Disney World Crowd Report – June 8 to 14, 2014
It appears that the extension of the school year for those districts that lost days due to winter weather is still affecting crowds at Walt Disney World. We are seeing crowd levels one to two levels lower than history would suggest. We suspect this may be the last week for this phenomenon however as most districts complete their school schedule this week. Star Wars Weekends continues to be popular although wait times at the attractions are near all-time lows. If you are a casual Star Wars fan and want to see what it is all about, you can do so and tour the rest of the park quite efficiently.
Let’s look at how the crowd levels stacked up each day last week:
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom |
6
|
6
|
Lower than expected wait times during Disney Hollywood Studios’ Star Wars Weekends lowered the resort wide crowds to a level ‘4’ on our scale. Despite the popularity of the special Star Wars Events, guests touring the park continue to be spoiled with low waits, even at Star Tours where waits tend to be long during the festivities. All attractions at the Studios were significantly less crowded than usual, including a 28-minute average at Tower of Terror (predicted 48) and 73 minutes at Toy Story Mania (predicted 100). |
| Epcot |
4
|
3
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
3
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
8
|
5
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
7
|
7
|
Monday’s predictions at Magic Kingdom hit the mark but elsewhere we saw crowds lower than expected again. Even Extra Magic Hour evening at Epcot was not enough to push the wait times above average, with Test Track averaging a 63-minute posted wait (predicted 82) and Soarin’ averaging 74 minutes (predicted 90). Animal Kingdom was the busiest park as predicted with Kali River Rapids averaging a posted wait of 56-minutes (predicted 50) and Kilimanjaro Safaris averaging 32 minutes (predicted 41). |
| Epcot |
7
|
5
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
9
|
7
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
8
|
7
|
Animal Kingdom had the highest crowd level on Tuesday as well, tied with Magic Kingdom while predictions at all four parks fell back into normal ranges. Once again, crowds continue to be skewed lower than history would suggest, due to the extension of the school year for some school districts. Peter Pan’s Flight averaged 58 minutes on Tuesday (predicted 71) and Kilimanjaro Safaris 39 (predicted 53), otherwise attractions were within predicted levels. The only exception was Tower of Terror which averaged 110 minutes (predicted 59), likely an indicator that one of the elevator shafts was out of commission for part of the day. |
| Epcot |
8
|
6
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
9
|
7
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
8
|
7
|
On Wednesday, Epcot became the first park of the week to have a higher crowd level than expected. Mission: Space (Green) averaged 47 minutes and Spaceship Earth averaged 32, both ’10’s on our scale. Other parks saw crowds levels within one of our predictions, including a level ‘8’ at Animal Kingdom, the highest level of the day as predicted. |
| Epcot |
5
|
8
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
6
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
9
|
8
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
8
|
8
|
Thursday’s Extra Magic Hour morning at Magic Kingdom brought in substantial crowds as predicted. Pirates of the Caribbean averaged 37 minutes and Jungle Cruise 58, a sure sign that the park was crowded enough to deserve its level ‘8’. The Studios was your best choice on Thursday with Tower of Terror returning to its typical average of 37 minutes and Toy Story Mania averaging 80. |
| Epcot |
6
|
7
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
7
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
9
|
7
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
8
|
7
|
Animal Kingdom’s level ‘5’ brought down the resort-wide figure enough to miss by two points on Friday, although elsewhere at the other three parks all of our estimates were close. Magic Kingdom was slightly less crowded than expected with all attractions except for Haunted Mansion and Winnie the Pooh averaging posted times below expectations. |
| Epcot |
6
|
6
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
6
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
8
|
5
|
|
| WHAT WE THOUGHT |
WHAT WE SAW |
ANALYSIS | |
| Magic Kingdom |
7
|
5
|
Surprisingly, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom were good choices for touring on Saturday with neither park reaching above average levels, a rarity in June. In fact, no park saw wait times above a level ‘5’ on our scale, partly due to weather. |
| Epcot |
5
|
5
|
|
| Hollywood Studios |
6
|
5
|
|
| Animal Kingdom |
7
|
4
|
|
| June 15 to 21, 2014 |
|---|
Our school schedule database tells us that most school districts will complete the school year this week, including those that extended the end of school the year due to weather. That means that wait times will be above average most days between now and the end of August. This time of year also brings longer operating hours at the parks so there can be more flexibility for those who plan their touring plans well.
To see Walt Disney World Crowd predictions for the days of your vacation, check the Crowd Calendar.
To get details about our predictions of future crowds or details about crowds in the past check out the Crowd Calendar and select “Jump to Date” on the left margin.
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Many schools in Jersey are open until the 25th. We were originally going to go next week but changed our plans to the end of August.
Do you feel the re-opening of Kilimanjaro Safari’s and it gobbling up about 10,000 visitors a day for a half hour or so is showing its effect and bringing down wait times at the other attractions?
Think the weather had anything to do with the lower crowd levels? We were there last week and found that the parks were more crowded in the mornings and then when the rains started in the afternoon things would clear out and crowd levels were much lower.
I wondered that as well, Lois. On Tuesday night, after it rained most of the afternoon and early evening, MK park was practically deserted. We got front row spots for the 9:00 pm Electrical parade literally minutes prior to it starting.
We were in the Studios that morning and thankfully had FPP before the one shaft went down. Interestingly, we rode just ten minutes prior to others in our group, all of whom had FPP. Our wait with the FPP was just five minutes, while theirs was twenty. So the breakdown and back up must have started in that time period, just before 10:00 am.
You are correct about the Tower of Terror on Tuesday, June 10. Half of the elevators were not operating when we were there, and the wait was over 180 minutes around 2 pm. Even with FP+, we waited about half an hour to ride, with a short breakdown. We found the Magic Kingdom crowds to be quite manageable that day, with the exception of the Mine Train. I don’t know how you can possibly ride it without a FP+, as we arrived WELL before opening and ran straight for it, only to find a 60 minute wait! I guess we’ll catch it next time.