For many guests, the most frustrating part of a trip to the “Most Magical Place on Earth is playing the Disney World waiting Game. Deciding how long to wait for a given ride, if it’s worth a Lightning Lane, etc.
Standby queue at TRON
I’ve been visiting Disney World for over 30 years, and sometimes it’s even tough for me to determine how much time a ride is “worth.” However, some baseline numbers make it a bit easier to figure it out.
Each week, we gather together the average wait times for all of Disney World’s rides. Now, we’ve taken that date and built out a list of the maximum time each ride at the resort is “worth” waiting for based on its usual average wait time.
Magic Kingdom
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Enchanted Tiki Room: 10 minutes
Carousel of Progress: 10 minutes
Prince Charming Regal Carrousel: 10 minutes
Dumbo the Flying Elephant: 10 minutes
Mad Tea Party: 10 minutes
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover: 10 minutes
Country Bear Jamboree: 10 minutes
Magic Carpets of Aladdin: 10 minutes
Under the Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid: 10 minutes
Mickey’s PhilharMagic: 10 minutes
Barnstormer featuring the Great Goofini: 10 minutes
“it’s a small world”: 15 minutes
Enchanted Tales with Belle: 15 minutes
Pirates of the Caribbean: 20 minutes
Tomorrowland Speedway: 20 minutes
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 20 minutes
Haunted Mansion: 25 minutes
Jungle Cruise: 30 minutes
Space Mountain: 35 minutes
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure: 40 minutes
Peter Pan’s Flight: 45 minutes
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 50 minutes
TRON Lightcycle / Run: 60 minutes
EPCOT
Cosmic Rewind
Gran Fiesta Tour: 5 minutes
Journey into Imagination: 10 minutes
The Seas with Nemo and Friends: 10 minutes
Spaceship Earth: 15 minutes
Living with the Land: 15 minutes
Turtle Talk with Crush: 15 minutes
Soarin’: 25 minutes
Mission: SPACE: 25 minutes
Frozen Ever After: 45 minutes
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: 45 minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind: 60 minutes
Test Track: 60 minutes
Hollywood Studios
Slinky Dog Dash!
Star Tours: 10 minutes
Alien Swirling Saucers: 20 minutes
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: 30 minutes
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run: 30 minutes
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway: 40 minutes
Toy Story Mania: 40 minutes
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith: 40 minutes
Slinky Dog Dash: 50 minutes
Rise of the Resistance: 65 minutes
Animal Kingdom
Everest!
Dinosaur: 15 minutes
Kilimanjaro Safaris: 20 minutes
Expedition Everest: 30 minutes
Kali River Rapids: 30 minutes
Na’vi River Journey: 40 minutes
Avatar Flight of Passage: 60 minutes
How long is too long?
These maximum times are a guideline, of course. You may have favorite rides that you would wait longer for, or there may be a popular attraction that’s not “worth” more than 10 minutes to you. Stay tuned to DFB for more on visiting Walt Disney World.
4 EPCOT Rides We’re Getting Worried About
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I don’t like waiting much longer than 20 minutes, hopefully less! Especially if waiting in the hot sun or unless the wait area ambience is fun and interesting. My back starts hurting if I stand around too long. I’ve also found that people stop being on their best behavior the longer the wait as well as kids crying, acting up and running around which is very annoying, even angering, when parents ignore it all and let them bother others! I find myself wishing and hoping we’re in a different car or section away from them! Luckily, the rides with the longest wait times cause me motion sickness so I can’t go on them anyway. And I’m drawn more to the original or slower rides that are less thrill but tell a story! Possible exceptions to my wait rule might be Jungle Cruise, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Kilimanjaro Safaris. These are fun queues in the shade with railings I can lean against and fans overhead. For these maybe a 30 minute wait! 😄
I agree with Norma. It’s also annoying to hear people conversing as if there’s no one around them! Issues that are private and sometimes arguing. Ugh! I’m also more apt to wait for a ride that seems to last a longer time such as Jungle Cruise or Tiana’s and isn’t over in a quick minute. Haunted Mansion and POTC are also worth the wait! The American Adventure, Living with the Land and Carousel of Progress are nice to just sit down and I can’t wait to see the updates with the Walt animatronic! I would wait a few if necessary at least to see it once!
Ten minutes for “Journey Into Imagination” is generous! Walk on or walk away!
Is it just me or do these maximum wait times trend to shorter times than what we traditionally hear? I’d be ecstatic if I went to any of the parks and saw these wait times. However, they rarely seem to be these short of a wait time. Just trying to clarify
@Jk These “maximum wait times” are an estimate of what the writer thinks is the most you should wait for any given ride or attraction. They are NOT the maximum times that you could wait.