We talk pretty often about how unexpected problems can affect your Disney World vacation.
Disney World
Things like bad weather or ride refurbishments can cause issues and make it difficult to accomplish everything on your to-do list. But today, we encountered something truly unexpected — HALF of Magic Kingdom was closed in the morning!
When Magic Kingdom opened on the morning of Monday, September 18th, several attractions in the park didn’t open with it. In fact, all the rides in Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square were listed as “temporarily unavailable” in the My Disney Experience app.
SO many rides are closed!
With three lands completely out of commission, that means that HALF of the park was closed this morning. Because of this, the wait times for some of the attractions in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were higher than normal.
In addition to the closures in those lands, Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid was closed, as well as the entire Walt Disney World Railroad line.
This will probably affect your morning in Magic Kingdom
When we made it over to Adventureland to check things out, Cast Members were stationed blocking off the land. So this is more than just a rides closure — the lands themselves are actually closed!
Cast Members blocking guests from entering the land
For those using Genie+ today, Lightning Lanes are currently not available for booking for the rides on the left side of the park. Mobile Order is also not offered at the restaurants in the affected area.
Guests waiting outside Adventureland
UPDATE: Theme park reporter Scott Gustin reports Disney has confirmed that there was a bear spotted in Magic Kingdom this morning. Currently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and law enforcement are working together to have it relocated. Disney has made the decision to reopen the lands that were closed.
NEW statement from Disney: "We are working with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and have made the decision to reopen Frontierland, Liberty Square and Adventureland."
"As shared by the FWC, staff are on site and working on capturing and relocating the bear." https://t.co/yQAFHEbuaI
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) September 18, 2023
We’ll make sure to keep you updated as we learn more details about these closures — as of 10:15AM, all the Adventureland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland attractions are still listed as closed.
Stay tuned to DFB for the latest!
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We are at Magic Kingdom today too and it is very frustrating to experience such a large closure. This is our only day at Magic Kingdom and the first time we have been here in 10 years. We also paid $23 per person for Genie+ and aren’t able to make much use of it. Extremely frustrating.
Cast members stationed at entrances to that side of the park aren’t giving any reason for the closure. Rumor online is that a bear was found on Tom Sawyer Island this morning. No idea whether that’s true! Wait times in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are ridiculous, as you would expect.
Reports are saying it is because of a bear in a tree near Big Thunder???
It’s true! There was a bear, indeed.