If you planned a trip to Disney World in January or February this year hoping for low crowds, then you probably had a bit of a rude awakening.
The year started out with holiday crowds that transitioned into Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend crowds, MLK holiday crowds, and Presidents Day crowds. Even the time between those holidays was busy, with unusually high wait times in the parks for the pre-Spring Break part of the year. But now, we’ve noticed some of the worst crowds yet for Mardi Gras — and the wait times are here to prove it.
In the past few days, we’ve seen Disney Genie+ sell out multiple times, and walking through Magic Kingdom has felt like you’re trapped in a can of sardines. But today, we noticed something in the My Disney Experience app that really shocked us.
Yep, that’s right! Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios had a 305-minute wait this morning. In case you don’t want to do the math, that’s FIVE hours and five minutes total. Ouch!
NOTE: At the time of publishing, the wait has dropped down to 205 minutes — that’s three hours and 25 minutes.
Rise of the Resistance is typically one of the longest wait times in the park, but it only hits these incredibly high wait times during the most crowded seasons. We’ve seen it hit 5-hour waits so far this year at the beginning (when holiday crowds were still in town shortly after New Year) and then again during the MLK holiday weekend.
There was one time last year when we even saw Rise of the Resistance surpass SEVEN hours in wait time. That was in mid-October, during the time that many schools have Fall Break.
So if you’re visiting during a time when kids are out of school, you might want to have a good game plan for checking out this ride. Most of our past data shows that the worst wait times for Rise of the Resistance during those busy days tend to fall in the morning. (It’s usually the first ride that people head to when they arrive at the park.) But if you’re not staying on property, keep in mind that Disney Resort guests get into Hollywood Studios (and the other Disney parks) 30 minutes before regular guests, so they’ll likely beat you to the punch when it comes to getting in line.
If this ride is a must-do for you, then you might want to consider purchasing the Individual Lightning Lane in the morning. Purchases become available for resort guests at 7AM and for regular guests at park open. It typically sells out pretty quickly though, so you might be out of luck if you’re staying offsite during a busy week.
We’ll make sure to keep you updated if we see any more wild wait times in Disney World this week. Stay tuned to AllEars for the latest news!
How to ONLY Use Genie+ When You Need it — Click Here!
What’s the longest you would wait for Rise of the Resistance? Tell us in the comments!
5 hours? That is insane. I was just at Disney Feb 12-17. Stayed at the Boardwalk. Went to just 1 park (Epcot), didn’t buy Genie+, didn’t ride any rides with a long line (longest wait was 25 minutes) and took advantage of the extra late hours for guests staying at certain Disney resorts. Had a wonderful time. Nice and relaxing. Walked into Tutto Gusto for dinner and sat in the bar (same menu as restaurant) and had no wait. Did the same thing at Raglan Rd. No reservation. Sat on the patio with great music. Also ate at the Yachtsman Steakhouse (with reservation) and I highly recommend that. And we saw the new Cirque de Soleil show. My wife loved it. I couldn’t stop comparing it to the previous show, La Nouba, and thought it wasn’t as good. We will no longer join the rat race when we go to WDW in the future.
I think 90 minutes is my max. Nothing is entertaining enough to lose 5 hours of my life to