I also stopped by yesterday. They are trying to enforce not exiting via Peach's castle, even when the area is not crowded. I was able to easily see Princess Peach without queuing up beforehand - the band scans are not working yet, but her speech and facial movements were much more intelligible and pronounced.
Safe to say when Mario Kart is claiming a 30 minute wait, it means it's a walk-on. They closed the single rider line in the last hour and turned off the preshows, keeping the doors open. Ops in there needs help, quick - lots of brutally slow dispatches.
Games were always busy, even in the last hour. Something to keep an eye on - seems many families were leaving Bowser Jr. for last, leading to a queue spilling out of his castle around 20 minutes to close.