A Wall Street Journal article titled “Disney Parks’ Ride Stoppages and Wait Times Grow as Ticket Prices Rise” collects downtime data from various third-party wait time trackers to show that attraction downtimes are on the rise at Disney theme parks. The data comes to the conclusion that average monthly ride stoppages increased by an astonishing 58% at Disneyland (2018-2022) and 42% at Walt Disney World (2018-2022). The article used websites like thrill-data.com and wdwstats.com, which collect posted wait times from the Disney World and Disneyland mobile apps and APIs. Disney didn’t agree with the analysis.
According to the article, a Disney spokesperson challenged the stats and said that “Disney’s ride reliability remains strong”. They went on to say that ride reliability “remains consistent with prior years” by citing internal metrics that were not released to the WSJ. Here’s the quote:
“Our source data shows that Disney’s ride reliability remains strong and is consistent with prior years”
Disney blamed stoppages on poor weather, maintenance needs, and guest interactions with attractions such as dropped phones or guests who need assistance exiting a ride.
Beyond ride reliability, the article says that wait times are up at the theme parks. Data from thrill-data.com shows that the average wait time in 2022 across all Disney World attractions is 40 minutes. This is 1 minute more, on average, than in 2019.
Recently, a 7-hour posted wait time at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance created a buzz on social media. Disney blamed the wait on a “sign glitch”, according to the WSJ, and said that the posted wait time was twice as high as it should’ve been.
As Disney continues to offer ways for guests to spend more to ride attractions at the theme parks such as Individual Lightning Lane, Disney Genie+, and the return of After Hours events, it’s critical that ride reliability is actually as strong as Disney claims.
What has your experience been with ride reliability at Disney World? Let us know in the comments below or on social media!
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!