Ride Wait Time Accuracy...

[LizzyS]

For the second trip in a row, we rode Space Mountain in about half the posted standby wait time that was posted. This is going immediately there at rope drop, however, but do you think Disney pads the times a little bit so people are more pleasantly surprised than disappointed?

Last Saturday, Space said 40 minutes and it actually took 15. I think the wait times are less accurate for the "fast loaders" in that they are overestimated. Whatever I see for Soarin', though, I am *believing* that one plus some. I've never waited as long for anything as I have for Soarin' and the wait there is unbearable, imo.

We noted Indy was about 15 minutes less of a wait for standby than the posted time as well.

Have you ever noticed this? My husband literally timed the wait with his Casio watch, lol.

 

[Niltiac]

We almost always find wait times less than posted, and I think they round up so people don't get disappointed. There's also always a chance the line has fluctuated since the last time they measured the wait. And as for going there at rope drop, since they haven't had time to measure the wait I think the posted times first thing in the morning are just a guess. I heard CM's discussing whether to raise the posted wait time when I went to Space shortly after rope drop once, and they seemed to be roughly guessing based on the crowds entering the line.

 

[agamble]

They are often less than posted. People would get grumpy if it was the other way around.

 

[Winnowill]

At rope drop, any posted wait time is going to be inaccurate. For instance, I've seen them post the wait time at Peter Pan before anyone even arrives in the line as 30 minutes.

 

[Xenorye]

With Peter Pan (and others, such as Alice), the wait time is XX minutes from this point, unless I'm mistaken. They know that when the crowd is backed up to that point, it's 30 minutes.

 

[figment_jii]

I've also found that the posted wait times tended to be over-estimates (usually not by a lot). I agree that they do this so that people are pleasantly surprised rather than unhappy. That being said, I've also encountered pretty serious under-estimates at some attractions (e.g., TSMM, Casey Jr, etc.) - not consistently, so I think it just kind of varies depending on crowd patterns.

 

[NaturalNine]

Nemo Submarines listed 20 minutes yesterday, waited 55....

Go figure

 

[Jedi Mouse]

Like others, I've found them to be a bit over estimated, usually between 5-15 minutes.

 

[DisBabe94]

The ride we find this to be most true with is TSMM, the wait time will say 40 and the wait is really 20. Has happened to us every time we have ridden in the past year or so (maybe 6 times). That line moves fast!

 

[agamble]

The ride we find this to be most true with is TSMM, the wait time will say 40 and the wait is really 20. Has happened to us every time we have ridden in the past year or so (maybe 6 times). That line moves fast!

This one I think is a timing issue. Sometimes the wait really is the 40 or 50 minutes posted. And boy is it a miserable wait. Other times the wait is shorter. I think they just don't update the wait time very often. The nice thing about Toy Story is you can see most of the line so you have an idea of how long it really is. The only part you can't always tell is if they added extra rows inside the hallway area.

 

[dshimel]

Right at opening, they are using estimates of what the wait is going to be, based on historic averages, like a half-hour after opening. They can't be updating the time every 5 minutes as the line rapidly grows in that first half-hour.

 

[DisBabe94]

This one I think is a timing issue. Sometimes the wait really is the 40 or 50 minutes posted. And boy is it a miserable wait. Other times the wait is shorter. I think they just don't update the wait time very often. The nice thing about Toy Story is you can see most of the line so you have an idea of how long it really is. The only part you can't always tell is if they added extra rows inside the hallway area.

Yes you are totally right, we always check out the queue first!