Why You SHOULDN’T Go to Disney World for the 50th Anniversary

If you’re as obsessed with Disney World as we are, then you are not only WELL aware of the upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration this year, but you’re orienting your entire calendar around it!

Get ready to celebrate 50 years of Disney World!

But let’s get real: as momentous and once-in-a-lifetime as this experience will surely be, it’s going to be CAH-RAY-ZAY for a variety of reasons. So if you’re still debating whether or not to visit for the occasion, here’s why you probably SHOULDN’T! 

Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is going to be undeniably epic and extraordinary and, for a lot of fans across the globe, a can’t-miss spectacle! That’s all well and good, but for LOTS of other people, it’s just not the right time for a visit. 

Main Street, U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom

From the surefire hordes of tourists to queue lines so long we’re already having nightmares about them, here’s why you shouldn’t visit Disney World for the 50th anniversary. 

Where To Find ALL of the 50th Anniversary Statues at Disney World

You’re More Likely to Spend Most of Your Time Waiting in Lines

People come from all over the world for one-of-a-kind memory-making rides, restaurants, and shows at Disney World! What they DON’T come from all over the world for is never-ending lines, which is most likely what you’re going to experience during the 50th.

Brace yourself. 50th Anniversary crowds are coming.

With the parks certainly at capacity, and with more crowds than the parks have seen in a looooong time, that means Disney World is going to be swarming. Rides, transportation, merchandise lines, and restaurants are probably going to look like dizzyingly long queues at ALL times. And if you thought you had issues with virtual queues and Mobile Order hiccups in the past, just wait until you see how crazy things get in October! 

Mobile Order Wait

If you’ve ever seen our coverage of New Year’s Eve in Disney World…imagine that, but…bigger. New Year’s Eve is typically one of the busiest days of the year in Disney World. Typcially at least Magic Kingdom reaches capacity. Imagine the crazy crowds of New Year’s with even MORE reason to feel that FOMO. If you haven’t planned a trip yet for October 1st, it sure feels like a zillion and one other people HAVE!

Oh…my.

In general, as much as it pains us to say it, you’re more likely to be spending most of your time waiting in lines than experiencing classic attractions or one-of-a-kind snacks. Womp womp! 

We NEVER Thought This Ride Would Have NO Wait in Disney World

Good Luck With Dining Reservations

If you thought it was impossible to snag a table at Be Our Guest or Oga’s Cantina before, you can pretty much FORGET about it during the 50th Anniversary. 

Oga’s Cantina

Not only will Disney’s most notoriously hard-to-get reservations be out of reach, but this will trickle down to other restaurants and bars that are usually easier to get into! Due to the frenzy of hungry travelers filling the parks, that means even your tried-and-true standbys might suddenly turn into mosh pits. 

Forget it

So unless you want to spend your entire vacation eating nothing but Capt. Cook’s (and no offense to Capt. Cook’s, but it’s no ‘Ohana), you might want to consider visiting another time. 

Our BRAND NEW Secret Tip For Getting the Hardest Reservations in Disney World

You Won’t Be Able to Ride All The Rides

Since a bulk of your time in Disney World would be spent twiddling your thumbs in ride queues, that also means you’ll run out of time to hit up all the attractions you’re eager to experience. It’s just simple mathematics! 

Queue for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Naturally, the big talk NEW attraction for the 50th, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, is sure to be in high demand, so you’ll be lucky if you’re one of the rare few to snag an elusive virtual queue option to ride it on the big day! 

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is opening soon!

Sure, you could be one of the first to ride this WILDLY anticipated new attraction, but you’ll need to be up before 7am to secure your virtual queue spot, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get it! And since Disney hasn’t released when Disney Genie+ and Individual Attraction Passes will be made available, the only option we can plan for right now is the virtual queue.

PHOTOS & VIDEOS: Go INSIDE Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Disney World With Us!

Hotel Prices Will Be Sky-High (What’s Left of Them, at Least!)

Sure, everyone expects to splurge a little (or a lot) on a Disney World trip, but that’s nothing compared to what you’re likely to spend on lodging on the dates surrounding the 50th anniversary. 

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa = $$$

Again, it just boils down to basic supply and demand. With more crowds and more demand comes more cost. This means Disney resorts (and other off-property resorts, too) are likely to be HIGH. Even Disney’s “value” properties will have price tags that probably won’t seem like a value at all. 

Art of Animation

So unless you conveniently win the lottery right before October 1st, a trip to Disney World for the 50th anniversary might be a tad sky-high for the vacay budget. Even scarier…

So many choices

…that pic above shows ALL the hotels rooms still available in Disney World for October 1st (and it’s kinda hard to count a pad of dirt in the woods for 100 bucks a night as a “room” but you get what we’re saying!). So unless you already have a room booked or are cool with staying at some TBD hotel miles away from Disney, your options are…limited, to say the least.

The BIG Problem With Disney World’s Moderate Resorts

Park Pass Reservations Will Be a Headache

Even in the “off season” and on non-holiday days, getting a Park Pass Reservation for your Disney World park of choice can be a hassle. So just imagine how hard it will be for October 1st! 

Toy Story Land crowds

No doubt, Magic Kingdom will be a hot ticket. That park, in particular, is likely to hit capacity real quick. So it would be a real bummer to travel all the way for the 50th, and not even be able to get into the O.G. park celebrating the anniversary! We’ve seen Park Passes snatched up FAST for both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT on October 1st multiple times now over the past year. At the time of writing this, unless more are released (which is still possible — we’ve seen it happen a number of times already for that day), there are NO Park Passes for anyone available at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. 

Crowds at Magic Kingdom will look MUCH worse than this

Oh and Park Hopping? We’re betting you can pretty much forget about it. If parks are consistently at capacity, which they’re likely to be that day, at least in Magic Kingdom and possibly EPCOT, then this won’t be an option come 2PM. We haven’t seen parks at capacity where we COULDN’T hop to them since Park Hopping returned but if we were big betting folk, we’d take a wild guess Magic Kingdom on October 1st will be in that boat.

Expect lots and lots of people

Long story short, for those Disney-lovers who don’t like to plan MONTHS ahead for dinner reservations or Park Passes, and prefer a more impromptu experience, then the 50th anniversary is NOT the time for you to plan a Disney World trip. You might also want to rethink your travel plans if you’re not a big fan of oppressive crowds! We fully anticipate some shoulder-to-shoulder sardine action in the bottleneck areas of the parks, so if just the thought of that gives you anxiety, you may want to consider postponing those vacations for a few months.

Key Takeaways

Disney knows how to throw a party, and the 50th celebration will be one for the ages! It’s a party that will last for 18 months, but these are the reasons not to wait and why you SHOULD plan to visit on October 1:

• It’ll be MEGA crowded — we’re talking possibly the most crowded we’ve seen Disney World in a LONG time. That means more bodies looking for food, rides, and all the other parts of a day in Disney World. If you’re there, you’ll be one of the masses fighting to have a good day.
• If you don’t already have a Park Pass, good luck actually getting in — Park Passes are booked solid for now and we’re not thinking Park Hopping will be a viable option on this day (we could be wrong though!).
• If you don’t already have a hotel room, good luck finding somewhere to stay — Hotels? Yeah, they booked up.
• You likely won’t be able to do everything you want to do — with the crowds and SO much going on, this isn’t going to be a “normal” Disney World day. You won’t likely get in as easily at all the spots you’d like to eat, ride lines will be long, and you’ll spend a lot of the day in “hurry up and wait” mode.

You can send your well wishes from afar, and save your vacation for another time! If you’re looking to get the most of your Disney World vacation and it just so happens to fall around October 1st…maybe consider shifting it a bit later, if possible. This will NOT be the day for the casual Disney World guest to check out Magic Kingdom and, to some extent, EPCOT. The parks will be PACKED with the ride or die Disney World fans and it will likely have a noticeable impact on your day. But here’s the silver lining — the 50th Anniversary Celebration will be lasting 18 full months, so you don’t have to suffer the crowds to still experience the party!

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What is your main hesitation for not visiting Disney World for the 50th anniversary? Let us know in the comments!

The post Why You SHOULDN’T Go to Disney World for the 50th Anniversary first appeared on the disney food blog.

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