Walt Disney World Wait Times for Post-Labor Day Week 2021
With Labor Day in the rearview mirror, we’ve entered the closest thing that Walt Disney World has to an offseason.
The time between Labor Day and mid-October remains something of a dead zone at the parks.
So, we should track shorter wait times at Walt Disney World for the past week. But did we? Read on to find out…
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Even during Labor Day Weekend, Animal Kingdom crowds bordered on non-existent.
The average wait time last time was 17 minutes, and that was factoring in the two rides at Pandora – The World of Avatar!
Well, somehow, lines shrunk even more after Labor Day. The average attraction required a wait of 16 minutes.
I think it’s fair to say that 15 minutes represents the theoretical bottom floor for the park. So, crowds were as small as they could get last week.
Even Avatar Flight of Passage only required a 33-minute wait. Remarkably, that’s NOT the lowest total we’ve tracked recently.
Still, the thrill ride dropped seven minutes from last time. Folks, if you can board Flight of Passage in about 30 minutes, you’re doing great!
Na’vi River Journey nearly matched its sibling with a 31-minute wait, the same as last week.
- Expedition Everest – 13 minutes, up 1
- Kali River Rapids – 12 minutes, down 4
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 10 minutes, down 3
- It’s Tough to be a Bug! – 9 minutes, up 1
- DINOSAUR – 9 minutes, down 1
- TriceraTop Spin – 5 minutes, no change
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Overall, Hollywood Studios hovered in the same range as last time. I think it could drop a bit lower over the next couple of weeks, but that’s just a guess.
Last time, the average attraction required a 29-minute wait. After Labor Day, that average dropped to 28 minutes…which means it was about the same.
As usual, Slinky Dog Dash required the most line time. Unfortunately, it’s still at 58 minutes, the same as Labor Day Weekend.
This one’s fairly steady on the downside. The only question is how high it goes when crowds increase.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the newest ride at the park, remains popular as well. Its wait was 43 minutes last week, down five from the holiday.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run fell right behind it with an average wait of 42 minutes, down three from last time.
I don’t usually track Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance since it’s under a different system.
However, I will add that Boarding Groups have lasted quite a bit longer recently. AND they will end altogether on September 23rd.
So, if you try to join a Boarding Group at 7 a.m. on the day of your park visit, you should get to experience it!
Here’s everything else at Hollywood Studios:
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 35 minutes, down 5
- Toy Story Mania! – 31 minutes, up 2
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 30 minutes, up 2
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 21 minutes, down 2
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, down 2
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 11 minutes, down 2
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
EPCOT
This park is in the same boat as the others. It can’t go much lower than where it’s been the past few weeks.
Even during the holiday, the average EPCOT attraction only required a 15-minute wait. For the period after Labor Day, it dropped to 14 minutes.
Believe it or not, there are signs that this week and the next one will come with even shorter lines. Still, there’s a point of diminishing returns here.
Let’s just look at everything from EPCOT last week:
- Frozen Ever After – 34 minutes, up 4
- Test Track – 32 minutes, no change
- Mission: SPACE – 17 minutes, down 1
- Soarin’ – 13 minutes, down 4
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 10 minutes, no change
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 8 minutes, no change
- The Sea with Nemo & Friends – 8 minutes, down 1
- Spaceship Earth – 6 minutes, down 1
- Living with the Land – 6 minutes, down 1
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 5 minutes, no change
Obviously, the big story here is that something required a longer wait than Test Track. That’s pretty rare at EPCOT these days.
More importantly, only two rides came with an average wait of 30+ minutes. Everything else was 17 minutes or less.
So, EPCOT pleased plenty of fans last week. However, this one may buck expectations when I talk about it next time due to openings of Club Cool, Creations Shop, and Space 220.
Magic Kingdom
This week’s running theme is that Walt Disney World’s theme parks have shrunk their wait times about as much as they can for now.
To wit, Magic Kingdom averaged a 19-minute wait during Labor Day Week and kept that average last week.
Still, if you can experience three Magic Kingdom attractions in an hour, you’re doing great!
Here are the wait times for last week:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 45 minutes, down 3
- Jungle Cruise – 43 minutes, no change
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 37 minutes, no change
- Haunted Mansion – 30 minutes, up 1
- Splash Mountain – 28 minutes, up 2
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 27 minutes, up 4
- Astro Orbiter 26 minutes, no change
- Space Mountain – 20 minutes, down 1
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 18 minutes, no change
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 18 minutes, no change
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 15 minutes, down 6
- It’s a Small World – 14 minutes, down 3
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 12 minutes, no change
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 11 minutes, no change
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 10 minutes, no change
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 9 minutes, down 3
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 8 minutes, no change
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 8 minutes, no change
- The Barnstormer – 7 minutes, down 1
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 6 minutes, no change
- Mad Tea Party – 6 minutes, no change
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 6 minutes, down 1
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 4 minutes, down 1
- Country Bear Jamboree – 4 minutes, down 2
Only seven attractions at Magic Kingdom averaged a wait of more than 20 minutes last week.
Folks, if you can get to Walt Disney World in September, you should!