Magic Kingdom has something for absolutely everyone. Great food, great entertainment and of course, great rides. There are a huge amount of rides that you can reserve fast passes for (see our Best Fast Passes guide for Magic Kingdom), but the most popular across the park are the roller coasters. There are only 4 roller coasters in Magic Kingdom, all with different levels of intensity, but all worth doing!
What roller coasters are there in Magic Kingdom?
There are four roller coasters; we’re listing them if you were approaching from the Main Street going clockwise from Adventureland:
- Big Thunder Mountain, located in Frontierland
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, located in Fantasyland
- The Barnstormer, located in Storybook Circus
- Space Mountain, located in Tomorrowland
Here’s a bit about each to give you an idea of each are!
Big Thunder Mountain Roller Coaster
Personally, this is our favourite roller coaster of ANY park, worldwide. From the very first ‘This is the wiiiiildest ride in the Wilderness’, to the fact that this is a LONG roller coaster, we actually get this as our FastPass+ ahead of any other at Magic Kingdom.
Themed around a mining town, the highly themed queue will build your anticipation. Queue’s move pretty quickly, as there are two sides to the cart station, with a high throughput of guests.
Wait times can be anywhere from straight on (5 minutes, ie, the length of the queue) all the way up to over 100 minutes. In our opinion, no ride is worth waiting more than an hour for. There is so much else to do in the parks, that time queuing is time wasted. If you have small children or those that do not wish to ride, this is one of the rides you can use Rider Swap on, allowing you both to go through the FastPass queue with just one FastPass booking.
The ride itself is quite smooth; you won’t lose your tooth fillings on this ride! The theming is excellent, featuring an entire town based around the mining operation, dinosaur bones sticking out of the surface, and a particular infamous goat! The view from the top of the main chainlift is excellent, giving a great view of Cinderella’s Castle, and all of Magic Kingdom. At night, this is particularly impressive.
Some stats and facts about Big Thunder Mountain:
- Type of coaster: Mine Train
- Ride length: 814 meters / 2670 feet
- Top height: 32 meters / 104 feet
- Top speed: 56 km/h / 35 mph
- Duration: About 3 minutes
- Opened: November 15, 1980
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
The most popular ride in the park, even years after it has been released! This is also the newest ride in all of Magic Kingdom after an extensive overhaul of Fantasyland a few years ago.
Themed around Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is a family style coaster, smoother than many other coasters across Walt Disney World. However, everyone can enjoy it, and the ride on video and pictures are great souvenirs for you to keep!
Wait times for the stand by lines often are over 90 minutes and much, much higher. The highest we have ever seen is 240 minutes (4 hours!!) so it is definitely worth getting a FastPass if you want to ride this. It also has Rider Swap, so you can swap with your partner if you have those with you that do not want to ride. The queue itself is also quite interactive, with lots of little activities to keep you entertained while you wait.
Highlights of the ride include the carts themselves, which rock side to side independently, the first entrance into the underground mine, and the sing along part of the ride when you ‘dig dig dig’. As with any Disney ride, the theming is outstanding. It also has some of the most elaborate animatronics on all of Walt Disney property.
This is a very family friendly roller coaster. Everyone will enjoy this ride, being fan of Snow White or not, being a fan of roller coasters or not. We definitely say go at least once!
Some stats and facts about Seven Dwarfs Mine Train:
- Type of coaster: Steel Coaster
- Ride length: 610 meters / 2000 feet
- Top height: 12 meters / 39 feet
- Top speed: 55 km/h / 34 mph
- Duration: About 2 minutes 50 seconds
- Opened: May 28, 2014
The Barnstormer
This is the other family coaster in Magic Kingdom, located in the Storybook Circus section of the park, behind Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Themed around Goofy and his airplane adventures, this is a tame enough roller coaster that is still a lot of fun, and definitely worth doing!
The wait times can vary dramatically for this, but are generally nowhere near as long as some of the bigger or more popular coasters around the park. We have often seen this as a walk on, but sometimes wait times can be up around 60 minutes. It generally is not worth using a Fast Pass on unless you really, really want to go on it.
Some stats about The Barnstormer:
- Type of coaster: Junior Steel Coaster
- Ride length: 207 meters / 679 feet
- Top height: 9.1 meters / 30 feet
- Top speed: 40.2 km/h / 25 mph
- Duration: About 1 minutes
- Opened: October 1, 1996
Space Mountain
The second most popular ride in the park, and possibly the most iconic ride in all of Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain is a must do for anyone who likes roller coasters, or wants to do the main attractions at Walt Disney World.
Having two stations (And two tracks), the line does move much faster than the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but stand by lines can easily be over 90 minutes as well. The highest we have ever seen is 220 minutes (just under 4 hours!) so again, this is a good option for FastPass to be used.
The ride itself is a dark ride, in that, it is a roller coaster in the dark. The starting launch fires you up to the top of the ride, where you descend the whole way back to the launch station. There is also a photo right at the beginning, before the launch, cause all the rest of the ride is in the dark! There ARE some light up parts, of asteroids, black holes, etc, to show you going through space, but if you are afraid of the dark, this may not be the ride for you…
Some stats and facts about Space Mountain:
- Type of coaster: Steel Coaster
- Ride length: 974 meters / 3196 feet
- Top height: 19.8 meters / 65 feet
- Top speed: 56 km/h / 35 mph
- Duration: About 2 minutes 30 seconds
- Opened: January 15, 1975
Tron Coaster – Under construction at Magic Kingdom
Just a quick note that the Tron Coaster (Seen above at Shanghai Disney) is currently under construction at Magic Kingdom next to Space Mountain. This will be a high speed coaster held both outside and within a show building, one of the most impressive technological marvels of roller coasters going. Set to be complete in time for 2021!
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