News Holiday crowds at Walt Disney World theme parks 2022

[UNCgolf]

Those wait times are insane. 2.5 hours for Slinky Dog Dash? Almost 2 hours for Smuggler's Run? If I'd never been there before and waited that long for those attractions... disappointment wouldn't be nearly a strong enough word. What a waste of your day.

Even NRJ, which I'm a pretty big fan of, is completely absurd. No one should ever be waiting 100+ minutes to ride it.

Spaceship Earth, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates are the only ones I'd even consider waiting the posted times to ride, and they're all only around an hour so not quite as bad -- I wouldn't wait 2+ hours for any of them either. I might consider Kiliminjaro Safari at its posted wait too, since it's both excellent and 20+ minutes long, which is an easier sell.

 

[Unbanshee]

Those wait times are insane. 2.5 hours for Slinky Dog Dash? Almost 2 hours for Smuggler's Run? If I'd never been there before and waited that long for those attractions... disappointment wouldn't be nearly a strong enough word. What a waste of your day.

Even NRJ, which I'm a pretty big fan of, is completely absurd. No one should ever be waiting 100+ minutes to ride it.

So far, wait times are similar to Thanksgiving. Not too crazy yet, but it will get there

 

[wdwmagic]

Mine Train and Slinky are particularly bad value right now. 130 mins for Slinky, and 120 for Mine Train. Both rides are around the 2 minute long duration.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

There has been a 3 hour queue for FOP this morning.

And... my favorite. Over an hour for The Seas with Nemo.

That's horrible.

Stay at home and drink eggnog.

Not only would that be a huge disappointment at baseline, but when half the effects don't work...ouch.

 

[mf1972]

we always associate the peoplemover as a walk on, but on our recent trip at the start of november, it constantly had an average 10-20 minute wait. we still waited & went on it, but seeing that kind of wait time threw me for a loop

 

[Disstevefan1]

“In total, 13 attractions have wait times over 1.5 hours, and more than 22 have waits of more than 1 hour.”

Folks can’t be surprised by this.

The Genie plus system is working EXACTLY as designed.

You don’t pay. You will wait.

I am interested in what the wait times are for folks who paid for lighting lane.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Sooo... how's that "We're limiting attendance via the Park Reservations system" going?

I look at those wait times and...

 

[HauntedPirate]

“In total, 13 attractions have wait times over 1.5 hours, and more than 22 have waits of more than 1 hour.”

Folks can’t be surprised by this.

The Genie plus system is working EXACTLY as designed.

You don’t pay. You will wait.

I am interested in what the wait times are for folks who paid for lighting lane.

Even if you do pay you will wait, because you won't be able to get more than 2-3 LL attractions per day. Then what? It's standby for that poor family from Seattle or Denver or BFE that only gets to go to Disney World once.

 

[Virtual Toad]

What a senseless and unnecessary mess. The entire system is broken. Perhaps beyond repair. Hard pass from this former VERY loyal Disney family until MAJOR changes are made. If not, thanks for the memories, but you couldn't pay us to endure Disney park-going under these circumstances. Sigh.

 

[Jrb1979]

FP, FP+ and Genie+ have been the worst thing Disney ever created. Now everyone and their grandmother expect to have short waits. I know nobody likes standing in long lines, I hate it too. I also know that a big part of going to any Theme park/amusement park is waiting in line.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Even if you do pay you will wait, because you won't be able to get more than 2-3 LL attractions per day. Then what? It's standby for that poor family from Seattle or Denver or BFE that only gets to go to Disney World once.

Totally agree you will wait even if you pay, I would be interested in the wait time for those who pay.

We can already see the standby waits now are longer with Genie + than they were when we and Fastpass +

I wonder what the wait times are for Lighting Lane VS. Fastpass + in busy times like now.

 

[SingleRider]

It doesn’t help that some genius decided to start the Foxtrot refurb at Tower right before the holiday season, cutting it to half capacity…

 

[Weather_Lady]

Sooo... how's that "We're limiting attendance via the Park Reservations system" going?

I look at those wait times and...

The problem isn't attendance. It's Disney's decision not to increase staffing or ride capacity, in order to generate higher profits. Disney has the power to make it easier for guests who visit during holidays. It chooses not to.

(I've never visited during Christmas break, but I've seen this in action during, say, President's Day week. Crowd levels of 8-10, yet attractions running with insufficient staff, only one side of Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Toy Story Midway Mania being used, loading only every third car on the Peoplemover, etc., and no added park hours of operation).

 

[RevRemy]

Yikes.

If we ever do a holiday trip near or over Christmas, we will definitely plan it to be a relax at resort, soak up atmosphere in parks and see decorations, go to dinner kind of trip.

Rides we will definitely just pick and choose which ones we want and which we can skip! Would probably be a shorter than normal trip for us also.

We'll probably never visit Disney over the holidays.

We are gifting the kids DIsney for Christmas and leave on the 26th to be there through the 2nd. Some people think we are crazy. We are doing just what you have laid out here. We lucked out and added G+ when we booked back in February, so we do not have the stress of having to book it every morning or the cost it will be. We will use this to get the rides we want and then enjoy otherwise.

 

[Touchdown]

Yup, you know what would spread out crowds? Increasing hours, if the parks are this crowded every park should be opening at 8am (7:30 am EE) and MK should be closing no earlier than midnight, and the other parks 10 pm. All you need is staff…

 

[Rickcat96]

The problem isn't attendance. It's Disney's decision not to increase staffing or ride capacity, in order to generate higher profits. Disney has the power to make it easier for guests who visit during holidays. It chooses not to.

1000%

 

[SingleRider]

Yup, you know what would spread out crowds? Increasing hours, if the parks are this crowded every park should be opening at 8am (7:30 am EE) and MK should be closing no earlier than midnight, and the other parks 10 pm. All you need is staff…

If it’s any indication of how much or little they care, this is the company that sliced one of their most popular attractions at HS to half capacity for Thanksgiving and likely all of Christmas.

 

[Touchdown]

They might not have had a choice in that though. Due to prior poor choices, but not the fault of current park ops.

 

[Purduevian]

~3:30PM the following LL/ILL are sold out (approximate sell out time via thrilldata)
MK:
Jingle Cruise (3:05pm), Meet Cinderella (3:00pm), 7D (9:15am)
EPCOT:
Frozen (10:30am), Guardians (8:20am), Remy (7:30am), Test Track (10:15am)
DHS:
Alien (2:40pm), Meet Olaf (1:55pm), MMRR (1:30pm), MFSR(1:05pm), RNRC (12:50pm), SDD (Spotty up to 9:20am), RotR (7:50am), TSMM (2:30pm),TOT (10:25am)
AK:
FOP (8:00am), DINOSAUR (2:30pm), EE (3:05pm), FOTLK (2:25pm), KS (11:55am), Meet M&M (1:00pm), Navi (12:10pm)

 

[KTK]

Anyone heard what lines are like for quick service/mobile order/carts?

I was at Hollywood Studios today. I used mobile order twice, worked well, minimal wait. I am amazed so many people don't use it or ever heard of it. I heard a cast member telling people Pizzarizzo had a 25 min wait for walk up orders around noon today.