Question re: something one of the CMs said to me

[sassie_kat]

Still sorry you had that experience. At least it sounds like overall you had a good trip.

Oh we did! The ONLY thing that I didn't get to do was Space Mountain. I have been to MK 6 times and have never been able to ride . . . I swore that THIS trip I would get on it come heck or high water. Well, our first day at MK my oldest had an absolute melt down (not all his fault, the poor kid was sick) and I took him out of the park and back to the hotel so that he could rest. My husband and BIL got FPs/baby swap and did the ride twice. I have a bad back (so much better since we got a new mattress though!) and my husband told me that it would mess my back up if I went on the ride.

We went back that evening minus my husband and I didn't feel like making the kids wait again. Fast forward to our last day and we head to the MK again. My husband begged me not to ride SM and I caved to him and didn't go. We still had a blast though!

 

[CarolineB]

As Robo says: stuff happens.

I usually judge a line based on what it looks like rather than what it's posted (if you can see the line that is!) The red cards are iffy, like, if the wait time is posted at five minutes, and they give a red card at the entrance, that card could still take an hour to reach the front, and during that hour the wait time is still posted at five minutes.

We had a couple situations like this where one was Space Mtn and we decided to eventually leave the line, and another was getting into the princesses. We walked straight into the blue room right before you go in and ended up waiting over an hour in there with a posted wait of twenty minutes, that of course is a little different as meet and greets are a little harder to control, and it was the very end of the night, BUT, still super annoying to deal with!

Exactly, I was with friends who wanted to ride RnR. I went on the line because it said 20 minutes and that would be enough time to ride and get back home to get my kid off the bus. But after waiting in the line for about 10 minutes I realized where I actually was in the line, I left the line because there was no way that I was going to be actually on the line 10 minutes. After you've ridden the ride, you can make some educated guesses about the wait time but you still have to be flexible.

 

[bumbershoot]

I really miss the days of just wandering the parks, getting on rides as you encountered them, and popping in to a character meal when your feet got tired. Disney shouldn't be stressful!

We should probably stop talking positively about Disney then, to keep all those other pesky people away.

I thought that the point of those little red squares was to help have an accurate wait time listed.

It is. But they have to get to the end CM before they are counted.

It was also odd to me that the expected wait time didn't change even though there were several of the red line timers that went through, both ahead of and behind our group.

If they were in front of you, well, you still weren't at the front when you had the conversation with the CM. So those hadn't made it to the end CM yet. And of course it's the same for the cards behind you.

And you don't know how many of them were pocketed as "what're these for?" souvenirs or dropped or whatever.



I always assume that the time estimate has changed while I'm IN the line, if it's different like that.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh we did! The ONLY thing that I didn't get to do was Space Mountain. I have been to MK 6 times and have never been able to ride . . . I swore that THIS trip I would get on it come heck or high water. Well, our first day at MK my oldest had an absolute melt down (not all his fault, the poor kid was sick) and I took him out of the park and back to the hotel so that he could rest. My husband and BIL got FPs/baby swap and did the ride twice. I have a bad back (so much better since we got a new mattress though!) and my husband told me that it would mess my back up if I went on the ride.

We went back that evening minus my husband and I didn't feel like making the kids wait again. Fast forward to our last day and we head to the MK again. My husband begged me not to ride SM and I caved to him and didn't go. We still had a blast though!

He made a good call. I have a strong, good spine and it messes me up terribly. It's a rotten ride for adult spines. Wait until you can head west and ride Disneyland's version; drastically different ride, smoothness, and even ride vehicle. You'll like that one. Leave MK's alone with your bad back.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Surely not....... I mean.... what are the odds?

Well, it could just be my cynical, wildly speculative, uneducated opinion. But, nah...

 

[dadddio]

Not mad, just exteremly frustrated. The guests are expected to be prompt and efficient, but Disney is blameless. We get charged and/or lose our T'S ressie, if we aren't timely. We are supposed to factor in broke rides, inaccurate wait times, extend waits for ADRs, slow meal service, etc. and, if we can't...don't pull a FP.

FP wasn't enforced because latecomers clogged lines. Just wait for it..soon we'll be on our knees, begging to pay for the privilege.

Long lines with inaccurate wait times do not make you miss an ADR. The decision to stay in a line (any line) when staying will make you late for an ADR makes a person late for an ADR.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Long lines with inaccurate wait times do not make you miss an ADR. The decision to stay in a line (any line) when staying will make you late for an ADR makes a person late for an ADR.

So, I just need to make better choices? I never thought of that.

 

[tlkgt76]

Stuff happens.

Wow. Nothing wrong with posting inquiries. That's why we're on here, right?

 

[tlkgt76]

Surely not....... I mean.... what are the odds?

My fear is that someday (Lord I hope some Disney exec doesn't read this and get any ideas) we will have to book Magic Your Way with Premium Dining to get Fast Passes.

 

[mesaboy2]

Wow. Nothing wrong with posting inquiries. That's why we're on here, right?

The root of the OP's post was that they waited longer in a line than expected. "Stuff happens" is not a bad answer.

I'm honestly still wondering why they trekked all the way over to the Princess and the Pee to use the restrooms, passing two others, if they had to go so bad.

 

[sassie_kat]

The root of the OP's post was that they waited longer in a line than expected. "Stuff happens" is not a bad answer.

I'm honestly still wondering why they trekked all the way over to the Princess and the Pee to use the restrooms, passing two others, if they had to go so bad.

I asked where the nearest restroom was and trekked over there as fast as we could. I'm still recovering from the 17 hour drive and a wonderful sinus/upper respiratory infection that I was lucky enough to come down with on our way home so I probably misspoke. It was dark and we ran to wherever the CM pointed us! (Although, by the end of our trip I think we visited EVERY restroom in MK at least once if not twice so I may have gotten our particular destination from that ride confused!!)

 

[mesaboy2]

I asked where the nearest restroom was and trekked over there as fast as we could. I'm still recovering from the 17 hour drive and a wonderful sinus/upper respiratory infection that I was lucky enough to come down with on our way home so I probably misspoke. It was dark and we ran to wherever the CM pointed us! (Although, by the end of our trip I think we visited EVERY restroom in MK at least once if not twice so I may have gotten our particular destination from that ride confused!!)

Understand...you got some bad gouge from a CM, or perhaps misunderstood in your obvious haste. The nearest ones are right next to LM behind Gaston's Tavern. File for next time.

 

[mom2rtk]

The root of the OP's post was that they waited longer in a line than expected. "Stuff happens" is not a bad answer.

I'm honestly still wondering why they trekked all the way over to the Princess and the Pee to use the restrooms, passing two others, if they had to go so bad.

Maybe the other restrooms had a long line so in an effort at crowd control, Disney texted them a "surprise and delight" fastpass for the Princess and the Pee attraction.

 

[mesaboy2]

Maybe the other restrooms had a long line so in an effort at crowd control, Disney texted them a "surprise and delight" fastpass for the Princess and the Pee attraction.

You bad.

 

[mom2rtk]

You bad.

Isn't that how it's going to work?

 

[emilyindisney]

A lot of people saw the short wait and got in line driving up the time before it could be recorded.. It happens

This is a very good point. If the line is short and 30 people decide they want to ride, the red card to adjust the time will get backed up in line. It will take time for the card to make it to the front to adjust the wait time and by then most of those 30 people will have waited longer than the posted time.

 

[tlkgt76]

The root of the OP's post was that they waited longer in a line than expected. "Stuff happens" is not a bad answer.

I'm honestly still wondering why they trekked all the way over to the Princess and the Pee to use the restrooms, passing two others, if they had to go so bad.

I thought (and I still think) "Stuff happens" seemed both rude and a way to the tell the OP that their opinion or feelings in this case didn't matter. There's plenty of posts to read on here, if somebody doesn't think one is worthy they can just pass it up.

On the bathroom thing, I personally can say I may have done the same thing. I've been to WDW 4 times, but have no sense of direction so I can't remember where every bathroom is. I bet I've passed up quite a few over the years. Sometimes when you or your kids have to go, you get tunnel vision. haha

 

[TLSnell1981]

This is a very good point. If the line is short and 30 people decide they want to ride, the red card to adjust the time will get backed up in line. It will take time for the card to make it to the front to adjust the wait time and by then most of those 30 people will have waited longer than the posted time.

This is true, but it shouldn't be more than a 10-20 minute difference...not a big deal. We have experienced 50 minutes waits, that turned into 180 minutes...more than a couple of times. I don't believe, the red card was responsible for these significant delays.

We had four days in the parks, last month. We arrived and departed, around 2:00 on our travel days, plus two full days. We spent an total of eight hours "extra", due to broken rides and/or inaccurate wait times. The first several times, we shrugged it off, "hey, we're at Disney...stuff happens". But, GOOD GRIEF, EVERY day and eight hours is RIDICULOUS....shouldn't happen.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

This is true, but it shouldn't be more than a 10-20 minute difference...not a big deal. We have experienced 50 minutes waits, that turned into 180 minutes...more than a couple of times. I don't believe, the red card was responsible for these significant delays.

We had four days in the parks, last month. We arrived and departed, around 2:00 on our travel days, plus two full days. We spent an total of eight hours "extra", due to broken rides and/or inaccurate wait times. The first several times, we shrugged it off, "hey, we're at Disney...stuff happens". But, GOOD GRIEF, EVERY day and eight hours is RIDICULOUS....shouldn't happen.[/QUOTE]

What - should - happen is that the error of the estimates should average out - more or less- over the course of a week. Perhaps they did, and you (plural you) are just forgetting the times when you (plural) waited less than the posted times.. If it ws just one person reporting this, I'd be tempted to think that. Since, however, you are far from the only person reporting the same thing, I'm inclined to think something has changed at WDW.

 

[TLSnell1981]

What - should - happen is that the error of the estimates should average out - more or less- over the course of a week. Perhaps they did, and you (plural you) are just forgetting the times when you (plural) waited less than the posted times.. If it ws just one person reporting this, I'd be tempted to think that. Since, however, you are far from the only person reporting the same thing, I'm inclined to think something has changed at WDW.

It's a bigger deal, since FP is strictly enforced. Now, we are expected to leave lines, pay penalties for late arrivals for ADRs, miss FP windows because of inaccuracies. And, of course, it's the customer's "choice".