When To Ride Slinky Dog Dash

Welcome back to our When To Ride series, where we use data to take the guesswork out of planning your day at Walt Disney World. In these posts, we break down a single headliner attraction – when to ride it, whether it’s worth buying Lightning Lane, and what to expect if something goes wrong.

Today we’re talking about a tricky, high-wait headliner at a tricky, high-wait park: Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios.

Slinky Dog Dash Attraction Overview

Slinky Dog Dash is the headliner coaster in Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This kid-friendly ride sends you zipping around Andy’s backyard on the back of Slinky Dog, with smooth turns, rolling hills, and a mid-ride launch that adds just the right amount of thrill. If you’ve ridden Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, it’s a similar level of intensity – just swap the mine carts for a springy dachshund and add some playful theming. Since opening in 2018, it’s been a crowd favorite with consistently long waits, especially in the morning when families make a beeline for Toy Story Land.

As of Summer 2025, Slinky Dog Dash is the 11th-highest-rated attraction at Walt Disney World according to our post-visit surveys, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.66 on our scale from 1 to 5. With grade school kids it rates much higher – an average of 4.8, the 5th-highest score for any attraction at Walt Disney World for this age group.

If you’re interested in learning more about Slinky Dog Dash, check out our 5 Things To Know.

Slinky Dog Dash Standby Wait Time Patterns

This is the most important thing to understand about Slinky Dog Dash: more than any other coaster, Slinky Dog Dash appeals to families, and so its wait times are more susceptible to family timing than other WDW coasters. This provides opportunities to take advantage of dips in wait times.

Like most other headliners, wait times at Slinky ramp up very quickly during Early Entry and after park opening. Wait times generally keep increasing until noon, and then trend downward until park closing.

Actual standby wait times are even more telling and helpful. Posted wait times dip between 9:30 and 10 am, but actual wait times show that lines are still growing. But there are two times of day when wait times do legitimately dip. The first is between 1:30 and 2:30 pm, when families with small children tend to take a break or pause for naps. And the second is from 4:30 pm to 6 pm, when families with young kids break for an early dinner. If you’re not willing to arrive early or stay until the park closes, these temporary dips are your best bet for a slightly lower wait.

Best Standby Strategy

• Early Entry: If you’re staying onsite and eligible, use Early Entry and make this your first stop at Hollywood Studios. Arrive at the park at least 30 minutes before early entry begins, and follow the crowds to Toy Story Land. Hopefully, Rise of the Resistance will also be up and running to draw away some of the day’s guests.

• No Early Entry? If you don’t have early entry, Slinky will already have a long line by the time you enter the park. Your next-best option is to get in line as late as possible. The downside of this strategy is that it means that you risk missing Fantasmic if you don’t get the timing right.

• Ride the Dips: Compared to most other WDW headliners, Slinky Dog Dash is much more heavily influenced by stereotypical family touring schedules. There are regular dips in actual wait times from 1:30 to 2:30 pm and 4:30 to 6 pm that won’t be low waits, but they’ll be lower than any other time throughout the day.

Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane Strategy

Slinky Dog Dash is a Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP) attraction. So if you decide that you want to skip the line, you’ll need to pay for the whole park’s line-skipping privileges.

On most days, LLMP at Hollywood Studios costs between $20 and $24. It won’t just let you skip the line at Slinky, but Slinky is a big part of the appeal. And it’s one of the best time savings of any LLMP attraction at Walt Disney World – LLMP will save you an average of 39 minutes compared to waiting in standby just at this one stop. That’s higher than a couple of Single Pass Attractions.

At an average of less than 10 minutes, Slinky has one of the quickest Lightning Lane waits of any headliner. Cast members here keep the line moving along. So that means if you are really focused on a quick ride so you can get to other attractions, purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass is your best bet.

Lightning Lane Availability

If you want to use Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash, you’ll need some luck, and you’ll almost certainly need to be staying on site. Slinky easily books up completely 3 days in advance in all crowd conditions. And most of the time, availability within 7 days is only late in the evening. That means in order to get a decent reservation time, you have to be staying on site and book for a day later in your vacation.

But there may be some hope for off-site guests. There are no completely reliable refills of reservations at Slinky Dog Dash. But about half of the time, additional Lightning Lane availability drops at 1:15 pm. And two-thirds of the time, additional availability drops at 3:45 pm. So if you don’t get an advance reservation for Slinky, but you purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass for the day anyway, you could set your alarm to try to pick up a reservation if more are made available.

Slinky Dog Dash Reliability and Downtime

The bad news is that as of Summer 2025, Slinky is one of the most unreliable attractions at Walt Disney World. Part of this is due to afternoon thunderstorms that force outdoor attractions to close. But there are other issues besides the weather. Over the past 30 days, only 6 have been totally downtime-free. Slinky has been averaging over an hour and a half of downtime every day this summer. Your best bet is to ride first thing in the morning if it’s running. Otherwise, you may have to wait until any inclement weather has passed.

Touring Plans Tips and Tricks for Slinky Dog Dash

• Avoid the crowds: If riding Slinky with a low wait is your top priority, you’ll need to be in the park at a time when most guests aren’t. That means Early Entry, an After Hours event, Jollywood Nights, or Extended Evening Hours (on the rare occasions that they’re offered).

• Absolutely need a short wait? Stay on-site and purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. You’ll want to purchase and reserve as far in advance as possible – availability even within 7 days is very poor.

• Need to ride midday? If you can’t be in the park early or late, don’t want to purchase LLMP, and aren’t going to a special event, don’t lose hope. There are two wait time dips that happen regularly in the afternoon and early evening. Try to get in line at 1:30 pm or between 4:30 and 6 pm. The wait won’t be short, but it’ll be shorter than at any other point in the day.

Slinky Dog Dash is one of the most popular coasters at Walt Disney World. It’s a standout example of how Disney can deliver approachable thrills with fun theming that appeals to a wide age range. But its popularity means it regularly posts some of the longest waits at Hollywood Studios, especially in the morning. Don’t count on a quick ride unless you arrive well before Early Entry begins, catch it late in the evening, or use Lightning Lane Single Purchase (LLMP).

Have questions about Slinky Dog Dash that this data didn’t cover? Drop them in the comments below.