Obsessing about waiting

[tsme]

I don’t stress about it so much as I have a limited amount of real patience. It’s a problem. I’ve learned my tolerance is about 15-20min before I start to get antsy. (In the real world) Plus, I feel at Disney it’s worse, because I feel trapped in those long lines, with tons of loud children & people. Also, for some reason, I always seem to get the family who doesn’t know what personal space is on my rear, breathing hot, smelly air on my neck & bumping me. Usually to cope, I hug my DH or I stare at my phone (trying to mentally transport myself to open spaces where strangers aren’t touching me).

 

[Glenn&Sharon]

Also, for some reason, I always seem to get the family who doesn’t know what personal space is on my rear, breathing hot, smelly air on my neck & bumping me. .

Usually I get the one with the stroller into the back of my leg

 

[kniquy]

I think it is a matter of how long the wait is. A 20-30 minutes wait seems to go by fairly quickly because many of the lines have interesting things to look at. An hour + wait just seems like you are wasting a good part of your day waiting for a 5 minute ride. We will just try to plan those rides which have typically long waits to - either get a FP or hit it at park opening or closing. Thank goodness for the MDE app and Touring plans apps -- being able to check wait times for a ride no matter where you are in the park is essential.

To me no ride is really worth spending the afternoon waiting in line -- such as flights of passage -- The ride sounds amazing but not amazing enough for me to spend 2+ hours in line when in that time frame i could get done other rides and shows.

 

[KenHutch]

I don't obsess in long lines in fact what I do has stopped a couple of arguments. I just takes pictures. Last vacation I took over 13,000 pictures. I takes pictures of everything in a line. I take pictures of menus outside restaurants while waiting. I have slowed or stopped a couple of arguments when people have stopped fighting to keep me from accidentally immortalizing them.

 

[bladiator]

I stress over it endlessly, and as a result, I am now bald. My lawyer is preparing my case...

Seriously, I don't "stress" over it, but very much like Harlaxton said above, it's about efficiency for me. It's funny that word is mentioned, we truly call our touring style "relaxed efficiency". We try to do as much as we can, but we wing it and do what we want, when we want, at our own pace. We don't like to wait in line because we don't have to. FP+ will allow us to avoid the lines, so why wait? Sometime if the line is short, we just do standby and that's perfectly cool.

This is it. I just told a friend earlier today: "part of my enjoyment of WDW is knowing that I'm educated enough NOT to stand in 2 hour lines."

 

[adelaster]

Just an observation that it seems many people on these boards obsess about waiting in line. Does anybody just relax and go with the flow?

Get the FP+ that you can and not stress about having to wait stand by. So much less stress.

I would love to do this. Unfortunately, thirty minutes is the most I can stay human for in an environment like a Disney line. If there was personal space, silence, manners, etc. it'd be a different situation.

I don't stress on DISboards though. I just research. Being flexible helps too.

 

[bladiator]

Also, for some reason, I always seem to get the family who doesn’t know what personal space is on my rear, breathing hot, smelly air on my neck & bumping me.

You have GOT to hate it when the CMs start yelling "FILL IN ALL AVAILABLE SPACE!"

 

[tsme]

You have GOT to hate it when the CMs start yelling "FILL IN ALL AVAILABLE SPACE!"

YES!!

 

[MaC410]

For me it's about getting the most out of my money. I'm spending thousands of dollars to go there and I don't want to spend the vast majority of my time waiting in lines. I know it's impossible to completely avoid lines but I will never wait on these 1-2 hour long lines. Even 45 minutes is stretching it for me. It's just my wife and I so we have been successful in using the MDE app to get fast passes throughout the day. We pretty much don't go on a ride unless we have a fastpass for it. Yes doing it that way means we will be riding the less popular things multiple times in one day but we love that. As long as we're riding something we are happy!

 

[freecia]

I know for us it isn't really about the waiting. It's about the wasting.

There are just so many better things we feel we could be doing with that time. A day only has so many hours. I'd much rather plan out and ride 3 rides in the same time someone else going with the flow might ride 1. There is just so much to see and do. We aren't local and don't go all the time. When we do go, I want to make sure we can fit in everyone's favorites.

Also, if the whole family goes, we have a large group of people. If everyone only picks out 1 or 2 things they want to do each day, there is no way to fit that all in without maximizing our planning and minimizing our waiting. Which person do I tell, sorry we ran out of time to do your choice? It just doesn't make sense to us to waste time waiting if we don't have to.

Our plan is usually rush around, minimize waiting, see as much as possible in as short a time as possible. Then after we've hit all the attractions on our to do list, we can go with the flow the rest of day, (exploring, shopping, parades, shows, scavenger hunts, whatever) and really enjoy it knowing we aren't going to run out of time. If we tried to go with the flow from the begging, we'd be a nervous wreck, worrying about running out of time.

Which brings me to my next point, going with the flow isn't relaxing to everyone. I learned the hard way going with the flow does not work well for our family. It isn't relaxing to us, but instead is stressful. We don't enjoy not knowing what we are doing next, and we really like knowing we have a set detailed plan that will allow us to fit everything important to us in. As silly as this sounds, it is comforting and helps us relax and enjoy the trip. The first time I tried going to a park and going with the flow, no plan, it was a complete disaster, definitely not relaxing in the least.

I'm fairly similar. I like efficiency and appreciate a plan. I know I'm more of a planner than those who live in the moment or "wing it". We also don't like spending unnecessary time in lines and can be a little indecisive & deferential, so can do the "I dunno, what would you like to do" routine enough to get on each others nerves. We expect waits but they're for things we want to do in a ranked and optimized order which is usually front loaded (busy start, more leisurely finish). If we want to throw a popular ride on there last minute, sure, I'll check the wait time and also think about going earlier or later.

We will go with the flow as long as someone has a plan to flow with, even if it isn't the plan we'd put together, as that's part of traveling in a group. We respect the thought and work travel companion(s) put into their plan, as they usually show consideration and respect for our limited time together.