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If you can avoid the week between Christmas and New Year, do it. These wait times prove it!
Busy Holiday Season
The week after Christmas is historically one of the busiest times of the year to visit. Many Guests look to spend their winter break at the Most Magical Place on Earth. With pent up travel demand and the 50th anniversary celebrations ending soon, it may be even busier than normal.
Orlando Airport also anticipates several heavy travel days during this time. Even Disney knows to prepare for big crowds! Last year, they made many changes to accommodate the crowds including an increase in Early Theme Park Entry, moving some ILLS attractions over to Genie+ and extending park hours.
While we have not seen much of that, Disney did increase showtimes for entertainment. It appears that is not doing much because attraction wait times are so high right now!
5 highest wait times
Today, Wednesday, December 28 is the very middle of this busy week. Let’s take a look at the 5 highest wait times right now.
Tied up is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and Rise of the Resistance. Both have a wait time of 155 minutes, which is roughly equivalent to 2.5 hours. Perhaps everyone read that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is closing for a very lengthy refurbishment soon. Get those rides in while you can!
Beating both attractions by just 5 minute is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror with a 160 minute wait.
Next up, would you wait 200 minutes (over 3 hours) for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot? I think the ride is cute, but not enough to wait over 3 hours!
Finally, Flight of Passage has a current wait of an astonishing 245 minutes! That is just over FOUR HOURS! Amazingly, you can purchase Flight of Passage for only $16 and it’s not sold out yet. Psst…someone tell all those people waiting in line!
How to prepare
The wait times are just way too high right now to be able to accomplish all you want if you do not have a game plan. A subscription to Character Locator is an excellent tool to help you zag when others zig.
You should definitely also consider taking advantage of rope drop and extended hours if you are staying onsite. Right now, all onsite guests can enter the parks 30 minutes before it officially opens. If you are staying at a Deluxe Disney World resort or other select resort, you can enjoy Extended Evening Hours at various parks this week.
Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes may be pricey right now, but we definitely recommend purchasing those so you aren’t waiting 2-4 hours for the most popular rides.
Are you at Disney World right now? What are you accomplishing in the parks? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook.
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