It was the busiest day of the past year at Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and that might be all you need to figure out how busy it was at the Magic Kingdom today.  It was also busy at EPCOT, and not as much at Hollywood Studios.

We also collected 187 actual wait times around Walt Disney World today, so we can see how those compare to Disney’s posted waits.  Starting today, we’ll be highlighting those actual wait times at an attraction level.  Thank you very much to all of our Liners who send those in.  Let’s do the numbers.

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

Here’s an example of the difficulty Disney’s having in posting accurate wait times since re-opening.  Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had an average posted wait time today of 74 minutes. That’s good for #1 for the week and #1 for the past month. We received 14 actual wait times today from 7DMT, and the actual wait averaged 86% of the posted wait time.  That is, if the average posted wait was 74 minutes, your actual wait in line was 86% of that, or about 64 minutes.

Over in Frontierland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had an average wait time today of 60 minutes. That’d also be #1 for the week and month. But those posted wait times were less accurate than the ones over at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  We received 6 actual wait times for Big Thunder today, and the actual wait averaged 50% of the posted wait time.  So that posted wait of 60 minutes ended up being an actual wait of 30.

Other notable attraction wait times today:

• Buzz Lightyear had an average wait time today of 43 minutes (#1 week/#1 month). We got 10 actual wait times and they averaged 65% of the posted wait (so ~28 minutes for an average posted of 43).
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid had an average wait time today of 34 minutes (#1 week/#3 month), with 6 actual waits averaging 45% of the posted wait time (~15 minutes).
• The Haunted Mansion had an average wait time today of 53 minutes (#1 week/#2 month), and 12 actual waits that averaged 51% of the posted wait time (so about 27 minutes).
• Space Mountain had an average wait time today of 57 minutes. Its 7-day average is 50 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 39 minutes, so today ranks #1 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 61 minutes, so today ranks #119 for the past year. We received 13 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 78% of the posted wait time.

Actual wait times were 69% of the posted wait time today throughout the whole Magic Kingdom, so a posted wait time of 25 minutes at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh meant an actual wait of around 17 minutes.

EPCOT Wait Times

For the second day in a row, EPCOT’s posted wait times were about double the actual wait in line – and that’s a very high overestimate as compared to historical averages (and to, for example, the Magic Kingdom today).  Test Track had an average wait time today of 67 minutes, #2 for the week and #6 for the past month.  We received 6 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 60% of the posted wait time (so about 40 minutes in line).

Living with the Land had an average wait time today of 19 minutes, but its actual wait time only averaged 20% of the posted wait time (from 6 actual waits submitted).

Soarin’ had an average wait time today of 48 minutes. Its 7-day average is 51 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 33 minutes, so today ranks #7 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 40 minutes, so today ranks #77 for the past year. We received 8 actual wait times today from Soarin’, and the actual wait averaged 46% of the posted wait time (so 22 minutes, which isn’t bad at all).

Spaceship Earth had an average wait time today of 23 minutes. Its 7-day average is 24 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 17 minutes, so today ranks #6 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 22 minutes, so today ranks #106 for the past year. We received 4 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 72% of the posted wait time.

Animal Kingdom Wait Times

Avatar Flight of Passage had an average wait time today of 69 minutes (#4 week/#4 month/#156 for the past year).  Na’vi River Journey had an average wait time today of 49 minutes (#2 for the week, #3 for the week). So that was Pandora.

Expedition Everest had an average wait time today of 38 minutes (#3 week/#6 month).  We received 10 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 56% of the posted wait time.

Actual wait times were around 55% of the posted wait times today – that’s not typical for the park.  The average posted wait was 32 minutes, so the average actual wait was about 18 minutes, or 14 minutes less than posted.

Hollywood Studios Wait Times

Every day is a good day to experience Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and today was no different.  Runaway Railway had an average wait time today of 83 minutes. Its 7-day average is 82 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 83 minutes, so today ranks #15 for the past month.  Same thing over at Slinky Dog Dash, which had an average wait 66 minutes (#5 for the week and #14 for the past month) – almost a replay of yesterday’s numbers.

Toy Story Mania had an average wait time today of 39 minutes, which is #1 for the week and month. But we received 4 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 38% of the posted wait time, so that average posted wait of 39 minutes meant just 15 minutes in line.

Actual wait times were 55% of the posted wait time across the park, so a posted wait time of 30 minutes at Alien Swirling Saucers would’ve meant an actual wait of around 17 minutes in line.

And here’s how Rise of the Resistance boarding groups were called today – another solid day of performance.  They’ve been running better since around 3:30 p.m. today than they have all week.  Hats off to Park Ops for that.  And it looks like ROTR’s hourly capacity is about to increase, since Disney’s installing plexiglass dividers on ride vehicles.

Wait times are only part of the story. If you’d like to be ahead of the curve and get customized, computer-optimized touring plans for your specific vacation, then become a TouringPlans Subscriber and use our Lines app.

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