Walt Disney World Wait Times for the Third Week of August 2024

Disney has operated the new Lightning Lane system for roughly four weeks now.

So, we’ve gotten a glimpse of what the future holds at Disney parks.

The short answer is that Disney has streamlined the system to adapt to the changing needs of its loyal fans.

The longer answer is that we still don’t quite know what’s happening because Florida tourism has dropped.

Photo: Disney

Everyone else can check the weather forecast on their phone, just the same as you.

Thus, we’ve still got some mixed signals about what’s happening.

Lightning Lane

We’ll try to clarify a bit more with Walt Disney World’s wait times for the third week of August 2024.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We learned at the 2024 D23 Expo that construction at Animal Kingdom will begin in earnest this fall.

Obviously, as we’ve reported since early this year, that process has been well underway behind the scenes.

The difference is that it’s about to become overt as the construction walls go up around DinoLand U.S.A.

Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro indicated that fans will still have time to enjoy DINOSAUR for a while.

Photo: Disney

The Tropical Americas will open at some point in 2027. However, we don’t know when any of the current attractions will close.

So, enjoy the ones I’m about to discuss while you can! Anyway, here are Animal Kingdom’s wait times for this past week.

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 85 minutes, down 1
• Na’vi River Journey – 63 minutes, no change
• Kali River Rapids –53 minutes, down 8
• Expedition Everest – 45 minutes, down 9
• DINOSAUR – 37 minutes, up 4
• Adventurers Outpost – 36 minutes, up 2
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – 35 minutes, down 7
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, no change
• TriceraTop Spin – 8 minutes, down 2

Overall, Animal Kingdom guests waited for an average of 41 minutes per attraction, which is two minutes less than last time.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Photo: TheCoasterKings.com

We were already keeping careful watch over Hollywood Studios due to the Lightning Lane changes.

Anecdotally, the new system has quelled the chaos here, with people expressing vastly more park satisfaction lately.

Hollywood Studios

You’re no longer left to fend for yourself during the morning of your visit. Instead, you can book Lightning Lanes ahead of time.

Thus, fans can craft schedules at Hollywood Studios, something that helps mightily at this particular park.

Photo: Disney

Alas, Disney just tossed in a chaos grenade regarding Monstropolis, which may take over part of Animation Courtyard.

The other hot rumor is that Disney could use Muppets Courtyard instead.

Thankfully, recent signals suggest Disney has done the math here and realized that’s a bad idea.

Still, we don’t know for sure what will happen at Hollywood Studios over the next few years. So, enjoy the Muppets now just in case!

Anyway, here are the park’s average wait times.

• Slinky Dog Dash – 72 minutes, down 16
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 64 minutes, down 3
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 64 minutes, down 1
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers – 58 minutes, down 9
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 53 minutes, up 1
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 53 minutes, down 6
• Toy Story Mania! – 50 minutes, down 1
• Red Carpet Dreams – 38 minutes, down 1
• Alien Swirling Saucers – 32 minutes, down 5
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 18 minutes, down 4
• Celebrity Spotlight – 16 minutes, up 2
• Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – 15 minutes, no change
• Muppet*Vision 3D — 10 minutes, no change

Overall, Hollywood Studios visitors stood in line for an average of 39 minutes per attraction, which is three minutes less than last time.

Anytime this part is under 40 minutes, guests are in good shape. So, the new changes appear to be helping here.

Star Tours

Again, we don’t know how much of this is due to lesser park attendance, though. It’s the x-factor in all these discussions.

EPCOT

Honestly, there isn’t much going on at EPCOT right now.

The park has settled into a routine and should remain that way until Test Track 3.0 opens next year.

Test Track closed

At the moment, the biggest news is that the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is opening on August 29^th.

So, we’re in the calm before the storm right now. Here are EPCOT’s average wait times.

• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 58 minutes, down 5
• Frozen Ever After – 53 minutes, down 1
• Soarin’ Around the World – 37 minutes, down 11
• Royal Sommerhus – 34 minutes, up 2
• Meet Mickey & Friends – 28 minutes, no change
• Mission: SPACE – 21 minutes, down 6
• Spaceship Earth – 19 minutes, down 5
• Turtle Talk with Crush – 18 minutes, no change
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 17 minutes, down 3
• Living with the Land – 15 minutes, no change
• Journey into Imagination with Figment – 14 minutes, down 2
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 11 minutes, down 3

Photo: Disney

Overall, EPCOT attractions averaged a wait of 27 minutes, which is three minutes less than last time.

So, we appear to be slightly down across the board at Walt Disney World, which is to be expected.

Remember that we are in late August now. School has started, which typically impacts the crowds.

That’s precisely why Disney hosts events like Food & Wine and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party to boost attendance.

Magic Kingdom

Photo: Disney

Okay, we’ve had some intriguing data so far this week. Let’s cap it off with Magic Kingdom’s average wait times:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 61 minutes, down 7
• Space Mountain – 47 minutes, down 10
• Peter Pan’s Flight – 44 minutes, n/a
• Jungle Cruise – 43 minutes, down 3
• Princess Fairytale Hall – 40 minutes, down 6
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 38 minutes, down 4
• Haunted Mansion – 37 minutes, down 3
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 37 minutes, down 3
• Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 33 minutes, down 1
• Astro Orbiter – 32 minutes, down 1
• Town Square Theater – 32 minutes, down 9
• Ariel’s Grotto – 31 minutes, down 1
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 31 minutes, down 4
• Pirates of the Caribbean – 27 minutes, down 1
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 24 minutes, down 3
• It’s a Small World – 23 minutes, down 3
• Tomorrowland Speedway – 23 minutes, down 3
• Enchanted Tales with Belle – 22 minutes, down 2
• The Barnstormer – 20 minutes, down 3
• Country Bear Musical Jamboree – 18 minutes, no change
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 18 minutes, no change
• Walt Disney World Railroad – 17 minutes, no change
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 15 minutes, down 6
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 15 minutes, down 3
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 14 minutes, down 3
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 13 minutes, down 1
• Mad Tea Party – 12 minutes, down 3
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 10 minutes, down 3
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change

Final Thoughts

Overall, happy Magic Kingdom guests stood in line for just 24 minutes per attraction, which is three minutes less than last time.

That’s also one of the lowest average wait times since the start of the pandemic. So, if you were at Disney last week, you won!

Will this trend continue in future weeks? We’ll wait and see, but Disney executives have hinted that it might.

Also, we should remember that the new Lightning Lane system deserves some credit for this behavior.

DIsney

While we don’t know exactly how much of the wait time drops are due to the modified Lightning Lane system, it definitely appears to be helping.

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