diff --git a/aio/content/examples/component-interaction/e2e/src/app.e2e-spec.ts b/aio/content/examples/component-interaction/e2e/src/app.e2e-spec.ts
index ea6a998285..d5727cc70c 100644
--- a/aio/content/examples/component-interaction/e2e/src/app.e2e-spec.ts
+++ b/aio/content/examples/component-interaction/e2e/src/app.e2e-spec.ts
@@ -145,19 +145,25 @@ describe('Component Communication Cookbook Tests', () => {
     // #enddocregion child-to-parent
   });
 
-  // Can't run timer tests in protractor because
-  // interaction w/ zones causes all tests to freeze & timeout.
-  xdescribe('Parent calls child via local var', () => {
+  describe('Parent calls child via local var', () => {
     countDownTimerTests('app-countdown-parent-lv');
   });
 
-  xdescribe('Parent calls ViewChild', () => {
+  describe('Parent calls ViewChild', () => {
     countDownTimerTests('app-countdown-parent-vc');
   });
 
   function countDownTimerTests(parentTag: string) {
     // #docregion countdown-timer-tests
     // ...
+    // The tests trigger periodic asynchronous operations (via `setInterval()`), which will prevent
+    // the app from stabilizing. See https://angular.io/api/core/ApplicationRef#is-stable-examples
+    // for more details.
+    // To allow the tests to complete, we will disable automatically waiting for the Angular app to
+    // stabilize.
+    beforeEach(() => browser.waitForAngularEnabled(false));
+    afterEach(() => browser.waitForAngularEnabled(true));
+
     it('timer and parent seconds should match', async () => {
       const parent = element(by.tagName(parentTag));
       const startButton = parent.element(by.buttonText('Start'));
@@ -165,7 +171,9 @@ describe('Component Communication Cookbook Tests', () => {
       const timer = parent.element(by.tagName('app-countdown-timer'));
 
       await startButton.click();
-      await browser.sleep(10); // give `seconds` a chance to catchup with `timer`
+
+      // Wait for `<app-countdown-timer>` to be populated with any text.
+      await browser.wait(() => timer.getText(), 2000);
 
       expect(await timer.getText()).toContain(await seconds.getText());
     });