With January in the books, we thought it might be useful to take a look back at average wait times across Walt Disney World and compare them to last year. Early rumblings are that wait times could be even lower this year as travel continues to moderate. We’ll likely see bumps in year-over-year wait times when Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens, but there really isn’t a lot on the books to drive visitation this year. With so many projects in a “Blue Sky” phase or with uncommitted timeframes, it’s hard for families to book a vacation to see anything “new” at Walt Disney World this year (or for 2025 and beyond). With that said, let’s take a look at how January 2024 compares to 2023!
2024 January Average Wait Times Down Slightly vs 2023
The bottom line is that average wait times in January 2024 were down ever so slightly over 2023. In terms of raw numbers, data from thrill-data shows that the January 2024 average wait time was 40 minutes vs the 2023 average wait time of 42 minutes. That is a drop of almost 5%, year over year.
The range of average posted wait times was from 23 minutes to 60 minutes in 2024, compared to 30 minutes to 65 minutes in 2023. We had some exceptionally poor weather early in January that likely contributed to that low of 23 minutes when locals and vacationers alike tried to stay indoors. Average daily temperatures were also cooler in 2024 vs 2023, which could have affected local visitation on some of the colder days.
In terms of daily average wait time data, here’s a look at 2023 vs 2024.
We can see an earlier, and more extreme drop off of average wait times at the beginning of the month, primarily thanks to poor weather. Wait times would also take longer to rebound, but the second half of the month did show some stronger days in terms of average daily wait times.
February 2024 Wait Time Predictions
Looking forward to the month ahead, we can predict wait time ebbs and flows by looking back at 2023 data. The big time to circle on your calendar to avoid is Presidents’ Day toward the end of the month. Presidents’ Day is Monday, February 19th, which means that we can reliably predict an uptick in average wait times in the days leading up to Presidents’ Day and a day or two (or three) afterward as well.
Another metric that is useful in measuring anticipated crowd levels is the Walt Disney World ticket prices. Disney employs date-based ticket pricing, with higher prices typically corresponding to higher anticipated crowd levels. There is a predictable uptick in 1-day ticket prices in the weekend leading up to Presidents’ Day, and the week of Presidents’ Day. This likely means that average wait times will also increase from roughly February 16th through February 24th before slowing down a bit until Spring Break in March.
Overall, we expect February wait times to match up to 2023 figures, and a monthly average wait times somewhere close to the January 2024 average of 40 minutes or slightly below.
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!