Amazing Sight at Soarin' on 10/25 at 4:23pm

[flyinglizard]

DW and I arrived at EPCOT in the afternoon, and got Fast Passes for Soarin', to return between 4:21 and 5:21. Although the wait time board behind the pin cart said the wait was 25 minutes, the portal timer at the attraction said 45 minutes. We checked it out and the end of the line was not even up to the screens.

We returned at 4:21, and waited while a father tried to unsuccessfully to convince the "Gate Keeper" that his daughter was much taller than she looked, as she stood against the height board. The timer still said 45 minutes for the Stand by line. As we walked through the que area, I kept waiting to hear the crowd on the other side of the wall... but... nothing. Finally, we turned over our fast passes, and I looked back down the "Stand-By" que and it was totally EMPTY!

No one was waiting! No one was walking through the que area! WOW... never thought I'd see that!

As we departed from our flight, I looked back to see if the Stand By timer reflected 0 minutes wait, but it still said 45 minutes.

I guess it would be a good idea to check out the stand by line late in the afternoon. But probably, what we saw will never happen again! Just keep it in the back of your mind though...

 

[LadyMar]

Very cool! Love that ride, I have the Soarin' queque music on my mp3 player and have been listening all week long on my commute....!

 

[dbenlee]

I guess that means we will be checking out the Stand By line at Soarin' much closer in the afternoons now!! I would have had to get right back on and ridden again!!

 

[wendy1974]

I can tell you why there was no line for Soarin' on the 25th...because everyone was at MK!!! it looked like the 4th of july on Wednesday

 

[Disneydreaming6]

I love soarin. When we were there at the beginning of the month the line was an hour wait. the shortest wait time we saw was 30 min. Did you know the que for soarin is a 1/4 of a mile long? I really wished I had wore my ped. so I could keep track of the walking... oh well there is always next yr.

 

[Vemnox]

The issue has everything to do with crowd fluctuation. Let's say the wait time is a legit 30 minutes. Lots of people get in line, so the time goes up to 60. At that point, barely anyone gets in line so the standby line slowly thins out. But the wait time GRADUALLY falls, it won't suddenly jump. It's an average of the people's wait times so if one person 20 minutes ago waited an hour to ride but the next guy only waited 20 minutes, the wait time won't be 20 minutes it will fall somewhere in between. The wait time is generally accurate except for late in the evening when it is still falling.
Nonetheless - the best times to ride to ensure little-to-no wait are right at park opening or right before the fireworks at night.

 

[elgerber]

DW and I arrived at EPCOT in the afternoon, and got Fast Passes for Soarin', to return between 4:21 and 5:21. Although the wait time board behind the pin cart said the wait was 25 minutes, the portal timer at the attraction said 45 minutes. We checked it out and the end of the line was not even up to the screens.

We returned at 4:21, and waited while a father tried to unsuccessfully to convince the "Gate Keeper" that his daughter was much taller than she looked, as she stood against the height board. The timer still said 45 minutes for the Stand by line. As we walked through the que area, I kept waiting to hear the crowd on the other side of the wall... but... nothing. Finally, we turned over our fast passes, and I looked back down the "Stand-By" que and it was totally EMPTY!

No one was waiting! No one was walking through the que area! WOW... never thought I'd see that!

As we departed from our flight, I looked back to see if the Stand By timer reflected 0 minutes wait, but it still said 45 minutes.

I guess it would be a good idea to check out the stand by line late in the afternoon. But probably, what we saw will never happen again! Just keep it in the back of your mind though...

This same thing happened to us in October. We went there right at opening, the line was awful, so we walked back and got fastpasses. When we came back with out fastpasses, about 10:30 the standby sign said 50 minutes. There was NO line at all in the standby line. The fastpass wait was longer. What a waste of a fastpass that was. We were totally amazed that NO ONE was in the standby line.

 

[skier_pete]

When we were there in October EVERY posted wait was longer than the actual wait. I had a similar thing happen at Tower of Terror. I had a Fastpasses and the wait said 40 minutes. I walked through the line, and there was NO-ONE in the stand-by line. Our elevator wasn't even filled. After the ride, I walked through the FP area and told people getting FP to go right now there is no line.

I also got chosen as the "timer" guy at Splash Mountain. The sign said 20 minutes, at the entrance a CM gave me a White Card and said to hand it in when I got on the ride. I handed it in 7 minutes later (I checked my watch). When I got off the ride, the sign still said 20 minutes.

The reason Disney does this is psychological. The sign says "10 minute wait" and you wait 20 minutes, you're pissed, but if it says "40 minute wait" and you wait 20 minutes, you are thrilled.

SkierPete

 

[debster812]

The reason Disney does this is psychological. The sign says "10 minute wait" and you wait 20 minutes, you're pissed, but if it says "40 minute wait" and you wait 20 minutes, you are thrilled.
SkierPete

ITA with this. Under promise, and over delivery is ALWAYS the way to go.

We got on line for Soarin' on Saturday night, wait time posted 75 minutes. We were flying in less than 30.

 

[joeytiffany118]

The guy with the time cards went home sick. You know the one's that give you the card to see how long it takes you to get to the front. seems we get one of those daily. In our 3 other trips I know of at least 10 times we have been the card couple. Maybe we'll be a dream couple in 12 DAYS!!!!