With a few “at capacity” days behind us as Spring Break crowds ramp up, we wanted to complete an early analysis of wait times to see how crowd levels are stacking up. For a more in-depth look at capacity and attendance, be sure to check out our earlier post:
In this article, we aim to compare the past few days of Spring Break “capacity” to other days when the theme parks hit capacity in the past few months. Most notably, we’ll be using dates from November and December 2020, making sure that we compare the same days of the week. Data courtesy of thrill-data.com.
Sold Out Fridays
Comparing Friday, March 12, 2021 to Friday, November 27th. Both days were listed as being at capacity, and both days have a maximum capacity of 35%.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom appears to show a very similar wait time trend, with only a 4% increase in wait times over Spring Break vs Thanksgiving.
EPCOT
We start to notice a very significant difference in wait times when we head over to EPCOT. Remember, both days are listed as being sold out and both days have the same maximum capacity. That said, wait times were a whopping 54% higher in November than they were just a few days ago as Spring Break kicked off.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we saw a busier Spring Break Friday to the tune of 25% higher wait times. This was on top of considerably longer operating hours too.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we saw a 20% higher average wait back in Thanksgiving over Spring Break.
Sold Out Saturdays
Comparing Saturday, March 13, 2021 to Saturday, December 12, 2020. Both days were listed as being at capacity, and both days have a maximum capacity of 35%.
Magic Kingdom
As you can see below, the wait time trends are very close and end up being within 6% of each other. Magic Kingdom previously had a 4% spread on competing Fridays, so it looks to be fairly stable and consistent with previous “at capacity” days so far.
EPCOT
Just like on sold out Fridays, a sold out Saturday during Spring Break produced significantly lower waits. When compared with December 12, 2020, guests waited 25% less this past Saturday.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Whereas Friday saw a 25% spread, our Saturdays fall within about 4% of each other, perhaps due to a longer operating day for Spring Break.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Whereas Fridays produced 20% longer waits during the non-Spring Break time, the Saturdays almost fall within an insignificant range, but there were 6% shorter waits during the first Spring Break weekend.
Sold Out Sundays
Comparing Sunday, March 14, 2021 to Sunday, December 13, 2020. Both days were listed as being at capacity, and both days have a maximum capacity of 35%.
Magic Kingdom
We start our Sunday stats with a less than 3% change in wait times at Magic Kingdom in favor of Spring Break having a slightly larger average wait time.
EPCOT
For EPCOT, wait times were about 13% higher back in mid-December when compared to this past weekend of Spring Break crowds.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We’ve finally stumbled upon the closest average wait time yet for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The difference here is just 2% higher during Spring Break, but with shorter operating hours.
Animal Kingdom
Over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom we see that wait times were nearly 10% higher back in the mid-December sold out date compared to yesterday.
Takeaways
With Disney making some slight operational changes at their attractions that are meant to reduce wait times such as adding plexiglass, a comparison of wait times isn’t a pure comparison of crowds, but it is very close.
At this point, our early analysis of wait times combined with our on-the-ground experiences points to Spring Break not turning into some out of control wave of crowds. It appears that Disney is, at least at this point, keeping their capacity of 35% in place. Of course, the company said as much during their recent investors call, but the data seems to support it.
Let’s Discuss Disney World Theme Park Capacity
Also, it’s worth noting that Park Hopping wasn’t allowed in any of our older comparison dates, but doesn’t seem to have a significant impact on wait times or crowds.
So far, Spring Break is reminding us a bit of Labor Day last September. No, you won’t find the crowd levels nearly as low as they were in September, but you do find the Disney Park Pass system working as intended.
Disney built this Disney Park Pass reservation system to ensure that they have a set limit on attendance of their theme parks, and it’s during these high demand times that it shows it’s usefulness. Of course, it’s not without its flaws – even disadvantaging Annual Passholders who opt to stay on-site for their Walt Disney World vacation.
That said, the Disney Park Pass reservation system is working as intended so far this Spring Break season, and is poised to stick around in the future – even when COVID-19 is behind us.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!