How long will you wait in line?

[Mome Rath]

Forgot to mention that it also depends on the attraction and it's typical wait time. Question: for 4th etc later fps, how do you all seem to have a wonderful selection for times close to the current time for everything you want? In our experience even with refreshing, we can eventually get a time close or pretty close to the current time for something we want but it can be tough. Are we being too picky? Is there some secret you all know?

I think there are several things to consider. If you are willing to be more flexible in what you ride when, it can go faster, esp if you are searching again right when you tap into the ride that you "settle" for, so that you are searching in line or on a different ride. The other option is the grab and modify, which consensus tells us is often easier than finding something without the FP already in hand. So, if you want Soarin for 3pm and it comes up at 5 grab it and then start trying to scoot it closer to 3. The only other thing to try is to split up your party into a smaller number and each person try for an overlapping time. Also, if there is a show/ride you want to see, and you are waiting for it already use that time to line up the next FP, so for example, we were waiting on Hall of Presidents so I used that time to nab FP's for FoP in AK later that day, that doesn't make it easier, but it's more efficient. In short, I don't think the harder to get rides always come up instantly, but it's quicker than standing in line.

 

[Pmlocke]

For my wife and I, who by the way are in our mature 60"s, never enter a line that is more than 15 minutes. Oh by the way, we never use fast passes either. One of the benefits of being older, no kids tagging along and having a schedule where we go to WDW every year for our wedding anniverasary. It will be the 45th in 61 days. We have done all the rides over and over so our trip is not ruined if we forgo a ride. We'll get to it next time. We also have the schedule where we can travel during slow times when the kids are in school which makes it easier to get on those rides. Like I have always said, Disney is for us older kids.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Forgot to mention that it also depends on the attraction and it's typical wait time. Question: for 4th etc later fps, how do you all seem to have a wonderful selection for times close to the current time for everything you want? In our experience even with refreshing, we can eventually get a time close or pretty close to the current time for something we want but it can be tough. Are we being too picky? Is there some secret you all know?

@JETSDAD can answer this question for you. He seems to really have this FP+ thing down!

For my wife and I, who by the way are in our mature 60"s, never enter a line that is more than 15 minutes. Oh by the way, we never use fast passes either. One of the benefits of being older, no kids tagging along and having a schedule where we go to WDW every year for our wedding anniverasary. It will be the 45th in 61 days. We have done all the rides over and over so our trip is not ruined if we forgo a ride. We'll get to it next time. We also have the schedule where we can travel during slow times when the kids are in school which makes it easier to get on those rides. Like I have always said, Disney is for us older kids.

Wow! This is cool! Do the two of you RD? Because A LOT of Disney rides can be done without FP in this manner? Have you ridden the headliners that always have super long waits? FoP? SDD? 7DMT? FEA? Because those rides are RARELY less than 20 minutes at most times.

 

[JETSDAD]

Forgot to mention that it also depends on the attraction and it's typical wait time. Question: for 4th etc later fps, how do you all seem to have a wonderful selection for times close to the current time for everything you want? In our experience even with refreshing, we can eventually get a time close or pretty close to the current time for something we want but it can be tough. Are we being too picky? Is there some secret you all know?

When I'm in park I don't like to add a FP unless it is within about 30 minutes. 30 minutes at WDW goes quickly between walking to the attraction, bathroom breaks, watching entertainment/details on the way, snacks, etc. There will be times of day or certain attractions that I may allow more time for. If we're about to eat then I can settle for something a little further out....if it's a ride such as FOP within 1-1.5 hours out, I can go watch a show in the meantime. For many of the rides it just takes a bit of refreshing. As was pointed out, especially for MK or tier 2 rides in tiered parks, grabbing any time for the ride you are looking for and then modifying helps speed up the process. Some people seem to think it opens up more times if you are modifying but I think it is just the simple fact that it is now at the top and no longer requires you to scroll down and back up between searches so you are getting more refreshes into a shorter time.

We do a mix of just taking the best ride available (with a little work) and looking for specific rides. This will depend on time of day and what our plans are. As it gets later into the day we may be less picky as the options will be less. Some days are all about hitting the big rides as much as possible while other days we just hit all the rides as we tour through the park.

There really is no secret....if you want a certain ride and want it now, refresh like crazy and hope it shows up.

 

[Remy is Up]

I have not found a good reason to wait in a line at all. Between EMH, After Hours, and refresh on FPs, there is absolutely no reason to wait in Stand by lines for any top line attraction. It just requires planning and being willing to get out of bed.

 

[Gehrig1B]

I have not found a good reason to wait in a line at all. Between EMH, After Hours, and refresh on FPs, there is absolutely no reason to wait in Stand by lines for any top line attraction. It just requires planning and being willing to get out of bed.

Spot on... If you are getting in standby lines of over 20 minutes you have yet to really know what you are doing. May be time to embrace Socratic Ignorance methinks.

 

[Pmlocke]

@JETSDAD can answer this question for you. He seems to really have this FP+ thing down!



Wow! This is cool! Do the two of you RD? Because A LOT of Disney rides can be done without FP in this manner? Have you ridden the headliners that always have super long waits? FoP? SDD? 7DMT? FEA? Because those rides are RARELY less than 20 minutes at most times.

I'm not sure what RD means but we do like to go on all of the rides except for the roller coaster types, Space Mountain, Everest, 7 Dwarfs. etc. I have had three back surgeries and my wife has had heart surgery so we take heed of the signs at the front of the rides for heart and back patients to take caution. Other than that there isn't a ride we haven't been on and we usually don't need the fast pass because we are willing to walk on by if the line is long and check it out later in the week at a different time. Best time to go on the busy rides is during the fireworks. I am not against fast passes. The way we do WDW is we never know where we are going, day by day, until we get in line for a bus to take us there. We usually let the bus line direct us to a park. The shorter the line means that's where we are going.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I'm not sure what RD means but we do like to go on all of the rides except for the roller coaster types, Space Mountain, Everest, 7 Dwarfs. etc. I have had three back surgeries and my wife has had heart surgery so we take heed of the signs at the front of the rides for heart and back patients to take caution. Other than that there isn't a ride we haven't been on and we usually don't need the fast pass because we are willing to walk on by if the line is long and check it out later in the week at a different time. Best time to go on the busy rides is during the fireworks. I am not against fast passes. The way we do WDW is we never know where we are going, day by day, until we get in line for a bus to take us there. We usually let the bus line direct us to a park. The shorter the line means that's where we are going.

I apologize, RD means rope drop. Are you and your wife there before park opening?

 

[richmo]

I went with other. I usually won't wait more than 30 minutes, but if its something I've never been on or I'm with someone that hasn't been on, I'll wait considerably longer. Have probably waited 60 or so for 7DMT and 90 for FoP in these circumstances.

 

[jabrabu]

It depends on the attraction, but generally 45 minutes is about my limit.

I did wait for 2 hours for Flight of Passage once. I had already ridden it a few times via rope drop and FastPass, but I was solo and had time to wait, and I hadn't experienced the full queue before, so I decided to do the long wait this one time. It was cool to see the whole queue, but I will never wait that long again.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

7DMT is cute, but as offsite visitors we can never get a FP. We waited for it before and to us it is not worth the long line often 60 minutes to 90 minutes (way too long). Peter Pan is perfectly cute, but not worth a FP to us and not worth more than a 15 minute wait, and the line is always longer than that, often even a 45 minute or longer wait -- really?

You can often find 10 minute waits for 7D after the fireworks show of close to closing time. The longest we’ve ever waited using this strategy was 20 minutes during opening week in 2014.

The line for Peter Pan gets even shorter. On our last visit, we found a posted wait of 40 minutes one evening. In reality, there were only about 10 guests in line with a 1 minute wait.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Once again with this ridiculous topic.

This is, by far, my most hated thread type. Yes, we all know you guys get to ride everything with under a 20 minute wait.

But when I walk around the parks between 11:00 AM and 8:00 PM everything (except shows) has 40+ minute waits.

But you guys all have the secret and never wait.

Give me a break!

We visited for 7 days in June and only once did we wait for more than 20 minutes for an attraction.

Successful refreshes plus short waits at night allowed us to ride more in one visit than ever before.

One thing we won’t do is rope drop. That time of day is much too crowded and stressful.

 

[disneycat321]

This thread is actually really encouraging to me. I marked 45 min because we have waited that long for certain rides, mostly at DLR, which we've visited far more times than WDW. But we haven't been to WDW since FP+, so I'm excited to see how well that seems to work for many of you. We are pretty good at using rope drop and single rider lines (2 adults) and planning well, so I think we can really make FP+ work for us. Maybe we won't have to do longer than 20 min this trip...hooray!

 

[Pmlocke]

I apologize, RD means rope drop. Are you and your wife there before park opening?

Nope. I'm on vacation. I sleep in until 8, rise and shower and while my wife is showering and getting ready for the day I go up and get a coffee and walk around the hotel complex. When I return my wife is ready so we then go for breakfast. We never get to any park before 10.

 

[kathy884]

You can often find 10 minute waits for 7D after the fireworks show of close to closing time. The longest we’ve ever waited using this strategy was 20 minutes during opening week in 2014.

The line for Peter Pan gets even shorter. On our last visit, we found a posted wait of 40 minutes one evening. In reality, there were only about 10 guests in line with a 1 minute wait.

For our next MK visit we'll have to leave right after the 8 p.m. fireworks, as we are offsite visitors and on the day we are visiting they have evening extra magic hours from 8-10 p.m., so this strategy won't work for us. We will just skip both of these and that's not a big deal for us (been there, done that, etc.) Sounds like a great plan, though, on a non evening extra magic hours day or for onsite visitors.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I did a search for "longest line" and this thread came up - close enough.

The longest I would purposely wait would be about 60 minutes, but it really depends.
Longest line I ever waited in was about 2 hours - that was Indiana Jones right after it opened. This was before Fastpass and the line filled Adventureland and crossed the bridge towards Main Street (but not quite to Main Street).
My son and I wanted to get one more tide on FoP since we weren't coming back to DAK on our last trip and got in what was supposed to be a 65 minute line. One of the theaters broke down though and the line ended up being about 1:45. Not a big deal as we were headed out of the park after that ride no matter what.

I really try and avoid being in the parks when the lines get that long. If they do, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and get in line. It beats wandering around the park complaining about how crowded it is IMHO.