Long lines for Guardians

[disneylover102]

I’ve been looking at wait times and Guardians has been having some ridiculously long waits. I haven’t been in a couple years but it seems like the wait times are twice as long as they used to be… is it running at limited capacity right now?

 

[frjohnk]

I’ve been looking at wait times and Guardians has been having some ridiculously long waits. I haven’t been in a couple years but it seems like the wait times are twice as long as they used to be… is it running at limited capacity right now?

Looks like the parks are considerably busier than last year at the same time.

Last year on the Sunday of this long weekened, Guardians LL sold out at 3pm, yesterday it was 1036am
Last year the average wait time for Guardians was 70 minutes for the whole day. Yesterday it was 110 minutes.

Soarin yesterday was 247pm, last year 535pm
Webslingers yesterday was 345pm, last year was 425pm
Toy Story yesterday was 314, last year was 450
Incredicoaster yesterday 414pm, last year was 705pm

Racers had a 165 minutes wait at 1 point.

I wonder if the rainy weather this past week had something to do with a full crowds this weekend, or is it a sign of things to come this week? We go this week.

 

[WITN-E]

Looks like the parks are considerably busier than last year at the same time.

Last year on the Sunday of this long weekened, Guardians LL sold out at 3pm, yesterday it was 1036am
Last year the average wait time for Guardians was 70 minutes for the whole day. Yesterday it was 110 minutes.

Soarin yesterday was 247pm, last year 535pm
Webslingers yesterday was 345pm, last year was 425pm
Toy Story yesterday was 314, last year was 450
Incredicoaster yesterday 414pm, last year was 705pm

Racers had a 165 minutes wait at 1 point.

I wonder if the rainy weather this past week had something to do with a full crowds this weekend, or is it a sign of things to come this week? We go this week.

Wow that is some great data! Can I ask is this kind of info somewhere publicly accessible for future dates or was this info you had from a previous trip?

 

[laugard]

Holiday weekend, ski week and a huge cheer competition at the convention center have all been contributing to the crowds. Backups from the 5 freeway to the parking structure have been insane each day.

 

[LKing]

Thrill Data has a lot of info about things like this. https://www.thrill-data.com/waittimes/disneyland

There was also a large cheer/dance competition this weekend. Combine that with the last day of Lunar New Year, holiday weekend, nice weather after 2-3 days of rain, discounted tickets, and long lines getting into Disneyland and you are going to find DCA more crowded.

The long lines at Disneyland are partly because of everything above, combined with the construction closing down several entrance turnstiles.

 

[LKing]

Backups from the 5 freeway to the parking structure have been insane each day.

This has happened on several weekends in the past couple of months. I wonder if they changed the timing of lights or traffic flow into the structures.

 

[brightlined]

Have they been running all three shafts? When I was there a couple of weeks ago, they were only running two shafts (four elevators instead of six).

(Wasn't sure if it was a maintenance issue or staffing or something more normal.)

 

[Wesley815]

Have they been running all three shafts? When I was there a couple of weeks ago, they were only running two shafts (four elevators instead of six).

(Wasn't sure if it was a maintenance issue or staffing or something more normal.)

I have a feeling that's the issue combined with huge crowds. Looking at wait times this morning it jumped up to 80 minutes shortly after opening, which is rare for Guardians to do that quickly. Racers went to 110 minutes at opening too- park must be packed.

Read another site park update and they pointed out all 3 shafts have not been running.

 

[Lisa24jks]

I have a feeling the upcoming refurb will address the shaft that's not currently running. Gotta get that ride at full capacity before the summer crowds start!

And yes, it was definitely crowded in both parks on Saturday. Holiday weekend, cheerleaders everywhere, and I have a feeling that a lot of the locals who skipped the rainy days moved their reservations to Saturday and Sunday when the weather was better. I was there on Saturday and decided to just keep it lowkey and not worry about riding every single thing. Just hit the ones that had the more reasonable lines and LL times. So, it was still a great day, but definitely BUSY!

 

[laugard]

This has happened on several weekends in the past couple of months. I wonder if they changed the timing of lights or traffic flow into the structures.

That's a good question, I'd be curious to know if that's the case. Though I'll say that even if so, we still found the backup much worse than recent weekends. We left at our regular time on Saturday and the backup was so bad, it took us an additional 45 minutes to enter the parking structure compared to usual.

 

[cinabc]

We went on it this morning. Only two shafts were being loaded. For the preshow they were not crowding us into the room.

 

[brightlined]

We went on it this morning. Only two shafts were being loaded. For the preshow they were not crowding us into the room.

Which shaft was closed? (When I was there, it was the one on the left.)

 

[JerrodDragon89]

Holiday weekend, ski week and a huge cheer competition at the convention center have all been contributing to the crowds. Backups from the 5 freeway to the parking structure have been insane each day.

My issue, is Disney knows these people are coming have EVERY parking lane open and all security lanes to get people in

If they did that then nothing to be done but the reason for some of the lines are more they are just not staffed for the crowds...and then it makes no sense we are reserving days and telling them we are coming just for them to ignore it and staff the same as if it was not crowded

 

[Wesley815]

My issue, is Disney knows these people are coming have EVERY parking lane open and all security lanes to get people in

I agree 100% besides staffing it honestly seems like parking and security are on the bottom of their list to promote efficiency.

All I can think of is Security training must include profiling with questions to slow entry down on purpose. TSA is light years ahead of Disney who still go through every single bag and wallet by hand with zero technology used (besides decades old metal detector.) The Cast also chat with guests and ask all about their day- even with only a couple lines open for thousands of incoming guests.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I agree 100% besides staffing it honestly seems like parking and security are on the bottom of their list to promote efficiency.

All I can think of is Security training must include profiling with questions to slow entry down on purpose. TSA is light years ahead of Disney who still go through every single bag and wallet by hand with zero technology used (besides decades old metal detector.) The Cast also chat with guests and ask all about their day- even with only a couple lines open for thousands of incoming guests.

I’m still confused as to why DLR hasn’t installed the ultramodern metal detectors that WDW has had for several years now. It shouldn’t take a 1/2 hour to get through security late on a Friday.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I’m still confused as to why DLR hasn’t installed the ultramodern metal detectors that WDW has had for several years now. It shouldn’t take a 1/2 hour to get through security late on a Friday.

I hear its the unions for security

At Universal and even Six Flags you just put your bag on the scanner and walk in and unless you have something weird they just don't have to touch your things and you walk through

 

[LAS2AMS]

I hear its the unions for security

At Universal and even Six Flags you just put your bag on the scanner and walk in and unless you have something weird they just don't have to touch your things and you walk through

Unions can’t tell a company how to run their business, so I doubt they’re the reason. Unions can negotiate terms for employees displaced by tech upgrades, but given how few lines are open, I’m not certain that’s an issue. New tech would cut back on the waits, which can be embarrassingly long.

Most likely, Disney doesn’t want to spend the money upgrading its equipment.

 

[irlandaise]

Most likely, Disney doesn’t want to spend the money upgrading its equipment.

Is that fancier equipment even feasible with the rigged-together security checkpoints DL currently has? Maybe they need to build proper permanent checkpoints, instead of tents and folding tables.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I’ve been looking at wait times and Guardians has been having some ridiculously long waits. I haven’t been in a couple years but it seems like the wait times are twice as long as they used to be… is it running at limited capacity right now?

I think they might be phasing in the closures. Guardians is going to be closed cold turkey starting March 10 so they're preparing some of the shafts for maintenance.

 

[brightlined]

I’m still confused as to why DLR hasn’t installed the ultramodern metal detectors that WDW has had for several years now. It shouldn’t take a 1/2 hour to get through security late on a Friday.

The overriding problem right now is the slowness / inefficiency of park entry. if they speed up everything else, it'll turn the Esplanade into a giant unmanageable mess every morning. They really can't do anything until the new park gates are up and running at optimum. (Even removing those trees in front of the DL gates was part of the effort to expedite park entry.)

They tested those detectors a while back, so they've definitely considered them. Cost isn't the issue - they could potentially cut the number of security lanes in half with the newer detectors, and they know that the line-ups are a deterrent to people spending money.