diff --git a/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.test.ts b/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb2796ad5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import type { Page } from '@playwright/test';
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+
+import { isLegacyFeatureEnabled } from './isFeatureToggleEnabled';
+
+/**
+ * Stands in for a Playwright Page. waitForFunction resolves with a handle whose jsonValue()
+ * returns the toggle map, or rejects to simulate the timeout.
+ */
+function createMockPage(behaviour: { toggles?: Record<string, boolean>; timesOut?: boolean }) {
+  return {
+    waitForFunction: vi.fn().mockImplementation(() => {
+      if (behaviour.timesOut) {
+        return Promise.reject(new Error('Timeout 5000ms exceeded'));
+      }
+      return Promise.resolve({ jsonValue: () => Promise.resolve(behaviour.toggles) });
+    }),
+  } as unknown as Page;
+}
+
+describe('isLegacyFeatureEnabled', () => {
+  it('returns true for an enabled toggle', async () => {
+    const page = createMockPage({ toggles: { dashboardNewLayouts: true } });
+    await expect(isLegacyFeatureEnabled(page, 'dashboardNewLayouts')).resolves.toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for a toggle that is absent from the map', async () => {
+    const page = createMockPage({ toggles: { somethingElse: true } });
+    await expect(isLegacyFeatureEnabled(page, 'dashboardNewLayouts')).resolves.toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('waits for the toggle map rather than reading it once', async () => {
+    const page = createMockPage({ toggles: { dashboardNewLayouts: true } });
+    await isLegacyFeatureEnabled(page, 'dashboardNewLayouts');
+    expect(page.waitForFunction).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  // Falling back to an empty map here would be indistinguishable from every toggle being
+  // disabled, so callers would silently take a legacy branch on an instance where the toggle is
+  // on. The timeout must stay loud.
+  it('rethrows when boot data never arrives rather than reporting every toggle as disabled', async () => {
+    const page = createMockPage({ timesOut: true });
+    await expect(isLegacyFeatureEnabled(page, 'dashboardNewLayouts')).rejects.toThrow(
+      /featureToggles was not available within 5000ms/
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('preserves the underlying timeout as the error cause', async () => {
+    const page = createMockPage({ timesOut: true });
+    const error = await isLegacyFeatureEnabled(page, 'dashboardNewLayouts').catch((e: unknown) => e);
+    expect((error as Error).cause).toEqual(new Error('Timeout 5000ms exceeded'));
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.ts b/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.ts
index 98d4a6d6ce..24eb43e05e 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-e2e/src/fixtures/isFeatureToggleEnabled.ts
@@ -3,9 +3,40 @@ import { PlaywrightArgs } from '../types';
 
 type FeatureToggleFixture = TestFixture<<T = object>(featureToggle: keyof T) => Promise<boolean>, PlaywrightArgs>;
 
+const FEATURE_TOGGLES_TIMEOUT = 5000;
+
+/**
+ * Reads the feature toggle map from boot data, waiting for it to arrive.
+ *
+ * Grafana can render the app shell before it has merged its boot data, in which case
+ * `settings.featureToggles` is briefly absent even though the Window type declares it as always
+ * present. Reading it once then throws `Cannot read properties of undefined`.
+ *
+ * Waiting removes that race. It deliberately does not fall back to an empty map when the wait
+ * times out, because a missing map is indistinguishable from every toggle being disabled: a
+ * caller would silently take its legacy branch on an instance where the toggle is enabled. A
+ * loud failure is the lesser evil, so the timeout is rethrown with the context needed to act
+ * on it.
+ */
+const readFeatureToggles = async <T>(page: Page): Promise<T> => {
+  try {
+    const featureToggles = await page.waitForFunction(
+      () => window.grafanaBootData?.settings?.featureToggles ?? null,
+      undefined,
+      { timeout: FEATURE_TOGGLES_TIMEOUT }
+    );
+    return (await featureToggles.jsonValue()) as T;
+  } catch (error) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `@grafana/plugin-e2e: window.grafanaBootData.settings.featureToggles was not available within ${FEATURE_TOGGLES_TIMEOUT}ms`,
+      { cause: error }
+    );
+  }
+};
+
 export const isLegacyFeatureToggleEnabled: FeatureToggleFixture = async ({ page }, use) => {
   await use(async <T = object>(featureToggle: keyof T) => {
-    const featureToggles: T = await page.evaluate('window.grafanaBootData.settings.featureToggles');
+    const featureToggles = await readFeatureToggles<T>(page);
     return Boolean(featureToggles[featureToggle]);
   });
 };
@@ -13,7 +44,7 @@ export const isLegacyFeatureToggleEnabled: FeatureToggleFixture = async ({ page
 export const isFeatureToggleEnabled: FeatureToggleFixture = isLegacyFeatureToggleEnabled;
 
 export const isLegacyFeatureEnabled = async (page: Page, featureToggle: string) => {
-  const featureToggles: Record<string, string> = await page.evaluate('window.grafanaBootData.settings.featureToggles');
+  const featureToggles = await readFeatureToggles<Record<string, boolean>>(page);
   return Boolean(featureToggles[featureToggle]);
 };