Magic Kingdom’s hottest trip is Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, a family-friendly curler coaster in Fantasyland based mostly on Snow White. This Walt Disney World trip information covers easy methods to keep away from lengthy traces and reduce the hour-plus wait occasions, overlaying the Lightning Lane, Early Entry, Prolonged Night Hours, rope drop, park closing, and extra. (Up to date March 19, 2023.)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice is now almost a decade outdated, and its recognition hasn’t dropped a lot in any respect throughout that point. It stays the most well-liked trip in Magic Kingdom with a mean day by day wait time above an hour on low to reasonably crowded days and triple-digit waits on busier days. Whereas TRON Lightcycle Run will undoubtedly move it in recognition, Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice will even command lengthy traces because of its relatively-unique mixture of thrills and all ages attraction.
Over the previous a number of years, we’ve performed Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice extra occasions than I can rely. By no means as soon as have we bought Lightning Lane line-skipping entry, nor have we waited wherever near an hour for it within the final a number of years. (I can’t say “ever” since I’m fairly certain we did a couple of occasions when it first opened.) This trip information breaks down how, explaining your finest and worst choices for doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
One factor to notice up entrance is that technique will not be static. Within the final year-plus alone, there have been a variety of different adjustments, together with the debuts of Early Theme Park Entry and Prolonged Night Hours for on-site resort friends and the controversial Lightning Lane and Genie+ system. Then there have been different curveballs due to park hours, particular occasions in Magic Kingdom, and extra.
As with our different trip guides for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, we’ll be diligent in protecting this up to date. You should definitely verify again earlier than your journey for the most recent information–or subscribe to our free Walt Disney World e mail publication for immediate updates about this and the entire different newest information, when reductions are launched, and many others.
March 19, 2023 Replace: At the moment, Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice makes use of a conventional standby line and is Magic Kingdom’s Particular person Lightning Lane or “ILL” points of interest, which implies it’s not included within the flat-rate Genie+ service.
Walt Disney World has confirmed that Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice will stay an Particular person Lightning Lane attraction when TRON Lightcycle Run delicate opens after which formally debuts. This really defies current precedent, and makes Magic Kingdom the one park at Walt Disney World with two Particular person Lightning Lane points of interest.
There are possible a couple of causes for this. The primary is that Magic Kingdom has many extra Genie+ Lightning Lane choices–and thus extra crowd-absorbing capability–than every other park at Walt Disney World. On this regard, Magic Kingdom is extra like Disneyland–a park that additionally has 2 ILLs–than its counterparts in Florida. Merely put, Magic Kingdom doesn’t want extra added to the Genie+ trip roster to make that service good or usable–it already is!
The second is that TRON Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice are aimed toward two completely different demographics. Regardless that they’re each coasters, SDMT is a family-friendly rite-of-passage attraction and TRON Lightcycle Run is aimed toward olde (and taller) thrill seekers.
One other issue is that the Particular person Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice continues to be highly regarded. Though it doesn’t promote in addition to these for the highest new points of interest in every of the opposite 3 parks, it’s hardly hurting for gross sales. It wasn’t like Expedition Everest or House Mountain earlier than these have been downgraded to the Genie+ service. It’s nonetheless attainable that Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice shall be moved to Genie+ after the busy summer season season or in early 2024, however there’s no purpose to count on a change anytime quickly.
Basically, we’re not followers of paying further for Particular person Lightning Lanes. Our Particular person Lightning Lane Data & Ideas submit covers the why of that and exceptions to our common rule–however Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice will not be certainly one of them. We all the time do it through standby and suggest the identical for many friends, except cash is not any concern.
That is partially as a result of Lightning Lane return traces usually again up and spill into an overflow queue outdoors the doorway (this has been a day by day prevalence throughout holidays, together with Spring Break 2023), with wait occasions that may be 10 to fifteen minutes for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice even through ILL. Which will appear insignificant as in comparison with the posted standby wait time in the course of the center of the day, however it will possibly find yourself being longer than the precise standby wait throughout our beneficial occasions to trip Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
With that mentioned, we often do suggest that guests to Magic Kingdom buy the Genie+ service. This makes the remainder of the day a lot simpler, and never having to attend in lengthy traces for Peter Pan’s Flight, Jungle Cruise, the Magic Kingdom Mountain Vary, and extra is large. For recommendation on that, seek the advice of our Information to Genie+ at Walt Disney World and Lightning Lane FAQ.
Now let’s get all the way down to the brass tacks of doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice with minimal wait. Earlier than Magic Kingdom formally opens for the day, there’s the choice of Early Theme Park Entry, which changed morning Further Magic Hours.
Formally, Early Entry is obtainable in any respect 4 theme parks each single day and presents 30-minute entry to friends staying in on-site accommodations at Walt Disney World. (See our Information to Early Entry at Walt Disney World for more information & technique.)
On a standard morning proper now, Magic Kingdom opens at 9 am, which places Early Entry at 8:30 am. Regardless of Magic Kingdom being the most well-liked park at Walt Disney World, it’s the park that opens newest–and at a time that doesn’t current a ‘barrier to entry’ for most individuals.
That is important, as you’ll discover Early Entry at Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios to be vastly advantageous. That’s as a result of it begins earlier at these parks, and the time is an insurmountable hurdle for lots of friends. In different phrases, there are much more individuals at Early Entry in Magic Kingdom than every other park.
One other noteworthy part of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom is that solely Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open, relatively than the complete park. This consolidates the (bigger) crowd to 2 lands of the complete park. It ought to go with out saying, however extra individuals and fewer rides is a recipe for bigger crowds and longer traces.
To that time, there are two “beginning factors” at Magic Kingdom the place crowds are held till Early Entry formally begins–the bridges to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Sometimes, there are exponentially extra friends ready on the Fantasyland Bridge. Roughly 90% of these individuals are planning on doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
The temper can be extra tense on the Fantasyland facet. Company are revving up their double-wide strollers, getting ready to do some critical harm to the ankles of anybody strolling too gingerly. The dash to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice is a excessive stakes, eat-or-be-eaten sport.
Probably not, however the ambiance does really feel tense earlier than the group begins transferring. As soon as it does, it’s extra like a sluggish trudge in a sea of humanity. Nobody is doing something even resembling working. We name it the “SDMT Shuffle.” Ironic that that is for Fantasyland, because it’s a bit nightmarish.
We strongly suggest skipping the SDMT Shuffle. For one, it’s a easy numbers sport. If there are 5 occasions as many friends heading to Fantasyland and the overwhelming majority of these individuals are racing (at sloth velocity) to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, that leaves a variety of different points of interest in each lands with decrease crowds and considerably shorter waits.
Heading to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice is uncomfortable and ugly, with everybody “competing” for the most effective spot in a line that varieties shortly and aggressively. It doesn’t set the proper tone for a great day in Magic Kingdom.
To make sure, if you happen to’re at or close to the entrance of the pack–within the first few hundred individuals–your wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice shall be quick. You may possible be out and in in beneath half-hour, which is much better than common.
Nevertheless, you needed to rise up and arrive to Magic Kingdom super-early to “accomplish” that. So that you’ve merely shifted your wait from the precise queue to standing in a sea of individuals for 30-45 minutes ready for Early Entry to start out. In contrast, it’s easy to indicate up a couple of minutes earlier than Early Entry begins and knock out Peter Pan’s Flight or something in Tomorrowland with none stress and a ~5 minute wait.
One other variable is that Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice routinely has delayed openings because of technical difficulties. Whereas the trip doesn’t undergo from a lot downtime all through the day, it (and the entire mountains, for that matter) is infamous for not being able to open at first of Early Entry. Granted, that will solely occur 20% of the time or much less, so the chances are in your favor. However it’s a really irritating feeling whenever you dedicate a variety of time to beating the group to SDMT and get unfortunate.
Given all of that and the chance price of doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice as a substitute of quick waits elsewhere, it’s simply not value it more often than not. Because of this we’re anti-Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice throughout Early Entry or at rope drop. It’s a subjectively dangerous approach to begin the day, dangerous, and there are good alternate options.
With that mentioned, there’s one exception to this rule: Magic Kingdom Early Entry on Social gathering Days. (Or actually, any day when the park opens earlier than 9 am. Proper now, that’s solely social gathering days, although.)
The explanation for that is easy, and what’s intimated above. Shifting from a 9 am opening time to eight am is large. It shrinks the pool of potential friends who’re keen and capable of rise up early on trip. That is very true for households with young children–the core viewers for Fantasyland points of interest.
Briefly, that 7:30 am begin time for Early Entry reduces the group to such a major diploma that doing SDMT is much less of a nerve-racking sloth-like shuffle and extra…regular. You may simply be performed with the attraction in <20 minutes with minimal effort or lead time, and nonetheless do Peter Pan’s Flight after as a close to walk-on.
With Early Entry out of the way in which, this brings us to regular park opening time or “rope drop” for everybody else. That is actually the worst time to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice. There are two causes for that.
First, the truth that the overwhelming majority of Early Entry friends are doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, even those who arrive later. Which means the road is often getting longer over the course of Early Entry. Common park opening continues to be below-peak for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice’s day by day wait time, nevertheless it isn’t too far off.
Second, and the larger purpose, is as soon as once more the chance price. Racing to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, a trip that has been open for half-hour, to affix the again of a line that’s already fairly lengthy may prevent 5-20 minutes as in comparison with lining up at 10 am or 1 pm. However it’s nonetheless a nasty thought.
That’s as a result of, as mentioned above, solely Fantasyland and Tomorrowland open throughout Early Entry. This implies which you could rope drop each single different land and be on the entrance of the pack–not becoming a member of a line already in progress. This implies doing Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Large Thunder Mountain Railroad, or actually any trip on that facet of the park as a close to walk-on. That may prevent far, much more time within the grand scheme of issues.
So far, seek the advice of our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary for step-by-step technique for attraction order and beating the crowds at rope drop and all through a day within the park.
If you’d like the most effective time to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice within the first half of the day after the preliminary rush, line up round 11:30 am to midday. The posted wait time will nonetheless possible be above 60 minutes, nevertheless it’s sometimes falling at this level relatively than rising. Sometimes, the posted wait time will drop within the 12 pm hour, however that’s reactionary–because of fewer friends lining up pre-lunch.
It is because the inflow of park opening friends is biking out, and fewer new friends are leaping into line as a result of the wait will battle with lunch. Objectively, that is the optimum time except you’re staying late–assuming no trip breakdowns.
Subjectively, we nonetheless don’t like doing Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice at this level.
Our massive hesitation is because of a lot of the queue being open air, and far of it in direct daylight. That is very true when the overflow line is in use–the pavement displays the sunshine and slow-cooks friends. The precise queue has some shade due to a partial cover of bushes, and it additionally has followers to maintain issues cool.
Nonetheless, we want ready till later within the afternoon from a subjective perspective, when the solar is decrease within the sky. The out of doors line is way more nice then, and is downright refreshing when these followers hit you with a blast of cool air.
Sadly, the wait time between 1 pm and 6 pm doesn’t budge a lot. On common, it varies by 3 minutes throughout that complete stretch. In an precise day, the posted wait time vary shall be increased–that’s the precise common smoothed out over the complete 12 months.
Making an attempt to pounce on a drop within the posted wait time is counter-productive, too. Walt Disney World wait occasions are reactive, and with headliner points of interest, a drop within the posted time induces extra friends to leap into line. These friends will then wait longer than those that lined up on the tail finish of the upper posted wait time. It’s just like the accordion impact performed out repeatedly over the course of the day.
There’s additionally the truth that the majority wait occasions are inflated at Walt Disney World, and never all the time by constant quantities. The top result’s {that a} posted wait time of 60 minutes may need an extended precise wait than a posted wait time of 95 minutes, relying upon when within the ‘cycle’ of every somebody enters the road.
Basically, later within the day is healthier than the primary half for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, with precise wait occasions sometimes dropping within the 2 hours earlier than park closing. There are a few stuff you want to pay attention to right here, nonetheless.
First, posted wait occasions sometimes don’t drop a lot within the night. That doesn’t imply precise wait occasions aren’t nonetheless declining, although. Walt Disney World usually inflates posted occasions later within the day to discourage individuals from queueing up. Normally, an attraction’s precise wait time shall be shortest within the final half-hour of the night time, no matter posted waits.
Which brings us to among the best occasions to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice at Magic Kingdom: proper because the fireworks finish.
Whereas we don’t suggest it to your first or solely viewing, Fantasyland is definitely a terrific and highly-immersive spot. Actually, that is our favourite “secret” or “low-stress” location for fireworks viewing in Magic Kingdom. It’s such as you’re within the midst of the fireworks, with bursts each in entrance of and behind you. You’ll additionally get pleasure from pyro over Beast’s Fort above Be Our Visitor Restaurant, which is cool.
In direction of the tip of the fireworks, we suggest transferring from the world close to the New Fantasyland partitions to the close by Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice entrance. Disregard the posted wait time; once more, it’s reactive and only a few individuals are getting in line for the fireworks in the course of the fireworks.
The night time once I took the above photograph, the posted wait time was 50 minutes, however our wait time was between 3 and 4 minutes. Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice was a walk-on with some empty rows! We received very fortunate and that’s not a typical wait, nevertheless it ought to however illustrate the massive disparity between posted and precise wait occasions.
Our closing advice is the tried and true method for any headliner attraction: 1 minute earlier than park closing. That is just like the reverse rope drop, or ‘rope rise’ possibility. (We like to consider it because the “buzzer beater” method.)
Walt Disney World doesn’t cease traces for points of interest till park closing, which implies you’ll be able to queue up proper till the clock strikes midnight (or often in Magic Kingdom’s case, 10 pm or 11 pm). This successfully extends your day and is when the precise wait time is lowest for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice.
Once more, it would be best to ignore the posted wait time. Not solely is it reactionary, but in addition as a result of Disney intentionally inflates wait occasions on the finish of the night time to discourage friends from getting in a single final trip.
Give it some thought–in case you have an 8 12 months outdated that’s on the precipice of crashing, are you going to wish to endure one other hour-long wait at 10 pm? Now, what if that was really solely a ten minute wait?! In all probability a distinct reply.
We’ve got performed the ‘buzzer-beater’ method to Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice dozens and dozens of occasions within the final 5 years. There have been a handful of occasions that we’ve waited 20 minutes or extra (particularly throughout peak season when the climate is heat), however the overwhelming majority of the time, our precise wait time has been between 10 and quarter-hour. (It’s been as little as 7 minutes.)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice is a lot simpler, constant, and extra nice at night time. It’s additionally neat to expertise the trip within the night, and see the park all lit up. It’s an especially satisfying approach to finish the proper day at Magic Kingdom!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
For those who’ve performed Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, what’s your optimum method and time of day to trip? What would you suggest to Walt Disney World first-timers? Do you keep on with standby or purchase an Particular person Lightning Lane for SDMT? Do you agree or disagree with any of our technique? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
