Walt Disney World Wait Times for Second Week of September 2023
Okay, I’ve spent the past six months hemming and hawing about Walt Disney World wait times.
This month, there shouldn’t be much confusion. We’ve entered into the slowest period on the annual calendar.
You can safely expect smaller crowds for the next four weeks or so. Probably. Disney’s grown unpredictable.
Anyway, we’ll find out in this week’s wait times at Walt Disney World.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
We should know quickly whether the September crowds behaved as expected. Avatar Flight of Passage should provide the answer.
Animal Kingdom’s most popular attraction averaged a wait of 81 minutes, which is 15 minutes more than last time. Welp.
Maybe that was a one-off? Let’s check the other Pandoran attraction.
Na’vi River Journey required an average wait of 71 minutes, which is…ten minutes more than last time.
Have I mentioned that Disney has grown unpredictable? *sigh*
Here are the park’s other average waits last week:
- Adventurers Outpost – 48 minutes, up 10
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 28 minutes, up 5
- Kali River Rapids – 27 minutes, up 9
- DINOSAUR – 26 minutes, up 6
- Expedition Everest – 26 minutes, up 5
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, no change
- TriceraTop Spin – 9 minutes, up 1
Overall, guests at Animal Kingdom waited for an average of 35 minutes per attraction, which is five minutes or 17 percent more than last week.
So, yeah.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Maybe Animal Kingdom behaved differently than the other parks?
Let’s examine the wait times at Hollywood Studios for comparison:
- Slinky Dog Dash – 69 minutes, down 10
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 68 minutes, up 11
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 57 minutes, up 8
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 55 minutes, up 2
- Toy Story Mania! – 55 minutes, up 9
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 53 minutes, up 7
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 50 minutes, up 12
- Red Carpet Dreams – 41 minutes, up 4
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 27 minutes, up 4
- Celebrity Spotlight – 18 minutes, up 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 16 minutes, down 2
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 14 minutes, up 4
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, Hollywood Studios guests stood in line for 38 minutes per attraction, which is four minutes or 12 percent more than last time.
Based on what I’m seeing, attendance definitely increased during the second week of September. But we still have two parks to check…
EPCOT
This park’s reimagining is nearly complete. We did add an experience this past week, and another will join soon.
The new experience is the Figment character greeting, while Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana will officially open next month.
MickeyBlog has already visited the attraction. You can watch our first walkthrough here:
However, neither of these attractions factor into this week’s wait times. That may change at a later date, depending on how well we can track them.
For now, here are EPCOT’s average wait times for the past week:
- Frozen Ever After – 77 minutes, up 9
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 59 minutes, up 5
- Test Track – 55 minutes, up 7
- Soarin’ Around the World – 52 minutes, up 4
- Royal Sommerhus – 33 minutes, up 4
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 21 minutes, up 9
- Mission: SPACE – 19 minutes, up 3
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, up 2
- Spaceship Earth – 17 minutes, up 4
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 16 minutes, up 4
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 14 minutes, up 4
- Living with the Land – 13 minutes, up 2
Overall, EPCOT guests waited for an average of 32 minutes, which is six minutes or 23 percent more than last time.
We’re three for three on larger park crowds last week.
Magic Kingdom
Here are the average wait times at the Most Magical Place on Earth:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 66 minutes, up 2
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 64 minutes, up 1
- Jungle Cruise – 44 minutes, no change
- Space Mountain – 44 minutes, up 4
- Haunted Mansion – 42 minutes, up 4
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 37 minutes, no change
- Town Square Theater – 36 minutes, up 4
- Ariel’s Grotto – 35 minutes, no change
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 34 minutes, up 6
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 33 minutes, up 2
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 32 minutes, no change
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 32 minutes, up 2
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 27 minutes, no change
- Enchanted Tales with Belle – 27 minutes, up 4
- Astro Orbiter – 22 minutes, down 3
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 22 minutes, up 4
- It’s a Small World – 21 minutes, up 5
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 19 minutes, up 1
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 17 minutes, no change
- Walt Disney World Railroad – 15 minutes, down 2
- The Barnstormer – 14 minutes, down 1
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 14 minutes, down 4
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 14 minutes, up 1
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 12 minutes, up 1
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 12 minutes, up 1
- Mad Tea Party – 10 minutes, no change
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 8 minutes, down 1
- Country Bear Jamboree – 5 minutes, no change
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Final Thoughts
Magic Kingdom guests waited for an average of 26 minutes per attraction, which is two minutes or eight percent more than last time.
The trendline here is clear, though. Only seven attractions required a shorter wait this past week than during the previous one.
So, the post-Labor Day crowds have expanded from the Labor Day Week crowds, a rare phenomenon at the parks.
I keep saying that Disney still has something akin to a slow season in January and September.
Realistically, the data has proven me wrong on this point, though. Walt Disney World parks are simply popular all the time, no matter the date!
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