Most accurate wait times for attractions app, which one?

[JohnDaleswife]

Who has the most accurate line wait times app out there? And just how do they get the correct info anyways?

 

[erionm]

MDE (My Disney Experience) is Disney's official app and get's it's wait times direct from Disney's system.

All other apps use either crowd sourced (user entered) data for wait times.

 

[lions1995]

Disney's posted number. "Actual" and "posted". If you watch closely when entering rides, some where along the way there dill be a box , and if it is opened, you can see these two wait times on the screen. I think the easywdw site provides both these times. Though the actual is not always accurate. On our recent trip, there were some actuals listed as 4 minutes, with pistes at 20. The truth was somewhere in between. Typically happens in the morning.

 

[Heckah]

MDE intentionally inflates their wait times.

I used www.disneywaittimes.com with a tremendous amount of success on my trip back in October.

 

[mjhannaf]

MDE intentionally inflates their wait times.

I used www.disneywaittimes.com with a tremendous amount of success on my trip back in October.

As the creator of that site, it's awesome to hear that it helped you!

 

[nkereina]

All other apps use either crowd sourced (user entered) data for wait times.

I believe it's Touring Plans who does this, but other sites like Easy WDW and DisneyWaitTimes.com do not. Easy and DWT are both web sites you can bookmark on your phone, not apps.

We also used DisneyWaitTimes.com and Easy WDW on our recent trips. We checked it frequently for the posted wait times before heading to a ride, because they seem to update quicker than the MDE app. But the actual wait times, in our experience, were not entirely accurate though. While our actual waits were usually less than the posted time, they were generally longer than what they listed as the actual. As an example, Splash was posted at 45 mins with an actual listed of 20 and it took us more like 35 mins. This happened several times. We still used the sites, though, to get an idea.

 

[OrangeU]

kenny the pirate's character locator app. pay the $2-$3 and get the "Pro" version. Absolutely loved it on our last 2 trips

 

[mjhannaf]

We still used the sites, though, to get an idea.

That's what it's there for. I've had people say that it was spot on and a few say it was off by 10-15 minutes at times. It really depends.

That said, it should be a good tool when you're in the parks (and planning) to get a feel for crowd movements and if you should make the walk from Pirates over to Haunted Mansion or just hit the Jungle Cruise.


No wait time apps/sites are going to be 100% accurate unless they constantly have a person going through each and every line throughout the day.

Even crowdsourced wait times apps can suffer from a lack of data (people not entering recent enough times), incorrect data (people not entering the correct time), or surges (people entering a 10 minute line before a flood of people come over from a parade or fireworks).

That said, to each their own!

P.S. Thanks for using the site! It was a weekend project that turned out to be helpful to quite a few people.

 

[LvsTnk]

That's what it's there for. I've had people say that it was spot on and a few say it was off by 10-15 minutes at times. It really depends.

That said, it should be a good tool when you're in the parks (and planning) to get a feel for crowd movements and if you should make the walk from Pirates over to Haunted Mansion or just hit the Jungle Cruise.


No wait time apps/sites are going to be 100% accurate unless they constantly have a person going through each and every line throughout the day.

Even crowdsourced wait times apps can suffer from a lack of data (people not entering recent enough times), incorrect data (people not entering the correct time), or surges (people entering a 10 minute line before a flood of people come over from a parade or fireworks).

That said, to each their own!

P.S. Thanks for using the site! It was a weekend project that turned out to be helpful to quite a few people.

I'm excited to try it out in a few weeks! I have a son with special needs and I can use all the help I can get so thanks in advance.

 

[mjhannaf]

I'm excited to try it out in a few weeks! I have a son with special needs and I can use all the help I can get so thanks in advance.

You're welcome!

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Ya, I like Disney wait times. I will have to book mark that on my phone. So Disney inflates the times in the morning and evenings the most? Usually spot on or close during mid-day?

 

[mjhannaf]

Ya, I like Disney wait times. I will have to book mark that on my phone. So Disney inflates the times in the morning and evenings the most? Usually spot on or close during mid-day?

Yes and no. The biggest "inflation" is in the morning in terms of actual delta. That said, my actual times are off during "surge" times. I define surge times as follows:

1) Park opening
2) After a parade
3) After fireworks
4) After ride re-opening
5) After lunch (sometimes)


It is during those times that the actual wait times could be off. The reason is that anytime there is a surge, it generally takes about 30 minutes for the data to be correct due to the influx of people.

That said, the site is a good tool for planning your day. You can notice that just before the surge times can be good times to visit a ride due to people watching the parade or fireworks.

There is a ton of analysis that can be done (and is being done by Disney) on wait times as more people try to squeeze more into their day. Just my two cents.