How to save your Disney vacation when the parks are extremely crowded

Based on reports from my friends, neighbors, family members and various other folks, Disney World crowds are revving up in a big way.

Major holiday, spring break and summer vacation periods are always going to be busy, but with so many festivals, ride openings and special events, there’s no longer a traditional offseason where you’ll feel like you have the parks to yourselves. If you show up with your day planned down to the minute, you might leave disappointed when the crowds throw you off schedule from the get-go.

But don’t let your thwarted plans ruin your day. Instead of going home “Grumpy,” you can go home “Happy” with my best backup plans (and a few we sourced from TPG’s friends on social media) for those days when Disney is way too crowded.

Rope drop

First things first: If you’re heading to the parks and want to avoid the crowds, you have to plan to arrive early before most guests start streaming in. Plan to get to the park of your choosing about 45 minutes before the posted opening time so you can be there for “rope drop” — the moment Disney opens the park and allows guests to get in line for their first ride.

If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel — this is an ideal time to consider doing so — you’ll be able to enter the parks 30 minutes before other visitors; you should still plan on arriving at least 30 minutes before this early entry time to take full advantage of this perk.

If you can be near the front of that first group into the park, you can knock out your first few rides in under an hour and then take a break for a late lunch while the crowds start to roll in or, as one Instagram user put it, “watch everyone panic at the lines.”

Related: The best Disney World hotels for your 2024 stay

Guests of Disney’s Deluxe resorts, including Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, can enjoy exclusive extended evening hours in a specific park on select nights. This is true for both guests who pay with cash and those who book their stay with Disney Vacation Club points. You can see a full schedule of hours on Disney’s daily calendar.

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There are also Disney After Hours events when the parks are open to special ticket holders. And if you’re visiting for a holiday like Christmas, you can also consider purchasing tickets to an after-hours party. Both of these are pricey options but allow you to visit select parks at night without the crowds during peak periods.

Related: Are Disney World’s after-hours parties worth it?

See which park is the slowest

If you are greeted by a sea of humans when you arrive at the front gates of your chosen Disney park, you’ll likely run into all those people when getting in line for rides. That’s why you need a backup plan.

Whip out your phone, and take a look at the wait times at Disney World’s other three theme parks. If you notice that one park has significantly shorter wait times than the others, head there instead. If you are visiting first thing in the morning, take a minute the day before to assess which parks seem busier than others.

If you have a regular single-day ticket, you must do this before you tap in at the turnstiles, as you will have to stay at the same park for the entire day until you can try again the following day. If you have a Park Hopper ticket, you can survey the scene and then move on to another park whenever you choose (and then do it again if that option suits you since there are no longer restrictions on Park Hopper tickets with Disney’s new 2024 park updates.)

Several Disney websites keep up-to-date calendars of the busiest and least crowded times to visit Disney parks. You can also look at Disney’s ticket pricing calendars to get an idea of when the busiest times are since the highest ticket prices correspond to the most popular days at the parks (a result of their dynamic pricing).

If you have flexibility in your schedule, try to plan around the busy periods — you’ll save both time and money if you can.

Related: These are the best times to visit Disney World

If it’s within your budget, taking a private Disney VIP tour renders crowds meaningless. Your VIP tour guide will help you plan a custom itinerary that includes front-of-the-line access to most of your favorite attractions and will share fun Disney facts and interesting history tidbits along the way.

The icing on the Mickey-shaped cake is that you’ll also get private transportation from your hotel and between the parks, access to special viewing areas for shows and fireworks and a knowledgeable guide who can help you with any needs that may come up and rearrange plans on the fly if necessary.

This level of crowd-clearing luxury comes with a hefty price tag. Pricing starts at $450 to $900 per hour, depending on the season (not including park admission), with a minimum duration of seven hours. However, you can have up to 10 people in your VIP tour group, so you could save money by inviting people who can pay their way versus children whose costs are your responsibility.

Take a long lunch

Most of us are guilty of rushing through meals at Disney World so we don’t miss out on a minute of fun. It’s pretty easy to do, now, with so many Disney restaurants offering mobile ordering, but a crowded day could be the perfect time to slow down and visit one of Disney’s sit-down dining locations.

You could go the high-end route at spots like California Grill or Steakhouse 71, both located at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, or you could spend your mealtime with Disney characters at Tusker House Restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Hollywood & Vine at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Garden Grill Restaurant at Epcot.

Reservations for table-service restaurants can fill up well in advance, but Disney has made it simple to search for walk-up availability if you want to escape the crowds.

In the My Disney Experience app, you can join a walk-up waitlist for many of Disney’s table-service restaurants. You’ll receive a notification on your phone when your table is ready.

If you can snag an early bird dinner reservation (around 4 or 4:30 p.m.), you’ll be finishing up your evening meal around the time most people are just getting started, and you’ll hopefully be dealing with fewer after-dinner crowds because of it.

If you can’t find a walk-up reservation, order a snack or quick-service meal and find a shady spot to people-watch while you grab a bite to eat.

Related: The best restaurants for outdoor dining at Disney World

Go on a Hidden Mickey hunt

Before we tell you how to look for Hidden Mickeys, first we should tell you what they are. Hidden Mickeys are images of Mickey Mouse that are concealed in the design of Disney attractions, lands, resorts and even films.

Some, like the Mickey head made out of rocks at the bottom of a massive saltwater tank at Epcot’s The Seas With Nemo and Friends, are easy to spot. Others, like a subtle wallpaper pattern or cleverly placed stones in a mosaic walkway, not so much.

Rather than spend the day standing in line, you can compete with your travel companions to see who can spot the most Hidden Mickeys. If you’d rather team up than face off, bring along a copy of “Walt Disney World’s Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Walt Disney World’s Best Kept Secrets” by Steven M. Barrett to aid you in your quest.

Related: 19 Disney World secrets that can add ‘pixie dust’ to your vacation

Go for a dip

Crowds building to a maximum? Take a break. All of Disney World’s resort hotels have large family-friendly pools where you can cool off on a hot (and busy) day, but we definitely have a couple of favorites.

Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort has a sandy beach, a winding waterslide and a shallow children’s pool with a miniature waterslide. It’s also the only Disney resort pool with a lazy river.

The Lava Pool at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort has a 142-foot-long waterslide built into a volcano, a large splash area for kids with two smaller waterslides, and nightly fireworks views of the nearby Magic Kingdom.

A few Disney resorts offer cabana rentals if you plan to make a day of it. Cabanas come fully furnished and include amenities like fruit, snacks, stocked minifridges and towels (amenities vary by resort). We recommend reserving in advance to ensure availability.

Related: The best pools at Walt Disney World

Go on a monorail crawl

The Walt Disney World monorail was designed to transport guests to the Magic Kingdom (including the Magic Kingdom resorts) and Epcot, but there is some fun along the way if you are looking for a way out of the theme parks.

In addition to stops at the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Magic Kingdom, the resort monorail makes stops at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Each of these has shops, restaurants and elaborately themed lobbies where you can while the hours away.

Depending on who you are traveling with, you could turn it into a bar crawl, appetizer crawl, dessert crawl or progressive dinner of sorts. Disney’s resorts are just as magical as its theme parks, giving you a chance to see multiple spots in one day. (Extra bonus: You don’t have to buy a theme park ticket to use the monorail and/or visit Disney resorts.)

You can plan a similar adventure on Disney’s Skyliner, which connects Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Disney’s Riviera Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Pop Century Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

Head to Disney Springs

Instead of heading straight to the theme parks, spend a day exploring Disney Springs, Disney World’s expansive shopping, dining and entertainment complex. All Disney resorts offer complimentary bus service to Disney Springs, or you can take a leisurely ferry ride for free from Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney’s Old Key West Resort or Disney’s Port Orleans resorts.

Disney Springs also has its own collection of hotels, many of which are major chains if you want to earn (or use) points on your Disney vacation.

Aside from Disney’s “Drawn to Life” Cirque du Soleil show and a handful of restaurants that require reservations, most of Disney Springs is open to be explored at your leisure.

There are more than 100 shops and restaurants and live entertainment every day of the week, so just window shopping with a coffee, cocktail or Dole Whip makes for a fun way to pass the time. Experiences like a carousel, a kiddie train ride, the Amphicar boat ride and a tethered hot air balloon ride remind you that you are still in a theme park.

Go fishing

If you’d rather be surrounded by fish than Disney folk, consider Disney World’s multiple opportunities to rent a rod and reel. You can also enjoy two- and four-hour guided excursions on a pontoon (each can hold up to five guests) or bass fishing boat (which can accommodate up to three guests) at various Disney resorts, though keep in mind that advance reservations are recommended.

If reservations are unavailable or you’d rather go the more budget-friendly route, dockside fishing is available on a first-come, first-served basis at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside.

Head for the wilderness

Fishing isn’t the only outdoor activity you can participate in at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Aside from the passersby proudly wearing Mickey ears, you’ll hardly know you are at a theme park when you head to Fort Wilderness for horse or pony rides, archery, canoeing, kayaking and cycling.

Advance reservations are recommended for some activities, but cycling and pony rides are available on a walk-up basis. Other activities may have walk-up availability, but, if that fails, you can enjoy the serene wooded landscape for a bit.

Related: The 350 all-new cabins coming to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort now have an opening date

Cross never-experienced attractions off your list

You know you have them: those Disney attractions you skip over in lieu of whatever is bright, shiny and new in the parks. Maybe it’s shows like the Country Bear Jamboree at the Magic Kingdom or walk-through attractions like Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios — we all have those attractions we bypass no matter how many times we visit the Most Magical Place on Earth.

Next time you visit, try your skip-over rides and shows. The lines are often shorter, and you may discover that you were missing out by not showing lesser-known attractions some love.

Take a tour of Disney’s greatest hits

An alternative to hitting up under-the-radar attractions is to tour the classic Disney hits. This really only works if you are at the Magic Kingdom, as it was the original park at Disney World when it opened in 1971.

Here are the rides you’ll need to visit:

• Country Bear Jamboree
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Hall of Presidents
• Haunted Mansion
• “It’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
• Swiss Family Treehouse
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Walt Disney World Railroad
• Enchanted Tiki Room

Not only will you get the chance to experience the Disney of yesteryear, but many of these, like the Enchanted Tiki Room and Mad Tea Party, also have reasonable wait times, even on busy days.

Wait it out

If the crowds at Disney are so overwhelming that you want to turn around and walk right back out of the gate, just go for it. The busiest time of day to be at Disney is between lunch and dinnertime, with crowds dropping off drastically after the nightly fireworks.

If you go this route, take a nap or go for a swim before heading back to the parks for some nighttime fun. The temperatures will be cooler, the crowds thinner and the wait times much shorter. We’ve waited less than five minutes for rides like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run when we showed up an hour before Disney’s Hollywood Studios closed for the day.