Walt Disney World Wait Times for Early May 2025

We’ve officially reached May, which means we’re in the slow (ish) season at Walt Disney World.

That phase will last for about, oh, 20 days. Then, it’s Memorial Day Weekend, and all bets are off. 

Nobody has any idea what’ll happen at Disney this summer, as we’ve got tariffs, the possibility of a recession, and Universal Epic Universe in play.

Any of those things could ostensibly hurt Disney, but it’s just as possible that everyone visits the parks this summer anyway.

Photo: Universal

So, we’re currently in the calm before either the storm or even more calm.

What does it all mean? I have no idea. But here are the Walt Disney World wait times for early May 2025.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

At Animal Kingdom, everything has closed that will do so before the summer.

While I’ll always feel a bit melancholy over the absence of It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, I’m also looking forward to Zootopia: Better Zoogether.

From a wait time perspective, the lack of a high throughput show ostensibly should have increased the size of standby queues for other attractions.

Thus far, none of the data indicates that sort of bump, which speaks to why Disney shut down It’s Tough to Be a Bug!

It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Despite the show’s prime real estate at the park, it simply wasn’t drawing in guests to the level Disney rightfully expected.

Thus, we’re getting a new show. And the same logic sadly applies to DinoLand USA, which I’m on record as saying I won’t miss.

Therefore, the variances I’d expected at the park aren’t statistically significant thus. It’s been the same old same old at Animal Kingdom.

Did that behavior change this past week? Let’s find out. Here are the park’s average wait times:

• Avatar Flight of Passage – 78 minutes, down 6
• Na’vi River Journey – 56 minutes, down 3
• Expedition Everest – 40 minutes, down 2
• Kali River Rapids – 37 minutes, down 13
• Adventurers Outpost – 35 minutes, up 1
• Kilimanjaro Safaris – 35 minutes, down 9
• DINOSAUR – 28 minutes, down 6

Photo: YouTube:MouseSteps / JWL Media

Overall, guests stood in line for an average of 44 minutes per attraction. That’s a drop of five minutes from last time.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Disney

Meanwhile, Hollywood Studios is currently undergoing a change. In exactly one month, Muppet*Vision 3D will close forever at Muppets Courtyard.

That’s partially because Muppets Courtyard will also close forever. Disney will repurpose this land as a Monsters, Inc. area.

So, Disney fans would hope to see a change in behavior as people rush to Muppet*Vision 3D for the last time.

Thus far, that hasn’t happened much. Soon after Disney announced the closure, Muppet*Vision 3D’s wait time increased a fractional amount.

Then, the show dropped right back to its typical spot of a ten-minute wait. Sure enough, that’s what happened this past week as well.

There’s just no empirical evidence that fans are prioritizing the marvelous, historically significant show, even though it’ll close in 30 days.

Photo: ScreenCrush

Now that I’ve gotten the sadness out of the way, here are the average wait times at Hollywood Studios last week:

• Slinky Dog Dash – 69 minutes, down 9
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – 64 minutes, up 2
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – 64 minutes, up 3
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – 52 minutes, up 4
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – 49 minutes, down 1
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run – 46 minutes, down 8
• Toy Story Mania! – 46 minutes, up 2
• Red Carpet Dreams – 36 minutes, down 1
• Celebrity Spotlight – 15 minutes, down 2
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – 13 minutes, no change

Photo: Disney

Overall, this park’s attractions required an average wait of 37 minutes, which is two minutes less than last time.

So, we appear to be trending slightly downward during the historically slow period of early May.

EPCOT

At EPCOT, the big news is that Disney still hasn’t announced the dates for the 2025 version of the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival.

Last year, the Parks Blog revealed the dates on April 23^rd. Since we haven’t heard yet for 2025, I think it’s safe to say the delay is official.

Milled & Mulled spread at EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival

Remember that Food & Wine had been starting earlier in the year. Then, in 2024, Disney pushed back the event until an August start.

Since we haven’t heard anything else, I presume EPCOT will have a gap once the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival ends on June 2^nd.

For the time being, the current festival is delighting guests, though. So, you’ve got another month to enjoy EPCOT’s oldest festival.

Is the event impacting crowds? Let’s find out! Here are EPCOT’s average wait times for the past week.

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – 77 minutes, up 6
• Frozen Ever After – 53 minutes, down 5
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – 53 minutes, down 1
• Soarin’ Around the World – 45 minutes, up 4
• Royal Sommerhus – 41 minutes, up 2
• Meet Mickey & Friends – 23 minutes, up 1
• Living with the Land – 22 minutes, down 3
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 21 minutes, down 3
• Mission: Space – 19 minutes, down 1
• Spaceship Earth – 18 minutes, no change
• Turtle Talk with Crush – 18 minutes, no change
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – 14 minutes, up 2
• Journey into Imagination with Figment – 13 minutes, no change

Photo: Disney

Overall, guests waited for an average of 32 minutes per attraction, just the same as last week.

Obviously, the festival has sustained interest in this park, even as attendance has slipped slightly elsewhere.

Magic Kingdom

Finally, here are Magic Kingdom’s average wait times for the past week:

• Tron Lightcycle / Run – 73 minutes, down 3
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 60 minutes, down 8
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – 59 minutes, down 5
• Space Mountain – 52 minutes, down 1
• Peter Pan’s Flight – 50 minutes, down 3
• Jungle Cruise – 45 minutes, down 2
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 37 minutes, no change
• Haunted Mansion – 36 minutes, down 2
• Princess Fairytale Hall – 36 minutes, down 5
• Ariel’s Grotto – 34 minutes, down 2
• Pete’s Silly Sideshow – 33 minutes, down 1
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 31 minutes, down 5
• Pirates of the Caribbean – 28 minutes, down 1
• Town Square Theater – 28 minutes, up 1
• It’s a Small World – 24 minutes, down 4
• Enchanted Tales with Belle – 23 minutes, down 1
• The Barnstormer – 22 minutes, down 6
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid – 22 minutes, down 4
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant – 21 minutes, down 4
• Tomorrowland Speedway – 21 minutes, up 3
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – 19 minutes, down 4
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 17 minutes, no change
• Mad Tea Party – 14 minutes, down 3
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – 14 minutes, up 2
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – 13 minutes, down 1
• Walt Disney World Railroad – 13 minutes, down 2
• Country Bear Musical Jamboree – 12 minutes, up 2
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – 11 minutes, down 3
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – 5 minutes, no change

Final Thoughts

Overall, Magic Kingdom guests waited for an average of 28 minutes, which is one minute less than last time.

So, the big drop at Animal Kingdom may reflect the fact that it was up a bit lately and simply normalized.

The other three parks either held their own or had a modest decrease week over week. So, the annual May decline wasn’t as severe as usual.

What does this mean for the rest of the month, including the opening of Epic Universe in the neighborhood?

You’ll need to draw your own conclusions there.

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