How Long Are the Waits at Disneyland Resort?
Roughly two weeks ago, Disneyland Resort’s theme parks reopened after more than a year of downtime.
During the first phase of their reopening, Disney has limited attendance to California locals. Simultaneously, capacity maxes out at 25 percent.
You may wonder what the lines have looked like since the parks returned. I’m here with those answers.
Here’s how the wait times are at Disney Resort so far.
Things to Remember
Obviously, if Disneyland has capped capacity at 25 percent, crowds are low.
Similarly, the lack of out-of-state guests means that the parks don’t always reach 25 percent.
However, we’ve got one other factor in play here. Disney hasn’t brought back all its attractions yet.
When everything is up and running, you’ll find roughly 90 attractions at the two parks. Right now, about 60 of them are running.
Here’s how that impacts wait times. When more rides are open, crowds dispense that much more.
Consider a scenario where 100 people are at a theme park. When five rides are available, the lines should include 20 people each, all things being equal.
When ten rides are available, 10 people wait in each line. Ergo, each time Disneyland Resort reopens an attraction, lines should go down more.
Meanwhile, FastPass and MaxPass aren’t in operation, either. There’s no escaping standing in line via virtual queuing.
Still, the lines seem more than reasonable due to the capacity limits.
As I mentioned with Walt Disney World, 35 percent capacity doesn’t sound like much more than 25 percent. In reality, it’s 40 percent more people, though.
As long as Disneyland remains at 25 percent capacity, its crowds should mirror what we witnessed at Walt Disney World last fall.
That’s what Disney fans will always remember as the shortest lines ever. And the same is generally true at Disneyland thus far.
Disneyland Park
I’ve tracked 25 main attractions at Disneyland over the past two weeks. The crowd behavior was remained predictable and steady.
Disneyland has opened plenty of rides while minimizing crowds. For this reason, only ten rides have required average waits of 20 minutes or more.
Yes, that sounds glorious. And yes, I’m like you. I wish I lived in California right now.
It’s the best time ever to visit Disneyland, at least for those of us who are fully vaccinated.
Only two (!) attractions have average wait-times of 30 minutes or more. Those are Indiana Jones Adventure (31 minutes) and Haunted Mansion (32 minutes).
You may wonder why those two take more time. Indiana Jones Adventure faces throughput limitations right now due to the design of the ride carts.
Haunted Mansion has constructed new line queue features, including a pet cemetery with accompanying thematic smells. It’s fun, not gross, I swear.
Oddly, the re-themed version of Snow White’s Enchanted Wish hasn’t faced overflow lines yet. It will once crowd capacity increases, but it’s only 25 minutes so far.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run have hovered in the 21-to-25-minute range.
Yes, you could ride one of the two new Star Wars attractions in 15 minutes if you time it right! Smugglers Run is a terrific Rope Drop option currently.
Splash Mountain has averaged 20 minutes thus far, which surprises me. As a reminder, the Magic Kingdom version has experienced a rush.
Tourists know that Disney will re-theme the attraction soon. So, they’re trying to ride the original version as much as they can.
To date, Disneyland visitors aren’t displaying the same behavior or, if they are, the capacity limits are hiding it.
The other 15 rides at Disneyland Park require waits of only 5-to-20 minutes!
Disney California Adventure
As always, Disneyland vs. Disney California Adventure (DCA) comes down to quality vs. quantity.
Only 18 attractions are open at DCA, which should naturally lead to more extended waits for park guests.
Alas, DCA still struggles with popularity compared to its oldest, cooler sibling. People are spending a lot more time at Disneyland than at DCA.
For this reason, the lines at DCA have been ridiculously short. Like, they’re gonna make you jealous when you read them.
You can probably guess which two attractions come with the longest lines. Yes, one is Radiator Springs Racers, but it only takes 35 minutes!
That dude who has ridden it 10,000 times must be so happy.
The other is Soarin’ Around the World, which remains wildly popular with the locals, even after the non-California re-theming. It’s a 30-minute wait on average.
Remarkably, all 16 other attractions have averaged lines of 20 minutes or less thus far.
The “longest” of them is Grizzly River Run, which is right at 20 minutes, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at 18 minutes.
Next is Toy Story Mania! at 17 minutes, and then there’s a gap to Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue at 13 minutes.
Here are the shockers for me. The Incredicoaster has averaged a 10-minute wait thus far!
People on social media are bragging about riding it five or six times in an hour!
Similarly, the Pixar Pal-A-Round falls in the nine-minute range thus far.
Then, there are nine other attractions with shorter wait times than that!
The only blip here is a weird thing with Silly Symphony Swings, which averages 14 minutes for some reason. Everything else at DCA is nearly walk-on!
Folks, if you can go to Disneyland right now, DO IT!