RotR End of the Night Strategy?

[Dallas_Lady]

I have seen multiple videos that advise getting in line for busy rides like Rise or Flight of Passage right before closing. Have any of you actually tried that? Did it work? How close to close can you still get in line?

 

[CarolynFH]

I have seen multiple videos that advise getting in line for busy rides like Rise or Flight of Passage right before closing. Have any of you actually tried that? Did it work? How close to close can you still get in line?

Many people have done this, including us. We got in line for FoP at about 5 minutes before closing with posted wait time of 70 minutes and were off the ride in about 30, IIRC. Anyway, it's a "tried and true" method of reducing wait time for very popular rides. You can get in line up to one minute before closing time - very often there will be a CM at the end of the line, waiting to close it off when the hour hits!

Edited to add - when FoP first opened and wait times were extremely long (3+ hours), the standby line was sometimes closed early just to allow the ride to close at a reasonable time (like an hour or so) after the park closed. I don't remember hearing that the line for RotR was closed early, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been.

 

[musicguy856]

I have seen multiple videos that advise getting in line for busy rides like Rise or Flight of Passage right before closing. Have any of you actually tried that? Did it work? How close to close can you still get in line?

They love to post scary wait times to discourage people getting in line. One time I entered the Rise queue about 5-10 min before closing with a 90 minute posted wait and waited about 30 minutes.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

We do this frequently for Rise. The only hiccup to this plan is that it takes 45 min - 1 hour to reboot the ride if it’s down, so if the ride isn’t operational about an hour before close, you won’t be able to ride. (Only an issue if you’re counting on hopping in line at park close being your only ride on it.)

 

[elaine amj]

Did it for our October trip. I like to get in line 1-5 mins before close. Waited about 30-40 mins I think.

It’s better with EE but on our last EE attempt, the ship wasn’t working which is a huge disappointment.

 

[baozi]

For any ride, as long as you get in the line before the official park close time, you are in the line.
As to how long the actual wait is, I guess it is case by case -- the two times I remember, one was 60 minutes -> 20 minutes, 120 minutes -> 90 minutes.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We did this for both SDMT and RotR on our last trip. It worked well but with the understanding that RotR is a volatile ride that goes down so may not be running at the end of the day. This happened to us once.

 

[lovethattink]

We have done it many times!

 

[Skywalker3]

Had good luck in June w getting in line late for Rise, and Slinky Dog, and Remy. Still waited about 50 mins at Rise. Last week, got in line for FoP at 10 mins until closing. Posted 85, waited about 55-60, would've likely been just a little longer, but they pulled our party of 2 out of line, so while it was less than posted, it was not a walk on. I found wait times to be a lot closer to what was posted this past trip. 50 mins at Splash was 50 mins (or a little longer,)

 

[Scalemaster34]

Had good luck in June w getting in line late for Rise, and Slinky Dog, and Remy. Still waited about 50 mins at Rise. Last week, got in line for FoP at 10 mins until closing. Posted 85, waited about 55-60, would've likely been just a little longer, but they pulled our party of 2 out of line, so while it was less than posted, it was not a walk on. I found wait times to be a lot closer to what was posted this past trip. 50 mins at Splash was 50 mins (or a little longer,)

Yeah I've found it really depends on how crowded the parks are, but also how often the ride goes down during the day. If it goes down two or three times during the day, it's likly that at park closing you'll still have folk trying to use ILL or getting in standby as they missed it earlier. If it doesn't go down, everyone had done they scheduled rides and it might be very easy to get a short wait.

Fantasmic will also have an effect on wait times during those shows... and if they bring back SW Fireworks.

Few attractions we did, we hit them wrong... as waits ended up being longer than posted. Seemed like as soon as a wait time dropped on something, everyone headed over.

 

[WDW Traveler]

We got in Line for RotR at about 8:15pm - park closing time was 9:00pm. Wait said 90 minutes - we were on and off before park close - about 40 minutes total.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Yes, that's how we always rode Flight of Passage. Since we were annual passholders, we could never get fastpasses for it. We would get in line about 10 minutes before park closed. Usually didn't wait more than 45 minutes. Since there are no fast passes after park close, the line moves much faster.