Aerial Tour of Empty Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

    We continue our detailed look at the empty Walt Disney World theme parks from the air today with a look at Magic Kingdom. For a look at our other tours so far, check out an empty Disney’s Hollywood Studios and an empty EPCOT.

    Viewing any Walt Disney World theme park from the air is a treat, but with the parks now closed due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), we get a rare look at an empty Walt Disney World theme park from the air. With all of the theme parks and resorts now closed, aerial photos will be the best way to keep an eye on the parks and resorts we love so much.

    We’ll start our aerial tour as we approach Magic Kingdom from the southwest, flying across Seven Seas Lagoon before heading off to the west in a straight line over Contemporary. In the photo below, you can see Shades of Green and the Walt Disney World golf courses in the foreground, and the Magic Kingdom area resorts in the middle of the photo. In the background are some housing communities just minutes north of Walt Disney World in Windermere, Florida.

    Much closer to Magic Kingdom now, we can see right down Main Street USA to Cinderella Castle.

    We’ll get to Cinderella Castle in a minute, but we’ll take a look at Main Street USA first. We flew on March 16th, the first day that the theme parks were closed and only saw a few maintenance Cast Members out and about. Since then, Disney has shut down all construction projects during the downtime.

    Here’s a closer look at the main entrance and Town Square area of Magic Kingdom. We can see that City Hall remains behind a themed scrim. As you can see in the entrance plaza, a skeleton crew of security Cast Members remain at the parks (and resorts) to ensure the safety and security of guests and Cast Members.

    In this wider shot, we can see the rest of Main Street USA as well as the eastern bypass walkway on the right side of the image. This bypass is utilized during very high traffic times and during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. A western bypass is rumored.

    Zooming out a bit from here, we can see very little activity beyond some painting on Cinderella Castle. This was the last and only day that painting would happen. Crews have paused their work even on the Cinderella Castle repainting project.

    Here’s a closer look at the hub area in front of Cinderella Castle.

    Here’s a wider overview of an empty Magic Kingdom.

    We’ll try to go land-by-land now. When we visit Magic Kingdom for photos and construction project updates, we typically start with Tomorrowland, so that’s where we’ll start today.

    In this zoomed in photo, you can see the Tomorrowland entrance pathway, complete with new Tomorrowland entrance sign.

    Here’s a look at the sign from the ground.

    Back to our aerial photos, let’s take a look at the rest of Tomorrowland.

    Of course, Tomorrowland’s newest tenant will be the TRON Lightcycle Run roller coaster. For a detailed look at the latest construction, check out our recent post.

    Here’s a look at the Tomorrowland Speedway, which has never been more environmentally friendly than it is right now.

    Moving on, we have a look at Storybook Circus, which contains Dumbo and Barnstormer.

    Moving on to Fantasyland, we have some detailed shots of various classics and favorites. We’ll start with an overview of Fantasyland and more.

    Here’s a closer look at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster in Fantasyland.

    Here’s a wider look at Fantasyland.

    A look at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh during the spring easily reveals the Fall foliage tree at the entrance.

    A look at the Beauty and the Beast expansion area shows Beast’s Castle and the Be Our Guest Restaurant building.

    Shifting our attention to Fantasyland west, we can see the massive it’s a small world and The Haunted Mansion show buildings.

    Another angle of Fantasyland shows some of the backstage areas, most notably the Cast Member bus drop off area (center top of image) right under Pinocchio’s Village Haus that leads to the Utilidors. There’s even a bus there!

    Here’s a closer look at the center of Fantasyland, with Pinocchio’s Village Haus and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.

    Working around to Liberty Square now, we can see a relatively calm Rivers of America as well as The Haunted Mansion.

    Here are a few more angles that show just how massive the show building is for The Haunted Mansion.

    Here’s a wider view of The Haunted Mansion and it’s a small world show buildings.

    Moving on to Frontierland and Adventureland, these were a little tougher to photograph from our angle over Bay Lake, but we have a few photos in that direction to showcase some of the empty walkways.

    We’ll start with a wide photo, showing off the western side of Magic Kingdom, both literally and figuratively.

    Here’s a closer look at a nearly empty Frontierland and Adventureland.

    Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.

    A closer look at Splash Mountain and then Big Thunder Mountain.

    Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and most of Adventureland.

    Here’s a closer look at the Pirates of the Caribbean facade and show building. Note that the light green building is also part of the attraction that happens after the drop. The building in the top right of the photo is a seperate building used for parade support.

    Finally, we’ll take a look at Cinderella Castle and the last day of the repainting project before that crew was told to stop along with the rest of the construction crews around Walt Disney World.

    Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed these photos, please share them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever social media you use!

    As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com for the latest Disney Parks news and photos. We’ll continue to bring you news and photos, where possible, through the Disney Parks closure due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will resume our normal coverage once the parks reopen to guests on July 11th!

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    3 COMMENTS

    1. Whoever posted the photos of magic kingdom should probably take them down, this is a pretty big violation of the no fly zone over Disney World, the photos over the front half of Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs are perfectly okay as they don’t violate the no fly zone,

      I just don’t want anyone to get in trouble with the FAA, as I’m currently a recreational drone pilot and studying to get my commercial drone pilot license later this spring.

    2. They do use the backstage area to the west of Main Street as s bypass for high traffic times as well. I actually webt out that way from The fireworks show when I was there in 2019

    Comments are closed.

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