Animal Kingdom
vs
Kings Island

Animal Kingdom and Kings Island queue about the same on a typical day - 32 minutes against 32 minutes across 6 and 24 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

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01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Animal Kingdom and Kings Island compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Animal KingdomUnited States	Kings IslandUnited States
Average wait per ride	32 min	32 min
Rides with recorded waits	6	24 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Avatar Flight of Passage58 min	Flight of Fear69 min
Shortest typical queue	Wildlife Express Train7 min	The Racer (Red)14 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	92%	Not recorded

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Animal Kingdom and Kings Island compared on live queue times
Right now	Animal KingdomUnited States	Kings IslandUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day Animal Kingdom and Kings Island queue about the same on a typical day - 32 minutes against 32 minutes across 6 and 24 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Animal Kingdom if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 32 minutes a ride
Avatar Flight of Passage is on your list - it is Animal Kingdom's longest typical queue at about 58 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Animal Kingdom's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Kings Island if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 32 minutes a ride
You want more to do: 24 rides here have recorded wait data against 6 at Animal Kingdom
Flight of Fear is on your list - it is Kings Island's longest typical queue at about 69 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Kings Island's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom blends a full theme park with a working zoo. The park sits at Walt Disney World and is the largest of the four by area. Signature attractions include Avatar Flight of Passage, Na'vi River Journey, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and the Festival of the Lion King show. Pandora – The World of Avatar regularly posts the longest wait times in the park.

Animal Kingdom is usually less crowded than Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but Avatar Flight of Passage still routinely exceeds 60-minute queue times. Early mornings are best for the safaris when animals are most active. Check live wait times on arrival and head to Pandora first. Use our crowd calendar to pick a quieter date outside US school holidays for a more relaxed visit.

Animal Kingdom live queue times

Kings Island

Kings Island is a huge theme park in Mason, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. It's one of the Cedar Fair (now Six Flags) parks and runs a strong coaster line-up: The Beast (the world's longest wooden coaster, opened 1979), Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, Orion (a giga coaster), Banshee (the world's longest inverted coaster), and Racer. A full water park operates on the same site during summer.

The Ohio summer school break and Halloween Haunt event drive Kings Island's busiest periods, with weekend queue times on Orion and The Beast often exceeding 90 minutes. Weekdays in May, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit if you want to ride everything in a day.

Kings Island live queue times

05 · Questions

Animal Kingdom or Kings Island?

Which is better, Animal Kingdom or Kings Island?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 32 minutes a ride on a typical day. Animal Kingdom has 6 rides with recorded waits against 24 at Kings Island. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Animal Kingdom or Kings Island?

They are level. Animal Kingdom averages 32 minutes a ride on a typical day and Kings Island averages 32 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Animal Kingdom best time to visit and Kings Island best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Animal Kingdom and Kings Island in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Animal Kingdom and Kings Island for the full ride lists.

Is Animal Kingdom bigger than Kings Island?

By rides we track waits for, Kings Island is the bigger day out: 24 rides against 6. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Animal Kingdom calendar Kings Island calendar Compare other parks