Hollywood Studios Is Running Hot and the Rest of Disney World Isn't

Hollywood Studios Is the Only Crowded Park at Walt Disney World

If you toured Walt Disney World this past week and felt like you had stumbled into two completely different resorts depending on which gate you tapped, you were not imagining things. Lightning Brain's weekly park report confirms what a lot of guests sensed on the ground: Hollywood Studios ran at a 6/10 (Average) all week with a 40-minute median wait, while Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom spent most of the week in light, comfortable territory. The resort-wide median held at 20 minutes for the third consecutive week, but that number is deceptive. It smooths over a gap between the busiest park and the lightest that widened with every passing day.

The driver is clear. Lightning Brain points to a cluster of recently reopened headliners at Hollywood Studios, including Rock 'n' Roller Coaster's new Muppets overlay, Drawn to Wonderland, and Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live, all of which debuted within roughly two weeks of each other. Fresh attractions pull disproportionate demand, and the numbers bear it out. Hollywood Studios never dropped below a 30-minute median, even on its lightest day, and peaked Thursday at 45 minutes. No other park came close.

Meanwhile, Animal Kingdom told a two-act story. Lightning Brain reports the park opened the week genuinely empty, with 10-minute medians on Sunday and Tuesday, a true 1/10 (Light) where Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest were practically walk-ons in the morning. Then it climbed. By Friday, the park nudged into 5/10 (Average) territory. The most plausible explanation, according to Lightning Brain, is The Ripken Experience, a multi-day youth baseball tournament running at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. Those families tend to surface in the parks once games wrap, and Animal Kingdom's earlier close funnels them into a tighter window.

Magic Kingdom and EPCOT barely moved off their floors for most of the week. Saturday's daily report from Lightning Brain underscored the oddity: Magic Kingdom finished as the lightest park of the day with a 12.9-minute median, roughly 14 percent under its own 30-day average. When Fantasyland attractions like Under the Sea, Barnstormer, Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, and Magic Carpets all sit at a flat five-minute walk-on, you know guests spread thin across a big park on a hot day. Even Pirates of the Caribbean at 10 minutes and Jungle Cruise at 25 minutes ran well below their usual posts.

The planning takeaway is sharp and specific: if you are visiting Walt Disney World right now, your park choice matters more than your rope-drop strategy. Hollywood Studios is operating at a fundamentally different crowd level than the other three gates. Year to date, Lightning Brain notes this week was busier than only about 21 percent of all days, which tells you early-summer demand remains soft before the late-June rush. However, that softness is unevenly distributed. Pick your park carefully.

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One more thing worth flagging from Saturday: Test Track had the worst reliability day of any single attraction, according to Lightning Brain's daily report. A 150-minute morning closure, two more afternoon stretches, and a final 8 PM outage it never recovered from occurred. EPCOT guests counting on it lost it for most of the day. Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom was also down twice in the afternoon, roughly four and a half hours combined. A brief rain band between 4:31 and 5:46 PM triggered weather-protocol closures on Slinky Dog Dash, Gorilla Falls, and Kali River Rapids. None of this was catastrophic, but it reshuffled touring plans for anyone who did not have a backup ready.

The Parks

Over at Hollywood Studios, the park's crowd dominance may soon get a new wrinkle. Disney Tourist Blog reports that Imagineering has filed a construction permit for Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, following up on mysterious filings under the name "Project Fedora." The blog covers details from three Notices of Commencement submitted by Walt Disney World, though the scope of the work remains unclear. Whether this is a refresh, an overlay, or something more ambitious, the fact that Imagineering is filing multiple permits for a single attraction suggests the project has real weight behind it. The Stunt Spectacular has been a Hollywood Studios fixture for decades, and any significant changes would ripple through a park that is already drawing the resort's heaviest foot traffic.

At Disneyland, MickeyBlog highlights a limited-time offering at Vista Parkside Market in Downtown Disney, where Disney+ Hulu Throwbacks is being celebrated with themed food, drinks, and decor. The upstairs bar features a photo-op corner with old TV sets, vinyl records, VHS tapes, and cassette tapes. Themed drinks include The Pinkalicious, a non-alcoholic option at $14, and Wisteria Lane, an Empress 1908 Gin cocktail inspired by Desperate Housewives at $19. The Sunken City Crisps, themed after Atlantis: The Lost Empire, run $12 for bulgogi beef on tortilla chips with Asian slaw and chipotle crema. MickeyBlog notes that today, June 14, is the last day to grab these items, so if you are at the Disneyland Resort, this is a closing window.

Across the Pacific, WDW News Today reports that Tokyo Disney Resort will open the hotel-exclusive Fantasy Springs entrance to non-hotel guests this summer through a special Park Hopper ticket. This represents a notable shift for a resort that has kept Fantasy Springs access tightly controlled since the land's opening. The same daily recap notes that solar-powered trash cans with foot pedals continue to roll out across World Showcase at EPCOT, a quiet infrastructure upgrade that most guests will never consciously notice but will appreciate every time they do not have to touch a lid in 97-degree heat.

And at Disney's Animal Kingdom, the park's newest resident is already making an impression. Disney Parks Blog reports that Ivy, a Masai giraffe calf born in April, has made her savanna debut on Kilimanjaro Safaris alongside her mom, Willow. Already weighing nearly 300 pounds and standing about seven and a half feet tall, Ivy joins a herd that includes fan favorite Tucker, her half-brother born in 2025. Masai giraffes are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with an estimated 30,000 remaining worldwide. Over at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, a male nyala calf named Parker is also settling in, born with the white stripes and spots that help nyala calves blend into tall grass before developing darker coats and spiral horns as adults.

The Screen

Toy Story 5 arrives in theaters on June 19, and the promotional machine is running at full speed. D23 published a comprehensive character guide this week, confirming the returning voice cast: Tom Hanks as Woody, Disney Legend Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack as Jessie. The new antagonist, Lilypad, is voiced by Greta Lee, a tablet device that arrives with disruptive ideas about what is best for Bonnie. D23 notes the film features an original song performed by Taylor Swift, "I Knew It, I Knew You," written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, alongside an original score by Oscar winner Randy Newman, who returns to score his fifth Toy Story feature. The film is directed by Academy Award winner Andrew Stanton and co-directed by Kenna Harris.

Meanwhile, AllEars reports that we now know when Toy Story 5 will be available for streaming on Disney+, though the specific date was teased rather than detailed in their coverage. For families who prefer the living room to the multiplex, that timeline is worth watching.

On the streaming side, the Disney+ Hulu Throwbacks initiative continues to extend beyond physical activations. The Walt Disney Company confirmed that the Throwbacks Stream has returned for Premium subscribers, offering an all-day marathon of the top 50 Disney Channel Original Movies. The collection celebrates the 20th anniversaries of High School Musical, Hannah Montana, The Devil Wears Prada, and Ugly Betty. The physical Mini Mall activation at Westfield Century City ran June 6 through 7, drawing stars including Glee's Amber Riley and Josh Sussman, High School Musical's Drew Seeley, and That's So Raven's Juliette Goglia. The event featured a Princess Diaries Mattress Slide, a MAC Cosmetics beauty salon with looks inspired by Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls, and a pin-vending machine dispensing collectible takeaways.

The Vault

Disney Cruise Line's environmental track record got a quiet but meaningful update this week. Disney Experiences reports that the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority awarded Disney Cruise Line the Blue Circle Award for 2025, extending a streak that covers every year DCL has been homeported in the city. The Blue Circle Awards, established in 2009, recognize operators who demonstrate the highest level of participation in the port's environmental programs. Shore power, the ability to plug into the port's electric grid and shut down engines while docked, remains a key part of DCL's approach in Vancouver.

The timing matters. Disney Experiences notes that in 2026, the Disney Magic will join the Disney Wonder in sailing to Alaska from Vancouver, marking the first time two Disney Cruise Line ships will operate in the region. That expansion makes the sustainability credential more than ceremonial. DCL was also ranked No. 7 on the 2026 Forbes Best Brands for Social Impact list. With eight ships in the current fleet and five more planned by 2031, including the newly announced Disney Believe launching next year, the line's environmental commitments will face increasing scrutiny as it scales. Earning a port authority award in the city you depart from to sail through some of the most pristine waters on the planet is a credible answer to that scrutiny, though not a definitive one.

BlogMickey has confirmed that AI-powered search results are coming to the Walt Disney World website, following earlier announcements about AI search in the My Disney Experience app. An errant notice briefly appeared on the site referencing "AI Overview" in a Cast Preview phase, though BlogMickey reports that the notice was published in error and the results visible at the time were not actually AI-powered. The upgraded search, when it arrives, will allow guests to type natural-language questions and receive AI-generated summaries rather than a list of links. In a demo shown during a recent media briefing, Disney executives demonstrated a query for "ride in space" that returned Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Space Mountain, Mission: SPACE, and Star Tours. For a website that has historically required guests to already know what they were looking for, that kind of search represents a genuine shift in how Walt Disney World communicates with the people trying to give it money.

Sources

Lightning Brain · Disney Tourist Blog · MickeyBlog · WDW News Today · Disney Parks Blog · D23 · AllEars · Walt Disney Company · Disney Experiences · BlogMickey