Walt Disney World Wait Times for Early August 2024
Walt Disney World’s new virtual queuing has been in operation for ten days now.
So, we’ve gotten an early look at how Lightning Lane Multi Pass will impact attraction wait times.
We still have plenty of x-factors with the calculations, not the least of which is a decidedly slow summer for Florida tourism.
We’ll try to figure out what’s what in the Walt Disney World wait times for early August 2024.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom
As a reminder, the previous batch of wait times proved a mixed bag, with the four parks averaging virtually the same line time as the prior week.
At the time, I remarked that it was difficult to distinguish between the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP) system and late-July crowds.
Photo: Disney
One of the local schools in my area returned to school last week, with many across the country starting in early August.
So, the family portion of the summer tourism season has mostly ended.
Photo: Disney
As we push toward September/October, we should gain a fuller understanding of the impact of LLMP.
For now, here are the average wait times for Animal Kingdom attractions:
- Avatar Flight of Passage – 77 minutes, down 12
- Na’vi River Journey – 57 minutes, down 3
- Kali River Rapids – 52 minutes, down 8
- Expedition Everest – 42 minutes, down 3
- DINOSAUR – 37 minutes, up 3
- Adventurers Outpost – 32 minutes, down 8
- Kilimanjaro Safaris – 30 minutes, no change
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug – 10 minutes, no change
- TriceraTop Spin – 8 minutes, no change
(Kent Phillips, photographer)
Obviously, Animal Kingdom fell a bit this week. Specifically, guests waited in line for an average of 39 minutes.
That’s three minutes less than last time and indicative of smaller crowds.
I’m skeptical that LLMP was a major factor in this, but that’s not even my biggest concern.
The 2024 D23 Expo takes place this weekend. Disney is expected to announce the closing date for DinoLand U.S.A. at that point.
We’ll lose three attractions from this list when that happens, which should ripple across the other Animal Kingdom experiences.
Their wait times should go up quite a bit. So, that’s something we’ll track when the time comes.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Slinky Dog Dash
Honestly, not much was going on at Walt Disney World in terms of unique events or draws last week.
Disney introduced the LLMP system at a calm time, which makes the data a bit cleaner to evaluate.
Slink Dog Dash
We should have a good read on what happened at the other three parks this past week.
So, here are the average wait times at Hollywood Studios last week.
- Slinky Dog Dash – 72 minutes, down 8
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 65 minutes, down 10
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 62 minutes, down 8
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 60 minutes, down 1
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 51 minutes, down 3
- Toy Story Mania! – 48 minutes, down 13
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 47 minutes, down 13
- Red Carpet Dreams – 43 minutes, up 3
- Alien Swirling Saucers – 35 minutes, down 3
- Celebrity Spotlight – 18 minutes, up 3
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 17 minutes, down 4
- Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
- Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change
Overall, Hollywood Studios tourists stood in line for an average of 37 minutes, which is six minutes less than last time.
So, I suspect we have a combination of two factors here. On the one hand, the crowds appear smaller overall.
Photo: Disney
However, part of the explanation is likely that the new LLMP system has helped reduce average wait times.
That’s a more significant concern at Hollywood Studios since it’s so top-heavy with its attractions.
EPCOT
Photo: Disney
How were the crowds at EPCOT last week? Well, here are the average wait times.
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 55 minutes, down 3
- Frozen Ever After – 51 minutes, down 3
- Soarin’ Around the World – 34 minutes, down 6
- Mission: SPACE – 31 minutes, up 3
- Royal Sommerhus – 31 minutes, up 1
- Meet Mickey & Friends – 26 minutes, down 6
- Spaceship Earth – 19 minutes, down 1
- Turtle Talk with Crush – 19 minutes, up 1
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 16 minutes, up 1
- Journey into Imagination with Figment – 13 minutes, down 2
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 11 minutes, down 3
- Living with the Land – 11 minutes, down 2
Overall, EPCOT attractions required an average wait of 27 minutes, which is one minute less than last time.
The most important factor with this data is that Ratatouille and Frozen’s wait times have dropped recently.
That’s a good sign that LLMP has helped with crowd control. But I may be reading too much into that. It’s an ongoing evaluation.
Magic Kingdom
Photo: Disney
Finally, we have Magic Kingdom, whose crowds have dipped a bit lately. Here are the park’s average wait times:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 67 minutes, down 3
- Princess Fairytale Hall – 63 minutes, up 16
- Town Square Theater – 58 minutes, up 19
- Space Mountain – 57 minutes, no change
- Jungle Cruise – 42 minutes, down 1
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 39 minutes, down 4
- Haunted Mansion – 38 minutes, down 4
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 36 minutes, down 2
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 34 minutes, down 1
- Astro Orbiter – 33 minutes, no change
- Ariel’s Grotto – 32 minutes, down 3
- Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 32 minutes, down 2
- It’s a Small World – 27 minutes, down 4
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 26 minutes, down 5
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 26 minutes, no change
- Enchanted Tales with Belle – 24 minutes, down 2
- The Barnstormer – 22 minutes, down 1
- Tomorrowland Speedway – 21 minutes, down 3
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 19 minutes, up 2
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree – 18 minutes, up 4
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 18 minutes, no change
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 16 minutes, no change
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 15 minutes, down 1
- Walt Disney World Railroad – 15 minutes, up 4
- Mad Tea Party – 13 minutes, down 1
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 13 minutes, down 3
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 9 minutes, down 2
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change
Final Thoughts
Credit: Disney
Overall, guests at Magic Kingdom stood in line for an average of 26 minutes, which is two minutes less than last time.
The jump-off-the-page takeaways here are the spikes at Princess Fairytale Hall and Town Square Theater.
Photo: Disney
As a reminder, Disney removed character greetings from the new LLMP. So, guests have no other option but the standby queue.
I suspect Disney will address this quickly because those numbers are…jaw-dropping.
Photo: Disney
People shouldn’t be waiting an hour to meet Disney Princesses and Mickey Mouse. That wasn’t the case under the old system.
So, presuming that this data isn’t representative of some hidden factor we wouldn’t know about, it’s a tell-tale sign.
Photo: Disney
Disney has overcorrected with the launch of LLMP, at least when it comes to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios character greetings.
The impact wasn’t as severe at EPCOT, where Royal Sommerhus went up marginally, while Mickey & Friends dropped.
Photo:visitorlando.com
Still, the Magic Kingdom spike is significant enough that Disney should be contemplating quick fixes.
We’ll track that in the upcoming weeks of Disney wait times.
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