkness, you never know what to expect for twists, turns, and drops!
The ride vehicle is a rocket that seats three in a single file row, (unlike Space Mountain at Disneyland where you sit two side-by-side).
This ride is perfect if: You like dark, indoor coasters and space!
The Astro Orbiter is a space-themed, Dumbo-style ride where riders can fly in a rocket! You can use the controls to fly higher or lower as you go around.
If you’ve ridden this ride at Disneyland you’ll notice a difference at the Magic Kingdom — here you’ll first take an elevator to the top of a building before you get on the ride, for even higher, high-flying fun!
This ride is perfect if: You have little ones who dream of flying a rocket into space!
The PeopleMover is an elevated track ride with carts that take you around Tomorrowland. It’s a nice relaxing ride, good for the whole family. One highlight is when the ride goes inside the Space Mountain building and you can catch a glimpse of the ride.
This ride is perfect if: You want to see Tomorrowland from above and catch a sneak peek of Space Mountain.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is a ride and show in one! It highlights inventions and innovations throughout different stages of American history.
Each scene starts out with an animatronic character singing the song “There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” then they show off some new inventions from their time period and have some dialogue with their family members. The scenes end with the characters singing again, as the ride moves on to the next scene. The unique thing about this theater is that the seats in the audience move, as they rotate around the stage and series of scenes.
This ride is perfect if: You love learning about history and inventions through the years!
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is an interactive ride where riders must shoot the aliens and robots in order to protect the world from the Evil Emperor Zurg! Your ride vehicle can spin 360 degrees — you control it with a joystick.
The ride ends with Zurg defeated and Buzz Lightyear saying his famous phrase, “To infinity and beyond!” Then, your score is calculated to determine what space rank you are, from Star Cadet to Cosmic Commander!
This ride is perfect if: You like interactive shooting rides where you get a score at the end!
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor is a show that’s sure to get everyone cracking up. While you wait in line, you can submit your own jokes to the Laugh Floor by texting them, and your joke might be featured during the show.
There’s plenty of audience participation that will probably make you laugh harder than the jokes!
This attraction is perfect if: Your kids love funny jokes and want a chance to participate!
It’s possible to ride every ride at the Magic Kingdom, but it’s tricky. And if you want to also do character interactions, sit-down meals, parades, and shows, it’s extra tricky.
You’ll give yourself the best chance of maximizing your ride time if you visit during a less busy time of year (January, September, and the first half of November are our picks), go on a weekday, go on a day when the park is open early and closes late, and go early!
Arrive an hour before the posted opening time, at least. You’ll wait a little bit at the park entrance, but once you’re inside you’ll be able to get right on your first few rides, and you’ll be ahead of everyone else piling into the park a little later in the morning. If you are staying onsite and can get into the park an hour early, that’s a huge advantage so take it!
Go to the most popular rides first. Those lines will get long quickly and usually stay long throughout the rest of the day.
Sometimes it’s a good strategy to go to a big ride right at the end of the day, because Disney will let you get into line right up until closing time, which means you could be in the park (in line and on the ride) well after the official close time. But save this tactic for reriding a favorite ride. That way, if it doesn’t work out, you still got to ride it.
Disney has changed up their ride reservation system a lot over the past few years, and it’s hard to keep up! I’ll explain what I know and do my best to keep this updated.
FastPass and FastPass+ are gone. Kiss ‘em goodbye. Unlearn those words.
Disney Genie is a virtual planner in the My Disney Experience app that helps you schedule your day and ideally do everything you want to do with minimum wait times. It’s free, but it doesn’t allow you to schedule any ride reservations. That’s where Disney Genie+ comes in.
Disney Genie+ is a paid service that allows you to schedule reservations for certain rides and attractions throughout the parks. When you arrive at your reservation time, you’ll use the Lightning Lane to get on the ride quickly.
Not every ride has a Lightning Lane, but many do. You can book additional reservations after you’ve redeemed your most recent reservation, or 120 minutes after you’ve scheduled your most recent reservation.
Some of the most popular rides open up a Virtual Queue on the My Disney Experience app at certain times of day. This allows you to secure a spot in a boarding group that will get called to ride the ride at some point that day. These are free, but you have to have fast fingers to snag one!
At Walt Disney World the rides using Virtual Queue is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot. TRON Lightcycle / Run and Tian's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom Park will use a Virtual Queue as well.
Lastly, some attractions have Individual Lightning Lanes. These are popular rides that are not included in the Genie+ reservation system. Instead, you have to purchase an a la carte Lightning Lane reservation, and you’re limited to two per day.
The good news here is that if you aren’t able to get a Virtual Queue boarding pass for the ride you were just dying to experience, you might be able to buy your way on.
Exhausted yet? Well now you just have to remember that there are even more rules for when and where you can purchase/reserve these various ride reservations. For some you have to be in the park, some require the park to be officially open first, others you can book in the early morning before the park opens… It takes some research, but if you want to do all the things, it’s worth spending the time. You just read this overview, so you’re well on your way!
There is almost an endless list of things to do at Magic Kingdom Park. Other than the rides and attractions we’ve already covered, there are character meet & greets, stage shows, parades, play areas, games, dining, shopping, photo ops, and more!
Plus, things are always changing! The flowers, special temporary displays, holiday and seasonal decorations, etc. You could spend the day just walking around the park, taking in the sights and sounds and hidden Mickeys, and not get bored.
At the Magic Kingdom, you’ll find a variety of entertainment all day long — from stage shows and street performers, to cavalcades and parades, to light shows and fireworks!
You might catch the Dapper Dans singing barbershop tunes along Main Street, or stop and enjoy the Casey’s Corner pianist for a few beats.
Cavalcades were Disney’s replacement for parades in 2020 and 2021, and a few remain even after the big parade has been reinstated. Look for these fun mini-parades to go by while you’re roaming the park.
And for the full parade experience, make sure to stake out a spot along the route in advance of the parade time. The parade theme, characters, and music is updated several times a year. In early 2023, you’ll enjoy the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade.
Head to the front of Cinderella Castle to catch the stage show Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire. Check the My Disney Experience app, Disney website, or postings within the park for the daily schedule of show times.
And what better way to end a Disney day than with a fireworks show?! Beginning April 3, 2023, the Happily Ever After nighttime spectacular will return to Magic Kingdom park, featuring all-new projections down Main Street, U.S.A. And it’s not just fireworks — make sure you have a good view of the castle because the projections are fabulous, and you’ll be singing along with the upbeat tunes that accompany the visuals!
I hope this post has helped you plan the perfect day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. I wish you great weather, short lines, and a ton of Disney Magic Kingdom fun and great memories!
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