Daily Park Report: December 26, 2025

The Day After Christmas Delivered Peak Crowds: All Four Parks Surged Past Normal

Magic Kingdom's median wait time jumped 61% above its 30-day average yesterday. That's the headline number from Friday, December 26—the day after Christmas and the heart of winter break. But the real story is that every single park ran hot, with Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom both hitting 9/10 crowd levels while EPCOT climbed to 7/10. This wasn't a crowd shift from one park to another. This was a resort-wide surge.

Clear skies and a comfortable 78-degree high created ideal touring conditions, which meant everyone showed up. The winter break crowd calendar effect was unmistakable: families with nowhere else to be filled queues from rope drop through park close.

Hollywood Studios: The Hottest Park on Property

Hollywood Studios earned the dubious distinction of highest median wait at 46.9 minutes—34% above its already-elevated baseline. At 9/10 crowds, this was a packed park by any measure. The noon peak hit a brutal 65-minute median, meaning even moderate attractions were testing guest patience.

Star Tours somehow bucked the trend in reverse, posting just 15-minute waits despite being 200% above its typical 5-minute baseline. In a park where headliners regularly broke an hour, this became an accidental refuge for guests seeking air conditioning without commitment.

Operational hiccups compounded the crowd pressure. Rise of the Resistance went dark for 34 minutes around the lunch rush, and Toy Story Mania dropped twice—56 minutes in the early afternoon and another 39 minutes later. When your two most reliable queue-absorbers go down in a packed park, the ripple effects spread everywhere.

Magic Kingdom: 61% Above Normal and Feeling It

The flagship park recorded its surge later than usual, with the 4:00 PM hour hitting peak at 35-minute medians. That late-afternoon crescendo reflects the day-after-Christmas guest pattern: families sleeping in, arriving mid-day, and staying through evening.

The outlier list tells the story of overwhelmed Fantasyland. Under the Sea posted 25-minute waits—400% above its typical 5-minute baseline. For context, this attraction rarely exceeds 10 minutes on a normal operating day. Dumbo and Barnstormer both tripled to 30 minutes. These family attractions became unexpected bottlenecks as crowds concentrated in the hub.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure pushed to 50-minute averages, more than double its typical 15-minute wait. The PeopleMover, normally a walk-on, hit 15-minute waits. When the PeopleMover has a line, you know capacity is strained.

The "it's a small world" closure from 1:26 to 2:32 PM removed 66 minutes of high-capacity relief during afternoon peak—exactly when the park needed it most.

EPCOT: Festival Crowds Hit Heavy

The International Festival of the Holidays drew EPCOT to 7/10 crowds with a 25-minute median—25% above the 30-day average. The 11:00 AM peak suggests World Showcase food booths weren't the only draw; attractions absorbed significant morning demand before guests transitioned to festival eating.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends quadrupled to 20-minute waits. Like Magic Kingdom's family attractions, this normally walk-on experience became a pressure valve for crowds seeking indoor relief.

Test Track's 96-minute morning closure and Spaceship Earth's 87-minute gap created a double-headliner outage that forced guests into secondary attractions. Figment went down three separate times totaling over 80 minutes—an unusual reliability pattern for a typically stable ride system.

Animal Kingdom: The Relative Refuge

At 4/10 crowds and a 31.9-minute median, Animal Kingdom was the closest thing to comfortable touring yesterday. But "comfortable" is relative—that 27.6% surge above normal and 5:00 PM peak of 50-minute medians still meant real waits for guests.

DINOSAUR's 255-minute morning outage—from 7:59 AM until after noon—pushed Dinoland demand onto other attractions. Kali River Rapids posted 35-minute waits despite 56-degree morning lows, suggesting guests prioritized ride availability over staying dry. Both attractions ran 250% above typical.

Downtime Impact

Yesterday's downtime pattern concentrated pain in the morning hours. EPCOT lost both Test Track and Spaceship Earth simultaneously from roughly 10:00-11:00 AM, forcing Future World crowds into World Showcase earlier than usual. Hollywood Studios' Rise of the Resistance outage during the noon rush came at the worst possible moment in the day's highest-crowd park. The cascading Toy Story Mania closures left Toy Story Land with only Alien Swirling Saucers absorbing demand.

Today's Outlook: Saturday, December 27

Conditions remain favorable—partly cloudy with a high near 76 degrees and zero precipitation chance. Festival of the Holidays continues at EPCOT. Winter break momentum carries forward with no sign of relief.

Expect similar or higher crowd levels across all four parks. Saturday historically outdraws Friday during holiday weeks as weekend arrivals layer onto guests already mid-trip. Hollywood Studios' 9/10 crowds yesterday suggest today could push capacity limits. EPCOT's festival crowds will concentrate again in World Showcase, but attraction queues showed yesterday that guests aren't skipping rides entirely.

Strategy: Animal Kingdom's 4/10 performance yesterday makes it the logical choice for guests seeking the lowest relative crowds. Rope drop any park you plan to visit—yesterday's late-peaking patterns don't mean mornings were empty, just less brutal. If Hollywood Studios is your target, prioritize Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog immediately; yesterday proved how quickly the park crosses into uncomfortable territory.

Find Your Window

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