Inaccurate Wait Times

[afan]

Some people love it, I found it not much different than the times posted by Disney except near the end of the night.

There are so many factors with ride times, and your mileage may vary. Over time, Touring Plans ride times may be more accurate, but when you visit one day out of 365 you may not see a benefit.

I think having a good strategy for your park visit works he best. Touring Plans has lots of info about that that is certainly useful.

It's not a costly thing to purchase, but I would say to keep your expectations about it tempered. Don't feel ripped off if a Touring Plans line turns out longer than what is predicted.

Also keep in mind that touring plans is also using people's wait times. I try and remember to go into the attraction on the app and set the timer so I can contribute to the useful info I'm getting. It's helpful to see what more recent waits have been if someone has entered it.

 

[Upatnoon]

We will have about 9 park days for our trip in December. I have a feeling we will end up biting the bullet on Genie+

9 park days is a lot. You should have time to do everything you want and more than once.

I think Genie+ has its best value when you have a short trip and want to do as many attractions as possible. If you have to wait an hour to do something when you have 9 park days, it isn't a killer. Waiting an hour with 1 park day can mean going on 1 less attraction.

Genie+ is also great for stacking reservations if you want go to the parks later in the day or can hop to another park.

With a nice, long trip, you have lots of options! Less pressure and stress to "do everything" in one day.

 

[lentesta]

Len hangs out here at times and may see this and pop in with some insight on where their projected wait times come from.
I think it they may even have the info on their site somewhere but not sure.

The projected waits are estimates based on:

1. Actual wait times we've already got
2. Disney's posted waits

If you're using the app, posting your actual wait is really, really helpful. It helps us, and it helps everyone else using the app. To the extent you can measure your waits, please try. And thanks for using the app!

Apropos of nothing, here's 7DMT's posted and actual waits from yesterday - it was the first ride I thought of.

Green dots are actual waits from real people. Black dots are posted waits from MDE.



So around 8:45 a.m., when the posted wait was 50 minutes, the actual waits averaged 26 minutes.

At 8:40 p.m., when the posted wait was 40 minutes, the actual wait was 11 minutes.

 

[lentesta]

Well, no, they didn't.

Post title was "Inaccurate Wait Times".

You quoted the following:

"I'm really disappointed in the inaccurate wait times."

That is a complaint.

"Are they just showing long wait times to sell Genie +?"

That is a question. And a perfectly reasonable question at that. Doesn't mean the answer is yes, but its a reasonable question.

Earlier this year we were contacted by several national class-action law firms, looking for evidence of systemic wait time inflation to sell Genie+ and ILL.

We did the analysis and couldn't find definitive proof it's happening. If I recall correctly, 75% of wait times we looked at were inflated, but 25% of them were lower than the actual waits. So there wasn't a case to be made.

My guess is that uncertainty around wait times - if you just don't know whether they're right - probably helps sell Genie+ too.

 

[arich35]

9 park days is a lot. You should have time to do everything you want and more than once.

I think Genie+ has its best value when you have a short trip and want to do as many attractions as possible. If you have to wait an hour to do something when you have 9 park days, it isn't a killer. Waiting an hour with 1 park day can mean going on 1 less attraction.

Genie+ is also great for stacking reservations if you want go to the parks later in the day or can hop to another park.

With a nice, long trip, you have lots of options! Less pressure and stress to "do everything" in one day.

If it was just me and my wife we probably would but we have a 3 and 2 year old. I would like to avoid as many lines as possible lol

 

[raidermatt]

Earlier this year we were contacted by several national class-action law firms, looking for evidence of systemic wait time inflation to sell Genie+ and ILL.

We did the analysis and couldn't find definitive proof it's happening. If I recall correctly, 75% of wait times we looked at were inflated, but 25% of them were lower than the actual waits. So there wasn't a case to be made.

My guess is that uncertainty around wait times - if you just don't know whether they're right - probably helps sell Genie+ too.

Interesting, thank you for the insight!

 

[stinkpickle]

The projected waits are estimates based on:

1. Actual wait times we've already got
2. Disney's posted waits

If you're using the app, posting your actual wait is really, really helpful. It helps us, and it helps everyone else using the app. To the extent you can measure your waits, please try. And thanks for using the app!

Apropos of nothing, here's 7DMT's posted and actual waits from yesterday - it was the first ride I thought of.

Green dots are actual waits from real people. Black dots are posted waits from MDE.

View attachment 697706

So around 8:45 a.m., when the posted wait was 50 minutes, the actual waits averaged 26 minutes.

At 8:40 p.m., when the posted wait was 40 minutes, the actual wait was 11 minutes.

To be honest, I sometimes don't stop my timer until I get off the ride, because I hate messing my phone just before I board. I figure an overestimated time (by the length of the ride) is probably just as good.

 

[lentesta]

To be honest, I sometimes don't stop my timer until I get off the ride, because I hate messing my phone just before I board. I figure an overestimated time (by the length of the ride) is probably just as good.

Ha! Thanks for submitting them. As long as it's not, you know, Kilimanjaro Safaris, it's probably fine. Thanks again!

 

[afan]

Ha! Thanks for submitting them. As long as it's not, you know, Kilimanjaro Safaris, it's probably fine. Thanks again!

Where should we stop it in an ideal world. Before the preshow or after. I know this is a loaded question that causes debate depending on the ride since there's still a wait, some longer than others, after the preshow.

 

[lentesta]

Where should we stop it in an ideal world. Before the preshow or after. I know this is a loaded question that causes debate depending on the ride since there's still a wait, some longer than others, after the preshow.

Normally we say to stop right before you board the vehicle. Anything close is fine, though - just do your best. And thanks!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Where should we stop it in an ideal world. Before the preshow or after. I know this is a loaded question that causes debate depending on the ride since there's still a wait, some longer than others, after the preshow.

I normally submit my times when I’ve been assigned a row to line up in snd am waiting to board next. If I forget until after the ride completes I cancel my time bc and don’t submit it.

 

[afan]

I normally submit my times when I’ve been assigned a row to line up in snd am waiting to board next. If I forget until after the ride completes I cancel my time bc and don’t submit it.

Right but for fop that's pre-show for rnr that's after. Add in hm and it's a big ol mess

 

[scrappinginontario]

Right but for fop that's pre-show for rnr that's after. Add in hm and it's a big ol mess

Each person is different but for rides like FoP I choose to enter it as I enter the first pre-show as to me, that's when the ride starts as we never stop after that it's pre-show, pre-show, ride. I do the same for Rise of the Resistance. Another reason I do this for these rides is by this point I'm 'into' the attraction and enjoying it and would forget (and have many times) if I wait and try to enter it later. Figure it's better than nothing.

For rides like HM where there is a wait between the pre-show and riding, I enter it just before boarding our doom buggy.

Not saying there's a right or a wrong way, just what I choose to do.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Wait times today at MK were right on the screws...basically 5 minutes for everything. Only 4 rides we're 15 minutes or higher. Mine train was 30m and we waited 15m so inflated but still a short wait.

Moral of the story is it seems the mornings of MNSSHP are good days to go to MK

 

[stinkpickle]

Wait tikes today at MK were right on the screws...basically 5 minutes for everything. Only 4 rides we're 15 minutes or higher. Mine train was 30m and we waited 15m so inflated but still a short wait.

Moral of the story is it seems the mornings of MNSSHP are good days to go to MK

Yes, we love going on party days. Early 4:30 closings are even better.

 

[Marionnette]

Wait tikes today at MK were right on the screws...basically 5 minutes for everything. Only 4 rides we're 15 minutes or higher. Mine train was 30m and we waited 15m so inflated but still a short wait.

Moral of the story is it seems the mornings of MNSSHP are good days to go to MK

Sounds like a great day to be at the MK. I'm sure that it's a combination of MNSSHP and late-August/early-September crowds. Enjoy!

 

[arich35]

Sounds like a great day to be at the MK. I'm sure that it's a combination of MNSSHP and late-August/early-September crowds. Enjoy!

This is our plan for out Dec 6th-18th trip, we are scheduling a lot of MK days on the party days to try and take advantage of the low waits and then park hop for the evenings somewhere else

 

[scrappinginontario]

This is our plan for out Dec 6th-18th trip, we are scheduling a lot of MK days on the party days to try and take advantage of the low waits and then park hop for the evenings somewhere else

I was listening to this week’s DIS podcast and Craig mentioned he was very successful last month going to the MK on party days. Crowds start to build in the afternoon but mornings are great!

This has been our experience too in years past. Our family often booked our MK days on party days with great success!

 

[AprilsZoo]

Yes, we love going on party days. Early 4:30 closings are even better.

Last week, even party days were insane all. day. long.

MK was “sold out” on all the party days, and it was so crowded you could barely turn around in your own space. I was hoping that there were just a lot of party-goers who thought they needed a reservation for that day or something (makes no sense, I know… but I really wanted there to be a reason that so many people were choosing MK on early closing days).

The only reprieve from suffocating crowds was about an hour and a half after rope drop at AK on the 6th. The pattern didn’t hold true on the 10th, when it was super busy within 45 mins of opening. Even nighttime crowds were nuts pretty much all the way to park close, except leading up to the Extra Evening Hours @ MK on the 12th. That night, the park didn’t close until 11, and EEH was until 1 am. By 10-10:30, things had thinned out and by 11 it was really empty.

I wish I could’ve planned our trip for a few weeks sooner… it sounds like there was a noticeable difference in the crowds— at least on party days.

I heard quite a few people complaining that the Halloween parties were way oversold compared to years past, and that the candy was meted out stingily and was of notably lower quality. I’m not sorry that we decided to skip it this year. The fireworks (watched from afar) looked good & I heard the castle was lit up really nicely during the show… that would’ve been good to see, but probably not worth it alone.

 

[lorileahb]

This is normal to discourage folks from getting in line close to park close. We use the Touring Plans lines app which is normally much more accurate that posted wait times and times in MDE. However, you can usually tell how long a ride is just by looking where the line ends, is it outside the building, normally much longer, etc. And CMs will never admit to guests at the parks that they do this but this is common practice. Of course, this would diminish the guest's experience if they knew they purposely posted inflated wait times.

We also use Touring Plans - even on MNSSHP the Touring Plans wait times seemed to be much more on target.