I don’t think it’s new. Touring Plans wait times by crowd level, which I believe are still based on pre-pandemic observations, have the line peaking at over an hour even on crowd level 3/10 days.Has anyone attempted to explain what the heck happened with Jungle Cruise where it's now considered an S-tier Magic Kingdom attraction again?
But then combine that with I think a capacity reduction - feels to me based on my experiences that there’s no way they’re running as many boats as they did 10 years ago - a movie that a lot of people saw, and a handful of new show elements / refreshening, and you have what we have now.
I believe the people who track this stuff say a G+ at JC will save you more time in line than any other MK attraction. Which in and of itself I think induces more demand, with the just in case crowd.