Magic Kingdom · measured wait profile
The shortest average wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was 9 AM–10 AM (13 min), versus 46 min at its busiest hour, 6 PM–7 PM. Rope drop averaged 9 min and the last hour before close 25 min, so the first hour after opening (rope drop) is the better bet. Measured by SupaPark over the last 28 days (Sep 15–Oct 12, 2026).
Data as of Oct 12, 2026. Source: SupaPark measurements.
| Hour (ET) | All days | Weekdays | Weekends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 AM–9 AM | — | — | 8 min |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 13 min | 12 min | 15 min |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 26 min | 27 min | 24 min |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 32 min | 32 min | 33 min |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 34 min | 33 min | 37 min |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 33 min | 31 min | 37 min |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 34 min | 31 min | 40 min |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 35 min | 35 min | 37 min |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 33 min | 31 min | 38 min |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 35 min | 33 min | 41 min |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 46 min | — | 46 min |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 41 min | — | 42 min |
| 8 PM–9 PM | — | — | 34 min |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 23 min | — | 27 min |
| 10 PM–11 PM | — | — | 22 min |
Weekdays = Monday–Friday (20 days); weekends = Saturday–Sunday (8 days). An hour is shown only if it was measured on at least half the days.
In SupaPark's measurements over the last 28 days, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had its shortest average posted wait from 9 AM–10 AM (13 min), and the single quietest half-hour slot was 9 AM (11 min).
Rope drop (the first hour after the park opens) averaged 9 min over 26 days; the last hour before close averaged 25 min over 27 days. The daily peak averaged 43 min.
The busiest hour on average was 6 PM–7 PM at 46 min; the most common hour for the day's peak was 6 PM–7 PM.
Across the operating day, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad averaged 29 min on weekdays (20 days) and 32 min on weekends (8 days) — 3 min longer on weekends. Quietest weekday hour: 9 AM–10 AM; quietest weekend hour: 8 AM–9 AM.
SupaPark tracks Lightning Lane availability for the rides that have it; see measured sellout times at supapark.com/lightning-lane/sellout.
SupaPark records the posted standby wait for every Walt Disney World attraction every few minutes and keeps a permanent half-hour archive. For each day we keep only the half-hours inside that park's published operating hours that have at least two open-status readings, average them by hour, then average each hour across days. "Rope drop" is the park's first operating hour that day and "last hour" is the hour before its published close, so the comparison follows the real schedule (including early closes for evening events). Posted waits are what the park displays; actual waits often run shorter — see SupaPark Real Wait (an estimate). Month-by-month posted waits for every ride: posted wait times report. Window: 28 days (Sep 15–Oct 12, 2026).
wait_halfhour_archive), Sep 15, 2026–Oct 12, 2026, 28 days.park_hours).