Are All Wait Times Built on a Hill of Lies Now?

[Jabroniville]

I’m currently at the parks, and I find the posted wait times are being ridiculously over-inflated. While this is nothing new in the last bit the park is open, I’ve seen some times actually be half what’s posted even mid-day.

Jungle Cruise at 9pm was posted at 30 minutes and was actually a walk-on, to the point where the Skippers and I were all talking about A Goofy Movie on the dock. Similar experience with Mine Train- 30 minutes was more like 5. Meeting Ariel mid day was 10 instead of 30.

Have they lost the ability to guess this right? Or are they just getting extra ambitious in manipulating traffic within the parks?

 

[scrappinginontario]

For years Disney has over-inflated wait times at park closing. This is nothing new. They want to go home and guests are allowed to join the lines until the minute the parks close so inflated wait times at 9pm has been their tactic for years.

Not really sure about the mid-day Ariel wait as my experience has not been that they play with those times too much but a bit of wiggle room is common.

 

[garris3404]

If they constantly inflate wait times, it might cause people to purchase Genie+?

 

[TheDailyMoo]

If they constantly inflate wait times, it might cause people to purchase Genie+?

There ya have it!

 

[Jabroniville]

For years Disney has over-inflated wait times at park closing. This is nothing new. They want to go home and guests are allowed to join the lines until the minute the parks close so inflated wait times at 9pm has been their tactic for years.

Not really sure about the mid-day Ariel wait as my experience has not been that they play with those times too much but a bit of wiggle room is common.

Yeah I noticed the princess meet & greets were routinely doubled. Those have more of a human element that can make guessing harder, I suppose.

And yeah, I’m familiar with the old tactics- I’ve just noticed the same thing happening throughout the day.

 

[Eastern]

They used to give random people in line a red card to estimate wait times. I haven't seen that happen in the last few trips. They just guessing now.

 

[reddog21]

Let the conspiracy theories begin or maybe it's just not an exact science that people assume it is.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

For example I use lines app

Disney app has flight of passage 105 mins

Lines app is 88 mins

I trust lines much more

Remy is showing 75 mins .. Lines is showing 26 mins

 

[_19disnA]

hey used to give random people in line a red card to estimate wait times. I haven't seen that happen in the last few trips. They just guessing now.

Always wondered about that. Our last trip to Disney we found the posted wait times all over the map, some too long while others clearly too short. We would estimate our own wait time based on how long the line was and how fast it was moving. If the people operating the ride have to manually post a number, I can see how that could vary widely or they get busy and forget to update it. If this is the same information shown on MDE, I can see how it would be unreliable.

Would be interesting to hear from someone who now works at Disney how these are determined.

 

[ThornXBL]

They used to give random people in line a red card to estimate wait times. I haven't seen that happen in the last few trips. They just guessing now.

I wouldn't be shocked if they are able to use MDE location data to estimate the wait times instead, but yeah that's gonna be less accurate than the physical RFID card tracking.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Yes, I find them often way overinflated to the point that it's often comical. And it's not the normal end of day inflation - you can find it all day.

My theory is that it's related to Genie sales - people don't want to pay for shorter lines if the lines are already not bad - and crowd control purposes. Disney is good at moving people around. Thankfully, if we can peek at the line, we go often enough to guesstimate the wait ourselves. It's those hidden lines that are the hardest to guess.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Not really buying the conspiracies saying they intentionally over-inflate times to sell G+. There were many times long before G+ the estimates were off, too. Since they probably don't have a cast member at each attraction monitoring closely, there are too many factors with the attractions to get it right down to the minute. They probably take a look at the line, know what queues are open/closed, and take their best guess - periodically. If the ride is running smoothly, guests are keeping the line moving, and all goes well, the estimates might be high. If the ride has to stop for any reason or you have guests holding up the ride at entrance/exit, the estimates might go differently. Throw in the uncertainty of guests admitted from LL, and it just adds another factor. For me, the biggest exaggeration are the folks complaining about how exaggerated the wait times are!! I know there's the occasional estimate of 75 minutes/actual of 40. But often, the estimates times are pretty close..... And again - it's an estimate....

 

[LoveDaisy]

I always assumed it was done to allow them over deliver instead of under deliver. If they say the wait is an hour and you wait 40 minutes you are happy but if they say the wait is 40 minutes but it ends up being 60 you are upset.

 

[traveler9]

It takes away some of the advantages DAS can provide to someone abusing the system.

 

[Matrixleos]

For example I use lines app

Disney app has flight of passage 105 mins

Lines app is 88 mins

I trust lines much more

Remy is showing 75 mins .. Lines is showing 26 mins

What is Lines app? Is there a certain group you need to join?

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

What is Lines app? Is there a certain group you need to join?

Its an app that you can use with a touringplans.com subscription

 

[TikiRob]

I'm not overly bothered by this. I get that it might sway G+ purchases, but I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by a shorter wait than have it be longer. Plus some of this is not just the actual wait time, but anticipated line growth. You have a ton of people are looking at times in the app and a 10 minute wait can quickly inflate when people see a low wait time for a popular attraction.

 

[Yensid67]

If you tell people there's an hour wait but it's only 30 minutes, people are happy. If you tell them it's 30 minutes and it winds up being an hour, they are mad. Makes sense to inflate wait times.

 

[Mango7100]

I don’t think over-inflating wait times is unique to Disney. Last week at Universal we rode Hagrids 3 times in one day at various points during th day, posted wait times were 70-105 minutes. Timed all 3 rides and we were on in 30-50 minutes. Chaperoned a school field trip to Dollywood 3 weeks ago and their posted wait times of 20 minutes were walk ons. A guest is going to be happier if they enter expecting to wait an hour and they only wait 30. Compare that to a guest who enters with a posted wait time of 30 and waits 60 minutes.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Ok in reality when we were there a few weeks ago during NY Spring break the times weren't horribly off. Buzz Lightyear for instance had a line that a year ago took over an hour and 20 minutes and this year from basically the same exact spot it took 35. Rides going down and LL are the wild cards. If people jump into the LL all at once it clogs things up. Then there was Peter Pan toward the end of the night that said 55 minutes and I knew it wasn't real...jumped on the queue and of course 15 minutes later we were on. Lots of inconsistencies across the board. Eyeballing lines become an art. And sometimes you get on a line and realize that things aren't moving and you have to abort mission. But in general yes I'd rather they overestimate than underestimate.