Credit: Jeremy Thompson, FlickrIf you thought January was the slow season for all Disney parks, think again.
Theme park attendance is a hot topic in the post-COVID years. While many claim that the likes of Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort no longer experience an “off season” as they did pre-pandemic, both resorts experienced a decline in attendance in 2025.
In response to the downturn, Disney World rolled out a slate of new hotel deals this week, aiming to draw guests back with offers that include two complimentary hotel nights and extra theme park ticket days on qualifying four-night, four-day (or longer) room-and-ticket packages. Florida residents and annual passholders are also eligible for deeper discounts, including at deluxe resorts such as Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
That said, lower attendance across the year does not necessarily translate to shorter lines on the ground, particularly during peak travel periods or on high-demand attraction days.
Credit: inazakira, FlickrDisney
World guests experienced this for themselves over the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, parkgoers at EPCOT faced wait times of up to 195 minutes for Test Track (which reopened in 2025 after its latest transformation). At one point, the line for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was 225 minutes – a line so long that guests could, theoretically, have watched the entirety of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) and had over an hour to spare to discuss the film before boarding the attraction.
However, these numbers dim in comparison to some of the lines experienced over at Tokyo Disney Resort this week.
Wait Times Soar to Nearly 6.5 Hours at One Disney Park
Guests visiting the Japanese Disney resort – which is technically owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company under a licensing deal with The Walt Disney Company, similar to Miral’s deal for the upcoming Disneyland Abu Dhabi – were slammed with wait times of up to 380 minutes (or 6 hours and 20 minutes) on January 6.
To put that into perspective, you could have flown from Disneyland to Disney World in the time it took some guests to board one attraction on Tuesday.
The attraction in question was Soaring: Fantastic Flight at Tokyo DisneySea. Like other versions of the ride found at EPCOT, California Adventure, and Shanghai Disneyland, this sees guests soar over iconic destinations across the globe, including Sydney Harbour, the Great Wall of China, Tokyo at sunset with Mount Fuji in the background, and, as its grand finale, Tokyo DisneySea.
As noted by Tokyo Disney Resort regulars, the queue broke the resort’s record for post-COVID wait times. This is the longest wait time at Tokyo Disney Resort since November 2019, when the queue for Soaring: Fantastic Flight hit a whopping 420 minutes.
Yes, really.
Breaking News✨
“Soarin’: Fantastic Flight” Reaches a 380-Minute Wait!!
This updates the highest wait time for all attractions within Disney Resort after COVID, and it’s the first time in a full 6 years since the “Soarin’ 420-minute wait around 9 AM on 2019/11/9”!!‼️
Updating the post-COVID wait times by 40 minutes is seriously insane
緊急速報✨
「ソアリン:ファンタスティック・フライト」380分待ちに到達！！
これは、コロナ後のディズニーリゾート内全アトラクションの最高待ち時間更新であり、「2019/11/9の9時頃のソアリン420分待ち」以来、実に6年ぶりです‼️
コロナ後の待ち時間を40分待ちも更新してるの流石にやばい pic.twitter.com/udJy79LrLu
— ワンス@全制覇の人 (@oncelikedisney) January 6, 2026
Since opening in Tokyo DisneySea’s Mediterranean Harbor area in 2019, Soaring: Fantastic Flight has proven extremely popular. It previously experienced lengthy wait times in November, when guests were also forced to wait six hours to board the attraction.
During our visit in May, we found that Tokyo Disney cast members closed the attraction to most guests well before the park’s advertised closing time, limiting access to Premier Access holders in an effort to mitigate wait times.
As per guests, Tokyo Disney Resort cast members have claimed that Soaring: Fantastic Flight is currently operating at reduced capacity, which has likely worsened the situation.
Hectic Crowds Continue to Descend Upon Tokyo Disney Resort
It’s interesting to note that Soaring: Fantastic Flight is far from the park’s newest attraction. Tokyo DisneySea welcomed an entirely new land in the form of Fantasy Springs in 2024.
This features sub-areas inspired by Tangled, Frozen, and Peter Pan, with four rides spread out across the land: Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival (which features some of Disney’s most impressive animatronics to date), Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, and Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies.
Access to the land was originally limited to those with certain passes, such as those available to guests staying at Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel, which provides direct access to Fantasy Springs. However, the land has long since been open to all parkgoers, which makes it so surprising that it doesn’t command the longest wait times.
Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland are notorious for their crowds. While The Oriental Land Company saw stock prices slip in 2025 and attendance dropped during Tokyo’s extremely hot summer, videos and pictures showing swathes of guests crowded around the park entrances regularly go viral on social media.
Crowds are unheard of in Japan. This is the crowd currently entering Tokyo DisneySea this morning. 🥲😬 pic.twitter.com/iK1GuMQR1O
— ParkTwister🎡 (@ParkTwister) February 6, 2025
At Tokyo Disney Resort, several attractions consistently draw the longest waits. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, an early trackless ride, remains a standout at Tokyo Disneyland, praised for its fluid motion, practical effects, and inventive ride system that still feels cutting-edge decades later.
Across the resort at Tokyo DisneySea, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Toy Story Mania rank among the most in-demand experiences. Both blend large-scale set pieces with refined storytelling, helping cement DisneySea’s reputation as one of the most immersive and meticulously designed theme parks in the world.
What’s the longest line you’ve ever encountered at a Disney park?