Daily Park Report: July 23, 2026

Slinky Dog Dash Sat Idle All Afternoon — and Thursday’s Real Test Was Which Rides Stayed Running

The wait times on Thursday, July 23, told a calm story. The status boards told a rougher one. Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios went down at 11:39 AM and never came back — more than eleven hours offline through park close. Over at EPCOT, Living with the Land and Spaceship Earth spent the day cycling in and out of service like a bad pattern on repeat. So while the crowd math was routine across all four parks, whether your must-ride was actually open was the coin flip that defined the day.

It was hot and clear — a 95.7°F high, no rain, the kind of dry summer heat that pushes guests toward air-conditioned queues by early afternoon. That matters for how the day filled in, but it wasn’t a crowd driver on its own.

Park by Park

Hollywood Studios ran a 7/10 with a 34-minute median, sitting right on its own 30-day norm. That percentile rating — busier than about two-thirds of the past year — is what summer at Studios looks like. The 3:00 PM peak hit 50 minutes, and the Slinky closure is a big reason the afternoon leaned heavy: with Toy Story Land’s headliner dark, demand pooled onto everything else. Rise of the Resistance adding its own two-hour outage in the mid-afternoon only tightened the squeeze on the rides that stayed up.

Magic Kingdom also posted a 7/10, but keep that in perspective — its median was 15 minutes, dead even with its baseline. The park’s low-wait math means a “busy” percentile still translates to comfortable touring; the 1:00 PM peak topped out around 20 minutes. The standout was Pirates of the Caribbean, which was down from 9:02 AM until 2:16 PM, then posted a 33-minute average once it reopened as everyone who’d been waiting all morning piled in at once. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ran hot too, averaging 65 minutes — no surprise given a 95-degree day makes a soak-you water ride the most wanted seat in the park.

EPCOT landed at a 5/10, a touch above its usual rhythm with a 16-minute median. Midday brought the 30-minute peak at noon, but the evening is where things unraveled. Spaceship Earth was down for the final stretch and didn’t reopen; Living with the Land logged multiple separate outages totaling several hours. Both are indoor, high-capacity crowd-eaters, so losing them after dark pushed guests onto a thinner ride roster than the numbers alone suggest.

Animal Kingdom was the calmest read at 4/10, an 18.8-minute median that actually came in slightly under its 30-day average. The 11:00 AM peak of 40 minutes reflects the classic early rush on Everest and the safari before the heat sets in. Expedition Everest took two separate afternoon breaks, but with waits this manageable, guests had room to pivot without much pain.

Downtime Report

This was a rough day for ride availability, and none of it was weather. Slinky Dog Dash’s all-afternoon closure was the headliner — losing Toy Story Land’s marquee coaster for the entire operating day sent overflow onto Studios’ remaining attractions during its busiest window. Pirates of the Caribbean cost Magic Kingdom its morning, sidelined for over five hours before roaring back to a 33-minute line. And EPCOT’s evening was a slow bleed: Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land, two of the park’s dependable people-movers, both spent long stretches offline, thinning out the after-dark options right when guests were escaping the heat.

Today’s Prediction — Friday, July 24

First, a note on the scorecard: yesterday’s engine forecast was sharp. It nailed Animal Kingdom outright, came within one level on the other three, and correctly called both the best and avoid parks. Wait errors were all under two minutes.

For today, the engine sees a busy but workable Friday. Hollywood Studios is the one to plan around at 7/10 with a 42-minute expected median — it’s the avoid pick, and with Early Theme Park Entry live for resort guests, rope-drop Slinky (assuming it’s back) or Rise before the crowds thicken. Magic Kingdom comes in at 6/10, around 22 minutes, still comfortable by its standards. EPCOT sits at 5/10 near 29 minutes, and Animal Kingdom is the best park at 5/10 with a 25-minute read. Summer’s peak-family travel keeps everything above baseline, so there’s no truly quiet park today — but Animal Kingdom gives you the most breathing room. Expect another 93-degree afternoon, so bank your outdoor rides early and save the indoor headliners for the heat of the day.

Want real-time attraction status before you commit to a land? Thursday proved the crowd level and the ride availability are two different questions — Lightning Brain’s live data feeds help you dodge closures like Slinky’s all-day outage before they wreck your plan. Now available at lightningbrain.app and on the App Store!