Walt Disney World Wait Times for Halloween Week
Over the past week, many foolish mortals packed the parks to experience Disney during the spooky season.
How were the Walt Disney World wait times during this, the second full week of the Disney Genie era? Read on to find out…
Photo: Disney
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
During the first few days of Disney Genie, Disney executives had to be thrilled.
Overall, wait times went down for more than 90 percent of attractions. The ones that increased were the rides Disney wanted to receive more attention.
So, the new system survived its first stress test. However, Walt Disney World fans know that Halloween week has evolved into one of the most crowded times.
People arrive in anticipation of combining Halloween and Christmas experiences, as the decorations start on November 1st.
Did this change the calculus on wait times? Well, Avatar Flight of Passage averaged a 61-minute wait, up 14 minutes from last time. So we’re off to a bad start.
As you would expect, Na’vi River Journey similarly increased. It reached 55 minutes, a modest bump of three minutes.
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After that, the bottom falls out, as nothing else at Animal Kingdom requires a significant wait these days.
Here’s everything else:
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 25 minutes, up 7
- DINOSAUR – 17 minutes, up 7
- Expedition Everest – 17 minutes, up 6
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 12 minutes, no change
- TriceraTop Spin – 7 minutes, no change
Photo: Disney
The average Animal Kingdom attraction came with a 27-minute wait, which is up seven minutes from last time. So that’s actually a 35-percent increase.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
At Hollywood Studios, Rise of the Resistance will likely require the longest wait for the body of the next year.
Image Credit: Disney
During Halloween week, people stood in line an average of 104 minutes, up 18 minutes from last time.
Slinky Dog Dash also increased, albeit not as much. It went up from 68 minutes to 72 minutes.
Credit: Disney
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was only running one side during most of this timeframe. So, unsurprisingly, its wait spiked from 39 minutes to 70 minutes.
Yeah, that’s a lot. However, it also underscores the difference in throughput when both sides are operational.
Next is Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the other Star Wars ride at Galaxy’s Edge. It averaged a 60-minute wait, up 13 minutes this week.
You can already tell that this park similarly increased its wait times during Halloween week.
Here’s the rest of Hollywood Studios:
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 57 minutes, up 7
- Toy Story Mania! – 48 minutes, up 5
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 47 minutes, up 5
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 33 minutes, up 6
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 20 minutes, up 6
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 11 minutes, no change
The average attraction averaged 42 minutes, up seven minutes from last time.
So, we’re trending toward a rougher week two for Disney Genie. However, the holiday crowds play a factor.
EPCOT
Let’s check the park that generally requires the shortest waits. How did EPCOT hold up during the holidays?
Well, Frozen Ever After averaged a wait of 68 minutes, up 10 minutes from Disney Genie’s first week.
Test Track also went up, albeit not a massive amount. It increased from 35 to 42 minutes.
Image Credit: Disney
Here’s the rest of EPCOT’s attractions:
- Soarin’ Around the World – 26 minutes, up 9
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 15 minutes, up 9
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 13 minutes, up 2
- Mission: SPACE – 12 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 10 minutes, up 2
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 9 minutes, no change
- Living with the Land – 9 minutes, up 1
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 8 minutes, down 2
The average EPCOT attraction required a wait of 21 minutes, up six. It’s also the first time EPCOT has been over 20 minutes in several weeks.
Magic Kingdom
I think you know the deal by now. Everything at Walt Disney World had at least a slightly larger line during Halloween week.
Here are the averages at Magic Kingdom:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 70 minutes, up 7
- Jungle Cruise – 67 minutes, up 6
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 65 minutes, no change
- Haunted Mansion – 40 minutes, down 3
- Splash Mountain – 40 minutes, up 2
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 37 minutes, up 3
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 36 minutes, up 10
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 34 minutes, up 7
- Space Mountain – 33 minutes, up 7
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 32 minutes, down 1
- It’s a Small World – 30 minutes, up 1
- Astro Orbiter – 28 minutes, no change
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 28 minutes, up 3
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 22 minutes, previously unlisted
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 21 minutes, up 11
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 20 minutes, up 4
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 19 minutes, up 2
- The Barnstormer – 18 minutes, up 6
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 16 minutes, up 6
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 14 minutes, up 2
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 14 minutes, up 2
- Mad Tea Party – 13 minutes, up 2
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
- Country Bear Jamboree – 4 minutes, no change
Riding any Magic Kingdom attraction would have required an average of 30 minutes, up three minutes from last time.
Overall, Magic Kingdom proved least impacted by holiday traffic. That’s due to the sheer volume of attractions it operates daily.
Final Thoughts
Realistically, this was still an acceptable week for Disney officials, though. Three of the four parks came with average wait times of 30 minutes or less.
Yes, the numbers look larger percentage-wise, but it’s perfectly normal trending for this time of year.
As usual, only Hollywood Studios qualified as an outlier. When Walt Disney World traffic surges, this park becomes more chaotic with its wait times.
Disney can stabilize the behavior once all its show attractions are operational again, though.
I was there from 10/30-11/4. I have been coming for the Halloween/Christmas period for the past 6-7 years. This year I definitely felt the wait times. I purchased 3 lightening lanes which worked great. But I did not feel that Geine plus was worth the expense. It did not make a difference on my activities. Maybe I don’t understand it yet. But, By the time I was done with my first ride obtaining another lightening lane was difficult. And the times available could have you going from one section of the park to another, instead of going on all rides within that area before moving on.