Long wait lines.

[luvthemouse71]

I was just there(4/25 to 5/2) and the crowds were heavier than I'm used to. We usually go in September, December or the first half of May so we are used to it being less crowded. I figured there were still kids on spring vacation and there were cheer/dance groups too. We still had a good time.

We did not have any problems with rudeness, which surprised me. The groups of kids were well behaved for the most part.

Standby lines were longer on certain days, for certain rides. But we still managed to get on rides with short waits. We like the parks at night so that may have had something to do with it.

The last 3 days of the trip, we got caught in typhoons,lol. But, it's the weather. Can't really do anything about it.

 

[LilyWDW]

I know where you are coming from with this, and these rides are a good measure because they didn't have FP before.

But, I know from visits during the Christmas and Easter seasons that standby lines of 30 minutes or longer at both of these attractions are not unprecedented.

I have seen both Pirates and IASW be over 20 minutes and that was in October. So, not super busy, but not dead either. I honestly have to wonder where these low wait times are coming from, especially when you are talking anything besides the quietest of days.

 

[humpback]

According to tourinplans the lines today at MK have been really long too. Right now (2 p.m.)- Ariel's Grotto 45 mins, Barnstormer 60 mins, Buzz 45 mins, Dumbo 45 mins, HM 50 mins, IASW 35 mins, etc.

Hoping this is mostly due to the not so nice weather yesterday....

 

[maxiesmom]

According to tourinplans the lines today at MK have been really long too. Right now (2 p.m.)- Ariel's Grotto 45 mins, Barnstormer 60 mins, Buzz 45 mins, Dumbo 45 mins, HM 50 mins, IASW 35 mins, etc.

Hoping this is mostly due to the not so nice weather yesterday....

According to EasyWDW MK is the park to avoid today.

 

[ShayBells]

This is probably the key phrase. I have never been at WDW in mid September, but I have been there at some other less busy times like the first week or two in December. And I don't think I ever said that I never saw these rides with short times in mid afternoon, but I can definitely say that they aren't always like that. If you're trying to blame FP+ for longer lines, you have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples, and the biggest apples are (1) time of year and overall crowd size, and (2) time of day. With something like Splash Mountain, temperature can be a big factor too. From reading these boards, even year over year comparisons can be misleading because of special promotions and the fact that overall attendance has gone up over the last 5-6 years. Long before FP+ came into existence these boards were flooded with posters saying things like "I've been coming at this same time every year and I've never seen the crowds this large and wait times this long". FP+ may be a factor in wait times, but it isn't the only one, or even the biggest one.

Oh I'm not blaming FP+. In my original post I said I was never here at this time before so I didn't know if it was normal or FP+. I was asking.

And I also said maybe I'm just lucky but during September when I have been there I've never seen waits over an hour. Just my observation and my experience. Wasn't saying anyone was right or wrong.

I was mainly just curious if it was FP+ or not. Maybe there's no way to really tell seeing how opinions are varied. I have no clue.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[JanaDee]

Oh I'm not blaming FP+. In my original post I said I was never here at this time before so I didn't know if it was normal or FP+. I was asking.

And I also said maybe I'm just lucky but during September when I have been there I've never seen waits over an hour. Just my observation and my experience. Wasn't saying anyone was right or wrong.

I was mainly just curious if it was FP+ or not. Maybe there's no way to really tell seeing how opinions are varied. I have no clue.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Since 80+% of ride capacity is dedicated to FP+, yes, it is the major reason SB lines have increased.

 

[ShayBells]

I was just there(4/25 to 5/2) and the crowds were heavier than I'm used to. We usually go in September, December or the first half of May so we are used to it being less crowded. I figured there were still kids on spring vacation and there were cheer/dance groups too. We still had a good time. We did not have any problems with rudeness, which surprised me. The groups of kids were well behaved for the most part. Standby lines were longer on certain days, for certain rides. But we still managed to get on rides with short waits. We like the parks at night so that may have had something to do with it. The last 3 days of the trip, we got caught in typhoons,lol. But, it's the weather. Can't really do anything about it.

Yeah we were there 4/29 to 5/3. The kids weren't bad. There were a lot of them so noisier but it was just more of neutral I guess is a good word. Usually people talk to me and no one really did. And the one CM was a shocker and most weren't as happy go lucky and magical this time. Idk I guess no biggie.

But the rain yeah we seem to always pick a time during heavy rain lol. We just put on out ponchos and went on.

Overall hey it's disney and I loved it. It would take a lot to keep me from going back.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Walt forbid there be a long line at the most visited theme park in the world...

 

[humpback]

According to EasyWDW MK is the park to avoid today.

Yeah, it has evening EMH. Still listed as a level 5 though, and those lines seem very long for a 5.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

OP you should see the standby waits for rides in July. That 20 minutes would seem short.

This! Last May before FP+ fully rolled out I saw lots of midday two-hour waits for Space and Splash and 45-minute waits for small world at MK, and a solid three-hour wait for RnRC at DHS.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yeah, it has evening EMH. Still listed as a level 5 though, and those lines seem very long for a 5.

I'm not sure what a 5 is supposed to equal in minutes, but it is listed as average crowds. And to me, those times don't seem above average. They seem normal for a day that is not dead yet not exceedingly busy.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Since 80+% of ride capacity is dedicated to FP+, yes, it is the major reason SB lines have increased.

Not for every ride - certainly not for rides like IASW and PotC. Why? Because the FP+ line is rarely backed up at those rides. I was there the week after Easter and the FP+ line for IASM rarely had more than a handful of people in it - never enough to even fill a single boat. And the FP+ line for PotC was almost as empty. So, while the ratio could hit 8:2 if FP+ riders get backed up or if it became a more popular ride, that just isn't the case right now at many rides.

Yes, it is having an impact, but not that great an impact.

Something else that I have noticed our last few trips - WDW is intentionally inflating SB wait times. Not sure why, but they clearly are - sometimes by more than 100%. I noticed on every ride my last 2 trips that my actual wait times were substantially lower than the posted times and started keeping track. An example - week before last I got on line for Buzz with a posted wait time of 30 minutes. I saw very few people trickling into the FP+ queue and decided to see how long it took. I was on the ride in less than 10 minutes. I rode it twice, including SB wait times and time to ride, in 35 minutes.

 

[Texas Barbie]

We just got back Saturday after a week there, and did not find the lines too long. We would be at one park for rope drop, enjoy everything and have lunch, then hop to the park where we had our fastpasses. The system worked well for us. Slogging around I. The rain Friday, wasn't great, but it did make it easier to leave Saturday as the rain continued.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Since 80+% of ride capacity is dedicated to FP+, yes, it is the major reason SB lines have increased.

67.3% of statistics are made up.

 

[mesaboy2]

Yeah, it has evening EMH. Still listed as a level 5 though, and those lines seem very long for a 5.

Agreed, at least at some attractions. HM had a posted wait of 55 minutes consistently throughout the afternoon yesterday--a number I've never seen before on a "moderate" day. No HM for me yesterday.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I know where you are coming from with this, and these rides are a good measure because they didn't have FP before.

But, I know from visits during the Christmas and Easter seasons that standby lines of 30 minutes or longer at both of these attractions are not unprecedented.

They may not be unprecedented at the busiest times of year, when the parks are reaching capacity, sure. That doesn't mean 30+ min waits at less busy times of year is normal. I know I would have been surprised to see 30+ min waits at those rides when we were there in Oct.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

We were at MK a month ago on a day easy.wdw says was an observed 6. I'm not complaining about our experience because PotC was the only ride we felt we waited too long for (30 minutes actual wait), but FP+ means constantly changing norms that can be frustrating for park experts.

We saw IASW at 20 minutes in the early evening. PotC was consistently at least 35 minutes from late morning on. HM was 35-50 minutes, although it randomly dropped to 15min when we passed by after dinner really wanting a second ride. (I'm given the credit to God, not pixie dust. ) When we used a FP+ on Jungle Cruise at 5 p.m., standby was 60 minutes and not really moving because of FP return. OTOH, it was amazing how the double Dumbo's line was basically nothing, shorter than Magic Carpets. If only they'd done the same thing for TSMM at DHS.

I noticed that posted wait times were sometimes accurate and sometimes inflated by five to ten minutes. I don't know if that was really intentional or the result of the red card system, which is never going to be up-to-the-minute accurate and can also be affected by human error. For example, we were given a card in Pooh when we were going to let people pass us in the play area so DH and DS could catch up. I gave the card to the next family in line. At HM and even PotC, we were told to "fill all available space," which means more aggressive people are going to get through faster than daydreamers who don't fill the space in front of them. And of course, Under the Sea is always posted at 20 min when it's a walk-on. {Which reminds me of a lesson I learned from Under the Sea -- when the CM says a ride might be open again later that day, checking back ten minutes later is still a good idea.}

 

[mom2rtk]

4 OTOH, it was amazing how the double Dumbo's line was basically nothing, shorter than Magic Carpets. If only they'd done the same thing for TSMM at DHS.

If only.

They could have saved themselves a billion bucks or so.

 

[wisblue]

Not for every ride - certainly not for rides like IASW and PotC. Why? Because the FP+ line is rarely backed up at those rides. I was there the week after Easter and the FP+ line for IASM rarely had more than a handful of people in it - never enough to even fill a single boat. And the FP+ line for PotC was almost as empty. So, while the ratio could hit 8:2 if FP+ riders get backed up or if it became a more popular ride, that just isn't the case right now at many rides.

Yes, it is having an impact, but not that great an impact.

Something else that I have noticed our last few trips - WDW is intentionally inflating SB wait times. Not sure why, but they clearly are - sometimes by more than 100%. I noticed on every ride my last 2 trips that my actual wait times were substantially lower than the posted times and started keeping track. An example - week before last I got on line for Buzz with a posted wait time of 30 minutes. I saw very few people trickling into the FP+ queue and decided to see how long it took. I was on the ride in less than 10 minutes. I rode it twice, including SB wait times and time to ride, in 35 minutes.

In our experience, Disney has ALWAYs inflated standby wait times. I have always assumed that this is because a guest is going to be more satisfied if the wait is shorter than posted than if it is longer. Plus, when a ride has FP it is a little more difficult to estimate the wait time because the wait may depend on how many holders of FPs return while you are in line. So, if they estimate that a wait may be between 15 and 30 minutes, they will post it at 30.

For the rides like IASW and POC, the demand for FPs is probably not that great because more guests are using their FPs on other things. Therefore, even if 80% of the capacity is AVAILABLE for FPs, it is likely that the actual capacity used on FPs is substantially lower than that, especially on less busy days. But, because the CMs at the ride do not know how many holders of FPs will be coming to the ride in the next hour, they post a conservative wait time. The actual wait time will be significantly lower if only a small percentage of the actual capacity is used by FP holders.

While people like Josh at easywdw have the data to compare posted wait times for a ride for all days, nobody (except maybe Disney) has comprehensive data on how actual wait times compare to posted wait times.

 

[Missymouse18]

We go every May and the lines are pretty typical as to what you described. Last May we waited about an hour and twenty minutes for Splash and little over an hour for HM. Only once have I waited more than 15 minutes for IASW, and that was in 2012 - waited about 20 minutes. As PP said, September is typically "slow." Haven't experienced any rude CM's, but have definitely experienced some rude guests. Last summer we get in a spot for MSEP and there's this lady standing against the retaining wall over near the bridge to the left of the Castle, with a child actually standing on the wall. There was a little bit of room behind the line and a good bit of space between where the lady was and the other people behind the line. So we got in that space. I thought that woman would come unglued. She started yelling at me "I don't think so, honey! That's my spot!!" I just looked at her and replied, "You aren't standing here, so it's an open spot." And I turned around and never moved an inch.