Just after wait times plummeted following Labor Day Weekend, we’ve begun to see an uptick at wait times at Walt Disney World. Primarily we’ve seen an increase at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Hours of park operation have been reduced across the board, but it seems reservations for Park Passes have increased. Our field team has noticed more people in the park – though physical distancing is still be followed closely fairly consistently.
Monday, our team experienced increased wait times as Rise of the Resistance did not successfully open for the 10:00 a.m. boarding group. Let’s take a look at how long actual wait times got, compared to Disney’s posted wait times, and let’s see how this Monday compared to other previous Mondays from recent weeks.
Actual Wait Times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Monday, September 14, 2020
We’ve seen before that anytime Rise of the Resistance fails to distribute morning boarding groups, wait times are heavy across the park for a few hours until the noon boarding group is released. Such was the case on Monday. It also appears that more Disney Park Passes are available, which has increased attendance and contributed to higher wait times.
Our Lines app uses real-time data to show Expected Wait Times compared to Disney’s Posted Wait Times. It also makes recommendations as to if you should wait to ride a particular attraction, based on historical data that indicates when wait times typically reduce at specific attractions. At 11:00 a.m. our Lines app recommended waiting to ride quite a few rides until later in the day, and the Expected Wait Times were 15-20 minutes less than Disney’s Posted Wait Times.
11:00 a.m. Wait Times – Monday, September 14, 2020
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Posted Wait Time 120 / Expected 72
- Slinky Dog Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 75 / Expected 57
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 45 / Expected 34
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Posted Wait Time 40 / Expected 33
As a point of interest, just two weeks ago, Sunday August 30, we looked at wait times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and on that day Rise of Resistance failed to distribute morning boarding groups. Even though that day was a Sunday, and weekends have typically been much busier, wait times were a little lower that day compared to yesterday.
At 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 30, 2020, Slinky Dog Coaster had a posted Wait Time 50 and Expected 39 minutes, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway had a Posted Wait Time of 60 minutes, and Expected 50 minutes.
After the first few hours of the morning rush, wait times decreased a little. However, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway experienced some downtime. Still, with the decrease in wait times at many attractions our Lines app began recommending it was good to go ahead and ride most attractions.
2:00 p.m. Wait Times
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Posted Wait Time 90 / Expected 62
- Slinky Dog Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 50 / Expected 47
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 40 / Expected 37
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Posted Wait Time 24 / Expected 25
With hours being reduced at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to close at 7:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m. wait times did reduce, but not as dramatically as we are used to. After a busy morning, and a rainy afternoon, things slowed down around 5:00 p.m. yesterday a little, and even more so at 6:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. Wait Times
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Posted Wait Time 85 / Expected 68
- Slinky Dog Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 50 / Expected 38
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
- Posted Wait Time 55 / Expected 41
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Posted Wait Time 10 / Expected 14
Out of curiosity, let’s see how the past couple of Mondays have been at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. You can pull historical wait times from our site. In some cases yesterday’s wait times were more than double the wait times of the previous three Mondays.
So once again we see that, naturally, Rise of the Resistance being unavailable in the morning impacts the entire park and increases wait times. Thankfully our TouringPlans Lines App makes it possible to adjust your plans in real time, without having to use a Jedi mind trick.
When was the last time you visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Have you had to adjust your plans on-the-fly?
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