Walt Disney World Wait Times for Post-Thanksgiving Week 2023
Okay, let’s talk about one of the oddities of North American society.
During Thanksgiving Week, consumers spend their time exploring various entertainment activities.
We can trace this behavior at movie theaters, concert venues, and theme parks.
Once Thanksgiving ends, everybody returns to work. And that’s why the number one film in America earned only $21 million last weekend.
Similarly, theme park attendance shrunk overnight, especially at smaller parks.
As the most popular theme park on the planet, Walt Disney World behaves a smidge differently, but the underlying trend remains.
So, the post-Thanksgiving wait times at Walt Disney World should have dropped significantly…but did they? Let’s check!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
At Animal Kingdom, park traffic has fluctuated a bit. We’ve had some recent ups and downs, depending on the calendar.
Animal Kingdom has also improved its holiday decorations, which has increased its traffic flow during the final two months of the year.
How were the parks this past week? Here are the average wait times:
- Avatar Flight of Passage – 61 minutes, down 54 minutes (!!!)
- Na’vi River Journey – 57 minutes, down 25
- Adventurers Outpost – 47 minutes, down 9
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 36 minutes, down 20
- Expedition Everest – 24 minutes, down 24
- DINOSAUR – 17 minutes, down 20
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 13 minutes, down 2
- Kali River Rapids – 10 minutes, down 12
- TriceraTop Spin – 10 minutes, down 5
Obviously, the collapse of Avatar Flight of Passage alone indicates much smaller crowds during the week after Thanksgiving.
Guests stood in line for an average of 31 minutes, which is 19 (!) minutes less than during the holiday week.
We witness this every year, and it’s always amazing.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
You know the deal with Hollywood Studios. No matter when you visit, this park will prove a bit mercurial.
The high volume of E-ticket attractions, in combination with the smaller size of the park, leads to long lines at its most popular rides.
I measure crowd size by how many Hollywood Studios attractions require an hour-long wait.
For this past week, the answer was three. I consider it a crowded week here anytime the answer is seven.
So, you can already tell that Hollywood Studios lines decreased dramatically once the holiday ended.
Here are the average wait times at Hollywood Studios last week:
- Slinky Dog Dash – 83 minutes, down 48
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 72 minutes, down 29
- Toy Story Mania! – 63 minutes, down 28
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 58 minutes, down 26
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 53 minutes, down 22
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 52 minutes, down 48
- Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run – 50 minutes, down 43
- Red Carpet Dreams – 41 minutes, down 8
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 37 minutes, down 8
- Celebrity Spotlight – 21 minutes, down 2
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 12 minutes, down 12
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, down 3
Overall, people stood in line at Hollywood Studios for an average of 40 minutes, which is 23 minutes less than during Thanksgiving Week.
To a larger point, any week with an average wait of 40 minutes at Hollywood Studios is a good one.
EPCOT
You’ve picked up on the pattern by now. When Thanksgiving ends, crowds die down as guests exit Orlando and return home.
We’ll see this in the average wait times at EPCOT as well. Here they are:
- Frozen Ever After – 71 minutes, down 15
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 64 minutes, down 25
- Test Track – 52 minutes, down 23
- Royal Sommerhus – 36 minutes, no change
- Soarin’ Over California – 34 minutes, down 19
- Living with the Land – 19 minutes, up 5
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, down 2
- Mission: SPACE – 18 minutes, down 15
- Spaceship Earth – 16 minutes, down 10
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 14 minutes, down 7
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 13 minutes, down 7
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 11 minutes, down 1
Overall, guests at EPCOT averaged a wait of 30 minutes per attraction, which is a full ten minutes less than last time.
Notably, no attraction at any of the three parks we’ve discussed increased its average wait time thus far. And only two even maintained their previous average.
Magic Kingdom
So, the crowd behavior here is unmistakable.
We’ll go ahead and drive home the point with the Magic Kingdom wait times, though.
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 72 minutes, down 25
- Jingle Cruise – 70 minutes, down 8
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 65 minutes, down 21
- Haunted Mansion – 46 minutes, down 10
- Space Mountain – 41 minutes, down 33
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 40 minutes, down 16
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 39 minutes, down 11
- Ariel’s Grotto – 37 minutes, down 8
- Town Square Theater – 37 minutes, down 8
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 34 minutes, down 21
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 34 minutes, down 9
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 33 minutes, down 3
- Astro Orbiter – 30 minutes, down 11
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 29 minutes, down 10
- Enchanted Tales with Belle – 28 minutes, down 10
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 24 minutes, down 12
- It’s a Small World – 23 minutes, down 14
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 21 minutes, down 14
- The Barnstormer – 20 minutes, down 15
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 19 minutes, down 10
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 18 minutes, down 12
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 17 minutes, down 2
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 17 minutes, down 5
- Country Bear Jamboree – 16 minutes, no change
- Walt Disney World Railroad – 15 minutes, down 7
- Mad Tea Party – 14 minutes, down 10
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 12 minutes, down 6
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 11 minutes, down 5
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Final Thoughts
Overall, guests waited in line for an average of 28 minutes per Magic Kingdom attraction, which is 13 minutes down from Thanksgiving.
Also, no Walt Disney World attraction increased its wait time, which tells the whole story here.
If you’re ever picking the best time during the holiday season to visit Disney, here’s your answer. It’s the week after Thanksgiving!
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Feature Photo: Disney