How long is too long to wait?

[TreeSapp]

Just curious about this. We recently went with friends who declared many lines we'd have chosen to wait in "too long!"

So what would YOU consider too long? And, to help us put things in perspective, How often to you visits the parks?
Edit: Forgive me, I forgot to ask What time of year you visit?

Lets use these 2 examples per park:
(I tried to choose an E ticket and a usually less-demanded ride - forgive me if I've chosen poorly)

Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion

Test Track
Living Seas with Nemo

Kilimanjaro Safari
Tough to be a Bug

Toy Story Mania
Great Movie Ride (or anyone have a better idea?)

 

[BuckeyeBama]

My max wait times have changed based on my circumstances. They were much shorter with young children. Here are my current max wait times for your chosen rides with just my wife:

Big Thunder - 25 minutes
Haunted Mansion - 20 minutes

Test Track - 45 minutes, though we typically ride single rider and wait times are not really a concern
Living Seas with Nemo - has to be a walk on for us to consider it

Kilimanjaro Safari - 45 minutes
Tough to be a Bug - 15 minutes

Toy Story Mania - 45 minutes, though we have waited up to 60
Great Movie Ride - 15 minutes

 

[LSUfan4444]

The answer to this is relative. What time of year (weather, crowds), who is with me, how long is my stay, on grounds or off grounds, etc.

I just got back from a week's stay and outside of shows, parades and meeting Anna & Elsa, we didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything (not even to be sat at Be Our Guest or Cali Grill.)

The attitude should change as the variables changes.

 

[karenklo]

As a family we seem to have 30 min tolerance level for waiting. If it is more than that everyone seems ok moving on! I do think that EE at AK and RnR at DHS we may go to 45 min. WE are RD people and FP+ users, so we are not used to waiting much.

 

[TreeSapp]

I forgot to add - what time of year do you visit - my bad

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Just curious about this. We recently went with friends who declared many lines we'd have chosen to wait in "too long!"

So what would YOU consider too long? And, to help us put things in perspective, How often to you visits the parks?

Lets use these 2 examples per park:
(I tried to choose an E ticket and a usually less-demanded ride - forgive me if I've chosen poorly)

Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion

Test Track
Living Seas with Nemo

Kilimanjaro Safari
Tough to be a Bug

Toy Story Mania
Great Movie Ride (or anyone have a better idea?)

It doesn't matter what the ride is, we have never waited longer than 20 minutes. In the past, if the posted time was longer than 20 minutes, we'd either pull a FP or skip it. We have made exceptions for popular or rare characters...we waited for an hour for Rapunzel once, when she was still in Fairytale Garden, and we've waited 45 minutes for the Dwarves and the princesses and princes at MSNSSHP.

Of the rides you posted, the only one I'd be willing to wait more than 20 minutes would be for TSM, and even then I'd only be willing to wait 30 minutes max. We won't go on Nemo if it's not a walk-on.

ETA: Generally, we are annual visitors, and all of our visits have been in October. My daughter and I did take a SWW trip last year in June as well, but that was just for a weekend and we were there for a specific reason (to meet Star Wars characters).

 

[Minnesota!]

Big Thunder - 30
Haunted Mansion - 20

Test Track - 40
Living Seas with Nemo -under 10

Kilimanjaro Safari - 30
Tough to be a Bug - 15

Toy Story Mania - 30
Great Movie Ride - 15

 

[disney junky]

I won't wait beyond 50 minutes for any ride.

 

[ciera321]

I don't like waiting more than about 20 minutes but will wait up to around 30 minutes for headliners. We go every year and spend 11 nights each trip. We always arrive at RD and leave the parks for a break during hot weather months!

 

[chimilady]

It doesn't matter what the ride is, we have never waited longer than 20 minutes. In the past, if the posted time was longer than 20 minutes, we'd either pull a FP or skip it. We have made exceptions for popular or rare characters...we waited for an hour for Rapunzel once, when she was still in Fairytale Garden, and we've waited 45 minutes for the Dwarves and the princesses and princes at MSNSSHP.

Of the rides you posted, the only one I'd be willing to wait more than 20 minutes would be for TSM, and even then I'd only be willing to wait 30 minutes max. We won't go on Nemo if it's not a walk-on.

ETA: Generally, we are annual visitors, and all of our visits have been in October. My daughter and I did take a SWW trip last year in June as well, but that was just for a weekend and we were there for a specific reason (to meet Star Wars characters).

Same for us, and we usually only go in low season. This weekend it was 5 hour wait for Elsa and Anna. No thanks!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I got used to short lines as we always travel to WDW during low crowd seasons. A trip to Cedar Point last summer reminded me that you can have fun in line. Waits for almost every coaster exceeded 60 minutes, but we rode all day long for 2 days, from dawn to well after dark. Our friends made the lines seem unimportant, and this in the heat of the summer sun.

Now, I am not sure that I would want to do this for 10-14 days (our typical WDW stay), but it wasn't a problem for a few days. In fact, it was pretty awesome. We had a great time and are going to do it again this summer.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Never more than 20-30 mins no matter which ride or attraction. We tend to do AP's about every 3-5 years & visit 20-30 days over the course of that year, broken down into multiple trips during non max-crowd times. Never Christmas, Spring Break, mid June- mid August.

 

[ampc3]

I don't like waiting more than about 20 minutes but will wait up to around 30 minutes for headliners.


This... always go in summer and 30 min is my max. (TSM is the only ride we have waited that long for to by the way) We are RD people and were FP- super users... scared to see what my new waits will HAVE to be now

 

[Sandy Fisher]

We were spoiled too because we lived in Central FL for just over 5 years, had APs and went whenever we wanted to. We avoided the terribly crowded times, also the terrible heat and humidity. No, I never got used to it.
We wouldn't wait for some of those listed at all. NEVER waited more than 20 minutes for Great Movie Ride and wouldn't. We'd wait that long for Kilimanjaro because it's a favorite. Don't have any small/young children and never went to Toy Story.
We love Soarin and one time we waited for 40 minutes (posted) because DS was in town and unfortunately it was a busy day. We also waited that long for Test Track once, but wouldn't do it again.
And I don't think the new fast pass system would change our feelings. Even tho' we're back up in the frozen north, we'd time our arrival and our hours at the parks to avoid lines as much as possible.

 

[ucfknight]

Big Thunder - 30
Haunted Mansion - 20

Test Track - 60
Living Seas with Nemo - 15

Kilimanjaro Safari - 25
Tough to be a Bug - 1

Toy Story Mania - 60
Great Movie Ride - 15

 

[TreeSapp]

Thanks guys

We're also regulars and will a rarely wait over 30min for anything and maximize rope drop and late night hours. Our friends frequently turned their noses up at 15-20min waits. I was a little surprised

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I try to always go during a low crowd season, or what passes for "low crowd" these days, either October, the second week after Easter (which is what I'm considering again for 2015), or the second week of December.

During these times, I think that a thirty minute wait for anything is about my limit, although I have waited over an hour for Toy Story Mania just to see what the fuss was about because I was never able to get a FP for it until FP+ happened.

 

[Cyrano]

Our trips are in the summer. When parks are 9 and 10's per Touring Plans crowd levels.
Maximum wait that we consider is a family is 30 mins
Any longer and we either did on another visit our tried to use FP.

 

[henry72]

Our answer is the same whether winter (2 December trips) or summer (1 May/June trip) with the kids - we don't wait more than about 20 minutes for a ride. We might go up to 30 but no more than that.

(Even at home at Six Flags and Sea World we don't wait long for rides - again, I would say 20 minutes is our max. The one exception has been the Scooby Doo ride where we waited 35 minutes once.)

 

[Bete]

For us, it depends on how badly we want to do the ride.

We did pass on a 2 hour wait for Toy Story Mania which is our favorite ride. That same trip we waited 60 minutes for the Safari ride. We did another 60 minute wait for Soarin'.

Somehow, it's rare for us to do a ride with less than a 30 minute wait. We have waited 90 minutes for Toy Story Mania in the past. I feel 90 minutes is our cut off point for a popular ride.

I will say you have a better chance on less of a waiting time if you go at rope drop. Also, if you are on property I would absolutely use EMH mornings every where you can.