Lines - how long is too long?

[KeKy4]

We have a 5 and 7 year old and usually 20 mins is our max. We will wait up to 40 mins for Peter Pan but usually only every other trip.

 

[Liberator]

I do not mind standing in a longer line, but it depends if the park is very crowded or not. When a park is rather empty and a specific ride has a 90 minute line, I don't care to ride it and it is good to check the wait time again later in the day.

If a park is crowded I have no problem with standing in a longer line. Sure, at Disney you can avoid lines with rope drop and with FP, that's how we skipped a lot of long lines during Memorial Weekend last year. But we still queued up for some rides, for example 60 min for Matterhorn or almost 100 min for Space Mountain (the whole queue-platform was filled until the top-end of the ramp) or 60 min for BTM (the whole extra queue-set-up was filled) and 45 Min. for Autopia.

I get very impatient if a line moves SLOW. For example Space Mountain's line at DL is really boring...it moves slow and there is nothing to see.


My time limit is about 120 Min for specific rides. At Disney I would never queue up longer than 10 minutes for rides like Peter Pan or IASW, but for major rides I have no problem to jump in a 90 min. line. When a park is totally crowded you can not perform magic and make the lines only 5 minutes, albeit you have a FP. So in Germany we say "in den sauren Apfel beissen" (to bite in a sour apple >>> bite the bullet).

 

[ludari]

If it's longer than 30 minutes I will usually try again later which is great for me since I am a local and have an AP.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Thirty minutes is about all we will wait unless we missed a ride last trip, or if we are on a specific mission to see something. At that point we will wait about 45 minutes (Peter Pan, Toy Story, and Space Mountain) otherwise we just move on to something else. For brand new attractions, it really depends on our interest level. For example, we will wait 0 minutes for a new Frozen thing, but 2-3 hours for new Star Wars Land stuff.

 

[DharmaLou]

30 minutes, and we FP anything that generally has longer standby waits than 30. We also make it a big point to hit the busiest rides first thing in the day in lieu of FPing them (or ones like Peter Pan that don't have FPs)

 

[scf]

We rely on FP almost whenever a FP is available, but we skip lots of the "scary" coasters. So in DL, it's mostly FP for ST and Buzz, and standby for HM, Pirates, and anything else. Oh, I think we may have used FP for HM a couple of times during the holidays, when the crowds were 10+, but that's rare. HM we max out about 25 mins, Pirates about 30. We never do ST or Buzz standby unless it's almost a walk-on (15 or less for ST, 5 for Buzz).

DCA is a different deal, because unless you EE or RD, TSMM is often 40-45; we may have done 60 for TSMM during the holidays, but otherwise we max that one at 45. RSR we only do FP; Herself won't single ride that one yet. Mater's max for us us about 15. Soarin' max is 45 but we will take a FP if it doesn't block a RSR FP later.

Parades we usually squeeze in the back at parade time (we are both tall enough). We got burned at the holidays for that but the fireworks were reduced due to wind, so we were glad we didn't spend 3 hours camped out on Main Street waiting.

 

[Frozen2014]

From these numbers, it looks like Disneyland lines are not as long as Disney World. Their wait times are a lot longer (especially for things like Peter Pan and Toy Story MM)

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Yes, they have far fewer rides per park, so the lines stack up quite a bit compared to DL. When we went last December PP was 120 minutes every time we walked by, SM was 150 most of the time, I think we saw 210 once also. Soarin was the worst it seemed, we saw 210 a lot on the app.

 

[SilentFeline]

I don't have kids so my entire park experience is very different from yours, but generally my husband and I are willing to wait 30-40 minutes, depending on the ride. RSR and TSMM are the exceptions. My husband is a teacher and I'm a sub for a local school district, so we can only go to DLR during peak times. We also only go every few years so that we can save enough money for longer visits. Longer park hours during peak times and longer visits allow us the luxury of being able to spend more time waiting in lines with little issue.

 

[tdhickey]

I prefer 30 min or less, but honestly there's just times of the day where you have to wait longer for everything. I try to get a fast pass, go on another nearby ride while waiting in line, finish that ride and go on the FP ride. Or get a FP and have a meal. It doesn't always work, but that's the way it goes. Indy, Space mountain, Splash, Toy Store, Cars Racers, Soaring, Star Tours all run into this issue mid day, almost any day. I figure you either stand in line for something cool, or you sit around doing nothing...

 

[hlbtimes2]

30-45 depending on the ride. We find that with fast pass, single rider lines and some planning, there is not typically a reason to wait longer than that.

 

[LizzyS]

30 minutes, and we FP anything that generally has longer standby waits than 30. We also make it a big point to hit the busiest rides first thing in the day in lieu of FPing them (or ones like Peter Pan that don't have FPs)

Absolutely, we've always made it a point to ride the e-tickets we care about most FIRST thing in the morning and it's always worked like a charm.

 

[goofyfan13]

Wow, thanks everyone for your thoughts, experiences and line tolerances. I'll be the first to admit last trip I was caught a bit flatfooted. I did the research, had our "must do list" and still ended up in a few 45+ lines.

Don't get me wrong, we used fast passes and were able to walk on a few of what we consider top tier rides, Tower of Terror, star tours, space mountain and a few others.

However, I did find myself a few times in an indecisive stupor, "wow, that's at 45 or 60 minutes, how long is the next ride." I ended up dragging the family through 1/2 of the park trying to decide if I'm being wise jumping in a longer line or if the "grass is greener" just a few more steps down the road.

Along with RSR, Dumbo was definitely work the wait (DD 5). The longest line we were stuck in was Mickey and Minnie's houses 60 min+ each. Minnie's with the, "almost there, oh we are headed to the backyard" was a bit of a morale killer. Me and the older two (DD 9 and DD 8) stumbled upon Mickey and Minnie on main street, and boy howdy was Sydney mad!

 

[LizzyS]

Also, I don't care at all to wait in lines that continually move, ala POTC and HM. Those are super fast loaders.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Before we had a child...we'd wait up to an hour for something we REALLY liked. On our last trip we had our toddler with us so 30 minutes was our max...and even that was stretching it. He'll be 3.5 next time. I am not sure what his tolerance will be but I doubt longer than 20-30 minutes.

 

[mich311e]

At most I will wait 45 minutes. We waited this weekend about that for Luigi's, Peter Pan, and Toy Story. If there's a fast pass option that's the way we go. I won't wait longer than a half hour for most rides with a fast pass.

We rode RSR on Sunday via fast pass. I heard a CM tell a guest the stand by wait was 1 hour 45 minutes. We actually saw a little kid peeing in bushes in the queue when we were walking up to the FP line up of the ride. I get it - the people were probably in that line for 90 minutes and their kiddo needed to go, but, yikes. Never seen that before! Anyways, that's too long for me. I'd ride single rider or with a FP only.

 

[sheetz]

If the line is constantly moving and/or I can find ways to amuse myself then I can wait for 45 minutes, or even more. Maybe I'm cheap but I'm always amazed at the amount people are willing to pay to skip lines at other parks.

 

[coaches24]

The answer to this question depends on the time of year and time of day. In other words ....How busy is it? I try to plan the busiest rides in the morning and with FP (do both if you want to ride more than once) so I am not in line very much at all. I save the shows and rides that often have shorter lines or quick lines for later in the day when its busier. The big name rides I will never wait in the standby lines because they are just too long all day (PP, Indy, TTMM, MH, Space etc)

I also look out for unexpected short lines. And will jump on a ride that has one during busy times. Late in the day I let up some on my line waiting rules and will wait in some longer lines (longer than I normally would). 20 minutes during a busy time is nothing to wait IMO, but longer than that and I will usually find a different time.

Submarines are the only ride I like that I will usually skip (haven't been on it since DDs first trip in 2010 and been back 5 or 6 times since then). I hate using my morning time for that ride and refuse to stand in line.

TTMM I have only ridden once ever as well because the line is too long at all times and the times I have tried to ride it first thing in the morning it has been broken down.