Most Crowded Month in Two Years at Disney World!
We’re only two full months into 2022, and already have seen the biggest crowds in 2 years at Walt Disney World. This crowd report shares wait time data, photos from the parks, and thoughts on what’s likely to happen next with numbers at Walt Disney World heading into spring break season.
To quickly recap, attendance has been high over the last couple of months–just as it was two winters ago before the parks closed. In Winter Is Not Off-Season at Walt Disney World, we explained how January and February crowds have grown since ~2017, why last year was the outlier, and how now is more of a return to normal. (For good measure, we also pat ourselves on the back a bit for predicting this when it seems to have caught everyone else by surprise.)
Crowds at Walt Disney World surged in the last couple of weeks, with Presidents’ Day, Princess Half Marathon, and schools on winter breaks pushing attendance and wait times even higher. Honestly, this has caught us slightly by surprise. Not that the last two weeks have been busy–that was easily foreseeable–but just how packed the parks have been during that period…
Again, our 2022 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars warned that winter would be bad. That prediction was predicated upon postponed trips, pent-up demand for international travel, snowbirds resuming their normal Florida travel plans, the return of runDisney and youth sporting events, and people remembering how low crowds were this year.
That confluence of circumstances meant much more demand than normal in early this year. The lack of discounts through early March 2022 was also concerning and suggestive of more travel, and my expectation was/is that attendance will follow suit.
We also warned that the week of Presidents’ Day is always busier than people expect. Admittedly, even we didn’t think it would be this bad. If you asked me whether the last two weeks would be busier than the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, I would’ve said no.
And yet, they were. Before we get ahead of ourselves with a forward-looking forecast, let’s dig into wait times and see to what’s up with winter crowds at Walt Disney World…
Let’s start with a high level look at monthly wait time averages across the entirety of Walt Disney World. (All graphs and wait time stats courtesy of Thrill-Data.com.)
There you have it–February 2022 was the busiest month in the last year at Walt Disney World. It dethrones December of last year as the busiest month since reopening, and is thus the busiest month in the last two years.
The average wait time at Walt Disney World was 45 minutes in February 2022. To put this into perspective, last December, it was 41 minutes. That may not seem like much, but 4 minutes is actually pretty significant, especially multiplied across all attractions–it adds up over the course of a day or trip.
To give you even more perspective, the average wait time in February 2020 was 50 minutes (see above weekly graph). The peak week that winter was also that of Presidents’ Day, which saw wait times average 55 minutes. So you could say that this month was bad…but it could’ve been worse!
If you break it down by week, you can also see how crowds have grown gradually over the course of February 2022. Since bottoming out at a 6/10 level in late January, wait times have risen each week since.
The last two weeks have both been 10/10 in terms of crowd levels, with the more recent week being even worse at an average wait of 52 minutes versus 48 the previous week. That makes the last week of February 2022 the busiest of the last two years, surpassing the week of Thanksgiving, which also averaged 48 minute waits.
Once we get into individual days, the graph becomes difficult to read–but you can still see the spike over the Presidents’ Day weekend on the far right.
In case you’re curious, February 20 and 22 rank as tied for the busiest days of the last 450 at Walt Disney World. So “congratulations” if you visited during the days bookending Presidents’ Day. You “survived” the #1 crowd day of the year (thus far) at Walt Disney World!
For park by park analysis, we’ll start with Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom wait times had been all over the place from early January through early February, but settled into a “predictably bad” groove the last couple of weeks. Crowd levels hit 9/10 on February 14, and haven’t looked back since. Only one 8/10 day since, with most days hitting 10/10–only a few 9/10s scattered into the mix.
Here are the specific averages for the month:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 117 minutes
- Peter Pan’s Flight: 95 minutes
- Jungle Cruise: 76 minutes
- Space Mountain: 74 minutes
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: 63 minutes
- Pirates of the Caribbean: 57 minutes
- Haunted Mansion: 57 minutes
Following our Best & Worst Days at Each Park in Walt Disney World would’ve helped choose the “least bad” days to visit Magic Kingdom during the last two weeks, but there’s only so helpful resources like that are amidst peak season crowds. You would’ve still hit 10/10 days, but shaved a few minutes off the average wait. Small victories, I guess?
It’s a similar story at Animal Kingdom.
There, wait times peaked at 64 minutes on February 20. That’s worse than the Walt Disney World average, but not as bad as over Thanksgiving when wait times hit 67 minutes.
Avatar Flight of Passage averaged 105 minutes and Na’vi River Journey averaged 69 minutes, which are right in line with holiday season highs. Kilimanjaro Safaris was at 64 minutes, while Dinosaur averaged 34 minutes. The few other attractions in Animal Kingdom were all below 30 minutes.
Also relevant here is that Expedition Everest is down for refurbishment until at least the end of April 2022. In another park, this would displace guests and result in higher waits elsewhere. To some extent, that’s probably happening. However, with so few rides in Animal Kingdom, it’s more likely that people are just finishing the park faster and leaving earlier. That would also explain some of the drop-off in average wait times. February was also a cold month, so Kali River Rapids only managed to average a 22 minute wait time. Double that a month or two from now.
Continuing to Epcot, which is skewed for a couple of reasons.
First, the 2022 Epcot International Festival of the Arts ended on Presidents’ Day. Events are always a big draw for this park, whereas “Diet Epcot” is not. With that said, festivals are big draws for locals, snowbirds, and other Walt Disney World regulars who visit the park without rides as their focus.
As we’ve stressed repeatedly, these crowd reports showcase wait times, which are not conclusive of attendance. They’re an imperfect measure of raw attendance or crowds–but they’re still the best measure that exists.
There are several other variables that can impact “feels like” crowds, from special events to weather to ride breakdowns to operational efficiency. Epcot, in particular, is notorious for higher “feels like” crowds in World Showcase on weekends and evenings. Weekends are busier for drinking and evenings are busier for people Park Hopping over to watch Harmonious.
During the past week, we’ve noticed that lines are particularly bad at Epcot counter service restaurants and outdoor vending. This is undoubtedly due to the lack of festival booths, which provide the park with needed dining capacity when it’s busy.
As for specific attraction wait times at Epcot, here’s what we have for February:
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: 89 minutes
- Frozen Ever After: 82 minutes
- Test Track: 67 minutes
- Soarin’ Around the World: 41 minutes
- Mission Space: 23 minutes
Finally, there’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Check out the tallest red line towards the right. That’s February 23, which goes down as the busiest day at any Walt Disney World theme park in the last 450 days with an average wait time of 72 minutes.
We weren’t in DHS on 2/23, but we did visit on the #2 day of the last 450 days at Walt Disney World back during Thanksgiving. I can’t imagine the park being even busier than that by an average 5 minutes. Absolutely astronomical number. (If anyone was in Disney’s Hollywood Studios on February 23, we’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.)
Here are February attraction numbers for Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance: 140 minutes
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: 105 minutes
- Slinky Dog Dash: 103 minutes
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway: 75 minutes
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: 75 minutes
- Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run: 74 minutes
- Toy Story Mania: 67 minutes
- Alien Swirling Saucers: 42 minutes
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue: 30 minutes
Keep in mind that these are averages, not daily highs. They’re the middle-of-the-road numbers from February.
The total average time it would take to do all 9 of those rides is 681 minutes–or 11.85 hours. That’s essentially the full operating day, from opening until closing, to do the entire ride lineup at DHS. No time for bathroom breaks, eating, stage shows, or even walking between attractions.
This is why Genie+ is probably worth it at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, even if you’re only able to knock out 3-4 headliners with it. That’s the likely scenario given that Slinky Dog Dash is gone within seconds and Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run fills up in under 2 hours after that. From our perspective, spending $16 per person to save 3+ hours on vacation is worth it.
Follow our Speed Strategy for Genie+ Selections and DHS Lightning Lane Ride Ranks to max out your Genie+ count at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For comprehensive advice for all parks, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World.
We spend more time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios than I would like, in large part because it’s the most difficult from a strategy perspective. From our experiences at DHS in February, it was a rough month for the park. It wasn’t a matter of waits being inflated or congestion somehow being lower. What you see is what you get at DHS. It was very bad. Fantasmic cannot come back soon enough.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios felt like one of the days shortly after the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, with overflow queues everywhere, long waits for Mobile Order, packed shows, and a much fuller parking lot. This park is definitely back in February 2020 form, but without the entertainment and other offerings to help absorb crowds.
Back then, we wrote Disney’s Hollywood Studios: WDW’s Best Rides & Most Frustrating Park, which focused on how the attraction roster was too top heavy, with an insufficient supporting lineup. Now, that post seems so quaint. Never would’ve imagined even more could be cut from the supporting lineup!
Looking forward, you can expect more of the same for the coming month. As covered in our March 2022 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World, Mardi Gras plus lingering Princess Half Marathon crowds will kick off the month, before Spring Break season arrives in full force.
Our original expectation was that the second week would see a bit of a lull, but Walt Disney World inexplicably extended hours that week. We were (and still are) expecting the worst of the crowds to come in the third week of March 2022. (My prediction: that ends up being the worst week of the month and the first quarter, surpassing Presidents’ Day week.)
Due to Mardi Gras, this week could also end up being the worst of the month or year to date. Walt Disney World has already extended hours for the first week of March 2022, including an unprecedented move for Epcot. The park now opens at 8:30 am this week, which is something we haven’t seen before during the phased reopening.
Pre-closure, there were occasions when Epcot opened at 8 am instead of 9 am. The thing to keep in mind is that it was staggered, with World Showcase not opening until 11 am. Now, the whole park opens at once, with some entertainment not starting until 11 am. (So it’s not a huge shift, but certainly better than the previously scheduled 10 am opening time for Epcot.)
We were in Magic Kingdom for Early Entry and regular park opening today, and it was one of the busiest mornings we’ve seen in a long time. If this is a ‘sneak peek’ of spring break crowds…big yikes. (It’s also crazy to me that Magic Kingdom is only open from 9 am until 9 pm this week. Given crowds, park hours should be at least 8 am to 11 pm.)
Disney Park Pass reservations are also starting to fill up for this week and beyond in March 2022. There’s already limited Disney Park Pass availability for Monday through Thursday of the third week. It’s still early, so expect Friday through Sunday to follow suit very soon.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Disney Park Pass availability the second week. Normally, nearer dates will faster, as many guests don’t make reservations until the last minute. As such, we’re still holding out a sliver of hope that the second week of March isn’t terrible. Same for the fourth and final weeks.
Even though wait times are once again hitting pre-closure levels, keep in mind that Walt Disney World is still not operating at 100%. Many stage shows are still dark, some nighttime spectaculars & parades are still cut, meet & greets are mostly absent, atmospheric entertainment isn’t back, hours remain reduced, and not every venue in the parks & resorts (dining, in particular) is fully efficient due to staffing shortages.
All of this might seem minor, but the totality of it means that Walt Disney World isn’t equipped to handle nearly the attendance levels as it was in March 2020 (well, at least the first half of the month before the parks closed). As a result, this still is not an apples to apples attendance comparison.
Even when Walt Disney World is busy, it’s still possible to have a satisfying and productive day in the park. Be sure to use our Walt Disney World Itineraries for efficient step-by-step strategy, with options now with and without Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Speaking of which, we’d recommend Genie+ and Lightning Lanes for Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. I used it over the weekend (read about My Day Using Genie+ Lightning Lanes in Peak Crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios), and while I was able to make fewer selections per day with it than normal, I still saved over 4 hours in line. Your mileage may vary, but that’s worth the $16 per person per day to me.
Ultimately, it’s not just this past month that’s going to end up being crowded. The next month-plus will be busy at Walt Disney World, with only a few potential reprieves from the crowds. Whether March 2022 will surpass February remains an open question. There’s another wildcard: the possibly that added hours or more returning entertainment could help offset higher raw attendance, meaning lower wait times despite higher crowds. That feels like a bit of a wonky “technicality,” though.
Suffice to say, March 2022 will be busy (and, spoiler alert, so will April). Pack your patience and arm yourself with savvy strategy if you’re visiting Walt Disney World this spring break season or beyond. It is going to be very busy with “feels like” crowds and wait times among the highest we’ve ever seen in the last two years, yet again. We’ll be in the parks throughout the week and should have some reports and advice that will help you make the most of Spring 2022 at Walt Disney World.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Predictions on crowds for spring break season? Thoughts on our prediction that the third week of March 2022 will be the busiest week of the year (so far) at Walt Disney World? If you’ve visited in prior months during the last year, how did crowds compare between then and now? What did you think of the wait times? Any parks or times of day noticeably worse than the others? Do you agree or disagree with anything in our report? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We were at MK and Epcot on the infamous 2/22, HS and MK on 2/23 and AK and HS on 2/25. It was my first experience with Genie Plus/ILL, and my observations were: 1) Rope dropping is more reliable than ILL when it comes to the popular rides, and if you’re staying on site that early access is great for this. Next time we’ll rope drop the ride we want the very most, and (if we decide to get Genie+ again) try to get a LL pass for the others. 2) if you’re park hopping, your chances of using Genie plus at the second park are pretty low, since nothing will be available except for rides that already have a low standby wait time, and 3) keep a close eye on ILL purchases – just because you confirmed a certain time slot when you made the purchase doesn’t mean that’s the time slot you’ll end up with! We purchased a 12:25 – 1:25 time slot, and ended up with a 6pm to 7pm time slot for RotR. Since we knew we were park hopping and wouldn’t be in HS anymore by that time, we ended up just rope dropping the ride (waited under an hour for it) and getting a refund from Guest Relations, who were very helpful (and it seems, familiar with this problem). Oh, one last thing! If you’re staying on site and miss your 7am opportunity for ILL for the most popular rides (they’re often gone within minutes, or even seconds), try again every 10 minutes or so. I missed FoP and it said none available until about 7:45am, then it magically became available again! We got a perfect time slot, too.
We were at Hollywood Studios on Feb 23 and actually ended up having an amazing day. Stayed on resort and picked up ILL’s for MMRR (3 PM) and Rise (11 AM) at 7 then snagged Slinky LL at 7:10 with a 10 AM return time. Got to the park just before 8. Walked on to Smugglers Run with no wait. Moved over to Toy Story land and walked on to Alien Saucers. Then spent about 20 mins in line for Toy Story mania. Headed to Slinky then Rise. Caught a LL for TOT in the evening while waiting. Lunch at Oga’s. Spent the afternoon on Indy, muppets and a star tours LL. Overall a pretty successful day! If you follow the tips anyone can make it work even on the busiest day. Study hard and be prepared to refresh! Note: kids too small for RNR but lots of return times seen throughout the day.
“Study hard” are not words that should be associated with the word vacation.
I am hopeful that everyone gets this out of their system and September goes back to close to normal crowd levels. I mean, one can dream, right?
Hi were come the last week in March looking for any help you can give me we are family of 4 we purchased the Genie up grades how early can you reserve rides please email your thoughts Thanks
If you are staying on property, you can and HAVE to make your first LL reservations at 7:00 on the dot! Be sitting with your phone, thumbs ready! We were there 2 weeks ago. On our Hollywood Studios day, both Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog were sold out under 5 minutes! Someone made a good suggestion. Have one person making the purchased LL’s and another person doing the Genie+. That way you have a shot at getting both. If you get one, and then try to get the other, it will likely be gone or be very late at night. My first Genie+ for the day ended up being Jungle Cruise at 9:30 p.m!
What do you think about March dates. Would you go to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood park March 16 and 17 in the middle of the week even though tickets are selling out or go March 20 and 21st with the 20th being on the weekend? Trying to decide if we should move our days.
Our family was at the parks Feb 14 through Feb 23rd. The sea of people in the parks after 11am was unreal. The 4 of us rope dropped Feb 15th through Feb 20th and then Feb 21 – Feb 23 just my son and I rope dropped. Getting to the bus stop by 7-7:15am each morning was not very vacationary but if you wanted to get on the top rides and not wait for 2 hours in line it was necessary for sure. Feb 20th we attended Animal Kingdom and were in line by 7am for a 7:30 park opening. By 7:20 we were walking toward Flight of Passage and walked through 90% of the line before waiting 5 minutes to ride. After Flight we went on River Journey and had about a 10 minute wait. Next we traveled to the Safari ride and had about a 45 minute wait as the park was now filling up fast. Our next stop was in Africa for breakfast sandwiches and then the Lion King show. Weak show for those who know the original for sure. No audience animal sound participating, no tumble trapeze monkeys, no can you feel the love performers flying around the stage?? Very short without these acts!! Next we stopped for the Bird show and it was great as always. We then headed to the Jungle Trek to see the tigers. The Kite show was nice but again very short. We sat in the stadium about 12 minutes for it to start and it lasted only maybe 15?? I am told they use 3 different sets of character kites spread over 3 shows so I am not sure why they cant increase the shows to run longer? Traveling to Dinosaur we had a 45 minute stand by time listed when getting in line but due to an influx of lightening lane passes our wait was close to 75 minutes. We then did some photo pass shots and had a 15 minute wait for Tough to be a Bug before heading out of the park about 2pm for resort swimming at the Jambo House. We did not fair as good at the Studios with a packed house on the 22nd. Got to the park for 7:30 an hour before it opened. Around 8am we were left through the magic band scanners and headed for Slinky. About 8:20 we were allowed through the line and boarded the first Slinky coaster of the day in row 5. After Slinky we entered the line for Toy Story Mania as it was just allowing guests to enter at 8:25. Got about 90% through the line and it stopped moving and 5 minutes later we were told it broke down and had to leave the line. We could stop at guest services for a lightening pass but nothing promised. It was now 8:55 and soon the non resort guests would be entering the park. Passing 2 guest services booths each had 25 plus people in line so it did not seem like an option as it would have taken 30-45 minutes at least to talk with a cast member. So we headed to Mickey Minnie Train which had a 50 minute wait. After getting off the Train it was close to 10:30am so we had breakfast pastries and after our snack we checked wait times to find 150 for a half running Tower of Terror, 70 for Rock N Roll, 185 for Rise, 70 for Falcon, and 55 for Star Tours, even Muppets was 40 minutes already. After a 45 minute wait for Star Tours and then the completely full Indian Jones show we did some shopping and headed back to the resort to try and come back and ride some more as darkness moved in?? At 7pm wait times were 140 Slinky, 160 Rise, 145 Tower, 75 Rock N Roll, so we did a 60 minute posted wait and it was only 40 Toy Story Mania, followed with a 30 minute Star Tour wait. At 8:15 we got in line for Run away Train with a45 minute wait posted but only a 3rd of the line being used outside the theatre. But as it got to 8:30pm the lightening lane was packed with over 150 guests so the stand by just stood for about 15 minutes with minimal movement. About 8:50 we entered the small theatre short area where Goofy blows the screen up and the lights came on to tell us it broke down and wont be fixed tonight anymore?? We were given lightening passes for 1 attraction to use the next day in any park we attended. Yes thanks but again what about the last 50 minutes?? Not too magical for sure!!!
What are tour thoughts on first two weeks of May?
YES! I am wondering this too!
There’s a sizable population that refused to visit until the mask policies were gone. Now that they are, the flood gates have opened.
I don’t think that it’s the size of the crowd it’s that the people in charge need to be trained better. Again it’s the bottom dollar put these poor cast members in front of the angry crowds as long as it’s not the people in charge. They stay in there cozy office . In 35 years of going to Disney I will have never seen such a mess, not even at Christmas time. But as usual nobody will pay attention to these comments.
Thank you for allowing me to express my feelings.
My family just got back from Orlando. It-was-not-fun. Tried and failed to get any Ill’s. We were staying at the B resort (which had no maid service even when we needed sheets that fit the bed and asked several times).
Our day at the Studios we missed the early entry because we were planning to Lyft over to the park and there were no Lyfts to be had. Did not expect that. No busses were running until 10am at Disney Springs. By the time we got a ride to the park we spent the entire morning in line for ROR. The wait was much longer than the posted time. It just felt like a lot of work to try to get food.
Single rider was a success at Smugglers Run but my husband said he liked not having to wait too long in line for something more than the actual ride. I think we rode three things then just gave up because we just were too tired of waiting. Just not fun at all.
Our Epcot day was nearly as bad. We decided not to do any more days at Disney. Maybe people staying on property who had access to the ILLs had better luck. But they sold out too fast for the “good neighbors” like us.
So, Disney is taking reservations each day, right? They know exactly how many people are coming. Why are they letting so many people in? I would have much rather been turned away than experience the ocean of people that I was drowning in. It would have saved me money and not wasted my time. I would have waited and come another time. Right now, I don’t feel like ever going back. Going to a theme park shouldn’t feel so stressful.
As a parent, can I offer my thoughts on why people like me would be increasingly okay with taking kids out of school for travel and why I no longer feel the need to travel only during school holidays? Three years ago we pulled our kids out of school for four days to do Disney. We AGONIZED about it and exchanged countless emails with teachers about whether they’d be falling behind. Then Covid hit and they were out of school for 18 MONTHS. And guess what? They were fine. It made those worries from three years ago seem so petty. I imagine many parents have reached the same conclusions, and they finally feel free to do Disney whenever they want, and for us, that’s when it’s polar vortex cold at our home in middle America and not scorching hot in Florida.
Completely agree! Thanks so much for sharing your experience and thoughts.
This is so true. Between the 4 months missed at the end of 2020 and then all the days my son had to miss due to Covid protocols last year, the significance of days in school grew so much smaller for me. Every time my kid , who has allergies, sniffled in school I got a call from the nurse and had to take him for a Covid test. We would have to keep him out til we got the negative results. He did not fall behind at all though. Since March 2020, my perspective has changed so much. We travel when we want to and take his work with us.
For my older son, it is slightly different. He struggles in school so he comes with us during the summer and during school breaks.
We were just down there last week and while I expected the crowds in the park I was surprised by the crowds at the pools. It was cutthroat trying to get a chair at the Poly pool at 10AM when the gates opened.
Does this have any significant implications for the rest of the year?
We were there 2/19 – 2/26 and although it was busy, we had no issues riding anything we wanted with minimal wait times. Genie+ and ILL made this possible, but of course was a big hit on the wallet… Using refresh and setting alarms for the next LL reserve time was a must!! I saw so many people upset about LL being unavailable.. For example, we were able to get LL for smugglers run on Tuesday 2/22 for a 6:30pm return time at 5:00pm in the afternoon… That same scenario repeated itself multiple times across all 3 parks for popular rides! Never once did we use LL for any shows because that would have been waste of the time slot(Muppets, Frozen, Indy Jones etc)… Rides like Soarin, Frozen(on 2/25 when it went LL), Test Track, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash, Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Navi River, Safari. etc etc etc.. had no issues with my son and I constantly refreshing.. (usually while waiting in a line etc) Be sure to bring a battery pack!! LOL! Also when refreshing make sure the one you are looking for is at the top after the refresh.. Click on the attraction name and once you back out of it that one will be at top of the list after the next refresh.. Also, in the AM.. Make sure you are logged into your account as sometimes it would make you log in right before you purchase a ILL wasting valuable time.. Go to your profile page and then payment method and it will make you log in.. Then you will be good.. Make sure your WiFi connection is good as well! Use 5G if that signal is strong because that will work better then Disney Wifi! Before 2/25 we were able to secure 2 paid ILL at 3 of the 4 parks(Everest down in AK) Now, as of 2/25, you can only secure 1 of you don’t have a park hopper(For example.. We got a Remys for 10:30am at Epcot and ROR for 5:00pm at the Studios) If we didn’t have park hopping we could have only purchased 1.. One last piece of advise.. If you do not get the ILL you are looking for at 7:00am and it shows not available.. Keep refreshing around 7:05am-7:10am.. Everyday we saw them repopulate.. They also repopulated around park opening so offsite people have a chance.. If you get to confirm party screen and it then says unavailable, you can stay on that screen and keep hitting submit and you will snag the next time when it opens up.. With 2 of us taking turns it worked very well.. Also, one day we hit ROR for a 10:30am reserve time, it then went to 3:30pm at the confirm screen, then 7:30pm on the purchase screen!! This was the same time as a diner reservation we had at Epcot! Went to blue umbrella and all I can say is that if you are nice and explain your situation, they will be more likely to help.. 🙂 Hope this helps and is not too confusing!!
That’s a lot of work during what’s supposed to be a vacation. Disney is taking all the fun out of pretty much everything these days.
Yes, a lot of work every 2 hours.. LOL
That is very helpful! Thank you for the details and information!
Megan. You are more then welcome!
Thanks for this useful information! Did you stay at a Disney hotel? Do you think it’s worth paying the huge current extra cost to ease this process? Thanks again in advance for your feedback
Was at Hollywood on the 23… Lightning lanes were not available at 702 am.. all sold out… Manged to get ror and slinky
My son is on the New Edition Tour that winds up in Miami on April 10th. His birthday is on the 12th, so I suggested that he fly up to Orlando, I would fly down from PA, and we would celebrate his 35th birthday at the same place we celebrated 21, 25 and 30. Then I remembered that it’s the week leading up to Easter. Ugh. Looks like no birthday celebration at his favorite place.
Yikes! In all of my years of going to Disney, during all months, I have never seen it as busy as it was like 2-21 to 2-28. We’ll see how this week play out, but it is still wall to wall people. We are enjoying a lunch at Geyser Point during lunch hours and as a walk up! Definitely not like several years ago. Of course going during another run weekend means I need my head examined, again.
We are doing Universal for the first time and getting season’s passes because we plan to go twice this year. We were planning to do both Universal and Disney in August, but with crowds and prices being what they are, decided to skip Disney. Maybe try again in 2023.