Walt Disney World Wait Times for Third Week of October 2024

There’s not much to be said about this week’s wait times.

Barring a shocking turn of events, these numbers are going to be up…and I mean waaaaaay up!

Cinderella Castle

In case you’ve forgotten, the prior week of data reflected the chaos of Hurricane Milton.

Three different Walt Disney World theme parks averaged wait times of 20 minutes or less, including two of the lowest totals I’ve ever tracked.

Disney World in a storm

Now that normalcy has returned, that shouldn’t happen again.

So, let’s talk about Walt Disney World’s wait times for the third week of October 2024, the post-Milton data.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

I presume that you’ve heard the news by now. Management briefly delayed the closure of some DinoLand USA experiences.

Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, Fossil Fun Games, and TriceraTop Spin will close permanently after January 12^th, 2025.

Triceratop Spin

So, nothing at the parks will shut down in 2024, which is what I expected Disney to do.

Frankly, shutting down any attractions at this park before the holiday season would have been a questionable move.

DINOSAUR

Disney enters its busy season during Halloween Week and needs all its attractions up and running.

Still, this park will change dramatically when I write these recaps in three months.

Expedition Everest

With three fewer experiences available, crowds at other attractions should increase.

So, here are Animal Kingdom’s average wait times last week:

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 67 minutes, up 26
• Na’vi River Journey – 51 minutes, up 14
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – 43 minutes, up 22
• Adventurers Outpost – 33 minutes, up 9
• Expedition Everest – 33 minutes, up 16
• DINOSAUR – 27 minutes, up 17
• Kali River Rapids – 19 minutes, up 10
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 10 minutes, no change
• TriceraTop Spin – 5 minutes, no change

Lightning Lane

Okay, that’s about what I’d expected. All the rides that will still exist next February increased their wait times.

That led to an overall average wait of 32 minutes per attraction, which is 13 minutes more than last time.

Avatar — Flight of Passage

You can expect a lot more of that with the other three parks.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Something has changed at Hollywood Studios this week.

For the first time in five years, we won’t discuss Lightning McQueen’s wait time…because it no longer exists.

Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy

Disney closed the attraction this week, but things didn’t quite go according to plan.

Management had hoped for Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure to debut this fall, to create a kind of one-for-one substitution of shows.

“The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure’ Construction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Now that Disney has delayed that attraction, the park will change its behavior a bit for the next nine months.

Then, next summer, the Villains show and the return of the Little Mermaid with a new show should help alleviate some of the wait time woes.

Photo: Disney

Until then, here are the park’s average line times for the past week:

• Slinky Dog Dash – 78 minutes, up 16
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 75 minutes, up 26
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith — 58 minutes, up 15
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 52 minutes, up 13
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 52 minutes, up 19
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 51 minutes, up 15
• Toy Story Mania! – 48 minutes, up 12
• Red Carpet Dreams – 37 minutes, up 8
• Alien Swirling Saucers – 35 minutes, up 10
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 16 minutes, up 9
• Celebrity Spotlight – 14 minutes, up 4
• Muppet*Vision 3D – 10 minutes, no change

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Overall, the average Hollywood Studios attraction came with a wait of 37 minutes, which is ten minutes more than last time.

EPCOT

Other than the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, there isn’t much new happening here.

EPCOT is the one stable park at Walt Disney World at the moment. In June, it finished its changes for the short term.

Spaceship Earth in EPCOT

Park behavior still differs with Test Track offline, but it’s otherwise business as usual.

Here are EPCOT’s average wait times last week:

• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 64 minutes, up 17
• Frozen Ever After – 55 minutes, up 14
• Soarin’ Around the World – 44 minutes, up 19
• Royal Sommerhus – 37 minutes, up 6
• Meet Mickey & Friends – 23 minutes, up 7
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 22 minutes, up 12
• Spaceship Earth – 17 minutes, up 9
• Mission: SPACE – 15 minutes, up 5
• Living with the Land – 14 minutes, up 7
• Journey into Imagination with Figment – 13 minutes, up 8
• Turtle Talk with Crush – 13 minutes, up 1
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 10 minutes, up 5

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

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

Magic Kingdom

We’ve got a change to mention at Magic Kingdom, too. On January 6^th, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will close for a year.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

So, that will have a significant impact as well. But for now, here are the park’s average wait times:

• Tron Lightcycle / Run – 98 minutes, up 9
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 58 minutes, up 5
• Peter Pan’s Flight – 45 minutes, up 4
• Jungle Cruise – 44 minutes, n/a
• Haunted Mansion – 41 minutes, up 10
• Space Mountain – 41 minutes, up 9
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 36 minutes, up 8
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 29 minutes, up 4
• Ariel’s Grotto – 28 minutes, up 3
• Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 28 minutes, up 6
• Princess Fairytale Hall – 28 minutes, no change
• Town Square Theater – 27 minutes, up 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean – 26 minutes, up 5
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 25 minutes, up 4
• Astro Orbiter – 24 minutes, up 4
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 21 minutes, up 5
• It’s a Small World – 20 minutes, up 4
• Enchanted Tales with Belle – 19 minutes, up 2
• The Barnstormer – 18 minutes, up 3
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 18 minutes, up 3
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 15 minutes, up 4
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 12 minutes, no change
• Tomorrowland Speedway – 12 minutes, up 1
• Mad Tea Party – 11 minutes, up 2
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 10 minutes, no change
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 9 minutes, up 4
• Walt Disney World Railroad – 9 minutes, no change
• Country Bear Musical Jamboree – 8 minutes, down 3
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 8 minutes, up 3
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change

Final Thoughts

Overall, guests at Magic Kingdom stood in line for an average of 25 minutes, which is five minutes more than last time.

Folks, I am prepared to acknowledge that Hurricane Milton may have impacted attraction wait times last week.

Magic Kingdom

Okay, I’m being silly. All four parks were up considerably, and every major attraction either stayed the same or increased its average wait.

Some attractions required substantially longer line time than during the hurricane week, which is to be expected.

Photo: Disney

Still, the aggressive nature of this correction stands out on a spreadsheet.

This was actually a more crowded week than we’ve typically seen in mid-October recently, which is good news for Disney.

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