Why is the dashboard so slow?

[slapple]

It seems like whenever I reboot my 2011 MBP with Mac OS X 10.7.4 and I try to switch to the dashboard, it takes maybe 5 seconds before all the widgets load and become useable. I think the dashboard is also slow to load after I have brought the MBP out of sleep mode.

The widgets that I have on the dashboard are the calendar, clock, weather, calculator, dictionary, and iStat Pro.

 

[Intell]

This is how it's been since Dashboard came out with Tiger. This is caused by Dashboard not loading the widgets until used for the first time after a restart, login, or wake up.

 

[Drew017]

... and the more widgets you have, the longer it will take when you first open dashboard for them to load. I usually make it a routine to open dashboard right after I reboot, login etc. so that my widgets can load.