Doesn't really matter to me. It was my experience and I didn't get any sort of refund because of it. When we entered the line it said 15 minutes. Without any operational breakdown, we barely moved for the first 15 minutes as FP people whizzed by. After the 25 minutes one of 5 the people in the group in front of us stepped out of line to go back to see what the posted wait was and it had jumped to 80 minutes. But we were stuck. Keep waiting or try later. But would the wait ever creep down below the 45 minutes we figured we had left? Bottom line is that the "one-two" punch at RD is harder now with FP people passing you. It didn't used to be this way. This is the new normal. Maybe not the wait we had. But no more 10 minutes either.
You are really illustrating my point about the difference between something that is a complaint or relaying an individual experience and something that is helpful to others trying to plan their trips.
I understand that what is the exception and what is the norm doesn't matter to you because that was your experience and it affected your day. But, to use your one example to say that this is the new normal doesn't follow either. Someone who has a trip coming up might like to know if this is normal or not. Which is why I posed the question and invited others to weigh in with their experiences.
If your experience is the norm, I would consider alternatives, like getting to TT before 9:20, using the single rider line if that's an option, or going to Soarin first (because maybe the line doesn't grow as quickly there) and using your FP for TT instead. Your original post didn't say if you arrived at TT after doing Soarin first, but your reference to "the one-two punch" suggests that maybe you did. That piece of information might also be helpful to someone trying to plan a morning at Epcot.
On his board the other day, Josh from easywdw commented on a day at Epcot on the Saturday of President's Day weekend (Valentine's Day). Touring Plans had that as a crowd level 9 day at Epcot, and the park opened at 8 AM (regular opening, not EMH). He said:
"You almost never see 8am regular opens at Epcot – they are almost exclusively reserved for the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but we unexpectedly got three this past weekend.
It does again hammer home how important those early morning hours are to efficient touring. Soarin’ is under 25 minutes through 9:30am, which is right around when waits would take off with a regular 9am open. Test Track is posted at 30 minutes from opening, but actual waits would be under 15 minutes for the first hour. Afternoon waits are rough –
getting through Future World by 11am and moving up to World Showcase as soon as possible is the key to a successful day with short waits. Waits do drop off again in the evening at most attractions, but note the rides that close at 7pm." (Emphasis is mine).
That may not be a typical day because of the 8 AM opening, but it is also a day with one of the larger crowds of the year. The same article also described the crowds on Wednesday, February 18, a day with a 9 AM opening, but also crowd level 9. On that day the posted wait times for both TT and Soarin were at 70 minutes by 9:30, though we don't know if the gates actually opened a little early, as they often do on crowded days.
I think most people here consider Josh to be reasonable and objective, and many use his crowd calendars to decide which park to attend on a given day. If anyone is going to do that, it would seem to make sense to also follow his advice about how to tour the park once you get there. The information in this article, and your specific example, does nothing to change my advice for someone who wants to ride both TT and Soarin on the same day: get a FP for one of them and be there at RD and go directly to the other one. If you want a second ride on one of them, your best bet is to go to Soarin first and go directly from there to TT and ride single rider.
So, while recognizing your experience and how it affected your day, I still have the question about what is normal.
