20 Minutes or Less...

[minmate]

Something has me confused. I always check out the posts about crowds, just to see what everyone says. More often than not, regardless of time of year, many people say this phrase... that waits were mostly "20 minutes or less." I've been known to state the same thing myself. So, my question is, could this really be possible? That at ANY given time of year, one should not expect to have to wait more than 20 mins. in ride lines?

Granted, this certainly must be based on the fact that people here are knowledgeable in utilizing FP, going early/staying late/avoiding peak hours/choosing the right park on the right day combo.

The only exception to this was during the peak Easter days this past March. But even then, I did read some reports of people saying this same thing about line waits.

Also, I am curious about the people who say they get to "walk right on" and "stay on rides over and over" w/o getting off! That intrigues me! Even when it's not crowded, I always get off right away and never consider just staying on again... Is it really that un-crowded at times that there are NO other people in line at say, Splash Mtn., that you can actually stay on four times in a ROW? And to do that, do you just stay seated and ask the CM if you can go again or what? Or are there really, say 5-10 people in line? Just curious on the details of this concept! I know, dorky question, but humor me!

 

[civileng68]

Something has me confused. I always check out the posts about crowds, just to see what everyone says. More often than not, regardless of time of year, many people say this phrase... that waits were mostly "20 minutes or less." I've been known to state the same thing myself. So, my question is, could this really be possible? That at ANY given time of year, one should not expect to have to wait more than 20 mins. in ride lines?

Granted, this certainly must be based on the fact that people here are knowledgeable in utilizing FP, going early/staying late/avoiding peak hours/choosing the right park on the right day combo.

The only exception to this was during the peak Easter days this past March. But even then, I did read some reports of people saying this same thing about line waits.

Also, I am curious about the people who say they get to "walk right on" and "stay on rides over and over" w/o getting off! That intrigues me! Even when it's not crowded, I always get off right away and never consider just staying on again... Is it really that un-crowded at times that there are NO other people in line at say, Splash Mtn., that you can actually stay on four times in a ROW? And to do that, do you just stay seated and ask the CM if you can go again or what? Or are there really, say 5-10 people in line? Just curious on the details of this concept! I know, dorky question, but humor me!

Believe it or not, there are a few, short, periods of time during the course of a year where tourism is slow in Florida (especially Central Fl.) and there are cases and days where you can expect to wait less than 20 minutes and can even walk right on a ride.

Example: In most cases, during the peak of the day you shouldnt expect this...........but when it's slower, later in the day you can literally walk on rides, even like Splash! I know that in slower times, even during the peak of the day you can walk right on POTC with NO line.

 

[isyt]

Recently on a trip home in January (really off season) with the girls we did the EMH at Epcot. It was 10-11pm and we rode TT 3 times in a row trying to get a good picture. Normally you would have to get off and walk around but since no one was waiting they let us stay on over and over. 4 giggling woman I am sure the cm's were just laughing at the lunatics!!

 

[Ilovestitch]

We just got back and most of the lines were less than 20 mins., but I have been in July before when most of the big rides had 1 to 2hr waits. We also went to the MK this past Dec. 20th and most of the rides had an hour wait.

Last May we went on Primevil Whirl and no one was in line so the CM lets us go over and over.

Other rides like the TTA and Spaceship Earth- if you ask they will let you stay on.

 

[BALAMAV]

We went last May. Most of the rides were 20 min or less but there were some that were 1 hour. Peter Pan and Pooh and Indy cars. We went in Sept 2 years ago. Waits were only 10 min or less. But our friends went 2 years ago on New Years Eve. The parks were open till after 1 am and they went to Epcot that day. They were there at opening they went on Test track walked over somewhere else and came back to Test track at 10 to ride again and there was a 4 hour wait can you believe that. By noon all fast passes were gone for the whole day till 1 am. I think a lot of the summer there is 2 hour waits. I know this is a holiday but you can have waits of all sizes. I always expect the worst so when its not so bad I am happy. I go when the waits are at the lowest.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Also, I am curious about the people who say they get to "walk right on" and "stay on rides over and over" w/o getting off! That intrigues me! Even when it's not crowded, I always get off right away and never consider just staying on again... Is it really that un-crowded at times that there are NO other people in line at say, Splash Mtn., that you can actually stay on four times in a ROW? And to do that, do you just stay seated and ask the CM if you can go again or what?

I always go to Disney during slower times of year, but there have been many times I've walked right on rides, or stayed on to ride again. We went to Fantasyland after 6pm on a weeknight and it was practically deserted, Dumbo had the longest line and even that was only about 10 minutes. We were there early May and walked right on BTMR, after we got back I could see there were only a few people in line so instead of getting off and going all the way out and back up again I just asked the CM if we could ride again and she looked at the line and said "Sure." We also did this on the Teacups, Small World and the Magic Carpets. I always ask the CM though, I don't just stay in the car. In early December we rode RNR 3 times in a row. It was awesome!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I went the week before Thanksgiving and we encountered very short lines. We walked right on POTC, Maelstrom and some other rides. One night while riding Peter Pan's Flight, they were setting up for Wishes and there was no one in line. The CMs asked us if we wanted to ride again. We said yes, since it was dd's favorite ride. We were able to ride it 3 times without getting off. I found the longest lines were late at night. I had to wait ages for Mickey's Philharmagic and HM.

 

[luvmk]

We just got back from a trip on May 10-15 and we experienced the same thing. On the 10th, we got to MK at 1:30 and we walked right onto POTC, HM and Philharmagic. We only had a 15 min. wait for Peter Pan! Space Mountain had a 20 min. wait, but Splash had 35 min., so we got a fp. The only fp we needed was for Splash.

When we got to the MK early or stayed for EMH, we were able to walk right onto a Splash boat and the cm asked if we wanted to ride again. We also got to ride Peter Pan without getting off! Of course, the cm asked before we just assumed. I really learned how important getting to parks early can be!

What I found surprising is that on Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon, TOT and RNR had only 10 min. waits. We didn't wait for anything at MGM or AK. Oh, we did get fp for the safari, but the wait was less than 30 min.

I was stunned by how low the wait times were all week, especially when disney's website was showing many of the resorts being sold out. The restaurants weren't busy. On Friday night, we got into RFC at DTD without a priority seating. We called at 5:30 and asked how long the wait was. We were asked if we could be there by 6:15. I don't know if fp is what is making the difference, or if more people are taking advantage of EMH. It's a mystery.

On a side note, Soarin always had a huge wait and we had to use fp both times for that. TT was very manageable at the evening EMH.


Rachel

 

[WaltD4Me]

If you want to go on Splash or BTMR with no wait, go on a SpectroMagic night about 8-8:30pm, Spectro starts at 9pm so everyone is staking out their seats for the parade, but Spectro gets to Frontierland last so you have plently of time to ride both (with very short or no lines) and still have time to get a spot for Spectro.

 

[ArielDreams]

I was there in early March with very little crowds all week until the morning when we were leaving when a cheerleading competition came into town. At that time, we considered a 20 minute wait a long time! lol. I too have been there in the summer when there are really really long lines and it's so important to get a fastpass. So anyway, this March was the first time i've ever been able to stay on a ride (or multiple rides!) more than once: we stayed on the river rapids at AK (didn't even need to ask the CM if we could, there was absolutely no one there, this was about 10 minutes after it opened for the day), Splash Mountain (stayed on twice, asked the CM because there were about 5 people in line but it was no problem), and Thunder Mountain twice (didn't ask, just switched to an empty row since people were waiting for the one we were in). Needless to say, it was awesome. I'm totally going back in March someday again!

 

[Miller1412]

I'm one of those "There at March Spring Break and a 20 minute or less wait!" People. I swear it's true! By using FP and getting to the parks for the EMH (starting at 7 am) the parks did not get crowded until 10:30-11 am. At that point we went back to the hotel.


Don't get me wrong...the standby lines in the afternoon got as long as 1 hr or more for some of the major attractions. Getting to the early EMH hours and using FP made it so manageable.

 

[Merriwind]

Also, I am curious about the people who say they get to "walk right on" and "stay on rides over and over" w/o getting off! That intrigues me! Even when it's not crowded, I always get off right away and never consider just staying on again... Is it really that un-crowded at times that there are NO other people in line at say, Splash Mtn., that you can actually stay on four times in a ROW? And to do that, do you just stay seated and ask the CM if you can go again or what? Or are there really, say 5-10 people in line? Just curious on the details of this concept! I know, dorky question, but humor me!

Definitely happens--slow times of year, very early or late in the day. We rode Splash 2x in a row during the first parade and fireworks at MNSSHP this year. Best time to ride Splash over and over? Early a.m. in December or January (not Christmas week). It's so cold, no one wants to ride then.

And yes, there are no people waiting when we've ridden back to back. We just ask to go again and stay sitting--in our soggy seats!

 

[Aroura]

double post, ignore this one.

 

[Aroura]

I was there in July last year, over the foruth and all, and there were rides that we just walked right onto, and never had to wait. PotC for example, *never* had to wait once to get on it, and that was WITH the sun blazing down, I was very shocked. The longest line I waited in, and it was a doozy, was waiting almost an hour and a half I would say to get on Buzz. It was my youngest DS's (4 at the time) favorite ride, and would have had a melt down if we had fastpassed it and gone somewhere else, at that moment he was just incapable of understanding that we would be back (he had a long day in the sun). So we waited, and it was a long wait.

Besides that, nothing was overly drastic. maybe 30 min. or so if we didn't get a fast pass. no more than an hour max on some of the big names.

 

[CarolA]

My most uncrowded time ever was around Sept 20, 2001. Yep, mear days after 9/11. I walked onto EVERYTHING. THe lines were non existent, the park was empty and yes, you could ride over and over again..... It was very sad!

 

[cranbiz]

I have been many times that the waits were very short. The last time was the end of April. At MK, we walked on Splash, POTC, HM and fast passed BTMRR but the wait time was only 20 minutes and the fast pass time was 20 minutes from issue time. We just rode Splash 3 times in a row and then went to BTMRR.

In our visits in Nov and Dec the wait times were the same.