Estimated ride wait times.

[Karnak]

It seems to me that the posted wait time for all the ride lines (at all four parks), almost always involves a shorter, sometimes a MUCH shorter, wait than the posted time. I have seldom had to wait as long as the posted time. And I can not remember a single instance where I have had to wait in line for MORE than the posted time. I'm wondering if that's really true, or have I just been lucky? Any comments?

Enjoy.

 

[Allison]

I don't know but I can say when we rode Test Track in December, the wait said 40 minutes. I thought this was strange as it was not even 9:30 am yet. Sure enough, we went in and waited 10 minutes.

 

[LadyDulcinea1]

I noticed that too for almost every ride that I went. HM said 10 minutes wait and I walked right on. The only ones I saw that seemed accurate were the times for all the dark rides in Fantasyland.

 

[2Xited4Disney]

Wait times are calculated by CM's who give a guest a small lanyard with a credit card sized thing attatched. When the Guest is completely through the line they are supposed to scan the card so the NEW wait time can be calculated. I have handeled these lanyard several times over the years. I have noticed that very few CMS who recieve the cards Run over to the scanner and scan them (or whatever it is that they do) So I assume that could account for a few minutes.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The posted wait times are always longer than the actual wait, for psychological reasons. You can bet this is done on purpose.

Even if you wait 1 hour, you'll feel better if the posted wait time was 1 1/2 hours!

 

[newcomer52]

I have had times the wait time was much longer than posted. We always set a time that we won't get in line if the posted time is longer that what we've set for that day. Last year in January we had set 20 minutes at MGM. ToT has a 20 minutes wait, but we were in line 1 hour and 40 minutes. UGH!

 

[Goofy4]

As often as they have to stop the rides these days (loading issues, etc), perhaps they pad the information from the lanyards.

Also, if they have no lanyard data, the sign computers probably fall back on a pessimistic pre-determined value.

 

[dis-happy]

I've had it go both directions---shorter than posted and longer than posted. One thing I did note: near closing time one night the posted time for HM was 45 minutes---we walked right on in. I think the CM's wanted to make sure they could close on time.

 

[bunnysmum]

Funny, I don't know why, but we ended up getting the little red card on the lanyard to help them estimate times 3 times one day, and twice the next day...

 

[tinkerbell6]

The posted wait times are always longer than the actual wait, for psychological reasons. You can bet this is done on purpose.

Even if you wait 1 hour, you'll feel better if the posted wait time was 1 1/2 hours!

I agree...we've almost always had wait times *less* than the posted time. Occasionally, it is a longer wait. I still remember back in the pre-fast pass days waiting in line for Star Tours or Splash for 2 hours at Christmas time at DL. Can't believe we did that!

 

[dahirsh]

I waited on line for Kali when the sign said 30 minutes. The actual rate was over 50 minutes. That's the one instance that stands out in my mind.

Deb