A Blog About Disney Stuff

The weather is quite warm and pleasant today and January continues its tradition of being one of the slowest periods at Walt Disney World. Today’s posted wait times at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom were almost the lowest of the past 30 days. Our Lines app users submitted 99 actual wait times today – go team! At Disney’s Animal Kingdom 489 out of 500 (nearly 98%) observed guests were wearing their masks in accordance with Disney’s guidelines. Let’s dive in.

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

Overall today was pretty average for a weekday at Magic Kingdom, ranking at number 23 of the past 30 days. Splash Mountain had the highest average wait time, which is usually the case.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had an average wait time today of 40 minutes. Its 7-day average is 38 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 51 minutes, so today ranks #23 for the past month. We received 5 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 51% of the posted wait time.

“it’s a small world” had an average wait time today of 30 minutes. Its 7-day average is 31 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 39 minutes, so today ranks #26 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 34 minutes, so today ranks #161 for the past year.

Jungle Cruise had an average wait time today of 39 minutes. Its 7-day average is 29 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 40 minutes, so today ranks #14 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 45 minutes, so today ranks #147 for the past year.

Peter Pan’s Flight had an average wait time today of 24 minutes. Its 7-day average is 25 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 36 minutes, so today ranks #24 for the past month. We received 6 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 119% of the posted wait time.

Pirates of the Caribbean had an average wait time today of 37 minutes. Its 7-day average is 35 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 46 minutes, so today ranks #24 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 42 minutes, so today ranks #176 for the past year.

Space Mountain had an average wait time today of 19 minutes. Its 7-day average is 29 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 48 minutes, so today ranks #26 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 46 minutes, so today ranks #190 for the past year.

Splash Mountain had an average wait time today of 49 minutes. Its 7-day average is 35 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 49 minutes, so today ranks #12 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 50 minutes, so today ranks #104 for the past year.

The Haunted Mansion had an average wait time today of 14 minutes. Its 7-day average is 14 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 22 minutes, so today ranks #25 for the past month. We received 4 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 71% of the posted wait time.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had an average wait time today of 49 minutes. Its 7-day average is 52 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 69 minutes, so today ranks #26 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 68 minutes, so today ranks #163 for the past year.

EPCOT Wait Times

It is seriously so slow at EPCOT right now. The Festival of the Arts is getting all the attention, rightfully so, but the rides are being left behind. The average wait time of EPCOT was 13 minutes today – that’s it!

Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros had an average wait time today of 6 minutes. Its 7-day average is 7 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 9 minutes, so today ranks #17 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 10 minutes, so today ranks #191 for the past year.

Journey Into Imagination With Figment and Eric Idle had an average wait time today of 5 minutes. Its 7-day average is 12 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 16 minutes, so today ranks #30 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 15 minutes, so today ranks #244 for the past year.

Soarin’ had an average wait time today of 14 minutes. Its 7-day average is 22 minutes, so today ranks #5 for this week. Its 30-day average is 38 minutes, so today ranks #28 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 35 minutes, so today ranks #210 for the past year.

Spaceship Earth had an average wait time today of 12 minutes. Its 7-day average is 13 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 21 minutes, so today ranks #25 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 18 minutes, so today ranks #167 for the past year.

Test Track had an average wait time today of 40 minutes. Its 7-day average is 42 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 65 minutes, so today ranks #28 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 55 minutes, so today ranks #160 for the past year.

The Seas with Nemo & Friends had an average wait time today of 8 minutes. Its 7-day average is 8 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 13 minutes, so today ranks #23 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 13 minutes, so today ranks #183 for the past year.

Frozen Ever After had an average wait time today of 16 minutes. Its 7-day average is 21 minutes, so today ranks #5 for this week. Its 30-day average is 32 minutes, so today ranks #28 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 53 minutes, so today ranks #238 for the past year.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Wait Times

We’re used to seeing Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway  have the highest wait time of the day, but lately that has not been the case. Today Slinky Dog Dash takes the top spot, with Tower of Terror right behind it.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith had an average wait time today of 24 minutes. Its 7-day average is 27 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 42 minutes, so today ranks #25 for the past month. We received 8 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 60% of the posted wait time.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror had an average wait time today of 45 minutes. Its 7-day average is 46 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 60 minutes, so today ranks #24 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 55 minutes, so today ranks #153 for the past year.

Toy Story Mania! had an average wait time today of 25 minutes. Its 7-day average is 23 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 30 minutes, so today ranks #21 for the past month. We received 8 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 47% of the posted wait time.

Slinky Dog Dash had an average wait time today of 48 minutes. Its 7-day average is 50 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 62 minutes, so today ranks #25 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 66 minutes, so today ranks #182 for the past year. We received 6 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 59% of the posted wait time.

Alien Swirling Saucers had an average wait time today of 25 minutes. Its 7-day average is 20 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 26 minutes, so today ranks #13 for the past month. We received 5 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 49% of the posted wait time.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had an average wait time today of 41 minutes. Its 7-day average is 36 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 44 minutes, so today ranks #21 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 63 minutes, so today ranks #192 for the past year. We received 9 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 82% of the posted wait time.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run had an average wait time today of 41 minutes. Its 7-day average is 38 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 57 minutes, so today ranks #23 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 57 minutes, so today ranks #197 for the past year. We received 4 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 68% of the posted wait time.

Rise of the Resistance had a bad motivator this morning with a few small pauses in operations, but 11:30 a.m. things has been pretty smooth. In fact, it is now ahead of pace for the last 7 days.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Wait Times

With Avatar Flight of Passage operating at a higher capacity it has become the new normal for it to have a lower wait time than Na’vi River Journey. It still takes some getting used to, seeing River Journey with the highest wait time of the park. Kali River Rapids is still under refurbishment.

DINOSAUR had an average wait time today of 14 minutes. Its 7-day average is 27 minutes, so today ranks #5 for this week. Its 30-day average is 43 minutes, so today ranks #28 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 32 minutes, so today ranks #186 for the past year.

Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain had an average wait time today of 8 minutes. Its 7-day average is 14 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 26 minutes, so today ranks #29 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 35 minutes, so today ranks #242 for the past year.

Kilimanjaro Safaris had an average wait time today of 10 minutes. Its 7-day average is 13 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 22 minutes, so today ranks #22 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 34 minutes, so today ranks #222 for the past year.

Na’vi River Journey had an average wait time today of 37 minutes. Its 7-day average is 40 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 57 minutes, so today ranks #23 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 50 minutes, so today ranks #170 for the past year.

Avatar Flight of Passage had an average wait time today of 31 minutes. Its 7-day average is 27 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 52 minutes, so today ranks #20 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 66 minutes, so today ranks #177 for the past year.

By the way it’s National Plan for Vacation Day, which is pretty much how every day is around here at TouringPlans. We’re here to help!

The post Easy Breezy Weekday – Disney World Wait Times for Tuesday, January 26, 2021 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Walt Disney World (FL)

Dining with allergies, food sensitivities, or dietary preferences can be challenging in restaurants, and can be even mores at festival booths. EPCOT offers several gluten-free options at different food booths for Festival of the Arts. These are indicated in the festival passport with an orange G symbol. It is noted, however, that because the foods are prepared in the festival booths, they are essentially prepared in a shared kitchen and there is a possibility of cross-contamination.

With that caveat aside, if you’re looking for gluten-free options, there are several at this year’s festival. Like all festival food in general, some are better than others. Here’s our reviews.

Pop Eats: Shrimp Ceviche

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. At the Pop Eats booth, the Shrimp Ceviche with lime mint foam ($6.00) at Pop Eats was incredibly disappointing with mealy shrimp and a lack of flavor. This one is a hard pass.

El Artista Hambriento: Chile Relleno, Pork Belly Pastor, Taco de Chocolate

By far, this booth is the most gluten-free friendly out of the festival, with all three food dishes qualifying.

• Chile Relleno: Fried Poblano Pepper filled with Flank Steak, Black Beans, and Tomatoes, drizzled with a Poblano Cream Sauce – $7.25
• Pork Belly Pastor: Pastor-marinated Pork Belly atop Boniato Purée with Charred Pineapple and Crispy Cilantro – $7.50
• Taco de Chocolate: Chocolate Candy Shell filled with Mexican Chocolate Mousse with a touch of Chile topped with Tropical Fruit  – $6.00

By far, the favorite from here was the Pork Belly Pastor: Sweet and savory and a good portion. It’s worth getting again, although lines for the booth can be long.  Although the chile relleno was good, it wasn’t a huge standout. The flavors are fairly spicy, but not painfully so, however the addition of spice takes away from the potential for other flavors. For the Taco de Chocolate, it has good flavors, but the serving size is really small.

The Artist’s Table: Pan-seared Scallop

The Pan-Seared Scallop with Chorizo, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, and Parmesan Crisp ($7.00) is a beautiful dish to look at — it really is a work of art. The flavors are good as well, and our scallop was cooked perfectly. One challenge for that price tag, however, is that you’re paying $7 for a single scallop. Given the limited offerings for gluten-free options, it is worth the price, but there is a bit of sticker shock that comes along with it.

Vibrante & Vivido: Blue Corn Pupusa

The menu description, like the dish, is a mouthful: Blue Corn Pupusa, Stuffed with Cheese and Topped with Shredded Pork, Guajillo and Árbol Chile Sauce, Cabbage Slaw, and Aji Amarillo Crema ($6.50). There’s a lot of flavors packed into this dish, but it’s a really sound offering that works well.

The post Gluten-Free Hits and Misses at EPCOT’s 2021 Festival of the Arts appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Epcot, Festival of the Arts, Festivals, Walt Disney World (FL), festival of the arts, gluten free

When it comes to finding water bottle refill stations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there’s certainly a disconnect going on. For a theme park whose very message is based on conservation, you’d think that every water fountain would have a water bottle refill station, which would encourage the use of reusable water bottles over single-use water bottles. Sadly, this is one of the more difficult parks to find and use the water bottle refill stations.

One small suggestion for Disney’s comment box — I’d love to see water fountains that have water bottle refilling stations included in the MyDisneyExperience app so you can search for them. It wouldn’t take much to add that, and it would be a very useful search option to have.

During our tour of Animal Kingdom, we were able to locate only two water bottle filling stations. Both were in Pandora and, sadly, both were in queues: one in the Flight of Passage queue and one in the Na’vi River Journey queue. When we asked if we could go in to refill water bottles, we were told no. You can only refill water bottles if you’re waiting in the line.

I truly hope that the lack of water bottle filling stations in Animal Kingdom is an oversight on Disney’s part and that water fountains could get water bottle filling stations added over the next year or so. They are relatively inexpensive (you can get a commercial-grade unit starting around $1500), and the benefits for conservation impact and guest satisfaction are invaluable.

Know of any water bottle filling stations that we’ve missed in our tour of the parks? Think there should be more, especially at Animal Kingdom? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The post Water Bottle Refill Stations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Walt Disney World (FL), water bottles

Sometimes you just need a little something sweet. Over at Le Petit Café at Disney’s Riviera Resort, you can find an assortment of sweets perfect for a quick afternoon pick-you-up. On a recent trip, one item stood out as our must-try item: the hazelnut-caramel profiteroles.

Although I’m pretty sure profiterole is French for “the most delicious dessert on planet Earth”, these are best described as small creme puffs. In this case, they are chocolate creme puffs with a hazelnut-caramel-chocolate filling.

For $6.99, you get 4 held together with more of the chocolate-hazelnut-caramel filling. To add to the presentation of this, a tiny bit of edible gold leaf is added to the top.

This dessert is delightfully light yet satisfying. When you order, you can get this packaged in a lovely pastry box to take with you for doing outside or back in your room. The serving size can be shared, but we think you may want to keep this one for yourself.

Does this look like a wonderful afternoon — or anytime — treat? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The post Hazelnut-Caramel Profiteroles at Le Petit Café Are Simply Divine appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Snacks, Walt Disney World (FL), Disney’s Riviera Resort, le petit cafe

Did you know there is wine that is exclusive to Disney Parks? Disney has a wide selection of wines by the bottle for sale all across Disney property.

On a recent visit to Disney’s Grand Floridian, two bottles in particular caught my eye and I decided to bring home some of the bottled magic. The Sogno d’Italia Chianti is from Tuscany, Italy and it is made exclusively for Disney Parks. Chianti is one of my favorite varieties of wine. I recalled the Sogno d’Italia Chianti debuting at Disney Parks years ago and I was inspired to give it a try.

The other bottle that caught my eye is not exclusive to Disney Parks. Once Upon a Vine is sold at a variety of retailers including Total Wine. While it is not a Disney exclusive, it is one of the most popular brands of wine sold at Disney shops. You can imagine the name Once Upon a Vine is a perfect match for Disney property.

The Sogno d’Italia Chianti and the Once Upon a Vine Enchanted Woods Bubbly were $17.00 each at the Grand Florida Resort merchandise and sundries shop on the first floor. The $17.00 price tag for the Sogno d’Italia Chianti is fair considering the quality, and that is it listed as $39.00 on the Disney Florist and Gifts website. Additionally, there are select Disney resort table service restaurants at which you can order takeout food via mobile ordering, which include wines by the bottle. These wines range from $20.00 to $35.00 on average.

The Sogno d’Italia Chianti tasted great! It was smooth, but had the dryness I expect from a chianti, without being too dry. There was a delightful balance between spice and fruit, like cherries. Chianti usually goes great with heavy foods like steak and rich pasta. Sure enough it paired wonderfully with our family’s simple penne pasta and sauce with Italian sausage.

A few days later we had some good news to celebrate as a family so I popped open the Once Upon a Vine Enchanted Woods Bubbly. This California sparkling white wine is said to be limited release. I sure hope that is not the case, because I truly loved this bubbly. Some sparkling wine can be too dry, too tart, or too sweet. The Enchanted Wood Bubbly was the perfect balance of it all. It was approachable and casual, yet was perfect for toasting a special occasion. At Total Wine this bottle of bubbly is $16.99. I think this the first time I have witnessed Disney not placing a huge markup on alcohol. In fact, in this case, there is no mark up at all.

If you’re celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or any special occasion at Walt Disney World either wine would be a great choice. And at $17.00 per bottle both wines are affordable enough for an in-room toast, simply if all you’re celebrating is your Walt Disney World vacation itself. Cheers!

Do you enjoy wine at Walt Disney World? What’s the best wine you’ve had at Disney?

The post REVIEW – Wine at Disney Resort Merchandise Shops That’s Worth Raising a Glass appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Adults, Drinking, Resorts, disney drinking, disney on site hotels, disney wine