Welcome to 2026, when we bet a lot of folks are starting to go all in on Disney World vacation planning, and why wouldn’t you? Disney just released a SLEW of great deals that are a good motivator to visit the parks in Orlando, after all. We’ll still be visiting almost every day because we just can never get enough of Disney.
Magic Kingdom entrance
However, if you are in the middle of your vacation planning, you may want to consider skipping one of the parks. Now, you might think we’d tell you to skip Disney’s Animal Kingdom, since an entire area of the park will be completely closed for a while to make way for a new land. But nope, there’s actually a good reason to skip Disney World’s most popular park, Magic Kingdom.
So why would people skip visiting Magic Kingdom? Well, we don’t think EVERYONE will skip Magic Kingdom, but there will be some frustrating things happening in Magic Kingdom very soon. Now, you’re all probably aware of all the construction happening in the park, but we’re not even talking about that.
Construction at Magic Kingdom
You see, Cinderella Castle is getting a new paint job to go from the pink hues it got for Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration back to its original silver and blue colors. And while that’s exciting, it’s also a big problem for folks visiting Magic Kingdom.
©Disney
While the castle is getting painted, it’s going to look a lot different. First, the stones on the castle will probably have numbers on them, because Disney basically uses a paint-by-numbers system with each number corresponding to an exact shade, so that the castle’s colors are JUST so. This is how Disney painted the castle for the 50th.
Paint-By-Numbers Castle
And if that’s not unsightly enough, you’re also going to see a lot of equipment around the castle, including cranes and lifts that will allow workers to reach the castle’s highest points. Luckily, Disney has said that the cranes will be lowered by noon each day, but this could still create some unsightly photos.
Castle painting for the 50th
There’s also the chance of seeing some construction walls around the castle. Now, why do we bring all this up? Well, this means that those iconic Cinderella Castle photos that EVERYONE gets on their Disney World vacation are not going to look all that great because of all that extra unsightly stuff. Hopefully, the work will be done sometime in 2026, but those castle photos will be all but ruined while the painting is happening.
Castle painting in 2020
Another reason that Magic Kingdom might be frustrating in 2026 is due to crowds. We expect to see a lot of folks in Disney World this year, especially after Disney dropped all those great discounts and deals (which we’re sure had Disney’s intended effect in getting people to book trips). A lot of folks will want to see Magic Kingdom, meaning a lot of folks are going to be IN Magic Kingdom. Add that to the construction, which will create bottlenecks in a lot of places, and Magic Kingdom is going to look and feel more crowded.
Magic Kingdom could be crowded this year.
So, should you skip Magic Kingdom if you’re visiting Disney World? Well, NO, but you should be aware of these frustrating problems ahead of your visit.
We’ll be sharing more of our tips and tricks for having the best Disney World vacation possible, so stay tuned to DFB for more.
“Good. It Was Awful and NOT Her Castle.” Disney Fans Have THOUGHTS on Big Magic Kingdom News
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