How Long is Too Long? - Standby Lines

[vicki_c]

k-sman - Not waiting has always been very easy in the past. For my family, we would almost never be in the parks "mid-day" which are the examples you are giving. During holidays, it was arrive earlier than RD (even when there was 7 AM EMHs at MK), get a ton of stuff done standby - absolutely no waits if you do things in the right order at RD - grab FPs as we went - at every possible opportunity. In the morning, you could usually get another FP about every 45 minutes-1 hr. Wrap up the morning touring, have an early lunch, shop - out of the park by 1:00.

We would then take a break at the resort until 5, 6 PM.

Then, and this is the key to the "old" way of touring which hasn't been available for about 2 years - return in the evening and use the FPs collected in the morning. (And please, I am well aware that some people see that as cheating or something, but it doesn't need to be rehashed here.) Plus, we generally weren't trying to do all of any park in one day (other than AK). We schedule 2 MK days, 2 or more Epcot days, 2 DHS days.

I must say that our April 2012 trip when they were enforcing the FP return times was not as productive as previous trips. But we still didn't wait in long lines, we just chose not to double up on some of the headliners like we would have in the past. It was still a great trip.

My family is not an amusement park family. I don't believe I have ever set foot in a Six Flags, King's Island, Busch Gardens, etc. and don't plan on it. So we have no experience with waiting in the long lines common at those places (and I'm not looking to gain any). We only have our 20 trips or so to Disney to use a comparison. And those trips never involved long waits.

edited: I see brylolmom was saying about the same thing - the "old" vs. the recent vs. the (now) new!

 

[mulan1123]

What time of year do you normally go? Or, do you go at a more crowded time and just utilize RD and FP a lot to get waits that short. I'm assuming you get to ride the rides you have listed... I'm just curious because I would love to have to not wait more than 20 min for rides.

Of the headliners you listed, I have never seen (in person) wait times less than:
MK:
Splash, Big Thunder, (I added) Space: 45 min
Peter Pan: 45 min

EP:
Soarin and Test Track: 50 min for Soarin 45 for TT

HS:
TSM: 45 min

AK:
Safari and EE: 30 min

That doesn't mean I want to wait in those, I just mean I don't think I've ever seen waits of 20 min for TSM, or Peter Pan, etc...

My friends and I went the week before the US Thanksgiving, and the SB for TT said 20 mins, so we waited. It was kind of deceiving because that 20 mins was only to where you design your car. And then you wait another 15-20 mins before you actually get to the ride. That was the longest wait we did for our entire trip. This was mid-day too.

We did EE twice one with FP+ and the second time SB and the SB wasn't very long either, maybe 10 mins. Again this was mid-day.....

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I just don't see how people are getting to do all the rides they claim even with FP- and never waiting more than 10 mins for minor rides and 20 mins for headliners. Are you simply doing a 9-11am shift and then 3pm-4pm (parade) and finally 8pm-11pm?

Between 11am-5pm I can't imagine how such short wait times are possible. Even with FP- once you pull one after 11am it probably won't be ready to come back until a couple of hours later. You can't get any other FP- during that time so your only choice is SB (at least until 1pm when the window is back open).

I was there three years ago in early March and two years ago in early May. Both times the crowds were between 2-5 according to Touring Plans. Regardless by midday even minor rides (Small World, Tea cups, Aladdin, etc.) had waits between 15-20 mins. Mountains, Dumbo, Pooh and Peter Pan were over 45 mins and fast passes for those were at least 2-3 hours later.

Short of riding People Mover about 20 times I just can't understand what people are doing during the day to avoid any waiting and still claim they are going on all the rides and tons of headliners.

Now we're hearing that people are going during the busiest times of the year like Spring Break and Christmas and don't experience waits. I just don't see how that is possible even under the old system.

Just to illustrate my point, at 12:21pm on a day considered to be a 6. I'd bet heavily that if you grab a fast pass on the old system the earliest return time would be outside of two hours. If you did that and at 2:20pm you could grab another for 4:20pm and go ride the one you just pulled you are still looking at only two rides over the next four hours. I've never done Casey Jr. Splash so maybe it is awesome but still....

It really was quite possible to get everything done (that I wanted to get done) with Fast Pass as long as I arrived at rope drop. I posted earlier what a typical day at Magic Kingdom would be like, since I believe Magic Kingdom is the one that requires the most planning and forethought:

I posted earlier that I don't wait longer than 25 minutes. I thought I would expand on how this was possible.

My family is all a bunch of early risers. We don't set an alarm and still wake up, get showered, have breakfast, and are at the parks before rope drop. That has always helped us. Then, we always have a touring strategy. At Magic Kingdom, for example, we arrived at 8:30. We got to see the Rope Drop ceremony (which I LOVE!!!) and then headed straight through the castle to Fantasyland. We did Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World, Little Mermaid, and Barnstormer. Then we would usually grab a fast pass for Space Mountain as we headed to Frontierland to take on Splash and Thunder Mountains. From there, we headed to Adventureland to do Pirates and Jungle Cruise. Then, it was usually time to check in for Space Mountain so we headed back there. Sometimes, we would do Barnstormer again or grab a fast pass (it was detached, remember) before heading to Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion. Then, it was usually time for lunch but we would go grab a fast pass for Thunder or Splash Mountain if we were heading to Tortuga Tavern or Pecos Bill's. We might get a fast pass for Peter Pan if we were going to Columbia Harbor House, or, even more likely, we would grab another fast pass for space mountain as we headed to Cosmic Ray's. After lunch, we took it easy. This is when we did the things that would never have a long line. We would to Philharmagic, Carousel of Progress, Peoplemover, the train, Tiki Room, the treehouse, Country Bear Jamboree. During this time, we would also grab a fast pass here and there for other rides we loved and would make sure to monitor return times so we could make sure to get fast passes with evening returns for Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain which have completely different feels at night.

So basically, we had a full morning and a very relaxed afternoon. The majority of major rides we rode in the afternoon and into the evening were through a fast pass. Now, with Fast Pass+, we tend to make sure we get at least one evening fast pass for Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, or Thunder Mountain (and splash was down last we were there) and then have to decide how to spend the other two, but it is always in the afternoon or evening.

All of this was done returning during the fast pass window. I actually didn't even know that people were allowed to return after their FP window until word got out that Disney was enforcing the return times. Oh well. Anyway, You can collect one fast pass every 2 hours. Knowing that, arriving at rope drop, monitoring fast pass return times, and saving the attractions that rarely ever have a wait for the afternoon, it is actually not too terribly difficult to get everything done that I wanted to with minimal wait. And, with Fast Pass+, it's still possible, though it does take significantly more planning. And if you have two days, it gets even easier.

 

[Peter Panic Attack]

By the time I've gotten off the ride, if my eyeglass prescription has changed.....then I feel like that was probably too long to wait.

Also, if I finish the ride and find that everybody is wearing futuristic clothing......and that the planet is now ruled by dang dirty apes......then I'm tempted to second guess my decision to use the standby line.

 

[Dreams0308]

This borders on socialism. It almost sounds like everyone should be given exactly the same thing regardless of effort. Usually people who work harder and longer end up with more - that is just the way it is.

Keep in mind that those who arrive at rope drop likely still get to ride more.

I very much concur! Sad that some feel the way the PP you quoted feels.

Ok, I'm sorry, but this is a THEME PARK........ it isn't a way of living.

Disney is a business, and it's obvious that they want to give ALL guests (no matter what style of vacationer they are) the ability to ride at least 3 rides with a short wait. They are trying to make ALL their guests happy. Yes, the commando style guests are REALLY happy already because they can ride over and over again with little to no wait. However, I'm sure there is a large group of guests with different touring styles that are not happy because they rarely get the little to no waits (like those people who thought FP wasn't free, or people that just didn't understand the old system).

So their solution is:
Commando style guests can still ride the rides, as they already do, and they will get little to no waits because of their touring style AND from their 3 FP+'s. Still happy, but maybe not REALLY happy anymore.
Other guests will now happy because they can have 3 rides with little to no waits. That's more than they had before.
Both groups in Disney's eyes are "happy"

 

[Dreams0308]

By the time I've gotten off the ride, if my eyeglass prescription has changed.....then I feel like that was probably too long to wait.

Also, if I finish the ride and find that everybody is wearing futuristic clothing......and that the planet is now ruled by dang dirty apes......then I'm tempted to second guess my decision to use the standby line.

HAHA yes ....I think that's a little too long of a wait!!! Good answer

 

[MissMaryQC]

If a wait time is listed as more than 90 minutes I won't even consider it, no matter what. For my favorite rides I'm willing to wait the 90 minutes, mostly because the rides I like have such wonderful theming in the queue so even the line is entertaining!

 

[mrsltg]

30 minutes or less.

 

[catne]

20 minutes has been our maximum wait time for years...back with legacy fastpass. We are rope-drop people, and we do tour to a set itinerary. But we generally get everything done (10-15 attractions) by shortly after lunch and then the rest of the day is slow & easy...either resort afternoon, or if we stay in the park it is to have sit-down lunch, leisurely shopping or show watching and just enjoy the atmosphere.

There's a lot of rides we don't even know what the regular stand-by line looks like because we either go stand-by when they have the chains arranged for a straight-shot through the queue...or we only ride it fast-pass and skip most of the queue (like Voyage of the Little Mermaid...have ridden it multiple times and only went through the stand-by side once. Even then it was such a fast walk-through that we just glimpsed the interactive stuff...no time to stop and do them.) We're there for the actual rides and shows, not the cute stuff they added to keep the masses happy while standing in a line for an hour

And now with Fastpass + we're actually finding it even easier to have maximum 5-10 minute waits everywhere, since we can fastpass the long-line rides for later in the morning while we knock-off 1/2 dozen fun rides at rope drop time.

We do go during the slowest times of the year, and we do pick the parks based on crowd-calendar best park recommendations.


I'm sure our touring plans would not work during busy times & holidays...but that's why we don't go then

 

[Satchmo128]

Most rides are right around the 40-minute mark (posted wait time for stand-by). There are only a few exceptions (such as TSMM - we have waited in an 80-minute line ONCE for this ride because it is DH's favorite).

 

[TeachTink]

What time of year do you normally go? Or, do you go at a more crowded time and just utilize RD and FP a lot to get waits that short. I'm assuming you get to ride the rides you have listed... I'm just curious because I would love to have to not wait more than 20 min for rides.

Of the headliners you listed, I have never seen (in person) wait times less than:
MK:
Splash, Big Thunder, (I added) Space: 45 min
Peter Pan: 45 min

EP:
Soarin and Test Track: 50 min for Soarin 45 for TT

HS:
TSM: 45 min

AK:
Safari and EE: 30 min

That doesn't mean I want to wait in those, I just mean I don't think I've ever seen waits of 20 min for TSM, or Peter Pan, etc...

I am thinking the same thing. I must pick the wrong times to go. As I read this thread, everyone is posting about such short wait times. When I see mostly everyone has a 30 min or less threshold, I keep thinking, "Wow, I would love to see a line at only 30 minutes!" haha

 

[Squirlz]

Longest we waited last month was about an hour. It was our last time at AK and we wanted to do the Safari again. Standby time said 40 minutes, but I think a FP window opened while we were waiting as people were flooding in past us.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

We generally don't get into a line with a wait time of more than 20 minutes - maybe 25 at the very most if it's something we really want to do and won't be able to do later for some reason.

 

[DisneyWalle]

Our limit is 45 minutes and thats pushing it. In fact, during our December vacation we experienced 75 to 95 minute waits and now none of my family wants to return ---- the bad thing is we have 3 free park hopper tickets from Disney to compensate us for a bad experience and we have no desire to use them. Guess its a good thing the tickets dont expire for 20 years.

 

[sbrost13]

30 minutes is my family's limit. We're rope drop people (the last 2 trips have been in the summer), and we go pretty hard core for the first 3 hours or so. By that time, we've done almost everything on our "must do" list.

 

[Vincent405]

There is no ride there worth waiting longer that 20-25 mins for IMO, so that's our max.

 

[ParkHoppers]

This borders on socialism. It almost sounds like everyone should be given exactly the same thing regardless of effort. Usually people who work harder and longer end up with more - that is just the way it is.

Keep in mind that those who arrive at rope drop likely still get to ride more.

FP+ is socialism? Give me a break! Everyone PAYS for a ticket for the parks and this is vacation not a cut throat business environment. Fact is I have used the old system as well as the new one. Sometimes I do RD and sometime I don,t. I like to park hop as my name reveals and the new system is not perfect for my personal needs. Thing is some of us are trying to look at the new system in a objective way. The fact is a MAJORITY of visitors will benefit from the new system and end up liking it. Since you want to talk about how it is in the real world I will say that in the real world when a majority of people like something that is a WIN. FP+ will end up a win for Disney just based on the % of visitors that will like it.

 

[cajmom]

For our family, we wouldn't wait over a hour. We are use to waiting in long lines at our local amusement park and the longest we have waited was 90 mins. I would not do that at Disney though because I feel there is so much to see and do that a hour would be our max.

 

[Love Tink]

FP+ is socialism? Give me a break!

The fact is a MAJORITY of visitors will benefit from the new system and end up liking it. Since you want to talk about how it is in the real world I will say that in the real world when a majority of people like something that is a WIN.

I'm thinking...maybe...you don't know what "socialism" means?

 

[prudence64]

We just waited 30 minutes at build-a-bear, so I think that could handle that for a. Disney attraction.