A since-passed rocker once sang, “The Waiting is the hardest part.” Well at Disney Parks, the waiting is a necessary evil one must endure for a few moments in exchange for the happiness that attractions provide. Wait times can actually speak to the popularity of rides as the more popular rides will most assuredly have longer and greater wait times. Disney acknowledged this a few years ago but posting wait times within the My Disney Experience App so you could determine if it was worth the time to wait in the stand-by line for an attraction. Even with the heads up of the budgeted time amount, 15-20 minutes waiting for your turn can feel like half a day. Lucky for you, there are many attractions that traditionally have lower wait times.
Welcome to Believe Vacation’s quest to find THE GREATEST DISNEY ATTRACTION OF ALL TIME! Today, we look at which Non-Magic Kingdom attractions have the shortest wait times. Whereas in the past, the more popular attractions would dominate the top tiers, in today’s poll results, you may see some unfamiliar attractions make their debut in the top tiers. Attractions we determined to have shorter wait times were given higher scores and once we tallied the votes, we decided on the following:
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER
Rock N Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith – Fast ride in a stretch limo that takes a good hour in most cases to start the show.
Soarin’ Over the World – Just like getting to the airport early to be on time for your flight departure, a good hour prior to is a realistic expectation.
Toy Story Midway Mania – Popular franchise, for all ages, interactive competitive shooting game is a great recipe for fun but a horrible recipe for waiting.
Frozen Ever After – Epcot’s newest crown jewel attraction saw over 5 hours of waiting during its opening weeks!
Kilimanjaro Safaris – This ain’t your ordinary shuttle through your local city zoo and the wait time may be long enough to get the animals a nap.
Fantasmic! – But it’s a show, right? If you’ve ever been, you realize the importance of claiming your seat early and waiting a good 45 minutes.
Expedition Everest – Turns out, there are a ton of people who want to brave the terrifying Mt. Everest just to go face-to-face with the Yeti!
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – The only time I’ve ever waited longer for an elevator ride was for the Empire State Building in NYC!
Test Track – When an attraction holds the claim to “Fastest ride at Disney,” you better believe a lot of people are going to want to ride it.
Kali River Rapids – A fun, raft attraction that allows you to get anywhere’s from damp to soaked on a hot Florida day? Of course there will be a wait!
ALMOST THERE
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Mission: Space – A trip to space is a big deal. Luckily for us, there is a good number of people who just do not have the desire to experience the cosmic surroundings outside our atmosphere.
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It’s Tough to Be a Bug – With multiple shows every half hour, you’ll never have to wait more than the current show to enter and find out just how tough it really is.
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Star Tours: The Adventure Continues – Still a little shocked that the only Star Wars attraction has reasonable wait times…that is until 2019!
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Dinosaur – This attraction truly is hit or miss and there is no consistency to it. One hour, you’ll go right into the pre-show area and the next, you’ll have upwards of a 45-minute wait.
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Primeval Whirl – The location of this attraction helps with the wait time because it’s in a less-visited area. So enjoy riding as often as you’d like.
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Spaceship Earth – The location of this attraction also leads to random wait times throughout the day. Some guests feel they have to stop there first because it’s right in the front of the park. Others take a gamble and wait until later in the day.
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TriceraTop Spin – Another very random attraction resembling a county fair ride, the thrills lack and the wait time thrives because of it.
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Living with the Land – Unless there is a mad dash because of rain or Soarin‘ experiencing malfunctions, step right up and get on the boat!
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Turtle Talk with Crush – Another show that happens every few minutes, you shouldn’t spend more than 20 minutes to ever say Cha! and Roightchus!
ONE JUMP AHEAD
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The American Adventure – We get it. You don’t go to Disney for history lessons. You go for thrills, fun and character interactions. So while this attraction may not provide you with twist and turns and princesses and sing-a-longs, instead, you’ll receive pride, patriotism, a new appreciation for our nation and all that will put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.
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Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – Admittedly, you have to really want to go on this attraction to get to it. Located inside the Mexico exhibit at Epcot, you must wind through the crowd, through the market, around the restaurant and finally, find the boats that take you on this short journey. With that being said, once you’re there, let the party begin!
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Journey into Imagination with Figment – A couple of decades ago, this was one of the busiest attractions in Epcot. Before any of the big ticket attractions in the Future World section of Epcot, there was Figment, his friend the Dreamfinder and their quirky attraction. Now focused on Figment, the attraction has seen better days but never had lower wait times.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Muppet*Vision 3D – And then there was the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational attracation of them all! There is never a wait time with this repeating 3D show. And unlike a few others in these top tiers, Muppet*Vision 3D has made the top tiers in other categories as well. Could this very well be the GREATEST DISNEY ATTRACTION OF ALL TIME? We’re getting closer to the final unveiling later this year!
Did we miss anything? Is there an attraction you think has a longer or shorter wait time than we thought? Leave your comments in the section below and as always, there’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!
