Walt Disney World Wait Times for Third Week of February 2022
Some photos of Walt Disney World went viral last week. They were pictures of the lines…and not the ones for theme park attractions.
No, these lines were for people waiting at restaurants. Yeah, I’ve got concerns about the Walt Disney World wait times for the third week of February.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
There’s a story everyone wants me to report, and I’d love to give the people what they want.
Fans desire some sign that Disney’s recent price increases are hurting theme park attendance. I hear you, I feel you, and I sympathize with you.
Unfortunately, the tracking data doesn’t support this belief AT ALL. This past week’s Walt Disney World crowds signal the biggest lines to date in 2022.
In truth, we’re talking about some of the largest park attendance numbers since late-2019. Disney is officially back in business!
That’s equal parts good and bad, depending on what you think of the company’s current direction.
At Animal Kingdom, Avatar Flight of Passage represents the first sign of danger. The average wait time here rose to 125 minutes, up 24 minutes week over week.
I’m not spoiling anything by saying that it’s not the largest increase you’re gonna see.
Virtually every Walt Disney World attraction experienced a rise in wait time this past week. Here’s the other data at Animal Kingdom:
- Na’vi River Journey – 85 minutes, up 25
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 75 minutes, up 20
- Kali River Rapids – 41 minutes, up 36
- DINOSAUR – 40 minutes, up 12
- TriceraTop Spin – 25 minutes, up 5
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug – 20 minutes, up 10
I can explain one of these. The temperature grew substantially warmed over the past week. In fact, Central Florida experienced some record highs.
So, that’s why Kali River Rapids went from nearly a walk-on to a wait of 40+ minutes.
Overall, Animal Kingdom attractions averaged a wait of 60 minutes. That’s up 20 minutes (or 50 percent) from last week.
People were stuck in their homes for two years. Now that they can leave their houses, they’re damn sure going to Disney. This will be the recurring theme of 2022.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Is the glass half-full or half-empty? I’ll allow you to decide as we discuss Hollywood Studios, the one park whose wait times didn’t go up a lot.
The reason why circles back to the fact that it was already so crowded that it couldn’t have gotten much worse.
To wit, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance dropped 30 minutes from 180 (three hours) 150 (two and a half hours).
The explanation comes down to Rise of the Resistance operating more consistently last week than the previous one, when it was up and down a lot.
Still, the overall pattern at Hollywood Studios still trended upward. You can see for yourself:
- Slinky Dog Dash – 132 minutes, up 17
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 130 minutes, up 4
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 98 minutes, up 23
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 95 minutes, up 21
- Toy Story Mania! – 85 minutes, up 20
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 84 minutes, no change
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 50 minutes, up 6
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 35 minutes, up 1
- Mickey & Minnie at Red Carpet Dreams – 28 minutes, up 2
- Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight – 25 minutes, down 1
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 18 minutes, no change
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 14 minutes, no change
Overall, Hollywood Studios attractions averaged a 65-minute wait.
Yes, that’s a wait of more than an hour per attraction, which is…a lot. It’s also up six minutes from last time.
EPCOT
Generally, EPCOT qualifies as the place to go when you want to avoid giant crowds at Walt Disney World.
The attractions here come with shorter wait times and more indoors options, keeping you out of the heat as well. Alas, 2022 is working differently. To wit…
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure averaged a 140-minute wait. That’s a staggering change of 66 minutes…or more than an hour longer.
For the past few weeks, the newest Walt Disney World ride had required a shorter wait than Frozen Ever After. That’s a thing of the past now.
I have no explanation as to why other than that Ratatouille is new and fantastic.
Meanwhile, Frozen Ever After averaged a wait of 102 minutes, up 36 minutes from last time. So, it’s way up as well.
Here are the other attractions at the park:
- Test Track – 92 minutes, up 32
- Soarin’ Around the World – 58 minutes, up 23
- Mission: SPACE – 44 minutes, up 31 (!)
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 40 minutes, up 26
- Spaceship Earth – 38 minutes, up 19
- Living with the Land – 35 minutes, up 20
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 31 minutes, up 19
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 27 minutes, up 17
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, up 8
The average EPCOT attraction required a wait of 54 minutes this past week, up 24 minutes from last time. That’s an 80 percent increase week over week.
Magic Kingdom
You’ve figured out the recurring theme by now. I’m not going to beat you over the head with it. So, here are Magic Kingdom’s average wait times:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 114 minutes, up 4
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 101 minutes, up 19
- Splash Mountain – 95 minutes, up 49
- Space Mountain – 92 minutes, up 17
- Jungle Cruise – 88 minutes, down 1
- Haunted Mansion – 70 minutes, up 13
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 68 minutes, n/a
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 60 minutes, up 9
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 55 minutes, up 4
- Astro Orbiter – 54 minutes, down 1
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 48 minutes, up 1
- It’s a Small World – 47 minutes, up 6
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 45 minutes, up 3
- The Barnstormer – 44 minutes, up 2
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 42 minutes, down 2
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 40 minutes, up 5
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 39 minutes, no change
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 35 minutes, up 2
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 30 minutes, up 4
- Mad Tea Party – 29 minutes, up 1
- Prince Regal Charming Regal Carrousel – 25 minutes, up 1
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 23 minutes, up 3
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 22 minutes, up 2
- Country Bear Jamboree – 15 minutes, up 1
- Town Square Theater – 14 minutes, down 5
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, down 1
Obviously, Magic Kingdom’s wait times didn’t increase by as much as the other parks.
Overall, guests waited an average of 48 minutes, up six minutes from last time.
People keep saying that Disney has become too expensive for vacationers…but people keep vacationing at Disney in near-record numbers.