Walt Disney World Wait Times for First Week of August 2023
Every part of North America works differently.
In my part of the country, school-aged children are currently prepping for orientation, with class back in session next week.
At Walt Disney World, the arrival of the school year typically suggests at least somewhat of a slowdown at the parks.
However, 2023 has proven unpredictable in several different ways. So, I’m not ready to say park attendance will decrease later in August.
Instead, all we can do is evaluate the numbers each week and go from there.
Here are Walt Disney World’s average wait times during the first week of August 2023.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
As a reminder, Animal Kingdom attractions hovered around a 50-minute wait in the latter half of July.
During the third week of the month, guests waited for an average of 49 minutes per attraction, followed by 51 minutes during the final week.
I mention this because you’ll quickly realize that crowds diminished at the start of August.
For example, Avatar Flight of Passage dropped to a 92-minute average this past week. That’s 19 minutes or 21 percent during early August.
At Na’vi River Journey, guests stood in line for 83 minutes, though. That’s exactly the same average as during the last week of July.
Here are the other average Animal Kingdom wait times this past week:
- Kali River Rapids – 49 minutes, down 5
- Adventurers Outpost – 43 minutes, down 2
- Expedition Everest – 37 minutes, down 9
- DINOSAUR – 33 minutes, down 12
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 31 minutes, down 8
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, down 5
- TriceraTop Spin – 10 minutes, down 2
Overall, the average Animal Kingdom attraction required a wait of just 41 minutes.
That’s 10 minutes or a whopping 24 percent less than the last week of July.
So, we have a strong indicator that at least one park slowed down in early August.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
During the second half of July, the attractions here also averaged a 50-minute wait, but this park experienced significantly more fluctuation.
During the third week of July, guests waited for “only” 45 minutes per attraction, but the number spiked to 55 minutes during the final week.
That’s not unusual for Hollywood Studios, though. This park behaves less predictably than its three siblings at Walt Disney World.
For example, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance required the longest line time of any Hollywood Studios attraction for the body of three years.
Lately, something else, an attraction with less throughput, has usurped it, though.
What happened this past week? Let’s find out! Here are the park’s average wait times for the past week:
- Slinky Dog Dash – 119 minutes, up 11
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 90 minutes, down 5
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 74 minutes, down 12
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 74 minutes, down 20
- Toy Story Mania! – 74 minutes, down 4
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 72 minutes, down 1
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 59 minutes, down 29
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 40 minutes, down 2
- Red Carpet Dreams – 40 minutes, down 3
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 19 minutes, down 7
- Celebrity Spotlight – 17 minutes, down 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, down 5
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
You can tell from these average waits that the park generally decreased in crowd size last week, save for the anomaly, Slinky Dog Dash.
Guests waited for an average of 48 minutes per attraction, which is seven minutes less than during the last week of July.
Still, that’s a few minutes more than the third week of July. In other words, crowds remain substantial, just not as much as at the end of July.
EPCOT
We’ve got an x-factor at EPCOT this week.
The 2023 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival started on Friday, July 27th. Its early crowds impacted the park a bit last week.
However, that impact really comes into play during early August, the festival’s first full week.
The change is subtle, but you’re gonna be able to tell. Here are EPCOT’s average waits:
- Frozen Ever After – 77 minutes, up 1
- Test Track – 74 minutes, up 2
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 72 minutes, up 3
- Soarin’ Around the World – 46 minutes, no change
- Mission: SPACE – 30 minutes, no change
- Royal Sommerhus – 29 minutes, no change
- Spaceship Earth – 24 minutes, down 1
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 20 minutes, up 1
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 17 minutes, up 2
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 16 minutes, no change
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 14 minutes, up 1
- Living with the Land – 13 minutes, up 1
Yes, those changes are modest, but let’s think about what they reflect.
Only one attraction increased its wait at Hollywood Studios, while nothing did at Animal Kingdom.
Meanwhile, seven EPCOT attractions increased their waits during the first week of August. That’s the Food & Wine factor.
Overall, EPCOT guests waited for 37 minutes per attraction, which is two minutes more than last week.
If the final week of July had featured a full week of festival data, I suspect the numbers would have been identical.
Magic Kingdom
Okay, this week’s data makes perfect sense. The parks are slowing down some after a solid summer, but everyone still loves a festival.
How did Magic Kingdom factor into the conversation? Here are the park’s wait times last week:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 95 minutes, down 4
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 83 minutes, up 2
- Space Mountain – 66 minutes, down 5
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 55 minutes, up 2
- Haunted Mansion – 55 minutes, up 1
- Jungle Cruise – 55 minutes, down 1
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 46 minutes, down 3
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 44 minutes, up 5
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 43 minutes, down 3
- Ariel’s Grotto – 40 minutes, up 2
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 40 minutes, up 2
- Astro Orbiter – 37 minutes, no change
- It’s a Small World – 33 minutes, no change
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 32 minutes, down 1
- Enchanted Tales with Belle – 31 minutes, no change
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 29 minutes, down 2
- The Barnstormer – 25 minutes, up 1
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 25 minutes, down 3
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 19 minutes, down 4
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 19 minutes, no change
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 18 minutes, down 6
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 18 minutes, no change
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 16 minutes, down 1
- Walt Disney World Railroad – 15 minutes, down 2
- Mad Tea Party – 14 minutes, down 2
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 10 minutes, no change
- Country Bear Jamboree – 5 minutes, no change
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Final Thoughts
Overall, guests at Magic Kingdom stood in line for an average of 33 minutes, which is two minutes less than last time.
As you can tell, this park’s attractions experienced plenty of fluctuation. In fact, I’d describe a lot of this as statistical noise.
Overall, Walt Disney World crowds were smaller than the last week of July but larger than the third week of July. Take from that what you will.
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Feature Photo: Disney