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Most Disney World attractions run reliably for days on end. Several Disney World rides break down on a regular basis, from weather, mechanical, or other causes. An unexpected ride closure can throw a wrench into anyone’s day, as this mom notes:

We had a lot of rides that had tech problems. Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Flight of Passage, Peter Pan’s Flight and Spaceship Earth. This was VERY frustrating!! We spent over 3 hours in line for FOP because of this. It made the other rides less fun because it would just stop in the middle of the ride and lose the magic.

Mom from Springville, Alabama

It’s not magical to arrive at an attraction that just closed. It’s even worse to have waited in a long line before hearing that the attraction is closed. Compounding that problem is that Disney cast members will not estimate when the attraction will re-open – they’ll only tell you if the ride will definitely be closed for the rest of the day. But we’re here to help you avoid ride closures and handle them when they do occur.

Tools to Avoid Closures

The TouringPlans’ Lines app will tell you when an attraction is closed and estimate when it will reopen. When you re-optimize your touring plan in our Lines app, the software will automatically shift a closed attraction to later in the day.

We’re also working to use weather forecasts to predict attraction closures. When this is running, personalized touring plans will avoid sending you to outdoor attractions in the middle of a storm.

We’ve got advice even if you’re not following a touring plan. Below is a list of attractions that experience frequent closures during the first and last hour the park is open. Use that when deciding which attraction not to visit first or last in the day.

Ride Closure Data

Below are Walt Disney World attraction closure statistics for the past year. The attractions are sorted in descending order by closure rates for each park.

Magic Kingdom Ride Closures

Magic Kingdom Attractions Days with a Closure Mean/Median

Closure Length

(minute) Any Time First Hour Last Hour Splash Mountain 68% 29% 11% 74/60 Pirates of Caribbean 64% 22% 8% 50/21 Winnie the Pooh 61% 18% 9% 34/28 7 Dwarfs Train 57% 12% 11% 55/46 Space Mountain 55% 15% 9% 58/49 Magic Carpets 50% 3% 6% 37/15 Buzz Lightyear 45% 4% 4% 20/7 Peter Pan’s Flight 43% 6% 5% 21/8 Big Thunder Mtn 42% 9% 5% 71/60 Barnstormer 41% 6% 7% 49/39 Jungle Cruise 41% 3% 5% 59/38 Haunted Mansion 40% 5% 3% 29/13 Astro Orbiter 26% 2% 3% 63/53 Under the Sea 24% 4% 2% 31/18 Dumbo 23% 2% 3% 60/52 Laugh Floor 17% 4% 3% 65/39 it’s a small world 16% 4% 1% 52/15 Ench Tales w/ Belle 11% 4% 1% 29/14 Ariel’s Grotto 6% 2% 1% 16/14 Mean is the average of all observed closures.

Median is the 50th percentile: The point where half the closures are above and below. The mean and median are both statistical measures of central tendency. When the mean does not equal the median the data distribution is skewed. For the closure data, when the mean is greater than the median, that means that there are some very long closures.

Epcot Ride Closures

Epcot Kingdom Attractions Days with a Closure Mean/Median

Closure Length

(minute) Any Time First Hour Last Hour Test Track 81% 27% 22% 53/22 Frozen Ever After 59% 11% 15% 59/46 Spaceship Earth 44% 8% 7% 27/12 Jrny Imagination 35% 13% 5% 35/21 Gran Fiesta Tour 32% 10% 4% 179/33 Living w/ Land 25% 8% 2% 24/13 Seas with Nemo 14% 4% 0% 35/15 Msn: SPACE Orange 5% 2% 0% 16/11 Soarin’ 2% 1% 0% 93/25

Hollywood Studios Ride Closures

Hollywood Studios Attractions Days with a Closure Mean/Median

Closure Length

(minute) Any Time First Hour Last Hour Tower of Terror 36% 6% 4% 50/28 Rock Coaster 28% 9% 3% 39/25 Toy Story Mania! 25% 6% 3% 51/44 Muppet*Vision 3D 5% 1% 0% 84/35 Star Tours 2% 0% 0% 46/29

Animal Kingdom Ride Closures

Animal Kingdom Attractions Days with a Closure Mean/Median

Closure Length

(minute) Any Time First Hour Last Hour Kali River Rapids 64% 12% 11% 45/14 DINOSAUR 63% 14% 9% 40/14 TriceraTop Spin 49% 5% 6% 32/14 Na’vi River 41% 8% 6% 38/11 Expedition Everest 40% 15% 7% 59/38 Primeval Whirl 27% 4% 5% 45/33 It’s Tough to Be a Bug 14% 4% 1% 41/25 Flight of Passage 11% 2% 1% 72/27 Kilimanjaro Safaris 7% 2% 1% 30/7

Test Track at Epcot has the highest closure rate of 81% – that means that 295 of the last 365 days saw at least one closure. Half of the closures at Test Track were 22 minutes or shorter. Attractions with multiple rooms or multiple tracks rarely have a full closure. For example, Star Tours can operate with 4 simulators if 2 simulators are malfunctioning.

Strategies for Avoiding Ride Closures

Keep an eye on the weather. Assume outdoor attractions will be closed if a thunderstorm is in the forecast. Expect crowds to be higher on a nice day after a storm.

Also, watch out for closed attractions. Be prepared to jump in line as soon as an attraction re-opens. For example, if Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is closed, but you see Disney running empty trains, it is likely ready to re-open.

You may want to avoid the attractions with a high rate of first-hour closures if you are choosing an attraction to rush to at park opening. Prioritize attractions with a high rate of closure for FastPass+.

FastPass+ Strategy

At first, it might sound counter-intuitive to get FastPasses for attractions that have a high rate of closure. The FastPass+ rule is generous for attractions that have a closure. A FastPass+ reservation for a closed attraction automatically turns into an Anytime FastPass+. An Anytime FastPass+ can be used at almost all attractions in the park. If the closure is late enough in the day, the Anytime FastPass+ is good for an extra day and good at any park. An Anytime FastPass+ does not count against your available FastPasses. You can book another FastPass+ while holding an Anytime FastPass+.

The Final Straw

Let Disney know if you’ve experienced several closed attractions in a park. Be polite and acknowledge that it’s not the cast member’s fault. You may get some pixie dust.

Historic Closure Rates

The Crowd Calendar daily pages show weather and closure (offline) rates. On the page, you can see each attraction’s predicted and observed average wait time and the closure (offline) rate.

Have attraction closures impacted your day at the parks? What rides always seem to be down when you want to ride them? Let us know in the comments.