Daily Park Report: October 24, 2026

A Race-Weekend Saturday Pushed Three Parks Above Their Own Normal

Saturday ran heavy where it counts. Three of the four parks finished two full crowd levels above their own 30-day norms — Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and EPCOT all climbed from their typical low-season footing into genuinely busy territory. This wasn’t a single-park story; it was Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend layered on top of the Food & Wine Festival, and the extra bodies showed up in nearly every queue. If you toured yesterday expecting the quiet mid-October waits we’ve been reporting all week, the parks had other plans.

Weather cooperated completely — clear skies, a high around 80, barely a trace of rain. So every long wait yesterday was pure demand, not a storm pushing people indoors.

Park by Park

Magic Kingdom moved furthest off its own baseline. A 17.9-minute median doesn’t sound dramatic, but against MK’s featherweight 15-minute norm it lands as a busy day, and Fantasyland is where you felt it. Under the Sea ran four times its usual wait, climbing to 20 minutes — the kind of line that only forms when the land is genuinely packed. Dumbo, Mad Tea Party, the Carrousel, and Astro Orbiter all doubled up too. These are walk-on rides on a normal day; yesterday they became actual bottlenecks. The park didn’t peak until 3 PM (30-minute median), a classic Saturday afternoon build as day guests and race-weekend families converged.

Animal Kingdom quietly posted the biggest jump of all — waits up more than a third over its 30-day average, with a noon peak hitting a 45-minute median. At 27.5 minutes for the day it’s still comfortable touring, but the midday crush suggests guests are treating it as the morning park before the afternoon heat and wind set in.

Hollywood Studios sat at a 6/10 with a 38-minute median, peaking hard at 2 PM (55 minutes). That’s a busy afternoon for the park, and it tracks with race-weekend crowds filling in after a slow start. EPCOT rounded things out at a 5/10, peaking early at 11 AM — Food & Wine guests arriving with the rope and drifting toward the booths, which is exactly why its waits front-loaded rather than building all day.

Downtime Report

EPCOT’s headliner took the hardest hit. Test Track was offline for over two hours straight through the midday peak, from 1:22 to 3:34 PM — right when the park was at its fullest. With EPCOT’s marquee thrill ride unavailable, guests had Guardians and the pavilions to fall back on, but anyone building a day around Test Track lost their best window entirely.

Magic Kingdom had a rough evening stretch. Starting around 8 PM, a cluster of Fantasyland and nearby attractions closed together for roughly 90 minutes — Mickey’s PhilharMagic, “it’s a small world,” Peter Pan’s Flight, and the Carrousel all went down within minutes of each other and stayed offline past 9:30. Peter Pan in particular is a tough one to lose at night, when its standby line is usually the longest in the land. Earlier, TRON was down for well over an hour starting at 5 PM, and Big Thunder closed through the early afternoon. A busy park losing its headliners at peak times is the worst-case combination for standby guests.

Today’s Forecast: Sunday, October 25

Today flips almost entirely on one event: Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Magic Kingdom closes early to day guests tonight, and the engine calls it a 1/10 day with a 15-minute median — the clear best park if you get there early and don’t mind an early exit. Party days consistently run light at MK, and the forecast reflects that suppression directly.

Everywhere else sits calm. Hollywood Studios is the avoid pick at 4/10 (36 minutes), with Animal Kingdom matching at 4/10 (22 minutes) and EPCOT at 3/10 (26 minutes) as Food & Wine keeps the booths busier than the queues. Expect wind through midday and afternoon but no meaningful rain.

Honest scorecard from yesterday: the engine nailed Hollywood Studios and correctly flagged it as the avoid park, but it undershot Animal Kingdom by two full levels — that 37% surge caught the model off guard. Magic Kingdom and EPCOT each landed within one. Today’s read: rope-drop Magic Kingdom, enjoy the near-empty morning, and hop out before the party takes over.

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