Walt Disney World Wait Times for Second Week of January
Walt Disney World just opened the 2022 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts.
Over the past few years, this festival has evolved into one of the most popular events on the annual calendar.
I’ll never forget visiting there two years ago, just as reports rolled in regarding a new virus in China.
The parks were absolutely mobbed, the most crowded I’ve ever seen them in January…BY FAR!
Now that the pandemic has waned, I’m curious whether attendance will return to those January 2020 numbers.
We’ll know more with this week’s Walt Disney World wait times.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Over the past two weeks, Animal Kingdom has claimed more activity than I would have expected. Did that trend continue?
Well, Avatar Flight of Passage averaged a wait of 112 minutes, up 22 minutes from last week.
Meanwhile, Na’vi River Journey hovered around 73 minutes, 13 minutes week over week.
So, crowds appear to be up during the first week of the Festival of the Holidays. I guess people want to get a shot at that Figment popcorn bucket.
Here’s the rest of Animal Kingdom:
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 63 minutes, up 18
- DINOSAUR – 45 minutes, up 11
- TriceraTop Spin – 25 minutes, up 17
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 15 minutes, up 3
- Kali River Rapids – 7 minutes, no change
Overall, the average Animal Kingdom attraction came with a wait of 48 minutes, up 13 minutes from last week.
A lot of these wait times seem high, but the TriceraTop Spin one is insane. Nobody should EVER wait more than 15 minutes for that one.
For that matter, I’m a DINOSAUR superfan, and I’d still do a doubletake at a 45-minute wait time.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The rise at Animal Kingdom doesn’t necessarily guarantee a surge at Hollywood Studios. But, then again, it might. So, let’s figure that out.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance came with a 172-minute wait, which is admittedly brutal. That’s an increase of nearly an hour from last week.
The news isn’t any better at Slinky Dog Dash, as the roller coaster averaged a 90-minute wait. That’s up nine minutes and on the high end for the past year.
Here are the other Hollywood Studios attractions. I’ll comment afterward:
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 78 minutes, up 20
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 76 minutes, up 25
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 72 minutes, up 7
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 67 minutes, down 3
- Toy Story Mania! – 65 minutes, up 5
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 40 minutes, down 4
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 31 minutes, up 6
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 20 minutes, up 5
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, Hollywood Studios attractions averaged a wait of 53 minutes, an increase of eight minutes week over week.
My rule of thumb about this park is that when five or more rides require waits of 60 minutes or more, it’s unusually crowded.
This past week, there were seven of them. So, if you were at Hollywood Studios over the past few days, you’re probably cranky about it.
I hope for your sake that you bought Disney Genie+. Times like these absolutely justify it.
EPCOT
Okay, we will NOT post the average wait time for the Figment popcorn bucket. I’d need a NASA team and Cal Tech mathematicians for that.
However, we may be able to track its impact on other attractions. Let’s see.
The attraction with the longest wait was obviously Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Its wait times have varied by a chaotic amount thus far.
The ride only recently switched to standby queues, and it has caused some guest confusion.
On a recent day, the line only wound up being a 20-minute late for a few lucky guests. Earlier that day, people had waited more than two hours.
Timing is everything at theme parks, my friends.
Anyway, my data tracking has Ratatouille at 85 minutes on average for the past week.
If you notice wildly different numbers while standing in line, please don’t feel surprised.
When you visit EPCOT, you should monitor the published wait time here throughout the day. It can save you a LOT of time.
Also, Disney surprised everyone by making Ratatouille available as an Early Theme Park Entry option.
So, when you book your trip through MickeyTravels, you’re sure to ride it once before the park has opened to most guests.
EPCOT Wait Times
Here are the other EPCOT wait times for the week:
- Frozen Ever After – 78 minutes, up 15
- Test Track – 62 minutes, up 18
- Soarin’ – 44 minutes, up 16
- Mission: SPACE – 22 minutes, up 12
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 21 minutes, up 14
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 16 minutes, up 4
- Spaceship Earth – 16 minutes, up 7
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 14 minutes, up 5
- Living with the Land – 13 minutes, up 5
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 10 minutes, no change
Yes, the popcorn bucket sentiment did have the unlikely effect of tripling the demand for Figment this week.
I say without sarcasm that guests could have ridden Figment 15 times rather than standing in line for the bucket.
People make strange decisions at theme parks. Still, the start of the Festival of the Arts does appear to have juiced the lines at EPCOT attractions.
The average EPCOT attraction required a 37-minute wait, a massive increase of 15 minutes or 68 percent from last week.
Magic Kingdom
I’m running long this week. So, here are the Magic Kingdom average wait times:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 100 minutes, up 5
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 80 minutes, up 2
- Jungle Cruise – 65 minutes, down 17
- Space Mountain – 62 minutes, down 5
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 60 minutes, up 6
- Haunted Mansion – 48 minutes, down 7
- Astro Orbiter – 47 minutes, up 5
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 47 minutes, up 4
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 40 minutes, down 3
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 40 minutes, down 5
- It’s a Small World – 36 minutes, down 4
- The Barnstormer – 35 minutes, up 5
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 33 minutes, up 4
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 32 minutes, down 4
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 31 minutes, up 2
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 26 minutes, down 1
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 25 minutes, up 3
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 22 minutes, down 1
- Mad Tea Party – 20 minutes, no change
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 19 minutes, down 2
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 18 minutes, no change
- Country Bear Jamboree – 15 minutes, up 10
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 15 minutes, down 2
- Town Square Theatre – 10 minutes, down 2
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Magic Kingdom attractions averaged a wait of 36 minutes, down two minutes from last week. It’s the only park with lower waits than last week.