Walt Disney World Wait Times for End of January 2024

Believe it or not, we’re already one-twelfth of the way through 2024!

I know it seems like the year just started, but Disney fans are already relishing the 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts.

In four weeks, the 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival will begin.

Photo: Disney

For that matter, 2024 Disney After Hours and Moonlight Magic events have started as well. So, we’re not messing around here!

There’s no such thing as an off-season for Disney theme parks now. But how does that impact the crowds?

Here are the average Walt Disney World wait times for the final week of January 2024.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

While I don’t know yet whether the wait times reflect it, we are entering the lull at Walt Disney World.

As I just said, the “off-season” concept is archaic now. Disney’s introduction of a January EPCOT festival eliminated it.

Still, some parts of the annual calendar remain slower than others.

Once the Festival of the Arts begins, Disney typically experiences a surge followed by a flattening in attendance.

How did that play out at the end of January? Let’s check!

Here are Animal Kingdom’s average wait times last week:

Photo: Disney

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 101 minutes, down 5
• Na’vi River Journey – 82 minutes, up 8
• Adventures Outpost – 56 minutes, up 7
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – 55 minutes, up 9
• Expedition Everest – 42 minutes, down 2
• DINOSAUR – 38 minutes, up 7
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 15 minutes, no change
• TriceraTop Spin – 12 minutes, no change

Overall, the average Animal Kingdom attraction required a wait of 50 minutes, which is three minutes or six percent more than last time.

Let’s see whether this trend holds at Walt Disney World’s other three parks.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Image Credit: Disney

Overall, average wait times at Hollywood Studios should remain a bit inflated for the next few months.

The always-hectic park is down an attraction for the time being.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will stay offline for several months.

Photo: Disney

This reality should cause an inverse halo effect on the other attractions, making their waits longer.

Is that how the week played out? Here are the average wait times at Hollywood Studios last week:

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

• Slinky Dog Dash – 114 minutes, up 11
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 99 minutes, up 9
• The Twilight Zone of Terror – 73 minutes, up 6
• Toy Story Mania! – 72 minutes, up 4
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 70 minutes, up 7
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 70 minutes, down 1
• Red Carpet Dreams – 47 minutes, up 6
• Alien Swirling Saucers – 43 minutes, up 3
• Celebrity Spotlight – 27 minutes, up 4
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 23 minutes, up 7
• Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
• Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change

Overall, the average wait time for Hollywood Studios attractions increased by five minutes, with guests waiting 50 minutes each time.

You should expect that trend to hold through April, as this park cannot afford to be down an E-ticket attraction.

EPCOT

Photo: Disney

Stating the obvious, EPCOT always claims larger crowds when hosting a festival.

Of course, that’s also the status quo these days. EPCOT operated festivals on 258 dates last year.

So, the park offered a festival 70 percent of the time last year. It’s usually festival season at EPCOT.

(Matt Stroshane, photographer)

Still, these events do drive attendance and maintain higher average wait times.

Keeping that in mind, here are EPCOT’s average waits for the past week:

• Frozen Ever After – 89 minutes, up 10
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 82 minutes, up 4
• Test Track – 69 minutes, up 2
• Soarin’ Around the World – 55 minutes, up 4
• Royal Sommerhus – 46 minutes, up 7
• Spaceship Earth – 24 minutes, up 5
• Mission: SPACE – 23 minutes, no change
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 19 minutes, up 3
• Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, no change
• Journey into Imagination with Figment – 17 minutes, up 2
• Living with the Land – 15 minutes, no change
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 14 minutes, up 2

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Overall, EPCOT guests waited in line for an average of 38 minutes, which is two minutes more than last time.

As you can see, the Festival of the Arts has done an amazing job attracting guests to EPCOT during the slow season.

Magic Kingdom

Credit: Disney

Finally, we have the average wait times at Magic Kingdom:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 95 minutes, no change
• Peter Pan’s Flight – 73 minutes, up 1
• Jungle Cruise – 66 minutes, up 7
• Space Mountain – 61 minutes, down 4
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 55 minutes, up 9
• Haunted Mansion – 55 minutes, up 5
• Princess Fairytale Hall – 47 minutes, up 6
• Ariel’s Grotto – 46 minutes, up 6
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 46 minutes, up 3
• Town Square Theater – 46 minutes, up 7
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 45 minutes, up 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean – 43 minutes, up 8
• Astro Orbiter – 38 minutes, up 1
• Enchanted Tales with Belle – 38 minutes, up 6
• Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 37 minutes, up 3
• It’s a Small World – 34 minutes, up 6
• Country Bear Jamboree – 32 minutes, up 14
• The Barnstormer – 30 minutes, no change
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 30 minutes, up 3
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 29 minutes, up 2
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 28 minutes, up 3
• Tomorrowland Speedway – 25 minutes, up 3
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 21 minutes, up 2
• Mad Tea Party – 19 minutes, up 3
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 18 minutes, no change
• Walt Disney World Railroad – 16 minutes, down 1
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 16 minutes, up 4
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 14 minutes, down 1
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change

Final Thoughts

Country Bear Jamboree in Magic Kingdom

Okay, there’s one number there that probably jumped off the page.

Yes, Country Bear Jamboree nearly doubled its wait time.

If you were keeping up with MickeyBlog last week – and shame on you if you weren’t! – you know why.

Long Lines at Country Bear Jamboree in Magic Kingdom

Disney has closed the attraction to re-theme it with different music.

Audiences rushed to catch the final performances of the opening day park attraction from 1971.

This increased attention at Magic Kingdom likely increased overall park attendance.

The average wait for a Magic Kingdom attraction was 35 minutes, five minutes or 17 percent more than last time.

Will the absence of the high-volume but typically lowly-attended show lead to increased waits elsewhere?

We’ll find out in the coming weeks!

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