Daily Park Report: January 25, 2026

EPCOT's Festival of the Arts Drove 34% Above Normal While Magic Kingdom Quietly Underperformed

Yesterday's split wasn't about crowd levels—it was about where guests decided to spend their Sunday. EPCOT surged to an 8/10, its heaviest traffic in weeks, while Magic Kingdom posted a 6/10 that ran 14.5% below its monthly average. Same Sunday, opposite trajectories.

The culprit is obvious: the International Festival of the Arts kicked into full swing, pulling art-loving guests toward World Showcase. With highs reaching 85°F under mostly clear skies, conditions were perfect for festival strolling—and apparently, for queuing up at attractions too.

EPCOT: Festival Crowds Actually Rode Attractions

The conventional wisdom is that festival guests come for the food booths, not the rides. Yesterday's data contradicts that. EPCOT's 26.7-minute median wait sits 33.5% above its 30-day average, pushing the park to Very Heavy territory at 8/10. Peak hour hit at 11:00 AM with 40-minute medians—guests arrived early and went straight for queues.

The attraction-level data tells a clearer story. Living with the Land posted 25-minute averages, 150% above its typical 10 minutes. Guests apparently wanted air-conditioned respite between festival food booths, turning the greenhouse tour into an impromptu cooling station. Gran Fiesta Tour saw similar behavior at 15 minutes (200% above baseline), and Journey Into Imagination hit 20 minutes (double its norm).

But here's where the day turned difficult: Spaceship Earth went down three separate times—45 minutes in the morning, nearly two hours midday, and another 21 minutes in the evening. That's over five hours of cumulative downtime on EPCOT's signature attraction during peak festival crowds. Test Track added insult with a 102-minute afternoon closure, and Frozen Ever After disappeared for 72 minutes. Festival guests hunting for headliners found themselves funneling into whatever remained operational, which explains why even The Seas with Nemo & Friends hit 20 minutes.

Magic Kingdom: A Quiet Sunday Below the Radar

While EPCOT struggled with capacity and closures, Magic Kingdom coasted at 6/10—busy by its own standards but 14.5% lighter than its monthly baseline. The 17.1-minute median represents comfortable touring for most families, with even the 11:00 AM peak only reaching 25 minutes.

The surprise outlier was Tiana's Bayou Adventure at 40 minutes, running 60% above its typical 25. With temperatures in the mid-80s, water ride aversion vanished—guests embraced the splash. Space Mountain's 81-minute midday closure may have pushed some demand toward other headliners, and Astro Orbiter's nearly three-hour outage created an unexpected gap in Tomorrowland's lineup.

TRON Lightcycle / Run went down for 42 minutes during late afternoon, and Peter Pan's Flight had a 30-minute hiatus. For Magic Kingdom, these closures were manageable given the lighter overall crowds, but guests targeting specific attractions still faced disruption.

Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom: Moderate and Manageable

Hollywood Studios delivered a pleasant surprise at 5/10 with 37.9-minute medians—nearly 16% below its 30-day average. This is comfortable touring territory for a park that can easily spike to hour-plus waits.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster had a rough afternoon, going down for 108 minutes starting at 1:20 PM, then again for 54 minutes in the evening. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway added a 75-minute closure. But the real outlier was Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at 85 minutes average—70% above its typical 50. With Rock 'n' Roller Coaster offline, Galaxy's Edge absorbed the thrill-seeker overflow.

Animal Kingdom held steady at 5/10 with a 32.7-minute median, running 9% above baseline. The late peak hour at 5:00 PM (50-minute median) coincided with Expedition Everest's 75-minute closure—guests who planned their day around the coaster found themselves redirected during golden hour. Kali River Rapids posted 20-minute waits, four times its usual 5 minutes, as the 85-degree heat made getting drenched appealing. DINOSAUR ran 60% above normal at 40 minutes, suggesting guests sought out the park's bigger experiences rather than spreading across lower-tier attractions.

Downtime Impact: EPCOT Bore the Brunt

Yesterday's operational story centers on EPCOT, where headliner capacity crumbled under festival demand. Spaceship Earth's repeated failures removed significant hourly capacity from a park already running 34% above normal. When your iconic attraction cycles through three separate closures totaling over five hours, guest flow has nowhere healthy to redistribute.

Families waiting for Test Track found themselves stranded when the 102-minute afternoon closure hit, likely pivoting to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or accepting the surge at World Showcase attractions. Frozen Ever After's 72-minute outage compressed Norway pavilion demand into the evening hours.

The contrast with Magic Kingdom is stark: similar total downtime minutes, but spread across a park running 14.5% below normal rather than 34% above. EPCOT guests felt every closure acutely.

Today's Prediction: Drizzle Changes the Equation

Monday brings a significant weather shift—highs dropping to 71°F with a 47% chance of drizzle. The Festival of the Arts continues, but outdoor browsing becomes less appealing under gray skies.

Expect EPCOT crowds to moderate from yesterday's 8/10 as fair-weather festival guests reconsider. The attractions themselves may see steady demand as guests seek shelter, but overall park traffic should ease. Magic Kingdom typically absorbs Monday families, and today's cooler temperatures favor its largely indoor queue experiences.

The smart play: Hollywood Studios offers the best value proposition. Yesterday's 5/10 combined with typical Monday patterns suggests comfortable waits, and Galaxy's Edge touring becomes pleasant without Sunday's heat. Arrive by rope drop, prioritize Rise of the Resistance, and work backward through the park.

These resort-wide patterns—where one park's event reshapes traffic across all four—are exactly what Lightning Brain detects in real time. See where the crowds are flowing before you commit to a park. Now available at lightningbrain.app and on the App Store!