Webmaster

How has the start of August in 2023 compared to previous years at each Walt Disney World theme park? Let's take a look at the data so far to find out! Disney's Hollywood Studios At DHS, wait times are down 7% compared to last year, but are up 12% compared to the same period in 2019. 2019: 12% 2022: -7% EPCOT At EPCOT, wait times are very close to the same period last year, only down 2%. Wait times are up 9% compared to before the pandemic. 2019: 9% 2022: -2% Disney's Animal Kingdom The biggest difference to past years is at Animal Kingdom. Wait times are down over 20% compared to last year and 35% compared to before the pandemic! 2019: -35% 2022: -21% What is driving some of the differences at Animal Kingdom? Almost a 100 minute difference in the Avatar Flight of Passage wait time compared to 2019! Kilimanjaro Safaris are also well down at 40 minutes. The Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom wait times have also been way down to start August compared to last year and 2019. A big difference this year to last is the number of attractions operating. 2019: -15% 2022: -22% A big difference compared to 2019 is much lower wait times for the park's roller coasters this year.

Dorney Park just announced their brand new B&M Dive Coaster: Iron Menace It features 4 inversions and a 152 ft, 95 degree first drop.

Only a 25 minute wait for Jurassic World VelociCoaster on a very hot Wednesday afternoon

Glad you enjoy the site! At the bottom of the USJ page and any of its attraction pages, you can download past data

It's 7 AM. You have been refreshing the My Disney Experience app now for 2 minutes straight. At 7:00 AM on the dot, you snag a boarding group for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle / Run. You get your boarding group assignment. When can you expect to ride? If you received a boarding group for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, and the group was 18 or below, you can expect to be called at or before rope drop. Over the past month, the first 18 (sometimes 20) boarding groups are called beginning at 8:45 AM. This gives you a window to board by 9:45 AM. Most days, EPCOT opens at 9:00 AM to everyone. In general, if you miss your boarding group window for Cosmic Rewind, Cast Members will still let you ride. Though it is best to get in line as early as you can to avoid a longer wait time. If you received a boarding group for TRON Lightcycle / Run at the Magic Kingdom, and the group was 11 or below, you can expect to be called at or before rope drop. This first set of groups is typically called before the general park opening at 9:00 AM, in the 8:45 AM to 8:50 AM range (this is different on a Halloween Party day; see the section at the end of this blog). Unlike Cosmic Rewind, TRON boarding group return time windows are very strict. Be sure to tap into the queue before 9:45 AM to ensure you do not miss your window, if you have a group within the first batch. Remember, too, that it can take considerable time to get into the Magic Kingdom from the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). What if you got a number outside of the first set of boarding groups for either attraction? This can be a bit trickier. The My Disney Experience app will give you an estimate; however, it is typically not very accurate. What is a better estimate? We've been tracking for boarding group progression for both Cosmic Rewind and TRON since they opened. From this data, we've been able to generate some pretty reliable averages for better estimates on when a particular group will be called. Note that the rides do sometimes breakdown, causing delays that cannot be predicted ahead of time. But the averages described below should give you a more realistic time that you might board, assuming the attraction is operating properly, than the Disney app does. This can help you plan your meals and other attractions around your boarding group. To get started, visit either of the TRON or Cosmic Rewind pages below. TRON Boarding Group Data https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/magic-kingdom/tronlightcyclerun/ Cosmic Rewind Boarding Group Data https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/epcot/guardiansofthegalaxycosmicrewind/ Next, look for the section that says Typical Boarding Groups by Time of Day. Underneath it, click the button that says CLICK TO EXPAND... This will expand to a list of 5 minute intervals and what the highest group typically called at each time is, on average. Locate your boarding group number and take note of the estimated time. Simple as that! On that same page, you can also get an idea if the attraction is progressing groups above or below average, to get an idea if your group might be a bit earlier or later. The blue dots are the highest group called at that time of day and the gray line is the average line. Typically, the line should increase over time gradually over time. Flat spots indicate that the attraction broke down or was delayed. How long will you wait once you are in the queue? Budget for at least an hour, especially if your group is in the middle of the day, and you are making dining and/or Lightning Lane reservations. TRON Lightcycle / Run Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) Considerations During MNSSHP events, the Virtual Queue is the only way to ride TRON. At 6 PM, a boarding group can be obtained on an event night for attendees. For the first event, on 8/11/23, boarding groups lasted a few seconds. TRON stopped calling new boarding groups for daily guests at 5 PM (group 126). Just after 6 PM, it began calling MNSSHP exclusive groups at 6:10 PM, starting with a maximum group of 131. The highest group of the night, 197, was called at 11:00 PM. We will continue to update this as more events are held. On 8/15, 132 boarding groups were processed during the day. At 6:30 PM, boarding groups exclusive to the event began with a max group of 139. The last group of the night was number 208, which was called first at 11:00 PM. 8/11/2023 MNSSHP Boarding Group Progression 8/15/2023 MNSSHP Boarding Group Progression MNSHHP TRON Boarding Group Release Durations (at 6:00 PM) 8/11/2023: seconds 8/15/2023: seconds MNSSHP Tron Summary 8/11/2023: Starting group: 127, Maximum Group Called: 197 8/15/2023: Starting group: 133, Maximum Group Called: 208 Have any questions? Ask in the comments.

I would have made it launch backwards first like Ice Breaker. That way you get a bigger rollback on the top hat and get two drops on the spike. It should also have something after the top hat.

Likely the heat and school starting soon.

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge averaging at 152 minute wait today at Universal Studios Hollywood Slinky Dog Dash periodically reaches some lower wait times before it gets slammed again The longest wait times at Six Flags parks, by average, today Disneyland is busier than the weekend was today Disney World was not as busy as some other recent Mondays today Steel Vengeance led the way today at Cedar Point Average wait times by the day of the week at Kings Island A quiet, but rough weather day at Kennywood

This week (7/31 to 8/6/2023), wait times across Walt Disney World were down 4 minutes compared to last week, with an average wait time of 36 minutes (last week was up 4 minutes compared to the previous week, for reference). Out of the past 83 weeks, this week would rank #56. The same week last year ranks #37 with an average wait time of 40 minutes. Local Orange County schools are in session starting this Thursday, so crowd patterns will start to change a bit. The daily average wait time profile for each day in the past week Wait times at Disney's Animal Kingdom were down 13% compared to last week! Avatar Flight of Passage remained the quickest selling out Lightning Lane slot. At EPCOT, wait times were down 3% compared to last week. Remy and Test Track were the hardest Lightning Lane slots over the past week. At Disney's Hollywood Studios, wait times were down 13.7% percent compared to last week! Lightning Lane slots for Slinky Dog Dash were selling out in the morning, typically before the park opening plus 2 hour point. Finally, at the Magic Kingdom, wait times were down 3% compared to last week. Lightning Lane availability was quite good at the park over the week. Wait time wise, Slinky Dog Dash took home the prize for the highest average wait time over the past week, averaging nearly a 2 hour wait.

Around the country, it has been a busy first Saturday of August. Wait times at Cedar Point have been well above average Kings Island too Disneyland, however, is well below average Kennywood was busy Six Flags Great America is averaging an hour wait Knoebels was above average too

Disneyland Resort July Wait Time Analysis The month of July has come and gone, but how did wait times across Disneyland Resort compare to recent months and past July's? Let's take a look at the data to find out. Resort wide, the average wait time was down 3 minutes compared to June. July ranked 19th out of the past 20 months in terms of wait times, where a lower rank indicates higher wait times. Disneyland The average wait time in July of 26 minutes ranked as the lowest month going back to January 2022. Compared to last July, wait times were down 21%, on average. Across the board, most attractions just have less of a wait time. Disney's California Adventure At California Adventure, wait times were down 20% compared to last July, and 3 minutes compared to June 2023. Like Disneyland, most attractions had lower wait times than July last year. Lightning Lane wise, availability was plentiful. Only Indiana Jones sold out in the middle of the afternoon. Prices fluctuated between $25 and $30 per person for Genie+. Prices did not always correspond well to the crowd levels though.

A question we often get asked: does Lightning Lane availability ever reappear after selling out? The short answer is Yes. For any attraction, it might just randomly reappear as users cancel or change their reservations. That's not great though because it is not predictable. However, for 5 attractions, Lightning Lane availability is regularly released at the same time each day. This includes Flight of Passage, Test Track, Frozen, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, and Slinky Dog Dash. We track the specific times here: https://www.thrill-data.com/lightning-lane/wdw/popup

Got on Villain-Con in only 20 minutes earlier

Both of the Virtual Queue attractions at Walt Disney World, TRON Lightcycle/Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, have struggled with reliability today, leading to low group progression. TRON is headed for its worst day since just a couple weeks ago, where on July 24th it processed 130 groups, which was aided by extended evening hours. Cosmic Rewind is on pace for its worst day since April 18th, where it processed 110 boarding groups.

Universal Orlando Resort July Wait Time Analysis The month of July has come and gone, and school is just around the corner. How did wait times at Universal Orlando compare in July to recent months and past years? Let's dive into the data. Resort wide, July wait times, with an average of 34 minutes, were up 2 minutes, on average, over May '23, but down 1 minute compared to June '23. In July 2022, the average wait time was a whopping 43 minutes, 9 minutes higher than July 2023! Islands of Adventure At Islands of Adventure, wait times were down 12% from July 2022. Hagrid's and VelociCoaster had the highest average wait times. Compared to 2022, Hagrid's wait time was down over 25 minutes in July 2023. VelociCoaster and Kong were up last month. Universal Studios Florida At Universal Studios, wait times were down 25% from July 2022. Minion Mayhem and Escape from Gringotts led the way with the longest wait times. Compared to 2022, Revenge of the Mummy saw almost a 100 minute decrease in its wait time! Just about everything was down last month except for the Fast and the Furious. The Forecast for August Before school starts, historically wait times remain average to above average. Mid-month, once local schools are in session, typically things calm down dramatically.