Weekly Park Report: December 7 - December 13, 2025
Four Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party nights should have crushed Magic Kingdom's daytime crowds. Instead, the park delivered a 4/10 week with multiple days hitting rock-bottom 10-minute medians. Th...
Magic Kingdom Defied the Holiday Playbook This Week
Four Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party nights should have crushed Magic Kingdom's daytime crowds. Instead, the park delivered a 4/10 week with multiple days hitting rock-bottom 10-minute medians. The data reveals a holiday paradox: party nights are compressing demand so effectively that guests are redistributing themselves across the resort in unexpected ways.
Week at a Glance
December 7-13 registered as a 3-4/10 week across Walt Disney World - lighter than the name "Christmas season" suggests. The resort-wide median of 20 minutes matched the previous three weeks exactly, but the story lies in the divergence. Hollywood Studios ran 14% below its 6-week baseline while Animal Kingdom climbed 25% above its typical performance. This week fell busier than only 42% of days in 2025, placing it squarely in the lower-moderate range despite being peak holiday season.
The headline: hard-ticket events at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios created a pressure release valve that kept daytime crowds manageable across the board.
Park-by-Park Analysis
Magic Kingdom: The Party Effect in Full Force
With Christmas parties on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, Magic Kingdom operated under compressed schedules all week. The result? A 4/10 average with four days posting 10-minute medians. Saturday's 25-minute median - a 5/10 - was the only day that felt remotely like December at the world's most visited theme park.
The reliability picture told a different story. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train went down 14 times, Tiana's Bayou Adventure had 11 incidents, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh led the resort with 21 separate outages. Rope-droppers targeting Mine Train found themselves redirected to Space Mountain more than once. The silver lining: Tiana's Bayou Adventure averaged just 16.7 minutes - down 34% from its 30-day baseline of 25 minutes. Whether that reflects operational improvements or guests avoiding an unreliable attraction is worth watching.
Hollywood Studios: Jollywood Nights Creates Opportunity
Hollywood Studios posted the week's most dramatic swing. Wednesday's Jollywood Nights compressed the park to a 20-minute median - a 2/10 that made Rise of the Resistance and Tower of Terror walk-ons for much of the day. Saturday's repeat event pushed crowds earlier in the day, resulting in a 40-minute median but still only a 5/10 rating.
The weekly average of 30 minutes (3/10) ran 14% below the six-week baseline of 35 minutes. This is the lightest Hollywood Studios has performed since early November. Guests willing to tour during truncated operating hours found exceptional conditions.
Animal Kingdom: The Quiet Outlier
Without hard-ticket events to compress its schedule, Animal Kingdom absorbed overflow guests - and the data shows it. The 25-minute weekly median ran 25% above the six-week average, the largest negative swing of any park. Saturday hit 35 minutes (a 5/10), and even midweek days that should have been light posted 20-25 minute medians.
Expedition Everest struggled with 11 downtime incidents, frustrating guests who planned their day around the mountain coaster. Flight of Passage held steady, but the park's role as the "no party tonight" alternative drove more traffic than typical December patterns suggest.
EPCOT: Festival Steady
The International Festival of the Holidays ran all seven days, creating consistent but manageable crowds. The 20-minute median matched the six-week average exactly - EPCOT delivered precisely what historical data predicted.
The operational challenges concentrated here: Spaceship Earth (21 incidents), Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (19), Test Track (17), and Gran Fiesta Tour (12) all struggled. Guests targeting World Showcase for festival food booths fared better than those focused on Future World attractions. Living with the Land - running its Glimmering Greenhouses holiday overlay - averaged 29.8 minutes, up 64% from its typical 18 minutes. The seasonal theming drove demand that outpaced the queue's capacity.
Daily Pattern Analysis
| Day | Resort Trend | Busiest Park | Lightest Park | Key Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 12/7 | Light | AK/HS (30 min) | MK (10 min) | MVMCP compressed MK |
| Mon 12/8 | Light-Moderate | HS (35 min) | MK (20 min) | No parties - even distribution |
| Tue 12/9 | Light | HS (35 min) | MK (10 min) | MVMCP again |
| Wed 12/10 | Very Light | MK/AK (20 min) | EP/HS (15-20 min) | Jollywood Nights at HS |
| Thu 12/11 | Light | HS (30 min) | MK (10 min) | MVMCP |
| Fri 12/12 | Moderate | HS (40 min) | MK (10 min) | Weekend buildup + MVMCP |
| Sat 12/13 | Moderate | HS (40 min) | MK (25 min) | Jollywood Nights + weekend peak |
The pattern reveals a clear hierarchy: party nights at Magic Kingdom created the lightest conditions there while pushing guests to Hollywood Studios. When Hollywood Studios hosted Jollywood Nights, those crowds shifted to Animal Kingdom. Wednesday - with parties at both MK-adjacent parks - delivered the week's best overall touring conditions.
Reliability Report
EPCOT bore the brunt of operational issues this week. Guests planning a Future World morning found themselves rerouting repeatedly - Spaceship Earth's 21 incidents hit hardest during the first few operating hours, and Test Track's 17 outages meant Standby guests often waited through extended delays only to see the queue temporarily close.
At Magic Kingdom, the classics struggled. Winnie the Pooh's 21 incidents and Mad Tea Party's 11 outages suggest aging ride systems feeling the strain of holiday crowds. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train's 14 incidents particularly frustrated families who prioritized it for early entry - the coaster went down during the 7-8 AM window multiple mornings.
Next Week Outlook
December 14-20 brings more of the same event structure: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party continues Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at Magic Kingdom. However, crowds will build as schools release for winter break toward week's end.
Strategy: Target Monday and Wednesday for Magic Kingdom - the only non-party days before the Christmas week surge. Hollywood Studios looks excellent on non-Jollywood nights, but check the event calendar carefully. Animal Kingdom remains the pressure valve; expect it to run above baseline again. EPCOT's Festival of the Holidays keeps World Showcase busy, but Future World attractions should stay manageable before 11 AM.
By Saturday the 20th, expect a significant uptick as holiday travelers arrive in force.
Plan Your Week with Real Data
Hard-ticket events reshape the entire resort - and this week proved that knowing the party schedule is only half the equation. Lightning Brain's event-aware crowd modeling shows you exactly where guests shift when Christmas parties take over Magic Kingdom. Stop guessing which park absorbs the overflow. iOS app coming soon at lightningbrain.app.