Walt Disney World Wait Times and News for 12/18/2020

You can pull up the previous update here.

Hopefully we will get caught up and stay caught up on the news and waits this time around, unlike the last eight times around. The website is sort of like that delinquent father on every Hallmark Christmas movie. We don’t necessarily mean to screw everything up, we just follow the script they hand us.

The News

The only Imagineer that Disney both publicly acknowledges and didn’t force out during the recent purge has posted a few photos of how water works.

He is right. They are big on Plexiglass acrylic sheeting at the moment. And if there’s one thing Disney has figured out in the vicinity of Spaceship Earth, it’s water streaming down from the rafters, whether the deluge is planned or not.

If I ever have to get a real job and they ask me what I find inspiring, I think I’ll just whisper mysteriously, “stone….shadow…”

By the end of the year they say,. the fountain from Home Depot will be fully operational. I’m just looking forward to being able to fill up my $30 Star Wars Refillable Mug with Epcot water that is $10 more than the $20 Refillable Mug just because it has Star Wars characters on it instead of whatever those other Disney ones are. One does wonder if Remy and Mickey entered into a cage match which rodent would come out on top. I have a sickening feeling that it would be Mickey and he’d scream, “WHO’S NEXT?” after dismantling our Parisian friend in about four seconds immediately after. He may be inquiring about future acquisitions rather than opponents, though.

Speaking of water, or a lack thereof, Disney has moved the barges into the middle of the Lagoon.

Here they will sit throughout the day, unlike the previous fireworks launches, which Disney brought out around 4pm.

I’m sure the water fountain thing will improve things slightly, but you wonder if they won’t pull the tugboat out of retirement and try to hide these things the best they can elsewhere.

While you’re probably more likely to be assaulted by your average Disney YouTuber than your prototypical clown, Disney finally convalesced to years of complaints and replaced the clown at the end of the Luna Park Pool slide at the BoardWalk Inn with a Mickey and Friends mural of sorts. WDWMAGIC has pictures of what you can expect to find on your next visit.

People can’t handle a friendly clown at the end of a water slide, but Winnie the Pooh has been carrying a red balloon and telling kids they can float too, all the while not wearing pants, for years. The (Taste of) EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival will return next year from March 3rd through July 5th. If the Israeli Space Security Chief is right and we really have been talking to the aliens for years, I bet they think “EPCOT” is synonymous with festival. There’s no Coachella Festival on Jupiter. Just the Coachella Epcot. The July 5th end is nearly a month later than usual. It does give them a day to switch over Citrus Blossom to…Citrus Blossom at least.

Disney’s Riviera Resort, vaguely themed to the very distant Caribbean side of Western Europe, turned a year old this week. I’ve scheduled my review for mid-2021. Like Disney, I can’t commit to a season, month, or date, and the year is subject to change too.

The Electrical Water Pageant will return to Seven Seas Lagoon on December 20th.

The schedule looks to be about the same as before, though the “underwater world of mystery” has me intrigued since I’ve only seen the overwater part.

It will be interesting to see what it means for the walkway to and from the Grand Floridian and how quickly they can open and close the bridge. Hopefully it’s quick enough that I won’t have to remove my manacle, switch my cane to my other hand, and ask the young lad at the station in a condescending tone if I’m going to have to join the peasants headed to the parking lot on the lowly monorail just to get back to the Flagship Resort.

The El Mercado de Coronado Food Court at the Coronado Springs Resort and Basketball Courts has reopened. You can pull up the current hours and menu here. It’s heavy on the “Grab and Go” aspect as you’ll gather from the dinner menu.

Disney values the return of Disney Programs. We look forward to sharing more updates as they come. pic.twitter.com/36BD6bdCVM

— Disney Programs (@DisneyInterns) December 16, 2020

Like any megacorporation in the hellscape that is 2020, Disney took to Twitter to announce that their free labor program still has no restart date. Should your 19-year-old “future humanitarian” wish to learn how to cook French fries under the tutelage of someone who has been baking Ore Idas at 2am every Saturday for the last 17 years, you’re welcome to send them my way now. Just so long as they pay me more than they make in rent and then spend any leftover money paying me more for whatever they can scavenge from around my apartment.

Assuming any of us survive the rush to get a PS5 this year, Disney has a new offer available beginning January 5th:

More details are available here. Typically, the room discounts will save you more money, but it depends on your room type, party size, etc. Run the numbers on the various discounts that will come out throughout the year.

Package pickup will return to the theme parks for the holidays, though delivery to the various resorts will remain unavailable. From December 20th, 2020,  through January 2nd, 2021, guests can send items bound for eBay to the Chamber of Commerce in Magic Kingdom Park, Gateway Gifts at EPCOT, Oscar’s Super Service at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and in the vicinity of Guest Services at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Much to my own dismay, Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort will now reopen on March 22, 2021, which is about six weeks later than the original reopening date of February 9, 2021. I just want to know what it feels like to sleep in a bed again, even if it’s this tilted.

Disney’s Beach Club Resort will reopen May 30, 2021. (Maybe?)

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge will reopen on June 6, 2021. (Probably?) Those are Disney’s official dates, but at least half of those openings have been delayed. Since the DVC wings have been open since June, you’d think they’d hit the targets.

Beginning December 20th, 2020, Disney will change the release times for boarding groups for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance from 7am and 2pm to 7am and 1pm. This shouldn’t have too much of an adverse effect on anyone, but it does potentially give those unable to score a spot on the ride more of an opportunity to Park Hop elsewhere before the influx of people begin arriving at 2pm beginning early next year. I have a lot of tips on securing a boarding group in this post. Just replace “2pm” with “1pm” in your brain.

Disney has taken over the Morocco Pavilion from the original operators.

I’d keep an eye on what happens to Restaurant Marrakesh, which remains closed. I’m roughly as tall as Jafar and love Baklava, so you just may see me switch roles.

Spice Road Table remains the only operating eatery in Morocco outside of the dessert and beer kiosk outside.

The menu is back to focusing on small plates, with no full entrees currently on the menu. You can pull up the entirety of it here.

Spice Road is probably the most under-appreciated stop at Walt Disney World. I could tell you this every day and nobody would go.

Whether Disney gets that across to anybody without adding Abu and Genie remains to be seen.

Beginning with guests arriving on January 1st, 2021, complimentary MagicBands will no longer be offered to guests. Disney sent out an email reminding them. Amusingly, “For Disney Resort hotel room entry, Theme Park entry, and charging purchases to your hotel room with a valid credit card, you may use a Key To The World Card provided at the Front Desk.” Your phone should theoretically open your resort room via the Disney World app, but I think we all know how well that usually goes. Disney also offers the opportunity to purchase a MagicBand prior to your arrival. Who thought 2020 would end with us rolling back to 2012 with Key to the World cards? Contactless except for the contact part.

Chances are that you’re not headed to Walt Disney World over the next three weeks, and if you are, you’re probably not bound for Harambe Market at Animal Kingdom or Lotus Blossom Cafe at Epcot. But if you are, they have variable operating hours. You can pull up Lotus Blossom here and Harambe Market here. Then change the calendar to the day of your planned visit on the right. Harambe Market typically operates on Saturdays and Sundays, while Lotus Blossom is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. That schedule should return in the middle of January.

Today’s Waits

Animal Kingdom:

We begin with our usual chart of Animal Kingdom’s average daily wait from the last 12 weeks:

With the full chart since reopening available here.

I’m sure there are still people out there who will sell you information about what day of the week is best to visit Animal Kingdom, but it’s pretty clear that it doesn’t matter, at least so long as you avoid Saturday and Sunday, when Passholders are going to help fill all the Parks. Average waits on weekdays are within two minutes of each other with variances due to holidays, attraction downtime, and other factors out of our control with nothing specific driving anyone to Animal Kingdom on any particular day, outside of the longer operating hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. And Friday remains the day to visit if you’d like to see Animal Kingdom’s nighttime lighting package, which is particularly spectacular during the holiday season, but always is inside Pandora. Here’s today’s chart:

Here.

Friday’s average was also the lowest for that day of the week in a month. Bring a jacket if it’s going to be cold and keep in mind that Florida “feels” about ten degrees colder than most other places. We see particularly low waits in the last hour thanks to what the state would consider a dire freeze. Wisconsin is playing kickball in Discovery Island in shorts and tank tops.

Epcot:

Here.

While I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, they must have installed the plastic barriers in between each row on Frozen Ever After, effectively doubling its capacity and dropping waits by more than half. Waits elsewhere remain reasonable for the most part with a day featuring what are now unusually long hours. The priorities look worse because we don’t pick up the lower wait times when the Park actually opens closer to 10:15am, but you’d have an opportunity to hit at least one major ride without much trouble with a 10:10am arrival. The bad news is that Disney is going to start letting more people into the Park and we’ll see waits rise along with it now that Frozen is moving through twice as many people.

Hollywood Studios:

The last 12 weeks:

Full chart.

Our averages were already thrown for a loop when Disney started filling every row on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, after installing barriers behind each row, in turn reducing wait times there by about 40%. That was enough to drive each day’s average wait down by about five minutes. It’s not like the last four or five weeks actually saw lower attendance. But now they’re also filling every row on roller coasters that don’t have barriers, including Slinky Dog Dash and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Even so, today’s average is the longest that we’ve seen in some time. While the Studios routinely ran out of Park Passes, it also offered the fewest to begin with. So even if capacity at a few attractions doubles, waits won’t go down if Disney simply lets that many more people into the Park to fill the seats. Assuming the demand is there, of course. We’ll continue to see how things shake out as Disney continues to make a lot of changes. The curious thing will be when the rides with the lowest capacities become the priorities. As far as the best day of the week to visit, the weekends remain your best bet as the Park is the most likely to sell out every day of the week, making attendance similar every day. As far as the averages from the last few months, they’re typically higher earlier in the week.

Here’s the day’s chart:

Larger.

Tower of Terror and Smugglers Run now top the list of highest waits at the Park, as those are the rides that are currently among the least-modified. Smugglers is still limited to one party per cockpit and only about eight seats on each Tower elevator can be filled. The average for Slinky is a solid half hour lower than it has been and the Railway had a good day too. We also see a better distribution of crowds with the 9am open. Still, you’re looking at waiting 40 to 50 minutes just about everywhere from 9:30am through 5:30pm. And as we know, you can’t be everywhere in that final hour.

Magic Kingdom:

The last 12 weeks:

The full chart.

It looks like average waits have normalized around 29 minutes over the last couple of weeks. Thanksgiving remains the busiest week yet, but only by about a minute and a half compared to the busiest week in October. And within about four minutes of the last couple weeks. If Saturday’s average is the same as last week’s, this week’s average would be 29.2 minutes, which is in line with the last few weeks. Saturdays remain the busiest day of the week to visit, but not by a wide margin compared to Friday or Monday. As has been true for years, Wednesday is always your best bet. Or at the moment, whenever it’s going to be coldest.

Here’s the chart for Friday:

Larger.

The 29.9-minute average is just about 2.5 minutes longer than the average for the past few months, and the higher number is due largely to the morning downtime at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. If morning lows are in the 50s or below, don’t be surprised if your favorite outdoor roller coaster takes a little longer to get warmed up. Pirates and small world continue to see longer waits than Peter Pan’s Flight with the whole indoor boat ride capacity thing. This is a pretty average day.

Current Disney Park Pass Availability 

You’ll want to pull up Disney’s calendar to see what they’re saying is available. As always, if you’re actually ready to book something, go directly through that process, as the online calendar doesn’t update in real time. The rest of the month runs the gamut of availability with all Parks available over the first four days leading up to Christmas. From the 24th on, Magic Kingdom is currently only available on the 28th, along with Epcot. On the other hand, Animal Kingdom still has availability on that Sunday the 27th, when waits there are typically longest.

Looking into January:

Magic Kingdom and the Studios are unavailable on the 1st, while just the Studios is unavailable on the 2nd. Disney replenished the rest of the month and may do so again on those first couple of days before the month is up. Availability should be wide open for the rest of the year.

Here’s Passholders in January:

Passholders see better availability for the rest of the month than you might expect with lower-tier Passes largely blocked out.

Disney replenished Passholder availability in January as well. Currently, Hollywood Studios is unavailable on the 3rd and 4th, while Animal Kingdom is somehow the only Park without availability on the 9th. Magic Kingdom on October 1st remains the only other date with no current availability.

Operating Schedule Changes:

Disney typically makes their changes on Friday afternoons. You can always pull up Disney’s official calendar here.

Here’s what we’ve got this week:

Friday, January 1st, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 9pm from 9am to 7pm

Saturday, January 2nd, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 9pm from 9am to 7pm

Sunday, January 3rd, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Monday, January 4th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Tuesday, January 5th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Wednesday, January 6th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Thursday, January 7th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Friday, January 8th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Saturday, January 9th, 2021:

• Animal Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 6pm from 9am to 5pm
• Epcot hours extended to 11am to 9pm from 11am to 8pm
• Hollywood Studios hours extended to 9am to 7pm from 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom hours extended to 8am to 8pm from 9am to 6pm

Disney also added hours through March 6th, 2021 that match the first couple months of the year. They will almost certainly be extended:

• Animal Kingdom: 9am to 5pm
• Epcot: 11am to 7pm
• Hollywood Studios: 10am to 7pm
• Magic Kingdom: 9am to 6pm

Interesting Menu Changes

There are lots. You can try to make sense of the file here. We’ll try to keep a more watchful eye.

And hopefully stay more caught up.