CM's being dishonest about wait times

[Govols1997]

We were at the parks last week. On two different occasions we had CMs at the standby line telling us the wait posted was wrong and the wait was longer. 7DMT said 30, CM said it was an hour. The wait was 25. I timed it. PP wait said 25, CM was yelling out 45, wait was 13.

I know I've read they inflate the posted times at the end of the night. But this was terrible, lots of people were walking away from 7D when she would yell out "the wait is an hour." A guy in front of us told the CM at the exit how the wait was no where near what they were broadcasting. She didn't seem to care. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Oswin]

I'm not going to say that CMs are encouraged to inflate wait times to keep guests out of already long lines but I'm also not going to say they don't do this either.

Also, a lot of CMs just glance at a line and guesstimate how long a line is without taking into account that not all portions of a queue may be in use, or there may be more cars/trains/vehicles running on any given ride. They also can glance/guesstimate and a lot of time passes without their realizing it, so while the line may have been an hour when she intentionally guesstimated wait times she has no idea that the wait isn't that long. And really, frontline CMs don't know the exact wait time of the ride unless they're in a location where they can step out and look at the posted wait time. And many times they are encouraged to not leave their exact post so they can't step out and look. There's no one telling them wait times in an earpiece or giving them a wait time update every 5 minutes.

I don't think CMs are always intentionally dishonest about wait times. A lot of times, they've been told to give a specific response when asked by guests, or they're guessing wait times to the best of their abilities without seeing the full picture of the queue. They don't show they care when they're told by guests that their wait times are wrong because :
a) Guests are always going to complain. If they wait more than the posted wait time. If they wait less. That frontline or exit CM will be complained at about it.
b) They are still trying to do their job of keeping an eye on FP+ line entrance vs. general line entrance mix ups
c) They could get in trouble if they show any outward sign of a reaction. Even a smile could be seen as sarcastic and rude by a guest who is complaining. Guests like to complain to guest services about any little thing a CM does these days, even smiling.
d) Many of the people working at attractions are on the college program. These people are worked ridiculously long shifts, sometimes for 14 day stretches at a time. Eventually they just sort of go numb when not in autopilot (IE: shouting out the wait time they've been told to use) and have no reaction to other things because they are exhausted.

 

[xipotec]

I would report it.....Bad CM's do happen, since they cut back on staffing it happens even more. They were probably trying to cut down on the line so they could go home earlier....

Were these all at night near closing?

and since when do CM's yell out wait times??? They have clocks for that ?

 

[dreiwhit]

It's happened to me, but in reverse. There was no posted wait time for Enchanted Tales With Belle. The CM said 20 minutes. We gave up and left at 45 minutes and we had just made it to the corner of the house.

 

[Govols1997]

I would report it.....Bad CM's do happen, since they cut back on staffing it happens even more. They were probably trying to cut down on the line so they could go home earlier....

Were these all at night near closing?

and since when do CM's yell out wait times??? They have clocks for that ?

It was getting toward the end of the party last Tuesday. Maybe around 10:30? They happened one after the other. I didn't understand why they were yelling it out either. It was almost like they were giving off the "the sign is wrong vibe." Both of these lines have CMs who could step out two feet and see the wait times. So they knew there was a disparity. I even checked MDE on a couple of other rides to see if somehow wait times were off. Nope. Both lines with CMs yelling out times were pretty accurate, the wait was actually shorter.

To the poster who was saying guests complain about waiting. It's WDW. We know we wait. And I wouldn't complain if times were a little off. But CMs yelling out severely inflated times is worthy of a complaint when you've paid $400 plus for five hours of fun.

 

[disnut8]

I would report it.....Bad CM's do happen, since they cut back on staffing it happens even more. They were probably trying to cut down on the line so they could go home earlier....

Were these all at night near closing?

and since when do CM's yell out wait times??? They have clocks for that ?

Disney World doesn't close earlier because people are not waiting in line for certain attractions so not quite sure what the highlighted point was supposed to mean. Just that those Cast Members could go home earlier because their attractions didn't have people in line? Would the Cast Members still be required to stay at that attraction until closing time? I'm confused.

 

[wilkeliza]

Disney World doesn't close earlier because people are not waiting in line for certain attractions so not quite sure what the highlighted point was supposed to mean. Just that those Cast Members could go home earlier because their attractions didn't have people in line? Would the Cast Members still be required to stay at that attraction until closing time? I'm confused.

Since people are allowed to line up until exactly closing if people see the wait is only 30 minutes they may all rush the ride and make the wait even longer. CMs can not start closing procedures of their ride until all guests in line get to ride so if no one is in line at closing they get to immediately start and then leave as soon as they are done or their shift is over (which ever is 2nd) but if say there is an hour plus wait and that was not factored into scheduling they will get force extended and not be able to go home even when their shift ends until all closing procedures are complete.

 

[mom2rtk]

Eh, it happens too often for it to be just the occasional rogue CM. You just need to be aware that it happens and plan around it. I figure Disney doesn't have to allow people to enter the line right up until closing time, but they do, and if it helps to inflate the wait time, I'll roll my eyes and go on.

 

[Accident]

how long a wait is, is just a guess and always is.. if you want to ride it, get in line and when you see where the line really is, then decide if your going to stay in it.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

When I used to work as a hostess at a restaurant, the practice was to intentionally quote slightly higher wait times than the actual estimate. Improved overall satisfaction and less complaints. For instance, if you think the wait is 30 minutes, quote 45. Then if the wait turns out to be 35 minutes, the customer is happy. They are in 10 minutes faster than they expected. If you had quoted them 30, by 35 they'd be angry. (You would think they wouldn't get mad over 5 minutes, but they do. ALL the time!) So maybe that strategy is in play here? Or maybe they don't know the actual wait time and are guessing. Or maybe they're trying to keep people out of the lines toward closing. All possibilities.

 

[Karin1984]

Im with Disneyparklover, we did the same at our customer service department. If I had to re-send out a confirmation I knew which should arrive instantly in the customer's mailbox, we still said 1 hour. It avoids complaints. As it is impossible to be 100% accurate, which people do demand nowadays, it's better to be dishonest. Although, I think that term is too strong, to me it's a little white lie to keep the majority happy.

 

[Amelia :)]

If this was during a party, the CM's may have got it wrong because they are used to making estimates when glancing at a line, taking fast pass guests into consideration, during parties there's no fastpass. May have been an innocent mistake Don't think the worst.

 

[ggarriso]

I have never seen this at disney world, however I visited Disneyland around this time last year and the CMs were all absolutely rude about using the single rider lines, was surreal. Basically each one would fight you about how the line is going to be just as long as the regular lines (many posted at over 120 minutes) prior to handing your your single rider pass. Typically we would wait, 10 maybe 15 minutes in the single rider and be on the ride. Didn't get it, but it got annoying.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

When I used to work as a hostess at a restaurant, the practice was to intentionally quote slightly higher wait times than the actual estimate. Improved overall satisfaction and less complaints. For instance, if you think the wait is 30 minutes, quote 45. Then if the wait turns out to be 35 minutes, the customer is happy. They are in 10 minutes faster than they expected. If you had quoted them 30, by 35 they'd be angry. (You would think they wouldn't get mad over 5 minutes, but they do. ALL the time!) So maybe that strategy is in play here? Or maybe they don't know the actual wait time and are guessing. Or maybe they're trying to keep people out of the lines toward closing. All possibilities.

This is my theory as well. It's a basic rule of customer service - promise something lesser/worse than you actually think is possible, so the customer is happy if it ends up being better.

 

[DVCcurious]

It's standard practice to inflate wait times at the end of the night. This happens all the time at most rides. I've seen 90 minutes at Space Mountain at 11:45 on a 12AM close and I went in and walked literally the entire way until I boarded a rocket. There was a line that started after the video games, but it was a "walking line" so I was on a rocket in 15 minutes. I knew there was NO WAY there was a 90 minute line. But that didn't stop Disney from posting that as the wait time.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have never seen this at disney world, however I visited Disneyland around this time last year and the CMs were all absolutely rude about using the single rider lines, was surreal. Basically each one would fight you about how the line is going to be just as long as the regular lines (many posted at over 120 minutes) prior to handing your your single rider pass. Typically we would wait, 10 maybe 15 minutes in the single rider and be on the ride. Didn't get it, but it got annoying.

I'm guessing they get a lot of complaints when the single rider line gets long and doesn't save as much time as people expect it will. So I'm not surprised they would try to discourage people on a busy day.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Good reason to use Touring Plans Lines app.

https://touringplans.com/disney-world-app

 

[1lilspark]

Had this happen sign posted said 15 mins CM said it was 40 didn't wait went to do our FP+ for something else came back sign was posted saying 25 mins CM was saying 15... I didn't time things but I'd say wait was 10-15 ish...

Line was for Olaf meet last Thursday in september

 

[bumbershoot]

I have never seen this at disney world, however I visited Disneyland around this time last year and the CMs were all absolutely rude about using the single rider lines, was surreal. Basically each one would fight you about how the line is going to be just as long as the regular lines (many posted at over 120 minutes) prior to handing your your single rider pass. Typically we would wait, 10 maybe 15 minutes in the single rider and be on the ride. Didn't get it, but it got annoying.

Giving you the worst case wait time is being rude? I would rather anticipate 90 minutes waiting to get on RSR (while the standby is 2.5 hours) and experience 45 minutes than the opposite!

Also, I'm guessing you didn't using Soarin's SR line? That one is atrocious. I stopped using it altogether. (Now it's discontinued)

Also, single rider pass?????

 

[wilkeliza]

Giving you the worst case wait time is being rude? I would rather anticipate 90 minutes waiting to get on RSR (while the standby is 2.5 hours) and experience 45 minutes than the opposite!

Also, I'm guessing you didn't using Soarin's SR line? That one is atrocious. I stopped using it altogether. (Now it's discontinued)

Also, single rider pass?????

Not sure at DL but WDW tested the pass at Kali. You went through FP and at the second tap point if you were single rider you went in one line and FP went into the merge. Single riders had a card to show they were single riders and not just skippers.