Inflated Wait Times At Night - Anyone else notice?

[BCKatie02]

On our trip in January, we noticed that perhaps an hour or so before the park was set to close, many of the major attractions (Soarin, Test Track, Tower of Terror, etc) had inflated wait times posted - meaning the sign said 75 minutes but the line was really less than 20. We actually asked a CM about this , if they did it on purpose, and he claimed it was not true, but the look on his face and the CM's next to him made me think otherwise.

Anyone else notice this? It was great once we realized this, as we got to ride some things a few times in a row before leaving the park!

 

[bcvgal]

I have no idea but on our last trip around 4:00 the wait time for Soaring was 210 mins. I've never seen a wait time that long before. And hopefully never again.

 

[jcriket]

Not sure why, but at night crowd levels can change quickly, due to parades, fireworks, people get tired, or fastpass is done so stand-by moves faster. Sometimes we get into lines that appear shorter, and the CM gives us a necklace that tracks how long you wait in line, and when we get off the ride the time has changed. If you see a wait time that doesn't seem right you can ask the CM, they can usually give you a better time.

 

[ZoZo]

I was there last October, and discovered something new. Twice, when I entered the queue for a ride (Soarin' and R&R), the cast members at the queue entrance handed me a red plastic card. They asked me to give it to the last CM I saw at the end of the line, right before you get on the ride. I guess this is the way they determine the stand-by wait times - they note the amount of time it takes a guest to get from one point to the other (I always wondered how they could tell how long it took!). Pretty cool system.

I agree that the wait times can fluctuate very quickly and often, so I don't think they're deliberately being misleading (what would the point be of that?).

 

[mcr5298]

I don't doubt this for a second. Our last trip was November 2005 and we stayed at The Beach Club Villas. We have two small children and a double stroller. So to avoid the bus, we would walk through the gateway to the monorail to get to the MK.

Every night on our way back from the MK we would take a nice stroll from the monorail back to the gateway.

We would be practically the only ones standing in front of the fountain wondering about those very long wait times. Not that we were going on any of those rides with two sleeping kids.

 

[nannon16]

I noticed the same thing this past weekend! Saturday at MK we saw the wait for Buzz was 20 minutes, yet we were only in line about 5 min. Monday night the posted wait for BTMRR was 30 min...yet we walked right on!! The train we were on wasn't even full! We got off and walked right back on again...I think we went on twice in about 15 minutes!

 

[cvjw]

I've noticed the inflated wait times at night also. I wondered if they did it on purpose to discourage people from riding at closing time, so they could close the rides at a decent hour. I always heard that if you are in line at closing time, you still get to ride the attraction. Fewer people in line would mean closing the rides earlier instead of having to wait for all the extra people in line to ride.

 

[GalDisney]

Long ago I worked at an amusement park as a ride operator. From my experience, the reason the wait time is listed as longer than it actually was is because simply whomever is in charge of changing the wait time, didnt change it.

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

Experience has made my husband and I completely ignore the posted wait times. We were at AK this past weekend and the sign said there was a 110 minute wait for Everest. We got in line and I think it took 45 minutes, max. Later that night we were at MK and Space Mountain said 70 minutes and we waited maybe 20. I think some of the lines - like Soarin and Test Track - can be really bad midday, but very often they are definitely inflated!

 

[Principessa1284]

I was there last October, and discovered something new. Twice, when I entered the queue for a ride (Soarin' and R&R), the cast members at the queue entrance handed me a red plastic card. They asked me to give it to the last CM I saw at the end of the line, right before you get on the ride. I guess this is the way they determine the stand-by wait times - they note the amount of time it takes a guest to get from one point to the other (I always wondered how they could tell how long it took!). Pretty cool system.

I agree that the wait times can fluctuate very quickly and often, so I don't think they're deliberately being misleading (what would the point be of that?).

Indeed! They are called flick cards. After they are scanned by the CM right before you get on the ride, it sends the signal to a computer that updates it automatically. We're supposed to send one every 5 minutes or less, so if the line increases/decreases in a short amount of time (before or after parades, etc) it can be a little misleading. Also if people forgot to give them to the CM at load, or drop it somewhere in the que and another guest trying to be nice, picks it up and gives it to the CM at load.

 

[Msslaydbug]

We have also been asked to carry something for the cast member. At Test Track we have been asked twice ! The time always seemed right when we came out.

This would be something intresting to watch !!

 

[tmt martins]

I think the CM's just don't send an update card when it gets late so most people will see the 75min and just keep walking to the exit it gives the CM's inside a chance to start their cleanup that has to be done before they leave.

 

[DVCLiz]

I also think I remember reading somewhere that CMs would "stack" the line, so that it looked from the outside as though there were a long wait, but really the ride could accomodate all the people in line before the ride closed for the night.

 

[peter11435]

Long ago I worked at an amusement park as a ride operator. From my experience, the reason the wait time is listed as longer than it actually was is because simply whomever is in charge of changing the wait time, didnt change it.

On almost all attrations at WDW nobody changes the wait time sign. It is all computerized.

 

[Alice Sr.]

Almost always.