Walt Disney World Wait Times for Labor Day Week 2022
Okay, the holidays have officially come and gone at Walt Disney World, at least for a couple of months.
With Labor Day in the books, we’ve officially entered the slow season at the parks…well, what passes for slow at Disney theme parks.
You’ll notice a stark contrast in crowds for the next five weeks or so, as summer has ended everywhere but on the calendar.
Here are the Walt Disney World wait times for Labor Day Week 2022.
Magic Kingdom
I’m going to change the ordering this week to get the point across to you.
Let’s start with Magic Kingdom, a park whose attractions averaged a wait of 32 minutes last week.
I’ll go ahead and spoil you on what you’re about to notice. This week’s average wait dropped to 25 minutes…and this was on a HOLIDAY WEEKEND!
Crowds should increase mightily when people have extra vacation days to visit the parks. The fact that they didn’t is alarming.
Without further ado, here are Magic Kingdom’s “holiday” wait times:
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 64 minutes, down 13
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 51 minutes, down 14
- Town Square Theater – 42 minutes, down 16
- Jungle Cruise – 40 minutes, down 20
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 28 minutes, down 11
- Haunted Mansion – 24 minutes, down 16
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 22 minutes, down 14
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 21 minutes, down 22
- Astro Orbiter – 20 minutes, down 17
- Splash Mountain – 15 minutes, down 29
- Space Mountain – 14 minutes, down 30
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 13 minutes, down 15
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 13 minutes, down 1
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 11 minutes, down 6
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 10 minutes, down 20
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 9 minutes, down 1
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 8 minutes, down 24
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 7 minutes, down 15
- It’s a Small World – 6 minutes, down 20
- The Barnstormer – 5 minutes, down 10
- Country Bear Jamboree – 5 minutes, no change
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 5 minutes, down 7
- Mad Tea Party – 5 minutes, down 8
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 5 minutes, down 6
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 5 minutes, down 22
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Thoughts on Magic Kingdom
Friends, that Splash Mountain number sounds INSANE! So, does Space Mountain, for that matter.
Of course, MickeyBlog has posted visual proof of both. Here’s Space Mountain as a walk-on attraction! And here are more images from the park!
View this post on Instagram
The point to remember here is that when Disney says 10 minutes or less, the ride is a de facto walk-on.
Remember that 10 minutes represents the average. You’re often waiting for less time than that.
With Disney attraction line queues, simply walking to the ride cart can take five minutes or more.
So, we’re witnessing here is probably the slowest week since the first six months after Walt Disney World reopened.
Then again, capacity limits were in place then. So, the average wait times were longer. This…is rare.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I’m following up with Hollywood Studios, the park that plays by its own rules. If it’s down substantially, you should think long and hard about a quick trip to Walt Disney World.
Photo: Richard Harbaugh
Here are the park’s wait times:
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 98 minutes, up 15
- Slinky Dog Dash – 70 minutes, down 12
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 62 minutes, down 8
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 55 minutes, down 2
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 51 minutes, down 4
- Toy Story Mania! – 50, down 9
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 49 minutes, up 8
- Meet Sulley at Walt Disney Presents – 40 minutes, down 2
- Red Carpet Dreams – 38 minutes, down 1
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 35 minutes, no change
- Celebrity Spotlight – 20 minutes, down 1
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 14 minutes, down 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 10 minutes, down 5
- Muppet*Vision 3d – 10 minutes, no change
Image Credit: Disney
There’s plenty to process here. However, I think the stability at the top of Hollywood Studios indicates that people still visit here near the typical levels.
Overall, guests waited an average of 37 minutes, a decline of three minutes. So, crowds are decreasing here, just nowhere near as much as at Magic Kingdom.
(Steven Diaz, photographer)
EPCOT
I mentioned last week that if crowds shrink enough, EPCOT might switch Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to a standby line queue…or at least add one.
Well, we are definitely trending hard in that direction. I say this for reasons you’ll understand in a moment.
Photo: Todaysorlando.com
Frozen Ever After once again led at EPCOT with an average wait of 62 minutes, down four.
Meanwhile, Remy’s Ratatouille dropped to 50 minutes, and Test Track held at 46 minutes. But here’s the rest of the park data:
- Soarin’ Around the World – 22 minutes, down 3
- Royal Sommerhus – 21 minutes, no change
- Mission: SPACE – 18 minutes, down 1
- Living with the Land – 13 minutes, up 2
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 12 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 11 minutes, down 4
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 10 minutes, down 7
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 7 minutes, no change
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 5 minutes, down 3
Overall, guests waited an average of only 21 minutes at EPCOT, down one from last time. But, again, this timeframe includes a three-day holiday weekend.
So, EPCOT attendance would have dropped even more if not for the holiday inflation.
We’re definitely heading toward some ridiculously small crowds in the next few weeks. So it seems like the perfect time to introduce a standby line queue at Cosmic Rewind.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Okay, I think you get the point by now. Here are Animal Kingdom’s wait times for comparison:
- Avatar Flight of Passage – 63 minutes, down 13
- Na’vi River Journey – 57 minutes, up 5
- Kali River Rapids – 46 minutes, down 2
- Adventurers Outpost – 41 minutes, no change
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 40 minutes, down 2
- Expedition Everest – 30 minutes, no change
- DINOSAUR – 22 minutes, down 11
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, no change
- TriceraTop Spin – 7 minutes, no change
Guests waited for an average of 35 minutes at Animal Kingdom, a three-minute drop.
You may wonder why Animal Kingdom and EPCOT’s disparities aren’t as significant as the Magic Kingdom’s weekly change.
Photo: David Roark
The answer lies in the sheer volume of Magic Kingdom attractions.
The other two parks have so few rides that the wait times remain in the same range even when crowds shrink.
When fewer people visit Magic Kingdom, it’s the opposite of a rising tide lifting all boats. Everything crashes.
Seventeen Magic Kingdom attractions averaged waits of 15 minutes or less. That pulls the overall average attraction wait time waaaaaaay down.
More importantly, this behavior makes the park much more fun to visit. So if you’ve been to Magic Kingdom during the past week, you’ve had the time of your life!
I’m incredibly envious of my brother, who is visiting Walt Disney World this week! His family is going to have a great time!
Similarly, a quick Walt Disney World getaway would be a galaxy brain move in September if you’ve got some vacation time and frequent flyer miles.
What do you think of these Walt Disney World wait times?
