Daily Park Report: December 13, 2025

Saturday December 13 Park Analysis: A Tale of Two Crowd Patterns

Saturday brought near-perfect weather to Walt Disney World with mostly clear skies, a comfortable high of 77.6°F, and zero precipitation. The EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays continued drawing crowds to World Showcase, while Disney Jollywood Nights provided an after-hours hard-ticket event at Hollywood Studios. Despite being a Saturday in mid-December, crowd levels told an interesting story: the parks weren't uniformly busy. Instead, we saw a clear split between the headliner parks and the rest of the property.

Park-by-Park Analysis

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios claimed the title of busiest park with a 5/10 crowd level and a median wait of 39 minutes, running 11.4% above its 30-day average. The park hit peak crowds at 11:00 AM with median waits reaching 50 minutes. The Jollywood Nights event likely contributed to heavier daytime crowds as guests maximized their time before the party. Tower of Terror saw particularly elevated waits at 90 minutes average when operational, though morning downtime may have created pent-up demand once it reopened.

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom registered a 4/10 crowd level with a median wait of 29.2 minutes, but that number deserves context. This represents a 46% increase over the 30-day average, the largest percentage jump of any park. Peak hour hit at noon with 45-minute median waits. DINOSAUR stood out with 30-minute waits, triple its typical 10-minute average. The park's relatively compact attraction lineup means when crowds do show up, the impact on wait times is amplified.

EPCOT

Despite hosting the Festival of the Holidays, an event tagged as having "very high" crowd impact, EPCOT maintained a surprisingly manageable 3/10 crowd level. The median wait of 23.1 minutes ran 15.5% above the 30-day average. Peak crowds arrived at 11:00 AM with 35-minute median waits. Festival guests appear to be spending more time at food booths and World Showcase entertainment than queuing for attractions, keeping ride waits reasonable even as overall attendance climbed.

Magic Kingdom

The flagship park posted the lightest crowds with a 2/10 rating and just 21.1 minutes median wait, though this still represented a 40.7% bump over the 30-day average. Interestingly, Magic Kingdom peaked later than other parks at 4:00 PM with 30-minute median waits. This late surge likely reflects guests arriving after morning rope drop elsewhere or positioning for evening fireworks. With 5,476 data points collected, this was also our most thoroughly tracked park of the day.

Outliers and Surprises

Several attractions posted waits far exceeding their norms. At Magic Kingdom, Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid averaged 30 minutes, a staggering 500% above its typical 5-minute wait. This Fantasyland dark ride rarely draws such crowds, and the spike may indicate afternoon overflow from nearby attractions during Space Mountain's midday downtime.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure averaged 55 minutes, nearly triple its typical 15-minute wait, though this was partly constrained by a 3.5-hour morning closure. When operational, demand clearly outpaced capacity. Classic attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and "it's a small world" also saw waits double their averages, suggesting families were opting for the familiar during the holiday season.

The 90-minute average for Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, triple its typical wait, reflects both the ride's enduring popularity and reduced daily capacity from two separate downtime windows totaling over 2.5 hours.

Downtime Report

Saturday was a rough day for operational reliability. Slinky Dog Dash suffered the longest outage, going down from 12:02 PM to 3:50 PM, a 228-minute closure that took Hollywood Studios' most family-friendly headliner offline during peak hours. Tiana's Bayou Adventure followed with a 216-minute morning closure. Test Track lost nearly two hours in the late afternoon, and Tower of Terror experienced two separate outages totaling 153 minutes. Space Mountain's 78-minute midday closure likely contributed to elevated waits at nearby Fantasyland attractions as guests sought alternatives.

Today's Prediction: Sunday December 14

Weather conditions remain favorable with partly cloudy skies, a high near 77°F, and no rain in the forecast. The key variable today is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom, which will close the park early to day guests.

Expect Magic Kingdom to see compressed crowds during operating hours as guests try to fit their touring into a shorter window. The Festival of the Holidays continues at EPCOT, which should maintain moderate attendance. Without a special event, Animal Kingdom may offer the best combination of availability and manageable waits, particularly if you arrive before the noon peak we observed yesterday.

Hollywood Studios could see lighter crowds than Saturday without Jollywood Nights on the calendar, but monitor Slinky Dog Dash status early since yesterday's extended closure suggests the ride may need attention.

Plan Smarter

This analysis is built on the same real-time data that powers Lightning Brain, a Walt Disney World planning tool designed to help you make informed decisions about where and when to tour. The app is coming soon to the iOS App Store.