Brother in WDW today, wait times are pleasantly misleading

[Jasminetigger]

My brother surprised his family with a trip to WDW last night. I thought they were crazy going memorial day weekend without a plan. They were able to get a room at DTD. They were at MK first thing this morning. He said they got to see pretty much everything today without much trouble. He said the best thing was they didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything. Most stand by lines were saying 60 minutes but they never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes. They never even used fastpass. Some people have all the luck. I am so glad they are having a wonderful time. He has three DD's and it is the first time for the 2 youngest. The only thing they didn't get to see today was Philharmagic. They plan on seeing that tomorrow. We will be going in June. I hope we have the same luck with the wait times.

 

[Metro West]

That's great about the wait times. I've usually been on the other end of the stick..so to speak..about the wait times. If they say 10 mins, I usually end up waiting 30 mins.

 

[Fla Gator]

We experienced misleading wait times at several rides this week -- the worst example was at Kali River where the stand by time was 40 minutes about an hour before park closing on Wednesday. We sat down and had a snack at some tables nearby to see if the wait time would go down as park closing time approached. It didn't, but I also didn't see anyone enter the ride. We finally decided to enter and when we did we walked straight on -- no wait at all. While at MK on Tuesday, the stand by time for Stitch that evening said 25 minutes, but I could tell by the size of the line that it was more like 45 minutes. At the same time, Buzz had a stand by time of 25 minutes but we walked right on, never even had to slow down as we zig zagged through the que.

 

[Jsmply]

The line wait times are actually done by guests. Oddly enough the last time I was at Disney I was asked to carry the pass 2-3 times. It's a little magnetic strip on a necklace. A CM gives it to you at the ride entrance and you give it to a CM when you get to the front of the line. They scan it and it resets the wait time.

If the wait time is misleading it's b/c no one updated it in a while. I think it's up to the CM's judgement to update it.

Hope it helps,

- J

 

[Ilovestitch]

I think towards park closing sometimes they make the wait seem longer to deter people. On our last trip, Space Mt. said like 30 mins but it was a walk on. I know they also do "stacking" where they line people up outside the ride and then let them on a certain amt. of people at a time so it makes the line look longer than it really is.

I don't care though- I like being pleasantly surprised by a short line!!

We went to IOA and the wait for Dueling Dragons said 10 mins- we spent over 30 mins. sitting there in the heat and it was really frusterating. I never would have got in line if I had known I would wait over a half and hour.

 

[lovethattink]

Everyone must have been at MGM or Epcot yesterday. We did MGM until 5pm, then Epcot. The lines were the longest I've ever seen at either park. It felt like Christmas or Spring break. The promenade around World Showcase was more crowded last night, than during the Food and Wine Festival.