Daily Park Report: June 25, 2026

Animal Kingdom Sank to the Resort’s Quietest Reading Thursday While EPCOT Slipped Past Magic Kingdom

Thursday rearranged the usual pecking order. Animal Kingdom posted a 13.7-minute median and a 2/10 crowd level — Very Light, and the clear laggard on property. That’s well below its own 25-minute norm. Meanwhile three parks bunched together at a comfortable 4/10, and EPCOT quietly edged out Magic Kingdom for second place. The takeaway for anyone touring today: the busy-park hierarchy you plan around isn’t fixed week to week, and a summer Thursday can hand you a near-walk-on day at the park most people assume is packed.

Weather was a non-factor for crowds — a 94°F high under mostly clear skies, with just a brief afternoon shower dropping 0.16 inches. Hot, but standard June stuff. The Ripken Experience continues to bring youth-baseball families to the resort, and summer vacation keeps the family-travel floor high, which is why crowd pressure sat at ELEVATED even on a day this manageable.

Park by Park

Animal Kingdom is the headline. Down roughly 45% against its 30-day average, it ran lighter than every other park by a wide margin. Kilimanjaro Safaris peaked early — the 11 AM rush — then the whole park drifted into easy touring. Kali River Rapids sat at 20 minutes against a typical 35, which is partly the standard cold-day water-ride discount inverted: even in the heat, Kali rarely commands a long line midweek. If you wanted Pandora and the safari without fighting anyone, Thursday was the day.

EPCOT climbed about 13% above its baseline to claim second place at 4/10, with an 11 AM peak around 25 minutes. The Seas with Nemo & Friends doubled its usual wait to 10 minutes — modest in absolute terms, but a sign guests were ducking into climate-controlled rides as the temperature spiked. Spaceship Earth and Figment, by contrast, stayed at walk-on levels. EPCOT outdrawing Magic Kingdom is the genuine deviation here, even if the spread is small.

Hollywood Studios held the top spot but ran soft for itself — a 30.1-minute median, about 14% under its norm, landing at a Comfortable 4/10. The park front-loaded hard, peaking at an 11 AM median of 50 minutes before easing. Morning rope-droppers paid full freight; afternoon arrivals got a real break.

Magic Kingdom rounded out the trio at 4/10 with a 13.6-minute median, slightly under its baseline. Notably, its peak came late — 8 PM, at a 20-minute median — rather than at midday. Fantasyland was a giveaway: Dumbo, Mad Tea Party, the PeopleMover, and Aladdin’s carpets all sat at 5 minutes, half their usual. Magic Kingdom didn’t get busy; it got busy late, as evening guests filtered in.

Downtime Report

The afternoon brought real disruption at the headliners. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was offline for over two hours starting at 2:27 PM, leaving Hollywood Studios down a major thrill option through the back half of the day. Over at EPCOT, Test Track had a rough stretch — multiple closures totaling several hours, including a final 8 PM stoppage it never recovered from — and Frozen Ever After went down for more than an hour mid-afternoon, pushing demand toward the indoor pavilions.

A brief shower between 4:03 and 4:42 PM triggered weather-protocol closures across a handful of outdoor attractions — Test Track, Journey of Water, and the Animal Kingdom walking trails among them. These reopened quickly once the band passed; the bigger story was the mechanical downtime, not the rain. Pirates of the Caribbean’s overnight closure (12:20 to 4:38 AM) was standard after-hours maintenance and affected no daytime guests.

Today’s Prediction (Friday, June 26)

Yesterday’s call on Magic Kingdom (5–7/10) landed a touch high against the actual 4/10 — close, but the park ran cooler than we expected. Today, with ELEVATED pressure from the Ripken crowds and peak summer travel, expect a firmer floor across the board. Look for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios in the 5–7/10 range, EPCOT around 5–6/10, and Animal Kingdom rebounding to 5/10 — Thursday’s slump there is unlikely to repeat two days running. The forecast calls for a 92°F high with afternoon rain chances climbing to around 34%, so build indoor options into your mid-afternoon plan and hit outdoor headliners early. Rope drop at Hollywood Studios remains the single highest-value move; that 11 AM peak is real.

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