Walt Disney World Wait Times for Fourth Week of February 2022
Lines grew longer at Disney theme parks in mid-February. Then, Disney updated its Lightning Lane and Disney Genie+ policies.
The new changes went into effect on February 25th. So, we’re roughly half a week into the new park behavior.
What happens when Disney reduces Lightning Lane attractions to four but increases Disney Genie+ options by three?
Let’s find out in this week’s Walt Disney World wait times!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
First, I’ll mention the Lightning Lane changes. Three parks switched rides to Disney Genie+ instead.
Animal Kingdom represents the lone exception, but there’s a good reason why.
Image Credit: Disney
Expedition Everest, the second Lightning Lane attraction at the park, is currently undergoing refurbishment.
Since that ride is the cheapest of all Lightning Lane options, I’m confident it’ll switch to Disney Genie+ when it reopens in April or May.
So, all four Walt Disney World theme parks offer only one Lightning Lane attraction each.
At Animal Kingdom, that ride is Avatar Flight of Passage, which averaged a 113-minute. That’s down 12 minutes from last time.
We’re already doing better than last week! Here are the rest of the park’s wait times:
- Na’vi River Journey – 80 minutes, down 5
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 59 minutes, down 16
- DINOSAUR – 49 minutes, up 9
- Kali River Rapids – 40 minutes, down 1
- TriceraTop Spin – 24 minutes, down 1
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 15 minutes, down 5
The average Animal Kingdom attraction required a wait of 54 minutes, down 6 from last time…but still on the high end overall.
On the plus side, every park attraction but DINOSAUR reduced its line time this past week. So at least we’re trending in the right direction.
Photo: Disney
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We can always tell the whole story at Hollywood Studios through one attraction’s wait.
That ride is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which is now the only Lightning Lane attraction at the park.
Image Credit: Disney
For the past seven days, Rise of the Resistance averaged a wait of 150 minutes, the same as last time.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had been a Lightning Lane attraction until February 25th. Now, it’s available via Disney Genie+.
During the past week, it required a wait of 100 minutes, up two minutes from last time.
Anecdotally, its wait time yesterday was also 100 minutes, indicating that the change in booking options hasn’t impacted the lines…at least not yet.
Here’s everything else at Hollywood Studios:
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 130 minutes, no change
- Slinky Dog Dash – 128 minutes, down 4
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 90 minutes, up 6
- Toy Story Mania! – 85 minutes, no change
- Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run – 82 minutes, down 13
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 50 minutes, no change
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 38 minutes, up 3
- Mickey and Minnie at Red Carpet Dreams – 30 minutes, up 2
- Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight – 22 minutes, down 3
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 20 minutes, up 2
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 13 minutes, down 1
Overall, the average attraction at Hollywood Studios came with a wait of 64 minutes, down 1 minute from last time.
I would describe this park as slightly better than last time…but not by much.
EPCOT
At EPCOT, Frozen Ever After switched from Lightning Lane to Disney Genie+. That’s significant because it’s often the longest line at the park anyway.
Lately, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After had flip-flopped in first and second place.
For the past week, Frozen Ever After claimed the longest lines. This ride averaged a wait of 105 minutes, up three minutes from last time.
Image Credit: Disney
Meanwhile, Ratatouille dropped significantly. The only remaining Lightning Lane attraction came with a wait of 103 minutes, down 37 minutes week over week.
So, the impact here may have rippled to Ratatouille more than the ride that changed, which is interesting to me.
Here’s the rest of the park’s data:
- Test Track – 72 minutes, down 20
- Soarin’ Around the World – 50 minutes, down 8
- Spaceship Earth – 34 minutes, down 4
- Mission: SPACE – 30 minutes, down 14
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 29 minutes, down 11
- Living with the Land – 28 minutes, down 7
- Royal Sommerhus with Anna & Elsa – 23 minutes, n/a
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 21 minutes, down 6
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, no change
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 18 minutes, down 13
Obviously, some semblance of normalcy returned to EPCOT this past week. The average attraction required a wait of 43 minutes, down 11 minutes from last time.
Magic Kingdom
As usual, I’ll post the Magic Kingdom wait times first and then discuss the behavior at the end.
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 113 minutes, down 1
- Jungle Cruise – 87 minutes, down 1
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 85 minutes, down 16
- Splash Mountain – 76 minutes, down 19
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 70 minutes, up 10
- Space Mountain – 70 minutes, down 18
- Haunted Mansion – 68 minutes, down 2
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 65 minutes, up 10
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 60 minutes, down 8
- Astro Orbiter – 52 minutes, down 2
- It’s a Small World – 49 minutes, up 2
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 48 minutes, no change
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 44 minutes, down 1
- The Barnstormer – 43 minutes, down 1
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 42 minutes, no change
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 41 minutes, up 2
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 32 minutes, down 3
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 32 minutes, down 8
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 30 minutes, no change
- Mad Tea Party – 29 minutes, no change
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 27 minutes, up 2
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 23 minutes, up 1
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 19 minutes, down 4
- Town Square Theater – 18 minutes, up 4
- Country Bear Jamboree – 14 minutes, down 1
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
The average Magic Kingdom attraction required a wait of 47 minutes, down a minute from last time.
In case you don’t know, Space Mountain is the Magic Kingdom ride that switched from Lightning Lane to Disney Genie+.
So, this ride’s significant drop in wait times is interesting.
Will that trend continue in coming weeks? Keep checking back to find out!
