Walt Disney World Wait Times for First Week of Disney Genie
Okay, the moment has finally arrived. We now have a week’s worth of data regarding Disney Genie at Walt Disney World.
Alarmists believe that standby queues will surge dramatically as higher-paying guests receive preferential treatment.
Disney executives have expressed confidence that wait times will remain the same or go down thanks to the efficiency of the service.
So, who was right, and who was wrong? Read on to learn about the Walt Disney World wait times during the first week of Disney Genie.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Okay, we’ll know quickly if there’s any significant impact. The first attraction we usually discuss, mainly because of alphabetization, is Avatar Flight of Passage.
That ride falls under the Lightning Lane umbrella, which means that it’s pay-to-play. For $11 or so (plus tax), guests can enter the shorter line queue here.
Did that slow down the wait times for everyone else? I’m relieved to report that the answer is no.
Avatar Flight of Passage came with an average of 47 minutes, down 13 minutes from last week.
Before you get too excited, there’s a second half to this conversation. For the first time in a while, this ride didn’t require the longest wait.
Instead, the other Pandora attraction, Na’vi River Journey, claimed the worst time at Animal Kingdom.
Guests waited for an average of 52 minutes for the boat ride, up six minutes from last time.
Ordinarily, I’d introduce two or three other rides to split the tie. However, as you’re about to read, the other wait times at Animal Kingdom were comically low.
Here’s the list:
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 18 minutes, down 5
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 12 minutes, up 2
- Expedition Everest – 11 minutes, down 7
- DINOSAUR – 10 minutes, down 1
- Kali Rivers Rapids – 8 minutes, down 4
- TriceraTop Spin – 7 minutes, down 2
First, if you paid the Lightning Lane price for Expedition Everest, this wasn’t a great financial decision.
Second, the overall Animal Kingdom attraction required a 20-minute wait, down three minutes from last time.
Round one goes to Disney execs. But what about the most chaotic park? Read on…
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We’ve got another bellwether attraction to test at Hollywood Studios. Actually, we have three.
The first one is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which Disney turned into the most expensive Lightning Lane choice last week.
This modification caused some early problems, although part of the problem stemmed from technical malfunctions.
Overall, Rise of the Resistance averaged a wait of 86 minutes, down 21 minutes from the previous timeframe.
However, we need to consider the Disney Genie+ attractions here as well.
As you’ll read in an upcoming article, Slinky Dog Dash and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run are no-brainers.
Every guest who pays for Disney Genie+ is likely to schedule these two rides if possible. So how did this change impact wait times?
Slinky Dog Dash required a wait of 68 minutes, the same as last week. As for Smugglers Run, it fell from 52 minutes to 47 minutes.
Those are two more wins for the system. In addition, Disney also switched Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway to Lightning Lane access.
The standby queue wait dropped from 57 minutes to 50 minutes during the first week after the change. That’s more good news for park officials.
Here’s the rest of Hollywood Studios’ attractions:
- Toy Story Mania! – 43 minutes, down 2
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster – 42 minutes, down 9
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 39 minutes, down 2
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 27 minutes, down 5
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 14 minutes, down 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, up 4
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 11 minutes, up 1
You can probably spot a trend here. What Disney wants is larger attendance for the attractions that previously had lower wait times.
Should that happen, the wait times for the more popular attractions will go down. People can’t be in two places at once, after all.
Based on these two parks, Disney’s getting its wish. We still have two to go, though.
EPCOT
At EPCOT, the two Lightning Lane attractions are Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After.
We really shouldn’t use Ratatouille’s numbers as a comparison. It’s still a Boarding Group-only option. So, we can’t draw any conclusions there.
The Frozen ride required a wait of 58 minutes, basically even with the 59 minutes before Disney Genie.
Test Track, the other EPCOT ride with prolonged waits, averaged only 35 minutes, down 8 from the last article. So overall, that’s more good news for Disney.
Here are the other EPCOT attractions:
- Soarin’ – 17 minutes, down 8
- Mission: SPACE — 12 minutes, down 4
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 10 minutes, no change
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 9 minutes, no change
- Living with the Land – 8 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 8 minutes, down 4
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 6 minutes, down 1
Overall, the average EPCOT attraction required a wait of 15 minutes, down five minutes from last time.
Obviously, EPCOT didn’t have much traffic last week. So, it’s difficult to determine anything here. Wait times did decrease, but park traffic did, too.
Magic Kingdom
Okay, we’ve got one park left to discuss. Here are the average wait times at Magic Kingdom:
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 65 minutes, up 5
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 63 minutes, down 7
- Jungle Cruise – 61 minutes, down 5
- Haunted Mansion – 43 minutes, down 4
- Splash Mountain – 38 minutes, down 10
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 34 minutes, no change
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 33 minutes, down 7
- It’s a Small World – 29 minutes, down 4
- Astro Orbiter – 28 minutes, down 7
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 27 minutes, down 8
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 26 minutes, down 7
- Space Mountain – 26 minutes, down 12
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 25 minutes, down 2
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 17 minutes, down 5
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 16 minutes, down 4
- The Barnstormer – 12 minutes, down 6
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 12 minutes, down 1
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 12 minutes, down 4
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 12 minutes, down 8
- Mad Tea Party – 11 minutes, down 3
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 10 minutes, down 6
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
- Country Bear Jamboree – 4 minutes, down 1
Overall, Magic Kingdom attractions averaged a 27-minute wait. That’s down five minutes from last time.
Significantly, we tracked 51 attractions this week, not counting Ratatouille. More than 90 percent of them held the same wait as last week or dropped.
Again, crowd size plays a massive role in these discussions. So, we don’t know anything for sure beyond this week.
However, the early results speak well of Disney Genie.