Credit: DisneyWalt Disney World is no stranger to seasonal crowd swings, but this year feels a little different. Yes, EPCOT’s Flower & Garden Festival is right around the corner, and that alone is enough to send attendance climbing. But there’s a bigger story unfolding across the resort. Two other parks are deep in transition, and as construction walls go up elsewhere, guests are shifting their plans — and that’s pushing even more people toward EPCOT.
Recent wait time data from February 23rd, 2026 shows EPCOT already experiencing notable midday spikes, particularly at its most popular attractions. And with Flower & Garden about to begin, those numbers are unlikely to drop anytime soon.
Let’s start with what’s happening at EPCOT itself. Even before the festival officially kicks off, heavy hitters like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are pulling in long waits. On the 23rd, Guardians hovered between 70 and 95 minutes for much of the day, while Frozen Ever After climbed as high as 120 minutes by 8 p.m. That’s before the topiaries are fully installed and the outdoor kitchens open in full force.
Flower & Garden always draws a specific kind of crowd. It’s not just families on spring break — it’s locals, Annual Passholders, festival fans, and guests who may not normally prioritize EPCOT. The park transforms into a walkable garden party, complete with character-shaped floral displays, exclusive menus, live entertainment, and limited-time merchandise. People come to stroll. They come to snack. They come to take photos. And while that sounds relaxed, it creates steady, consistent traffic that keeps the park feeling busy from late morning through the evening.
But the bigger shift isn’t just seasonal. It’s structural.
Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are both in visible states of change. At Animal Kingdom, Dinoland is closed, and Planet Watch is also closed. That removes not only physical space but also attractions that once absorbed crowds. Dinoland may not have been the most popular land in the park, but it offered multiple rides, games, and kid-friendly areas that gave families breathing room. Planet Watch, while often overlooked, provided an educational diversion and additional walking space. When you remove those options, the remaining headliners — like Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey — carry even more pressure.
You can already see that strain in the wait times. On February 23rd, Flight of Passage reached 95 minutes at 8 a.m. and hovered between 60 and 85 minutes for most of the day. With fewer secondary experiences available, guests are funneling into the same core attractions. For some visitors, that makes Animal Kingdom feel like a half-day park — and when they hop elsewhere in the afternoon, EPCOT becomes an easy choice.
Hollywood Studios is experiencing its own evolution. The park is actively preparing for a Monsters, Inc. land and the return of The Magic of Disney Animation. While those additions are exciting, construction inevitably reshapes traffic patterns. Guests deal with blocked walkways, altered sightlines, and temporary closures that subtly impact flow.
Studios was already a tight park in terms of space. With high-demand attractions like Slinky Dog Dash, Rise of the Resistance, and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run pulling massive waits — Smugglers Run hit 140 minutes at one point on the 23rd — it doesn’t take much disruption to tip the balance. When ride downtime or construction congestion hits, some guests decide to pivot their plans.
And when they pivot, EPCOT is often the landing spot.
It’s easy to see why. EPCOT offers scale. The World Showcase alone provides wide walkways, international pavilions, and festival booths that allow crowds to spread out — at least in theory. But when attendance rises across the board, even EPCOT’s size has limits. The data from the 23rd shows Frozen Ever After hitting triple-digit waits by early afternoon, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure sitting between 75 and 95 minutes, and Test Track climbing to 100 minutes at 11 a.m. That’s a park operating at full capacity energy before its busiest spring event even begins.
Another factor is how guests are strategizing around Lightning Lane. With the updated system replacing the old Genie+ structure, many visitors are prioritizing rides that feel hardest to secure. EPCOT’s top attractions fall squarely into that category. When guests can’t get the return times they want — or decide not to purchase Lightning Lane options at all — standby lines swell quickly.
Then there’s park hopping behavior. If Animal Kingdom closes earlier in the evening, as it often does, and Hollywood Studios feels jammed or construction-heavy, EPCOT becomes the logical nighttime destination. It stays open later. It has festival food booths. It has Guardians of the Galaxy. And it has Luminous: The Symphony of Us drawing guests toward World Showcase Lagoon at the end of the night.
All of that compounds into one simple reality: EPCOT is absorbing overflow from multiple directions.
This isn’t to say the park can’t handle it. EPCOT was designed for large-scale events. Festivals are part of its identity. But timing matters. When two other parks are actively shifting — removing lands, building new ones, redirecting traffic — the balance across Walt Disney World changes.
Flower & Garden would make EPCOT busier on its own. Add in Dinoland’s closure, Planet Watch’s removal, and ongoing transformation at Hollywood Studios, and you have a perfect storm of redirected crowds.
If you’re visiting soon, flexibility is key. Rope drop still helps. Evening waits sometimes dip, though not always dramatically. Exploring lower-wait attractions like Gran Fiesta Tour, Journey into Imagination, or Living with the Land earlier in the day can help balance your schedule.
One thing is clear: EPCOT isn’t just hosting a festival this spring. It’s carrying a larger share of Walt Disney World’s attendance load. And until Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios complete their next chapters, that trend may continue.