How bad is bag check, really?

[bluezy]

In my three trips I have never had to wait longer than about 10 minutes average. Most waits were around 5 minutes.

There is always a line that seems to move faster than others. Also, I am always ready with bag unzipped, etc.

Now, one time we went to Epcot and it took forever!! The lines were at a standstill. I think 20 minutes maybe. I sent the bagless people ahead. I didn't think I would ever get through.

We were at Epcot one morning a few years ago when the bag check lines were horrendously slow and long. I'm guessing they were doing extremely thorough inspections of each and every bag. We were going bagless by then, so we didn't have to wait in the lines, but the family in front of us in the park entrance line had a family member in the bag check line. We were at the park 35 minutes before the park opened. The family member of the group in front of us literally ran from the bag check line (after getting through it) and got to her family just as they got to the Mickey reader. We saw the same type of lines at rope drop at AK later that week. Again we were happy we didn't have bags so we could bypass that crowd. We were talking to a family in the park later that day and they said that it took them 35 minutes that morning. I will say that I think those situations are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to the bag check lines.

 

[finedice]

The only place it REALLY makes a difference is for rope dropping FoP. If you don't want to wait 2 hours (minimum) for that attraction, you will have to be one of the first in bag check line, or go bagless - and then move like the wind to get to the turnstiles and then to holding points. Other than that, we bring a bag almost all the time.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Our bag check experiences has been smooth and for the most part quick.

But as many other pps are reporting EPCOT seems to take the longest for some reason. Last year it was worse than ever due to the fact that there were two separate occurrences involving guns within one week of each other (last October) and we were there during that time or shortly after.