Most people — including my family — hit Magic Kingdom as their first park. The iconic Cinderella’s castle, not yet visible upon entering the gate, sets the mood once you hit main street and can see the gorgeous structure. The bad news is… because it’s the first park many go to, it’s busiest on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Magic Kingdom looked great and the Halloween decorations were amazing!
We got our standard entrance photos after waiting in line for around 45-minutes.
Where’s the magic?
One expects Magic Kingdom to be magical… right? Besides having the rides we’ve loved for years and years… like Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and more — there’s a new ride there now called TRON.
While it’s a great ride — the actual time on it is less than 60 seconds. The wait time for us was over 90 minutes. 🙄
That was probably because 1/2 the park was closed because there was a bear in a tree inside the park. (You can read about it here.) Basically, an already packed park put all the people into only half of the space and most every attraction we were interested in was shut down. With park hopper tickets, we left for Epcot.
But that’s not the end of the story!
We paid $726.70 for 4 tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that was also held at Magic Kingdom. We’ve done special events in the past that were worth the money because only a limited number of tickets were sold. With a small number of people there, you could ride everything as many times as you wanted without waiting in line. For example… once we waited in line 3 hours to ride Avatar, but during the after hours event, we rode it 9 times with no wait.
Not so this time around! Magic Kingdom closed early for the party, and to enjoy the park you might’ve already had a ticket for, you had to pay for yet another ticket to get back in the park to attend the event. It’s a double dip with ZERO perks. There was still a 40-minute wait to ride Haunted Mansion. See how thrilled we are?
We paid over $725 bucks for one bag of M&M’s and 2 rides — this and Pirates of the Caribbean. Haunted Mansion broke down 3 times during our ride… Pirates once.
There was a show and a parade, but it was so crowded it was only viewed by those who spent most of their time with their butts parked on the side of Main Street so they’d have a seat. We did happen to catch the fireworks on our way out. Check out the number of people at this “special,” premium and exclusive event! 😡
Magic Kingdom is officially tied for my LEAST favorite park even with the addition of TRON. What’s the park that is tied for last place? Hollywood Studios. Star Wars is ok, and I still love Tower of Terror — but not enough to even get me to that park this year… even with park hopper passes.