Walt Disney World Wait Times for Early May 2024
Early last week, MickeyBlog reported that Disney Genie+ had hit its lowest levels of 2024 to date.
The general rule is that Disney knows, at least generally speaking, how large its crowds will be during a given week.
The Disney Genie+ prices hint at how long you’ll wait at various attractions during your park visit.
As such, I expect the Walt Disney World wait times for early May 2024 to be quite reasonable. But were they? Let’s find out!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
While Earth Day wasn’t last week, Animal Kingdom generally enjoys renewed interest during late April and early May.
Of course, since Walt Disney World is still in the slow season overall.
Typically, the upswing at Animal Kingdom is hidden by the overall downturn in Orlando at this time of year.
Was that the case last week? Here are Animal Kingdom’s average wait times:
- Avatar Flight of Passage – 92 minutes, down 2
- Na’vi River Journey – 55 minutes, down 11
- Adventurers Outpost – 50 minutes, down 5
- Expedition Everest – 45 minutes, down 1
- Kali River Rapids – 38 minutes, up 2
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 34 minutes, down 12
- DINOSAUR – 23 minutes, down 4
- 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 39 minutes, which is five minutes or 11 percent less than last time.
That’s right in line with what I’d expect, and it’s also a match with Disney Genie+ pricing this week.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Now, we get to the most nuanced story of the week.
In case you missed the updates – and shame on you if you did! – Hollywood Studios celebrated its 35th anniversary this week.
Also, Saturday was May the 4th, causing a metric ton of Star Wars fans to flock to the park.
So, we have a couple of reasons why attendance might be up at Hollywood Studios even though Walt Disney World was on the slower side.
Is that what happened? Here are the park’s average wait times:
- Slinky Dog Dash – 81 minutes, down 16
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 81 minutes, up 1
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 62 minutes, up 2
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 61 minutes, down 3
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 52 minutes, down 10
- Toy Story Mania! – 48 minutes, down 7
- Red Carpet Dreams – 40 minutes, down 3
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 36 minutes, down 6
- Celebrity Spotlight – 19 minutes, down 5
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 16 minutes, down 1
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, down 2
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, guests waited for an average of 40 minutes per attraction, which is three minutes or 7 percent less than last time.
In other words, any effects of the anniversary and Star Wars Day were drowned out by the overall lack of Disney tourists this week.
EPCOT
There wasn’t much happening at EPCOT this week, as CommuniCore Hall & Plaza won’t open for another month.
As I mentioned last time, the Walt Disney World summer crowds usually don’t start until the week before Memorial Day.
That’s why we’re in a lull right now, and it’s also why my pro tip to you is to visit Disney at this time of year if you care.
Here are EPCOT’s wait times for the past week:
- Frozen Ever After – 74 minutes, down 6
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 68 minutes, down 7
- Test Track – 63 minutes, down 6
- Mission: SPACE – 45 minutes, down 6
- Soarin’ Around the World – 43 minutes, down 9
- Royal Sommerhus – 38 minutes, down 1
- Spaceship Earth – 18 minutes, down 3
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 18 minutes, no change
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 14 minutes, down 5
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 14 minutes, down 6
- Living with the Land – 13 minutes, down 1
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 12 minutes, down 3
Overall, EPCOT guests stood in line for an average of 35 minutes per attraction, which is five minutes or 13 percent less than last time.
Magic Kingdom
As is often the case, we have a good idea of how the parks worked last week even before we get to the most popular one.
Here were Magic Kingdom’s average wait times last week:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 68 minutes, down 6
- Peter Pan’s Flight – 59 minutes, down 8
- Jungle Cruise – 55 minutes, down 4
- Space Mountain – 52 minutes, down 1
- Ariel’s Grotto – 40 minutes, down 2
- Town Square Theater – 40 minutes, down 6
- Haunted Mansion – 39 minutes, down 5
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 37 minutes, down 5
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 34 minutes, down 6
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 33 minutes, down 5
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 33 minutes, down 3
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 31 minutes, down 7
- Astro Orbiter – 27 minutes, down 8
- Enchanted Tales with Belle – 27 minutes, down 4
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 25 minutes, down 9
- It’s a Small World – 23 minutes, down 8
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 22 minutes, down 8
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 18 minutes, no change
- The Barnstormer – 17 minutes, down 9
- Walt Disney World Railroad – 17 minutes, up 4
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 16 minutes, down 11
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 16 minutes, up 3
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 15 minutes, down 8
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 14 minutes, down 6
- Mad Tea Party – 13 minutes, down 6
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 11 minutes, down 3
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 10 minutes, down 5
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Final Thoughts
Overall, Magic Kingdom attractions averaged a wait of 26 minutes, which is 4 minutes or 13 percent less than last time.
Across the parks, wait times appear to be down 11 percent week-over-week.
That happened despite the May the 4th crowds, which were comically large.
So, this was an ideal time to visit Walt Disney World…unless you were at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on Saturday, May the 4th.
If you were, you were Lightsaber to Lightsaber with thousands of your closest fellow fans.
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