"Death Trap" Attractions?

[erikthewise]

Is there some attraction that you have entered, only to spend a LOT more time there than you had intended?

My nomination is Tomorrowland Speedway. I think I've spent more time waiting in line for this than any other attraction. The major attractions I know how to handle, with good timing and/or fastpasses, but this one has always seemed to catch me off guard with its "15 minute" wait times. Right. The longest 15 minutes you'll ever spend, and it's right out in the open, making it even more miserable on hot days.

In 2002 we wasted precious early entry time standing in line for Speedway. The line looked pretty short, but they only had one lane open! Fortunately they opened a second lane while we were waiting or our wait would have been even longer.

Last year I thought we had it beat. We were about to leave MVMCP at 10:45PM. Our boys had held up well after a forced afternoon nap and we'd had a great time. We had just decided to leave when we passed Speedway -- there was no line!! This was too good to pass up, so we walked right on. But Speedway couldn't resist taking a parting shot. When we finished the run, we couldn't get off! No mechanical problems, it's just that there weren't enough people entering the attraction, so the cars ahead of us were backed up waiting to exit! So it took an extra 5-10 minutes to get out of the car!

 

[jennymouse]

I'd have to say the Backlot Tour ride/show thing has gotten me the only two times I've ever tried to experience it. The first time we were stuck in the prop room with a gazillion other people not moving an inch and sweating our buts off, we gave up and swam upstream to get out. The second time we managed to get out of the prop room only to get stuck outside waiting for a bus that broke down. We have yet to experience the whole show and I doubt we'll even try again.

 

[CamColt]

ROFL! You have hit on DH's biggest pet peeve. Our kids love the Speedway. Every time we are waiting in that line, DH rants and raves about there only being 1 lane open and how the line is so long.

We hit the MK for EE on 12/21. Walking in it was pretty deserted. Instead of doing our usual rush to Dumbo we decided to go to the Speedway to get that line out of the way. Even with a "5" minute wait, it took about 20...and yes, only 1 lane was open. Finally as we were turning the corner to go down to the loading area, they opened the 2nd lane. They started loading us from the back to the front, so it actually worked out well for us, as we were ahead of people who were ahead of us in line. Then as we were driving around, we noticed there was a broken down car in the other lane, causing a traffic jam.

As much as this ride drives us crazy, the kids do love it, so I guess it worth it.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

I've begun to think that the intermittent pauses and the standard spiel about the vehicles will begin moving monetarily are parts of the ride, not just by incident...lol! I think I've only been on SSE once when It didn't stop quite a few times or once or twice for a VERY long time. I vote for SSE as the ride you never expect to spend so much time on yet you always end up doing so on.

 

[Xtine76]

The living seas! I went in there expecting to walk into an aquarium and check out some fish-no I had to watch a show, then load an aqualator (I think that's what they called it) and then when we got to where we were going I really didn't notice that much that was terribly interesting. I just thought there could be different things in the space and then forget about getting out of the place.

 

[DisneyJules]

Funny you mention the speedway, it's true, I remember waiting in line for a looooong time. Maybe even longer than some of the other rides. But you're right, it's out in full sun, eek!

 

[Geoff_M]

My nomination is The Universe of Energy. That's a 45+ minute time sucker.... assuming no wait.

 

[meeko_33785]

Is there some attraction that you have entered, only to spend a LOT more time there than you had intended?

Last Summer I spent a lot more time at the Beauty and the Beast show at MGM that I thought I would. As soon as the show ended, it just began pouring down rain and no one in the theater left to brave Sunset Boulevard in the thunderstorm for 30 minutes. Combined with the wait and the show, that was an hour and a half out of the day! It was worth it though; the show was fantastic.

 

[NotUrsula]

I hate the preshow part of Living Seas, too, but we like the aquarium. We've solved this dilemma by entering the pavilion through the exit doors. We just walk over there and wait until someone leaves, (usually less than 5 minutes, even in slow season,) then we duck in the back way. You still have to do the hydrolators, though.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

By far, the Speedway is the most frustrating!

 

[safetymom]

You can skip the preshow at the Living Seas. When you are in the circular room they make an announcement for you to go one way while those people watching the preshow go another.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yes, you can do the "choose to skip the film" option, but that still takes much longer than going in the exit, because you have to wait out the film cycle for the room to fill before they open the doors to the next room. I prefer to go straight to the fish.

 

[TDC Nala]

Test Track, standby line - where 20 minutes means 40.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by 2angelsinheaven
[BI've begun to think that the intermittent pauses and the standard spiel about the vehicles will begin moving monetarily are parts of the ride, not just by incident.[/B]

Actually it isn't 'by incident', rather it's by design. Due to the continuous-loading ride mechanism--all of the cars are connected and running on the same line--the entire ride must be stopped whenever a guest needs additional assistance boarding the vehicle. Whenever someone must transfer from a wheelchair or ECV, the ride may pause for several minutes. But it will also make short stops for the elderly or anyone else who make need a few more seconds to get settled in a car.

The same is true for Buzz Lightyear and several other attractions.

 

[shortbun]

After I don't know how many trips-we had a short wait on
Speedway this last trip. It was heaven! We got FP for
Philharmagic and STILL had to wait in an awful line, then get
wedged into the waiting room with a group of 500 others who
were all holding small children it was so crowded. I was a bit alarmed. I probably won't do Philharmagic again until it's not "new" anymore. Haunted Mansion was also horrendous
once we got inside. I was actually afraid, the crowd was so dense we had no control over our own movements, it just carried us. That was definitely my last HM! Not fun.

 

[tiberius]

We have only done the speedway once and it was not too bad, but waiting on the line for Dumbo just seems to take forever.

 

[pjlla]

I agree that Living Seas at Epcot is a complete waste of time!! We had done SeaWorld earlier in the week for our "marine-biologist" wanna-be daughter. But since we had the time, we figured we would try out the Living Seas (I'm not sure if I ever had seen it).........YAWN!!!!!!! The movie was better than the fish tanks! The tanks were huge, but seemed somewhat empty! We couldn't get out of there fast enough!

The line for the Indy Speedway is ridiculously long, but at least you know what you are in for once you get up there! ...........P

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We really don't have a problem with Disney...last year, however, we experienced Universal Studios Orlando for the first time, and you wanna talk about time suckers... first you enter a holding area, kinda like a pen for animals for EVERY ride. Then you watch a film or a mini-show in another room. Then you line up AGAIN to get on the ride. Finally, it's all over. Whatever happened to just getting on a ride? Ugh...we were sooo done with this park by 2 p.m.

 

[goofyernmost]

What I find frustrating at Universal, as compared to Disney, is that they HIDE the line. Just when you think you are near the front of the line you turn a corner and BAM there is an even longer, bigger line. Very deceiving.

As for the stops on the Omni's, having escorted many handicapped people to the World's I can vouch for the fact that many of the stops are to load those that need assistance. Due to evacuation concerns, however, only a limited number of people requiring assistance can be on the ride at any given time.