Walt Disney World Wait Times for Christmas Week 2024

Yes, Walt Disney World was crowded this past week.

If this news surprises you, you’ve clearly never visited Disney during a major holiday. And Christmas Week is usually the worst.

Magic Kingdom

So, here are Walt Disney World’s wait times for Christmas Week 2024. Spoiler: these are big numbers.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Tree of Life

I won’t belabor the point too much, but Disney theme parks view certain weeks as the busy season.

Among those weeks, nothing else can touch Christmas Week as a rule. This is THE most crowded week of the year.

Photo: Disney

I’m expecting fireworks as we examine the average wait times at Animal Kingdom last week:

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 147 minutes, up 81 (!)
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – 85 minutes, up 44
• Na’vi River Journey – 84 minutes, up 34
• Expedition Everest – 60 minutes, up 29
• DINOSAUR – 54 minutes, up 30
• Adventurers Outpost – 44 minutes, up 15
• Kali River Rapids – 39 minutes, up 30
• TriceraTop Spin – 17 minutes, up 8
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug! – 15 minutes, up 3

Photo: Disney

So, yeah. We could tell after the first attraction that the parks were wildly crowded last week.

Even It’s Tough to Be a Bug! increased by 25 percent. You know the park is crowded when that happens.

Photo: D23

Overall, park attractions averaged a wait of 61 minutes, which is 30 minutes more than last time.

You’re reading that right. Four different attractions averaged an hour-long wait, as did the park overall.

Photo: Facebook/Imagineer Podcast

And if you stood in line that long for Avatar Flight of Passage, I’m so sorry…but I hope you had fun! It’s a great ride.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I no longer fear the Hollywood Studios section of this article, as I had before 2024. But I do this week.

Here are the park’s average wait times for Christmas Week:

• Slinky Dog Dash – 112 minutes, up 43
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 110 minutes, up 48
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 86 minutes, up 29
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 76 minutes, up 29
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 75 minutes, up 37
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 75 minutes, up 35
• Toy Story Mania! – 70 minutes, up 28
• Alien Swirling Saucers – 54 minutes, up 24
• Red Carpet Dreams – 48 minutes, up 11
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! – 37 minutes, up 26
• Celebrity Spotlight – 22 minutes, up 8
• Muppet*Vision 3D – 15 minutes, up 5

Folks, Muppet*Vision 3D hasn’t had more than a ten-minute wait in a calendar year.

The last time it happened was…Christmas Week 2023. That tells the story, even allowing for increased demand due to the show closing soon.

Image: Disney

Overall, Hollywood Studios attractions averaged a wait of 57 minutes, which is up 23 minutes from last time.

Also, we had seven attractions with hour-long waits, which hadn’t happened here for a while.

EPCOT

Photo: Disney

You get the idea by now, so I won’t belabor the point. The condensed holiday calendar led to this odd behavior.

The Pre-Christmas crowds were perfectly manageable and even surprisingly low in some instances.

During Christmas Week, well, it was crowded. Here are EPCOT’s average wait times for the past seven days:

• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 91 minutes, up 38
• Frozen Ever After – 85 minutes, up 33
• Soarin’ Around the World – 68 minutes, up 32
• Mission: SPACE – 44 minutes, up 24
• Royal Sommerhus – 42 minutes, up 10
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 41 minutes, up 25 minutes
• Meet Mickey & Friends – 36 minutes, up 14
• Spaceship Earth – 36 minutes, up 19
• Journey into Imagination with Figment – 24 minutes, up 12
• Living with the Land – 24 minutes, up 3
• Turtle Talk with Crush – 22 minutes, up 4
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 21 minutes, up 9

Gran Fiesta Tour

Overall, the average EPCOT attraction required a wait of 43 minutes, which is 18 minutes more than last time.

So, those of you who hung out at EPCOT were probably happier than most other Christmas Week vacationers.

Magic Kingdom

Finally, here are Magic Kingdom’s average wait times:

• Tron Lightcycle / Run – 144 minutes, up 25
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 85 minutes, up 25
• Space Mountain – 77 minutes, up 32
• Peter Pan’s Flight – 70 minutes, up 20
• Jingle Cruise – 65 minutes, up 15
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 57 minutes, up 18
• Haunted Mansion – 53 minutes, up 16
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 50 minutes, up 19
• Princess Fairytale Hall – 49 minutes, up 17
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 45 minutes, up 12
• Pirates of the Caribbean – 42 minutes, up 17
• Astro Orbiter – 41 minutes, up 13
• It’s a Small World – 41 minutes, up 17
• Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 41 minutes, up 10
• Ariel’s Grotto – 40 minutes, up 11
• Town Square Theater – 39 minutes, up 9
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 39 minutes, up 19
• The Barnstormer – 37 minutes, up 17
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 37 minutes, up 19
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 36 minutes, up 14
• Enchanted Tales with Belle – 33 minutes, up 14
• Tomorrowland Speedway – 33 minutes, up 16
• Walt Disney World Railroad – 29 minutes, up 16
• Mad Tea Party – 27 minutes, up 12
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 20 minutes, up 2
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 18 minutes, up 4
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 18 minutes, up 5
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 17 minutes, up 5
• Country Bear Musical Jamboree – 15 minutes, no change
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change

Final Thoughts

Magic Kingdom

Overall, guests stood in line for an average of 36 minutes for each Magic Kingdom attraction. That’s 11 minutes more than last time.

You’ll love every second of spending the holidays at Disney because the magic is everywhere.

Jollywood Nights

These crowds are the price you’ll pay for that magic.

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Feature Photo: DIsney