Walt Disney World Wait Times for First Week of July 2022
A week ago, we examined July 4th and its impact on wait times at Walt Disney World.
While nobody likes to give Disney credit in the post-Disney Genie+ era, the reality is that the parks aced their biggest test to date.
But what happened next? Here are the wait times for the first full week of July 2022.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Here’s a strange fact about the July 4th weekend. It had one of the most unusual travel periods in recent American history.
The holiday itself fell on Monday, which gave guests plenty of time in the parks but less on July 4th than usual.
Some folks had to spend the holiday as a travel day…and it was one of the most chaotic travel days ever to boot.
As such, I’m viewing last week’s performances as one-offs that won’t influence the current data much at all.
For example, this week, Avatar Flight of Passage increased five minutes to a 94-minute wait.
The idea of lines lengthening after July 4th would have seemed impossible before the pandemic…but here we are!
Let’s examine the other wait times at Animal Kingdom this past week:
- Na’vi River Journey – 69 minutes, no change
- Kali River Rapids – 58 minutes, up 8
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 49 minutes, up 5
- Adventurers Outpost – 44 minutes, up 5
- Expedition Everest – 41 minutes, up 3
- DINOSAUR – 40 minutes, up 6
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 14 minutes, up 2
- TriceraTop Spin – 12 minutes, down 1
So, as you can see, most attractions increased their wait times during the aftermath of July 4th.
That’s not the way these things are supposed to work, but the world’s weird right now.
Overall, Animal Kingdom attractions averaged a 48-minute wait, up four minutes from the holiday.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
As usual, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance required the most line time…although it had been close last week.
Over the past seven days, guests waited an average of 112 minutes, four more minutes than last time.
You may recall that Slinky Dog Dash came close last week, though. During the last week, the Toy Story roller coaster held at 95 minutes, the same as last time.
So, the gap between the two attractions has expanded. Here are the other Hollywood Studios wait times:
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 90 minutes, up 5
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 77 minutes, up 2
- Toy Story Mania! – 73 minutes, no change
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 64 minutes, down 4
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 61 minutes, up 4
- Meet Sulley at Walt Disney Presents – 45 minutes, up 7
- Red Carpet Dreams – 43 minutes, no change
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 40 minutes, up 2
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 28 minutes, up 2
- Celebrity Spotlight with Olaf – 25 minutes, up 1
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 17 minutes, up 1
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, guests stood in line for 50 minutes for the average Hollywood Studios attraction. That’s up a minute from last time.
EPCOT
As a reminder, we’re still not doing Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and won’t until it introduces a standby queue.
Keeping that in mind, the top two remain Frozen Ever After and Test Track. Remember how Test Track suddenly spiked for the holiday? It’s still like that.
For the first full week of July, Frozen Ever After averaged a 70-minute wait, the same as last time.
Meanwhile, guests waited 66 minutes for Test Track, which is a drop of five minutes from last time but a LOT for this ride.
As for Ratatouille, it…finished third with 64 minutes, down three minutes.
Still, having three rides with 60+ minute waits at EPCOT is unusual. But, of course, that’s July at Walt Disney World for you!
Here are the other EPCOT waits:
- Soarin’ Around the World – 49 minutes, up 5
- Mission: SPACE – 44 minutes, up 2
- Royal Sommerhus – 23 minutes, up 1
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 22 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 17 minutes, down 1
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 15 minutes, up 1
- Living with the Land – 14 minutes, down 1
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 13 minutes, no change
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 10 minutes, no change
The average wait for an EPCOT attraction was 34 minutes, up two minutes from last time.
Magic Kingdom
The trend here is similar but slightly larger waits at the various parks thus far. How was Magic Kingdom? Well…
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 83 minutes, down 9
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 74 minutes, up 1
- Splash Mountain – 65 minutes, up 5
- Jungle Cruise – 63 minutes, no change
- Space Mountain – 55 minutes, up 3
- Town Square Theater – 54 minutes, up 18
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 45 minutes, up 1
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 44 minutes, down 6
- Haunted Mansion – 43 minutes, up 1
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 42 minutes, up 3
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 41 minutes, up 1
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 40 minutes, up 2
- Astro Orbiter – 38 minutes, up 1
- It’s a Small World – 32 minutes, up 1
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 30 minutes, down 2
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 28 minutes, up 2
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 23 minutes, up 1
- The Barnstormer – 20 minutes, up 2
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 17 minutes, down 3
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 16 minutes, down 1
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 15 minutes, down 2
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 15 minutes, no change
- Mad Tea Party – 14 minutes, down 1
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 13 minutes, up 1
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
- Country Bear Jamboree – 5 minutes, no change
So, Magic Kingdom had more upheaval than the other parks, with several rides up but also a few down.
Overall, guests waited for an average of 36 minutes per attraction at Magic Kingdom, the same as last week.
Disney’s crowd control mechanics are working well when the week after July 4th is slightly more crowded than the holiday itself.
I’m not saying you have to give credit to Disney as a whole, but some smart folks at the parks definitely deserve it.