Daily Park Report: March 10, 2026

March 10 Park Report: EPCOT Outpaces Magic Kingdom on a Scorching Spring Break Tuesday

EPCOT led the resort yesterday. On a spring break Tuesday with temperatures hitting 90 degrees, the Flower and Garden Festival park posted a 6/10 while Magic Kingdom came in at just 5/10. That inversion — EPCOT running busier than Magic Kingdom — tells you exactly where spring break guests were spending their time. MK's median wait dropped to 16.5 minutes, well below its 30-day average, while EPCOT climbed above its own norm. The heat likely played a role, pushing families toward EPCOT's abundance of indoor attractions and shaded festival kitchens.

EPCOT — 6/10 (Busy)

EPCOT's 21.7-minute median wait put it above its 30-day average of 20 minutes, and the park peaked early — 10:00 AM saw median waits of 35 minutes before tapering through the afternoon. That early surge suggests guests were rope-dropping the headliners and then drifting toward the Flower and Garden outdoor kitchens as temperatures climbed into the upper 80s. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind went down for 52 minutes in the early evening, cutting into what should have been its final rush of riders. Spaceship Earth also closed for 41 minutes mid-morning, though by that point the crowd had already shifted away from Future World's entrance corridor.

Magic Kingdom — 5/10 (Moderate)

Magic Kingdom came in about 17% below its 30-day average — a notable dip for peak spring break overlap. The park peaked at 11:00 AM with 25-minute median waits, then steadily eased into the afternoon. TRON Lightcycle / Run was offline for 72 minutes starting at 3:45 PM, which removed one of the park's biggest draws during what's typically a second-wind period as guests return from midday breaks. Several smaller attractions — Jungle Cruise, "it's a small world," Hall of Presidents — also had scattered closures that nibbled at capacity throughout the day. Tomorrowland Speedway posted a 10-minute average, running lighter than usual as the outdoor heat likely kept families from lining up for an uncovered queue and open-air track in direct sun. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel averaged just 5 minutes all day.

Hollywood Studios — 5/10 (Moderate)

Hollywood Studios came in at a 37.7-minute median, slightly below its 30-day average. The park peaked at 11:00 AM with 50-minute median waits — typical timing for a park where guests rush the headliners and then spread out. The morning took a hit when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance closed for 63 minutes starting at 11:06 AM, right during peak demand. That's the park's anchor attraction going offline at the worst possible hour. Guests who had planned their mornings around it were likely forced into Galaxy's Edge alternatives or shuffled toward Toy Story Land. For a park built around a handful of high-demand headliners, losing Rise during its busiest window matters more than the median numbers suggest.

Animal Kingdom — 3/10 (Light)

Animal Kingdom ran light at a 3/10, with a 22.5-minute median that sat roughly 10% below its 30-day average. The headliner-level downtimes here tell most of the story. Kali River Rapids closed at 10:00 AM and didn't reopen until 4:54 PM — nearly seven hours offline on the one day guests would have been desperate for a water ride. Then Expedition Everest went down at 2:42 PM for 96 minutes, meaning the park lost two of its biggest attractions simultaneously through the hottest stretch of the afternoon. For guests who had chosen Animal Kingdom hoping for a cooler, less crowded day, the afternoon was a rough draw. The light crowd level probably had more to do with spring breakers gravitating toward EPCOT and Hollywood Studios than the downtimes themselves, but the closures made an already thin day feel emptier.

Downtime Report

The day's most consequential closure was Kali River Rapids' marathon seven-hour outage. Ninety degrees in March is unusual enough that guests would have been counting on the rapids as a midday cool-down. Instead, Animal Kingdom had essentially no water-ride option from mid-morning through late afternoon. Stacking Expedition Everest's 96-minute closure on top of that left the park's Pandora and Discovery Island attractions absorbing most of the demand — though at a 3/10 crowd level, the redistribution was barely noticeable in the data.

Rise of the Resistance's hour-long closure at Hollywood Studios during peak was more impactful on a per-guest basis. In a park where one attraction can account for a massive share of total queue demand, pulling Rise offline at 11:00 AM forced a midday replanning moment for thousands of guests.

Wednesday Prediction — March 11

Yesterday's predictions landed cleanly: we nailed Magic Kingdom and EPCOT on the nose, and came within one level on Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We'll take that.

Wednesday brings near-identical conditions — highs around 87 degrees under mostly clear skies, the same Houston ISD spring break crowd, and the continued pull of Flower and Garden at EPCOT. Expect crowd distribution to remain tilted toward EPCOT.

Strategy for today: if you are heading to EPCOT, get to the headliners before 10:00 AM. Tuesday's data showed EPCOT peaking an hour earlier than the other parks, and that pattern is likely to repeat. Animal Kingdom remains the path of least resistance for guests who want short waits, but check attraction status before committing — yesterday's extended closures are a reminder that the lighter park can also be the one with fewer operational options.

This kind of park-to-park crowd split is exactly what Lightning Brain tracks in real time — so you can see where the crowds are flowing before you tap into a park. Check it out at lightningbrain.app or download it now on the App Store!