Which Rides Are Indoors at Disney World?

Not to state the obvious, but sometimes it is just way too hot to stand around outside in Florida. Yeah, you could go to the water parks, but that’s not really what you came to Disney World to do. Never fear, TouringPlans is here! We’ve got a complete list of all the attractions at Disney World that are indoors to get you out of the heat. Queues too! Secret bonus feature: this list also works for getting out of the weather when it’s cold and you need to warm up. Double secret bonus feature: indoor attractions are less likely to close when there’s lightning in the area.

Indoor attractions are climate-controlled with both heat and air-conditioning, as are indoor queues. Queues marked as shaded may have fans and other features to make them cooler than the surroundings, in addition to just being covered. Queues marked as having an overflow area have a significant portion of the wait indoors, but often have long lines that extend beyond the indoor portion of the queue. Tap the links below to go directly to your park of interest.

Indoor Rides and Shows in the Magic Kingdom
Indoor Rides and Shows at EPCOT
Indoor Rides and Shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Indoor Rides and Shows at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

If you’re researching in advance to have a weather plan, you may also like to read:

• Keeping Your Cool at Disney World
• Best Places to Get Warm at Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom Indoor Attractions

The most consistent air-conditioning bang for your buck in the Magic Kingdom is unquestionably the shows. The shortest is the Country Bear Jamboree at 10 minutes and in most cases you’ll see the very next show. The best rides for beating the heat in the Magic Kingdom are Pirates of the Caribbean and “it’s a small world”. Small world is 14 minutes of air-conditioned boat ride, with waits that rarely exceed 30 minutes. And although lines for Pirates can get as long as an hour, the ride itself is on the longer side at 8 minutes and often stops for a couple of extra minutes as you wait to unload. On the other end, Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan’s Flight are both short, but have interactive queues that kids might find to be an attraction in themselves.

Magic Kingdom Indoor Rides

• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin; Tomorrowland, queue also indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• it’s a small world; Fantasyland, queue also indoors
• The Haunted Mansion; Liberty Square, large portions of the queue are shaded
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh; Fantasyland, queue is shaded
• Peter Pan’s Flight; Fantasyland, queue also (mostly) indoors
• Pirates of the Caribbean; Adventureland, queue also indoors with a shaded overflow area
• Space Mountain; Tomorrowland, queue also indoors
• Under the Sea, Journey of the Little Mermaid; Fantasyland, queue also indoors

Magic Kingdom Indoor Shows

• Country Bear Jamboree; Frontierland, queue also indoors
• Enchanted Tales with Belle; Fantasyland, some of the queue is indoors
• The Hall of Presidents; Liberty Square, queue also indoors
• Mickey’s Philharmagic; Fantasyland, queue also indoors
• Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor; Tomorrowland, queue also indoors
• Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, Tomorrowland
• Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Adventureland, queue is shaded

Magic Kingdom Indoor Meet & Greets

• Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
• Meet Cinderella & A Visiting Princess at Fairytale Hall; queue also indoors with a partly shaded overflow area
• Meet Daring Disney Pals at Pete’s Silly Sideshow; queue also indoors
• Meet Mickey at Town Square Theater; queue also indoors

Honorable mention: TRON Lightcycle/Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are both indoor/outdoor coasters and each is short enough that you’re not going be getting any relief from the weather on the ride. But both have a significant length of indoor queue, with waits long enough that you’ll get a chance to enjoy the air-conditioning (or heat) for quite a bit before you get on the ride. Note that for TRON you need to use the Virtual Queue to get a Boarding Group before you can enter the line – but you’re still likely to wait between 30-60 minutes after your group is called.

EPCOT Indoor Attractions

EPCOT is a tale of two parks. At the front of the park Worlds Celebration, Discovery, and Nature are built around enclosed pavilions that contain multiple activities within. It’s easy to make your way from one climate-controlled oasis to the next. Perhaps the best example is the Land Pavilion where you can spend over an hour to ride Soarin’ and Living With the Land, catch a showing of Awesome Planet, and get a snack or meal as well before heading back outdoors. World Showcase on the other hand is full of outdoor pavilions with outdoor entertainment and indoor rides/movies. Not included in the list below are EPCOT’s mini-museums, which are also indoors and can soak up quite a bit of time if you are so inclined. A few quick notes:

• There is so much indoor queue for The Seas with Nemo that my family joke is that if the wait time says 5 minutes that just means it will take you that long to walk through the empty line to the ride.
• Going in the other direction, the indoor queue for Figment is quite short – maybe 15-20 minutes – but it’s rare for the ride to have a wait that long.
• The queue for Spaceship Earth is pretty much entirely outdoors, but the ride itself is 16 minutes once you get on.
• You will need to use the Virtual Queue to access the line for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

EPCOT Indoor Shows

• The American Adventure; World Showcase (America), queue also indoors
• Awesome Planet; World Nature, queue also indoors
• Beauty & the Beast Sing-a-long; World Showcase (France), queue also indoors
• Canada Far & Wide; World Showcase (Canada), queue also indoors
• Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival; World Celebration, queue also indoors
• Impressions de France; World Showcase (France), queue also indoors
• Reflections of China; World Showcase (China), queue also indoors
• Turtle Talk With Crush; World Nature, queue also indoors
• Voices of Liberty; World Showcase (America), queue also indoors

EPCOT Indoor Rides

• Frozen Ever After; World Showcase (Norway), queue indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• Gran Fiesta Tour; World Showcase (Mexico), queue also indoors
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind; World Discovery, queue also indoors
• Journey Into Imagination With Figment; World Celebration, queue also indoors
• Living with the Land; World Nature, queue also indoors
• Mission Space; World Discovery, queue also indoors
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure; World Showcase (France), queue indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends; World Nature, queue also indoors
• Soarin’ Around the World; World Nature, queue also indoors
• Spaceship Earth; World Celebration
• Test Track; World Discovery, queue also indoors

EPCOT Indoor Exhibits & Greetings

• Club Cool; World Celebration
• ImageWorks; World Celebration
• Meet Anna & Elsa at Royal Sommerhus; World Showcase (Norway), queue also indoors
• Mission Space: Advanced Training Lab; World Discovery
• Project Tomorrow; World Celebration
• The Seas Main Tank & Exhibits: World Nature

Hollywood Studios Indoor Attractions

At Hollywood Studios, climate control is mostly what you see is what you get: if it looks like it’s in a building, then it has air conditioning and heat. The exception here is Rise of the Resistance, where the show building is well hidden and there’s a goodly length of outdoor queue before it moves indoors.

Hollywood Studios Indoor Rides

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway; Hollywood Boulevard, queue is also indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run; Galaxy’s Edge, queue is also indoors
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith; Sunset Boulevard, queue is also indoors with a shaded overflow area
• Star Tours: The Adventures Continue; Echo Lake, queue is also indoors
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance; Galaxy’s Edge, queue is indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• Toy Story Mania!; Toy Story Land, queue also indoors
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror; Sunset Boulevard, queue is also indoors

Hollywood Studios Indoor Shows & Exhibits

• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-a-Long; Echo Lake, queue is also indoors
• Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy; Sunset Boulevard, queue is also indoors
• MuppetVision 3D; Grand Avenue, queue is also indoors
• Star Wars Launch Bay; Animation Courtyard
• Walt Disney Presents; Animation Courtyard

Hollywood Studios Indoor Meet & Greets

• BB-8 Astromech on Duty; Animation Courtyard, queue is also indoors
• Meet Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams; Commissary Lane, queue is also indoors
• Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight; Echo Lake, queue is also indoors
• Meet Sulley at Walt Disney Presents; Animation Courtyard, queue is also indoors
• Star Wars Launch Bay: Encounter Darth Vader; Animation Courtyard; queue is also indoors
• Star Wars Launch Bay: Meet Chewbacca; Animation Courtyard, queue is also indoors

Animal Kingdom Indoor Attractions

Animal Kingdom is often cited as the hottest park; all the greenery traps the humidity and cuts down on breezes. Still, there’s lots of shade to be found as the park was designed thoughtfully around the climate. Even for outdoor rides, queues are generally shaded. It’s actually pretty amazing that you aren’t much, much hotter as you tour Animal Kingdom, given the relative lack of air-conditioning in this conservation-oriented park. If you’re truly looking for an extended blast of indoor air, head to Conservation Station. There are a number of indoor exhibits in a single building there; we haven’t listed them separately below.

Animal Kingdom Indoor Rides & Shows:

• Avatar: Flight of Passage; Pandora, queue is indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• Conservation Station; Rafiki’s Planet Watch
• DINOSAUR; Dinoland U.S.A, queue is indoors with an outdoor overflow area
• Festival of the Lion King; Africa, queue is shaded
• Finding Nemo: The Big Blue … and Beyond; Dinoland U.S.A.
• It’s Tough to Be A Bug; Discovery Island, queue is also indoors
• Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurer’s Outpost; Discovery Island, queue is also indoors
• Na’vi River Journey; Pandora, queue is shaded