Walt Disney World Wait Times for First Week of December 2022
Okay, we’ve reached that point on the annual calendar. In a matter of days, Walt Disney World crowds will herd in sizes we haven’t witnessed since 2019.
So, we are in the calm before the storm. Let’s talk about Walt Disney World’s wait times for early December.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
We can tell right off the bat that crowds diminished throughout the parks last week.
I say this because Avatar Flight of Passage averaged a 94-minute wait. That’s 18 minutes less than the post-Thanksgiving holiday.
I haven’t cheated and looked ahead yet. However, this is the type of behavior I expect throughout the parks.
The average vacationer doesn’t travel in early December. They usually choose either Thanksgiving or the end-of-year holiday season.
Did that behavior hold at Animal Kingdom? Here’s what we know:
- Na’vi River Journey – 61 minutes, down 3
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 59 minutes, down 2
- Adventurers Outpost – 47 minutes, down 6
- Expedition Everest – 23 minutes, down 13
- DINOSAUR – 11 minutes, down 11
- TriceraTop Spin – 11 minutes, down 4
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, guests waited an average of 34 minutes to experience the attractions at Animal Kingdom. That’s six minutes or 18 percent less than last time.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I always say that the one park that remains unpredictable is Hollywood Studios. So, there’s a chance the behavior won’t apply here.
Let’s look at the average wait times to verify:
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 106 minutes, down 1
- Slinky Dog Dash – 99 minutes, down 1
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 84 minutes, down 5
- Toy Story Mania! – 64 minutes, down 6
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 59 minutes, down 4
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster – 58 minutes, down 2
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 56 minutes, down 10
- Red Carpet Dreams – 41 minutes, down 6
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 37 minutes, down 3
- Meet Sulley at Walt Disney Presents – 29 minutes, down 2
- Celebrity Spotlight – 28 minutes, down 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 14 minutes, down 12
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
If you’ve read this article for a while, you know that I evaluate crowd sizes here a bit differently.
Yes, guests waited for an average of 45 minutes, which is three minutes less than last time.
However, what matters the most to me is that four attractions averaged more than hour-long waits, while three others were close enough to count.
For these reasons, I still think of Hollywood Studios as quite crowded last week.
EPCOT
This park should demonstrate slightly different behavior from the rest of Walt Disney World.
That’s because EPCOT hosts the wildly popular Candlelight Processional each year around this time. Similarly, the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays is a crowd-pleaser.
Did these amenities lead to larger lines? Let’s check:
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 81 minutes, down 4
- Frozen Ever After – 77 minutes, no change
- Test Track – 56 minutes, down 1
- Soarin’ Around the World – 35 minutes, no change
- Royal Sommerhus – 34 minutes, down 3
- Spaceship Earth – 16 minutes, up 3
- Mission: SPACE – 14 minutes, down 2
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 10 minutes, down 5
- Living with the Land – 9 minutes, up 4
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 8 minutes, down 6
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 7 minutes, down 2
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 5 minutes, up 1
Overall, guests waited for an average of 29 minutes for EPCOT attractions. So, I think it’s fair to say that the two World Showcase holiday amenities do entice crowds.
By the way, MickeyBlog had a bad feeling that Spaceship Earth’s wait times might increase when we posted this the other day.
That’s a lot of people recognizing Disney’s greatest achievement!
Magic Kingdom
As usual, we’ll close with Magic Kingdom. Here are the average waits at this park last week:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 64 minutes, down 17
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 59 minutes, down 17
- Jingle Cruise – 55 minutes, down 11
- Space Mountain – 43 minutes, down 5
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 40 minutes, down 7
- Town Square Theater – 37 minutes, down 12
- Haunted Mansion – 36 minutes, down 15
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 30 minutes, down 11
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 29 minutes, down 9
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 26 minutes, down 19
- Splash Mountain – 25 minutes, down 23
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 24 minutes, down 16
- Astro Orbiter – 20 minutes, down 15
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 19 minutes, down 10
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 18 minutes, down 21
- It’s a Small World – 17 minutes, down 7
- The Barnstormer – 15 minutes, down 15
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 15 minutes, down 5
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 15 minutes, up 1
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 12 minutes, down 3
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 10 minutes, down 17
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 9 minutes, down 11
- Mad Tea Party – 7 minutes, down 12
- Country Bear Jamboree – 5 minutes, no change
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Overall, guests at Magic Kingdom stood in line for an average of 27 minutes per attraction. That’s obviously way down from last week.
Specifically, guests waited 10 minutes less per attraction. Part of that stems from smaller crowds.
However, the weather discussion from a few weeks ago is applicable once more.
When Disney is colder, the outdoor rides at Magic Kingdom get substantially less crowded. And who could blame anybody for that?
In case you run into this issue, remember that MickeyBlog posted a list of some terrific cold weather rides.