Disney Tips - General Park Information

General Park Information and Tips

• The theme parks at Walt Disney World are open year round. The parks usually open daily at 9:00 am and close anywhere from 6:00 p.m. to midnight depending on what part of the season it is. Animal Kingdom usually opens at 7 or 8 am every day. Disney changes its hours of operation throughout the year, but there are many places to find the hours of operation including calling Disney World and certain web pages.
• The busiest periods at Disney World are from mid-February to August and from Christmas Day to New Years Day. The slowest months are January, September, October and November. The busiest day of the week seems to be Tuesday with Friday and Sunday being the least crowded.
• Hurricane season is roughly from August to October. This is probably why these months are less crowded. Though it may rain every day during this season, the showers are often short and sometimes very light. Having a plastic rain parka can make this a very minor inconvenience.
• The theme parks are generally less crowded after 4:00 p.m., especially Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios. Epcot seems to be the opposite, it is least crowed early in the morning.
  Attraction boards are located in all of the theme parks. It is a large board that lists all the attractions in the park and approximate waiting times for that attraction. This can be helpful in choosing what to see based on the length of the line. There is also a Disney staff member stationed at each board to give you directions to attractions.
• Find out when parades are taking place at the park you are visiting. If you have already seen the parade or are not interested in seeing it, this is a good time to see one of the more popular attractions, as lines are generally shorter.