Disney Expected October To Bring the Crowds Back, but They Were Wrong

September has turned into October, and Disney World was expecting big crowds this weekend. While Disney does not release specific attendance figures, the easiest way to tell if it thinks the crowd level will pick up is by looking at the prices for Lightning Lane passes.

Disney World increased Lightning Lane passes this weekend, expecting crowds to return after the post-summer hiatus, but something unexpected happened at Disney World. The crowds still haven’t returned.

Again, Disney doesn’t give specific numbers, but the easiest way to tell if the parks are crowded is by looking at wait times at the parks. Disney has been accused of inflating those times, but they are the best indicator of just how crowded the parks are.

Across all four Disney World parks, the wait times were way down this week, despite Disney’s feeling that the parks would be picking up this weekend, just before Columbus Day weekend.

At Magic Kingdom, the longest wait time was for Tron Lightcycle/Run. The average wait time for Tron was only 48 minutes this week. While it does seem like a long time to wait for a short ride, it is incredibly low for Tron.

Across Magic Kingdom, 10 rides, including the People Mover, ‘It’s a Small World,’ and Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid, average a wait time of 10 minutes or less. The park’s newest ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, only had an average wait time of 26 minutes.

At EPCOT, Test Track and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind were the only two rides at Disney World with an average wait time of over an hour, 71 minutes, and 60 minutes, respectively.

Animal Kingdom must have felt like a ghost town this week, with all of the remaining open rides seeing greatly decreased wait times. DINOSAUR, nearing its run’s end, was only 11 minutes.

Hollywood Studios also saw incredibly low wait times, with Tower of Terror averaging 23 minutes, and Star Tours was only six minutes.

There’s no telling how long these low wait times will continue, but with Columbus Day weekend, the New Jersey Teacher’s Weekend, and Thanksgiving coming up, they won’t last long. Better get to Disney World now while no one else is there.

How were the wait times for you this week at Disney World? Let us know in the comments.