Daily Park Report: January 29, 2026

Magic Kingdom Ran Hot While Three Parks Coasted: Thursday's Lopsided Resort

Magic Kingdom posted an 8/10 crowd level yesterday while every other park sat at a comfortable 4/10. That gap—the widest single-day spread we've seen in weeks—turned Thursday into a tale of two resorts: one park bursting at the seams, three others offering easy touring for anyone willing to look beyond Cinderella Castle.

Magic Kingdom: 8/10 — Very Heavy

A 21-minute median wait doesn't sound extreme until you remember Magic Kingdom's baseline is 15 minutes. That 5.5% bump above the 30-day average translated to a Very Heavy 8/10, and by noon the park peaked at 30-minute medians across the board. Clear skies and cool temperatures—a 65-degree high with no rain—created textbook conditions for families to default to the Magic Kingdom, and the data confirms it.

The pressure showed up most clearly in Fantasyland. Tiana's Bayou Adventure hit 50-minute averages, double its typical 25—notable given the 48-degree average temperature that normally suppresses water ride demand. Guests chose the queue over the chill. Dumbo climbed to 20 minutes (double its norm), The Barnstormer hit 25, and even Magic Carpets of Aladdin posted 25-minute waits. Tomorrowland Speedway matched that 25-minute figure. The entire park was running heavy, with no pocket of relief except PeopleMover (5 minutes, half its usual) and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel (also 5 minutes)—two attractions that rarely draw strategic guests.

Morning operations didn't help. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train went down for 54 minutes starting at 8:37 AM, and The Barnstormer had two separate downtimes totaling 51 minutes before 10 AM. Magic Carpets lost its first hour too. That compressed morning demand into fewer attractions, inflating waits across Fantasyland right as rope-drop crowds arrived.

EPCOT: 4/10 — Comfortable

EPCOT posted the day's biggest drop: 16-minute medians, down 20% from the 30-day average despite the Festival of the Arts drawing its own crowd. Festival guests continued the pattern we've seen all season—they're there for the food and art, not the ride queues. Living with the Land ran at 20 minutes (double its usual 10), which reads as guests ducking into climate-controlled attractions between outdoor booths on a cool day. The Seas with Nemo followed the same pattern at 10 minutes, double its norm but still a trivial wait.

The real EPCOT story was Spaceship Earth's five-hour outage. Down from 8:32 AM to 1:35 PM, the park's signature attraction was unavailable for the entire morning rush. Guests arriving at rope drop lost their most reliable first stop, and that demand likely funneled into nearby Future World attractions. Test Track compounded the problem with its own 75-minute morning outage. Despite all that, EPCOT still posted just a 4/10—a sign of genuinely light base attendance. The After Hours event scheduled for 9:30 PM had no impact on daytime operations.

Hollywood Studios: 4/10 — Comfortable

Hollywood Studios came in at 33-minute medians, 17.3% below its 30-day average of 40 minutes. For a park with a high baseline, that's a meaningful dip into comfortable territory. The 11 AM peak hit 45 minutes, then tapered. Late-day guests faced a double headliner loss: Slinky Dog Dash went down at 5:43 PM for 51 minutes, and Rise of the Resistance followed at 6:06 PM for 41 minutes. Anyone arriving for an evening session found Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge both missing their anchors.

Animal Kingdom: 4/10 — Comfortable

Animal Kingdom tracked almost exactly to its 30-day average at 25.8 minutes, just 3.2% above baseline. The outlier here was DINOSAUR, which posted 45-minute averages—80% above its typical 25. A 65-minute afternoon downtime (2:51–3:55 PM) compressed demand into its operating hours, but even before that closure the attraction was running hot, suggesting genuine elevated interest rather than a downtime artifact.

Downtime Impact

Thursday saw an unusual concentration of morning outages. Between Spaceship Earth (303 minutes), Test Track (75 minutes), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (54 minutes), and multiple Fantasyland flats, guests across two parks lost headliner access during the most valuable touring hours. The EPCOT outages barely registered on a light day. But at Magic Kingdom, where crowds were already heavy, losing Mine Train at rope drop created a cascading effect—Fantasyland's secondary attractions absorbed demand they don't typically see, explaining the inflated Dumbo and Barnstormer numbers.

Friday Forecast: January 30

Today brings warmer conditions—a 69-degree high under mostly clear skies—and the Festival of the Arts continues at EPCOT. The National School Spirit Championships may add incremental bodies but won't reshape the resort. The strategic play: Magic Kingdom ran hot on Thursday with no special event to explain it, just default family behavior on a pleasant winter day. Friday's even warmer weather could repeat that pattern. EPCOT remains the value pick with Festival of the Arts guests suppressing ride waits. Hollywood Studios at 17% below average suggests soft demand that could carry into Friday. If yesterday's DINOSAUR surge signals growing Animal Kingdom interest, consider arriving there early before that trend builds.

Yesterday's four-point crowd level gap between Magic Kingdom and the rest of the resort is exactly the kind of asymmetry that separates a frustrating park day from an efficient one. Lightning Brain tracks these splits in real time so you can pivot before the crowds do. Now available at lightningbrain.app and on the App Store!