Disney World is packed right now, and the wait times are making me so glad I'm not there. It's New Year's Eve 2025, and these are the actual, real-time wait times as of 11 a.m., as reported by the My Disney Experience app. If you're at the parks today, you're spending more time standing in lines than actually doing anything fun.
EPCOT Is an Absolute Nightmare
EPCOT currently has the worst wait times across all four parks. Test Track is sitting at 195 minutes. That's over three hours standing in line for one ride. Three hours. By the time you get off Test Track, you could have watched an entire movie twice.
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is 170 minutes, which is nearly three hours. Remy's Ratatouille Adventure is 115 minutes. Frozen Ever After is 95 minutes. These are insane numbers, and it's not even noon yet.
EPCOT turns into a massive party on New Year's Eve with DJs stationed all over World Showcase. People describe it as a rave-like atmosphere where you can party around the world. They'll show Luminous at 6:30 p.m. and then Cheers to the New Year kicks off the countdown at 11:54 p.m. That's why everyone's there, but the trade-off is spending your entire day in queues.
The shortest waits at EPCOT are for the Gran Fiesta Tour at 5 minutes, Mission Space at 25 minutes, Turtle Talk with Crush at 25 minutes, and meeting Mickey and Friends at 35 minutes. Those are your only options if you want to avoid brutal lines.
Magic Kingdom Isn't Much Better
Magic Kingdom transforms into a family-friendly party with a DJ on the castle stage, fireworks at 7:30 p.m. for families with young kids, and the main midnight countdown fireworks at 11:50 p.m. That draws massive crowds, and the wait times prove it.
Tron Lightcycle Run is currently 130 minutes long. That's over two hours for a coaster that lasts about one minute. The math on that is absolutely terrible. Space Mountain is 75 minutes. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is 70 minutes. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is 60 minutes. Haunted Mansion is 60 minutes.
Even Winnie the Pooh has an hour wait. That's how packed the park is. Attractions that typically have 20- to 30-minute waits are doubled or tripled due of New Year's Eve crowds.
The shortest waits at Magic Kingdom are Mad Tea Party at 5 minutes, Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at 5 minutes, Tiana's Bayou Adventure at 10 minutes, Mickey's PhilharMagic at 10 minutes, and Enchanted Tales with Belle at 15 minutes.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure currently has a rare 10-minute wait due to Central Florida's cold front. Water rides aren't appealing in the cold, so if you can brave the splash, you can enjoy this popular attraction with minimal wait.
Hollywood Studios Is Rough Too
Hollywood Studios offers live entertainment all night, including DJs, the Pixar Dance Party for families, special character experiences, and a New Year's countdown fireworks display. That's bringing in crowds that are creating brutal waits.
The Tower of Terror is approximately 140 minutes long. Star Wars: The Rise of the Resistance is approximately 120 minutes long. Slinky Dog Dash is 80 minutes. Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster is 75 minutes. These are multi-hour commitments for single attractions.
The lowest wait times at Hollywood Studios are for meeting Edna Mode (5 minutes), meeting Olaf (10 minutes), the Vacation Fun animated short (10 minutes), and Star Tours (15 minutes).
Animal Kingdom Is the Smart Choice
Here's the thing nobody's talking about. Animal Kingdom is way less crowded than the other three parks, and it's not even close. The park doesn't do anything special for New Year's Eve and closes at 7 p.m., which means most guests skip it entirely to focus on parks with special nighttime events.
That makes Animal Kingdom the absolute best choice if you're at Disney World today and want to actually experience attractions instead of standing in lines all day.
Avatar Flight of Passage is 75 minutes, which is the longest wait in the park. Na'vi River Journey is 45 minutes. Expedition Everest is 35 minutes. Compare that to Test Track at 195 minutes or Tron at 130 minutes, and Animal Kingdom looks amazing.
The lowest wait times at Animal Kingdom are for Kali River Rapids (5 minutes because of the cold weather, Wildlife Express Train (5 minutes), and DINOSAUR (20 minutes).
You could ride multiple attractions at Animal Kingdom in the time you'd spend waiting for one ride at EPCOT. The trade-off is that you don't get special New Year's Eve entertainment, and the park closes early. But if you prioritize actually doing things over standing in lines, Animal Kingdom wins today by a huge margin.
These Waits Will Get Worse at Disney World
Please note that these wait times are current as of 11 a.m. It's not even noon. When the special nighttime entertainment starts, and more guests arrive specifically for evening celebrations, these waits will increase even more.
By the time fireworks and countdown events begin, some attractions may experience truly unbearable wait times, making the current numbers look reasonable. Guests who are there now are dealing with two to three-hour waits before the real crowds even arrive.
If you're planning to go to the parks later today for New Year's Eve festivities, expect even worse conditions than what's happening right now. The crowds will be denser, the lines will be longer, and navigating through the parks will be more exhausting.
The Disney World Reality Check
New Year's Eve at Disney World sounds magical in theory. Special entertainment, extended hours, countdown fireworks, party atmosphere. However, the reality is spending most of your day standing in brutal queues surrounded by massive crowds in parks that are operating at absolute maximum capacity.
Unless you specifically care about the New Year's Eve events and don't mind sacrificing attraction experiences to participate in celebrations, visiting Disney World today is a rough proposition. The wait times prove that crowds have reached levels where the experience becomes more exhausting than enjoyable.
For anyone home right now looking at these wait times and second-guessing their decision to skip the parks, don't. You made the right choice. Celebrating New Year's Eve somewhere other than Disney World means avoiding hours of standing in lines and dealing with overwhelming crowds that make everything harder than it should be.
