It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for low waits, at least). Walt Disney World just experienced the lowest average attraction wait times for the entire year this week as school is back in session. Not only was this week the slowest of 2021, but in many cases, you’d have to go back to when the parks reopened after the COVID-19 shut down last summer to find wait times as low as what the parks experienced.
Of course, wait times don’t always correlate to “feels crowded” indicators, but with most attractions and offerings now operating at pre-COVID capacity levels for the past few months, it’s safe to say that there hasn’t been a better time to visit in 2021.
While we think it would be incorrect to say that the rise of COVID-19 cases in Florida has had no impact on travel, Disney CEO Bob Chapek is not concerned that the Delta variant will have a tangible impact on their theme park business. So, while we believe that a lot of the drop in crowds is due to school being back in session, wait times are still lower than what we’d expect at this time of year. There are more variables in play that we won’t dive into too much like seasonal discounts that normally draw crowds in, but suffice it to say that there are lower than expected wait times pretty much across the board at Walt Disney World right now. Let’s take a look at the data from thrill-data.com. Data is through Sunday afternoon, and will likely get slightly lower before the theme parks close. Note that these are posted wait times, which are generally higher than actual wait times.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom averaged a 21-minute wait across all of its attractions this week, a mark that hasn’t been hit since early September 2020. The top three attractions by average wait this week were Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (54 minutes), Jungle Cruise (46 minutes), and Splash Mountain (43 minutes).
Here’s a look at Magic Kingdom weekly averages dating back to July 2020 when the theme parks reopened following COVID-19 shutdowns.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney’s Hollywood Studios averaged a 27-minute wait across all of its attractions this week, a mark that hasn’t been hit since early September 2020. The top three attractions by average wait this week were Slinky Dog Dash (59 minutes), Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (47 minutes), and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (42 minutes).
Here’s a look at Disney’s Hollywood Studios weekly averages dating back to July 2020 when the theme parks reopened following COVID-19 shutdowns.
EPCOT
EPCOT averaged a 14-minute wait across all of its attractions this week, a mark that hasn’t been hit since late July 2020. The top three attractions by average wait this week were Test Track (38 minutes), Frozen Ever After (30 minutes), and Soarin Around the World (14 minutes).
Here’s a look at EPCOT weekly averages dating back to July 2020 when the theme parks reopened following COVID-19 shutdowns.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney’s Animal Kingdom averaged a 17-minute wait across all of its attractions this week, a mark that hasn’t been hit since early September 2020. The top three attractions by average wait this week were Flight of Passage (38 minutes), Na’vi River Journey (31 minutes), and Kali River Rapids (18 minutes).
Here’s a look at Disney’s Animal Kingdom weekly averages dating back to July 2020 when the theme parks reopened following COVID-19 shutdowns.
Predictions
We expect that next week will also be a low wait time week ahead of a bump from Labor Day Weekend, which takes place September 4-6. The Disney Park Pass reservation system has turned into a mere inconvenience instead of a roadblock as all dates are pretty much open for the rest of 2021 with a few expectations for holidays and special events. The days of being forced into a starting theme park that you don’t want to visit seem to be over, and while park hopping restrictions remain in place, there really isn’t any difficulty getting into a Disney World theme park right now.
Looking past Labor Day, we expect to see a slow build of crowds up to Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary on October 1, 2021. Not only do guests likely want to be in a Disney World theme park that day, but there are also a few new offerings debuting on October 1st like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Disney Enchantment, to name a couple.
While we think that this dip in wait times aligns with normal trends, we also think that a combination of increased face mask rules has kept some guests away, while an increase in COVID-19 cases and prevalence of the Delta variant have kept others away. Whatever the case, it’s clear that guests have experienced some short wait times this week.
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!
i suspect its got a lot to do with the thousands of UK tourists that have booked to come but are being stopped due to us borders not being open for uk families.
Disney world it’s a nice place to visit
I keep saying this but well here I go again. This is the time of year that UK visitors flock to Disney and I mean thousands. Schools here do not go back until September. Does this not account in some ways for the reduced visitor numbers.