Walt Disney World Wait Times for the Third Week of July 2021
Okay, I was the bearer of bad news last week, as several attractions came with longer waits.
At the time, I blamed July, arguably the busiest month on the annual park calendar.
Well, last week was still July, and I heard anecdotally from a couple of friends that the lines proved problematic. Does the data support them?
Here are the average Disney wait times for the third week of July of 2021.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
I format this information alphabetically by the park, but I also like it as a bellwether. You can kind of tell by Avatar Flight of Passage how everything else will go.
You may remember that I thought it was outrageous last week. But, alas, it’s about the same over the past seven days. In fact, it’s slightly worse.
Riders on Avatar Flight of Passage waited an average of two hours and eight minutes, technically up a minute from last week. This is why I never visit Disney in July.
Interestingly, Kilimanjaro Safaris came with the second-longest wait for the week, the rare instance when it surpassed Na’vi River Journey.
Photo: Disney
The safari required an hour in line, up four minutes from last week. On the plus side, Na’vi River Journey dropped by 61 to 58 minutes. So, there’s that.
Two other attractions also included 40+ minutes in line. People who were desperately needing to cool off waited 55 minutes for Kali River Rapids, up four minutes from last time.
Meanwhile, Expedition Everest dropped slightly from 43 to 41 minutes.
Technically, DINOSAUR doesn’t fall into this category, but it was close at 39 minutes, down one from last week.
Here are the other average wait times at Animal Kingdom last week:
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 18 minutes, no change
- TriceraTop Spin – 15 minutes, no change
As a note, I’ve dropped Festival of the Lion King now that it’s back on a set schedule. You should show up at least 40 minutes early to guarantee a seat for the show, though.
Overall, the average Animal Kingdom attraction included a wait of 52 minutes, the same as last week. Yay?
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I don’t have great news here, either. First, the average Hollywood Studios ride required a 51-minute wait, which is excessive for a park with 10 attractions.
That average is up four minutes from the previous week, which means that my wife’s co-worker was right to gripe about the wait times during his visit.
The poor guy didn’t even get a Boarding Group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, either. Sometimes, Hollywood Studios is a harsh mistress.
Image Credit: Disney
To wit, Slinky Dog Dash increased from 95 to 100 minutes, which is a lot for one of the shorter roller coasters in America.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run remains second this week. The math is substantially different, though.
Star Wars fans had to wait 93 minutes over the past seven days as opposed to 79 minutes previously.
As a reminder, this ride averaged a 55-minute wait just a month ago. So, if you have any choice whatsoever, June really is better than July as a vacation month.
Image: Disney
Here’s the rest of Hollywood Studios:
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 75 minutes, up 4
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 70 minutes, up 1
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 70 minutes, up 8
- Toy Story Mania! – 55 minutes, up 4
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 42 minutes, no change
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 33 minutes, up 2
- Muppet*Vision – 17 minutes, up 5
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, up 3
You can tell from these splits that Hollywood Studios visits will come with some aggravation.
Next week, I’ll post a few suggestions for dividing the day so that you don’t feel like you’re standing in line all the time.
EPCOT
Let’s not sugarcoat the situation. Test Track’s wait somehow increased from 71 to 74 minutes. It’s been a while since the attraction involved that much wait time.
Photo: Disney
My best guess is that we’re talking about December of 2019 as the last time when Test Track lines were that crowded.
Overall, EPCOT didn’t budge from its average attraction wait time, though. The park held firm at 29 minutes, which remains far better than the other options here.
Image Credit: Disney
Let’s take a quick look at the other attraction wait times:
- Frozen Ever After – 50 minutes, up 3
- Soarin’ Around the World – 34 minutes, up 4
- Mission: SPACE – 27 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 26 minutes, no change
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 22 minutes, down 3
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 16 minutes, no change
- Living with the Land – 14 minutes, down 2
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 13 minutes, down 2
Sometimes, I feel like I work in the tourism department for EPCOT. Still, I mean it when I say that you should spend lots of time here.
Image Credit: Sarah Phillips
The lines are shorter. Plus, the 2021 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is ongoing from now into November. So, you’ll eat better, too!
Magic Kingdom
Okay, here’s where you really turn on me. Please remember that I’m just the messenger!
The average Magic Kingdom attraction claimed an increased wait time of 43 minutes, up six (!) from last time.
Park officials are caught between a rock and a hard place here. It’s too late to do anything with FastPasses for July. So, there’s nothing they can do about these wait times.
Take a look at the averages for your favorite attractions:
- Splash Mountain – 89 minutes, up 12
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 86 minutes, up 8
- Space Mountain – 70 minutes, up 6
- Jungle Cruise – 66 minutes, up 6
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 60 minutes, up 3
- Haunted Mansion – 58 minutes, up 7
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 52 minutes, up 5
- Astro Orbiter – 50 minutes, up 7
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 49 minutes, up 6
- It’s a Small World – 47 minutes, up 6
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 43 minutes, up 2
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 41 minutes, up 5
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 38 minutes, up 6
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 37 minutes, up 6
- The Barnstormer – 33 minutes, up 8
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 30 minutes, up 5
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 26 minutes, up 3
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 25 minutes, up 2
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 22 minutes, up 6
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 21 minutes, up 4
- Mad Tea Party – 20 minutes, down 1
- Country Bear Jamboree – 7 minutes, down 1
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 6 minutes, no change
I can explain three of these. Jungle Cruise gets more attention due to the gradual changes and upcoming movie.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic has received a last-minute rush before it adds a new Coco scene. And Space Ranger Spin underwent renovations during a few days.
Everything else here reflects increased demand. Ouch.
