Hyperia was the British curveball in a very American-looking wait-time day. While Universal Epic Universe kept doing its big new-park thing with Mine-Cart Madness averaging 125 minutes, Thorpe Park’s headline coaster sat just under 99 minutes — and honestly, that made my wait-time brain perk up immediately.
Epic Universe still had the big-park gravity
Universal Epic Universe was once again the park that pulled the whole board towards it. Across the past 24 hours, the park hovered around a 50-minute average, with waits reaching 180 minutes at the top end. That is not just “a bit busy”; that is the kind of day where your route through the park really matters, especially if you are chasing the major new rides. You can follow the live picture on the Universal Epic Universe wait times page.
Mine-Cart Madness remained the big queue magnet, and I still find those numbers slightly wild every time I stare at them. The ride averaged 125 minutes and peaked at 150, while Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry climbed as high as 180. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge and Stardust Racers also stayed firmly in “plan this properly” territory, which gave Epic Universe that familiar pattern: one ride anchors the chaos, but the surrounding heavy hitters make it hard to simply dodge the queue and move on.
Extra Hours on 17 July also gives the morning a bit of context at Epic Universe. Extra Hours means selected guests get access before the regular day, so the sharpest fans are already moving before everyone else has even properly entered the park. That kind of head start can make the first public hour feel less innocent than it looks on paper — and yes, I absolutely love spotting that in the graphs.
Thorpe Park did not top the list, but Hyperia shouted loudest in Britain
Thorpe Park’s overall average was much calmer than the American monsters, sitting around 27 minutes, but Hyperia was playing a completely different game from the rest of the park. With an average just shy of 99 minutes and a peak of 140, it was the British ride that most clearly belonged in the same conversation as the big US headliners. For a UK park, that is a proper “choose your moment or pay the queue tax” situation. The live board is here: Thorpe Park wait times.
What I liked about Thorpe’s day is that the park average did not tell the full story. You could have wandered in, seen a manageable general picture, and still been absolutely caught out by Hyperia. Amity Beach also appeared later than scheduled, first showing movement around 12:17 after a 10:00 opening plan, so anyone banking on a neat, everything-open-from-the-start rhythm had a slightly messier morning than expected.
Flamingo Land gave us a neat little closing-time nugget too. Earlier in the day, Flamingo 1, Mumbo Jumbo and Sik had all been busy enough to matter, with peaks around 60 minutes. Then, just after the planned 17:00 close, Mumbo Jumbo still had a 30-minute queue while Sik was still showing a small wait. I would not call that extra opening time, but for fans who like squeezing one last ride out of the day, that is exactly the kind of tiny end-of-day clue I get far too excited about.
Hollywood Studios, Knott’s and Universal Hollywood kept the US pressure on
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was another park where the average stayed seriously chunky. Around 42 minutes across the park, with Slinky Dog Dash reaching 125, is the sort of day where Toy Story Land can quietly eat your afternoon if you do not keep an eye on it. Early Entry was also active on 17 and 18 July; that is the Disney perk where eligible guests can enter before the main opening window, and it often means the headline rides are already being chased before the day properly starts. The current board is on the Disney’s Hollywood Studios wait times page.
Universal Studios Hollywood had a very readable rhythm, which is always fun when the graph almost tells you where the crowd walked. The calmest hour was around 09:00 with waits near 5 minutes, but by 17:00 the busiest slice had climbed above 126 minutes on average. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge led the charge with an average close to 79 minutes and a 135-minute peak. Extra Hours on 17 July, from 08:00 to 09:00 locally, helps explain why the morning was not just a normal rope-drop story there either.
Knott’s Berry Farm had one of my favourite patterns of the day because the window was so sharp. Around 10:00, the park still looked almost sleepy, but by 11:00 the busy hour had exploded to about 115 minutes on average. GhostRider did exactly what GhostRider does on these days: it became the wooden-coaster monster, averaging 84 minutes and hitting 120. If you enjoy watching a park wake up fast, the Knott’s Berry Farm wait times were basically a little thriller.
EPCOT had a late-day escape hatch
EPCOT was not the loudest park overall, but it offered a very useful lesson. The busiest hour clustered around 14:00, when waits were roughly 92 minutes on average, while around 20:00 the board relaxed close to 5 minutes. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind still had real pull, averaging 79 minutes and reaching 105, so this was not a dead day at all — more a day where patience could be rewarded later. Keep an eye on the EPCOT wait times if you like that evening drop strategy.
Early Entry was also active at EPCOT on both 17 and 18 July. For visitors, that means some eligible guests can start before the regular crowd, which can make the first visible waits feel a little less “fresh start” than you might expect. Advanced Training Lab also appeared three hours later than planned, but the bigger practical takeaway was still the afternoon-to-evening swing.
The happiest surprise: tiny waits at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Busch Gardens Williamsburg quietly handed wait-time nerds a little present between 10:00 and 11:00. Across five attractions, waits sat around 2 to 3 minutes, which is the kind of peaceful hour that makes you want to whisper at the graph in case you scare it away. It was not the main story of the day, but I always love these calm pockets because they remind you that not every summer park day is automatically a battle plan.
Extra park time deserves applause
SeaWorld Orlando deserves a proper nod, because the park kept moving well beyond its planned 21:00 close. Penguin Trek was still showing a 20-minute wait as late as 22:46, after a day where rides like Penguin Trek, Journey to Atlantis, Pipeline, Infinity Falls, Mako, Ice Breaker and Manta had all been properly busy. That is roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes of extra park time, and for visitors who stayed late, that is a lovely bonus.
Universal Volcano Bay did the same watery version of that trick. The planned close was 19:00, but Krakatau Aqua Coaster still had a 45-minute wait at 20:39 after a day where multiple slides had reached 60 minutes or more. Nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes extra at a water park is a very nice gift, especially when the headline aqua coaster is still drawing a queue.
Knott’s Berry Farm also kept the fun going past its planned 22:00 close. GhostRider was still showing a 90-minute wait at 23:10, after being one of the park’s busiest rides all day. That is around 70 minutes of extra Knott’s energy, and honestly, if you are going to end a night, doing it with GhostRider still pulling a crowd is very on-brand.
A quick word on unavailable rides
Some long-running unavailable rides at several US parks were still part of the background today, including parks such as Carowinds, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Great America and Hurricane Harbor Arlington. Because those exact situations have already been covered recently and were not a fresh twist in this 24-hour window, I would not build today’s plan around rehashing them — but I would absolutely check the park page before committing your day around one specific must-do.
My personal strategy from this batch? At Thorpe Park, I would treat Hyperia as the first real decision of the day rather than something to “fit in later.” At Universal Epic Universe, I would avoid the mid-afternoon crush and watch for any evening softening before committing to Mine-Cart Madness. And if you are at Knott’s Berry Farm or SeaWorld Orlando, staying late looked genuinely worth it yesterday — those final hours were where the wait-time magic got interesting.
The day in charts
