Something STRANGE happened in Disney World.

May 29th, 2023, marked the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, which can often bring BIG crowds to Disney World and other theme parks. While we did see some crowds and the Genie+ price increased to the highest it has been in weeks, the wait times in the parks were SURPRISING.

There were some fairly large crowds at the entrance to Magic Kingdom right when it opened.

But once inside the park, things weren’t all that bad. At least, people weren’t packed in like sardines, walking shoulder-to-shoulder to their next ride.

At around 11:30AM on May 29th, we spotted a 65-minute wait for Haunted Mansion — fairly lengthy but only just over an hour, so not too bad. By 12:10PM, things were still looking pretty good. Is that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad we see with a 35-minute wait?!

And Pirates of the Caribbean at just 25 minutes?!

What about a trip on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh with a wait of just 20 minutes…

…or a stop at the PeopleMover with just a 5-minute wait?! Sign us up!

Things at EPCOT weren’t bad either, with Spaceship Earth at 30 minutes, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at under an hour, and only Test Track with a wait time of over an hour.

We checked the wait times again around 4:45PM, and still, things weren’t all that terrible.

Thunder Mountain was at a 15-minute wait(!!)…

…Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was at a 25-minute wait…

…and even the reopened Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster AND Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance had a wait of less than 60 minutes.

The longest wait times were 80 minutes at Slinky Dog Dash, 90 minutes at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and 115 minutes at Avatar Flight of Passage.

That’s not to say there weren’t any crowds at all, but our reporters shared that the parks (especially Magic Kingdom) felt much emptier than they expected.

Disney did note that they anticipate some park results would be “unfavorable” in this back half of their fiscal year compared to last year since the 50th Anniversary celebration has ended. And it’s possible that Disney also more heavily limited Park Pass availability today, though none of the Park Passes filled up. It’s also possible that people were taking advantage of this day to fly home before work begins again on Tuesday.

What do you think? Are the crowds bigger or smaller than you anticipated? Tell us in the comments.

For more tips to help you plan your next Disney World vacation, see our links and video below. And stay tuned for all the latest updates!

What surprised you the most about these wait times? Tell us in the comments.

The post Disney World Was NOT What You Expected Today first appeared on the disney food blog.