Soarin...is it worth it?

[ilm2000]

I have been on Soarin and while I thought it was fun..I have to ask if it is 2 hours worth of wait time fun???? I might have waited if I hadn't ridden it before but now that I have I would move on or only ride with a Fast Pass. What is the longest you have waited for a ride? Was it because you had never ridden the ride or because it was that great? How long would you wait for the 7DM if you didn't have a FP?

 

[alicat8]

I have been on Soarin and while I thought it was fun..I have to ask if it is 2 hours worth of wait time fun???? I might have waited if I hadn't ridden it before but now that I have I would move on or only ride with a Fast Pass. What is the longest you have waited for a ride? Was it because you had never ridden the ride or because it was that great? How long would you wait for the 7DM if you didn't have a FP?

I think 90 minutes is the longest I've ever waited on purpose. Pretty sure I've been stuck in lines that ended up being longer though. I wouldn't wait 2 hours for anything now. I've been to wdw 3 times since tsm opened and have still never been on it because if the wait and my refusal to run in the morning FP race. I always know that I'll be back, so it's just not worth the time for me!!

 

[Sandy Fisher]

Have been doing Disney since 82 and Epcot since a few years later. Don't know when exactly Soarin was built, but have never waited more than 20 minutes or so. One time -- because our older son was down from Jacksonville for the day -- we waited 40 minutes. We all thought the time was padded and it wouldn't be that long. It was. Never again.
Never, even before fast pass, would we have waited for 2 hours for anything. We'd ride something else 2 or 3 times instead.
There are things I absolutely love about Disney and the parks, but those waits that are hours long aren't for me.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

Soarin' is usually our first stop in the morning, we are a RD family

What we did in the past was have mom go get the FP with our tickets, and then she would meet us in line, so we would be able to ride twice in a row and get our fill for the day. Because they still "walk" you to the rides, it wasn't much of a race at all, more just careful planning!

It's also good to note that many of the people in the standby line don't use the DIS, or guides, or preplan their trips, and sometimes have no idea what FP is, or that it's free.

 

[Delirium]

Stitch would be worth a 2 hour wait.

 

[leebee]

Stitch would be worth a 2 hour wait.

Absolutely.

In March 2013 we waited 120 minutes for TSMM. As we are not rope droppers, we'd never been on it (even though we visit Disney about every 18 months). We had about two hours before our ADR at 50s PT, saw the wait time listed at 90 minutes, took a big gulp and decided to wait- figuring that 90 minutes could NOT be right. Well, it wasn't right; it took even longer! I didn't enjoy the ride at ALL- it made me motion sick- and we had to jog across the park to make it to our ADR (10 minutes late, but they were OK with it). While DD loved TSMM, I am pretty sure she won't ever wait that long for anything ever again! One thing I hadn't counted on was how hard the standing in line, on a cement floor, was going to be on my knees and back. Most of Disney's queues keep you moving pretty much while you are in line, but this was an awful queue. You'd move up 3 feet, then stand in one place for about 10 minutes- lather, rinse, repeat. I was a wreck the next morning!

ETA: We really enjoy Soarin' although I am ready for them to change the film (Soarin' Across the USA or Soarin' Across Europe would be really cool!). I wouldn't wait over an hour for it anymore, but if I hadn't seen it at all, ever, I'd wait up to an hour to see Soarin'.

 

[lovin'fl]

10 trips since 2003- Probably 40 minutes was the longest we've waited and that was by accident as we will only get in line if the sign says about 30 minutes or less (20 minutes seems to be our preferred threshold). We just used EMH and a few fast passes to do the popular rides. For the new 7DMT, I won't wait either and will try for FP+ or short wait during EMH and if those things don't work we'll just wait until next trip.

 

[butsy113]

Stitch would be worth a 2 hour wait.

My family doesn't really care for Soarin. Been there done that. We do ride it when we have a Disney newbie with us, but then we always have FP. The only time I really enjoy the ride is if we are in the front row, center section (as close to middle in the row as possible). That makes it a completely different ride!

As far as waiting in lines, we never wait if it's longer than 30 minutes. The only exception is if it's our last day, and everyone chooses one last ride and we do it.

 

[Dynamite626]

The longest I have waited for anything was to see Tinkerbell in 2010 with my 7year old DGD. Just over 60 minutes. Splash Mountain 55 minutes. TSM, almost an hour, but the wait time said 30 minutes. 2 hours, no way. Not even for Elsa and Anna.

 

[mesaboy2]

I have been on Soarin and while I thought it was fun..I have to ask if it is 2 hours worth of wait time fun???? I might have waited if I hadn't ridden it before but now that I have I would move on or only ride with a Fast Pass. What is the longest you have waited for a ride? Was it because you had never ridden the ride or because it was that great? How long would you wait for the 7DM if you didn't have a FP?

If you've been on it, then you know this answer (for you) already. Clearly plenty of people wait hours for it--I wouldn't.

 

[SuperRob]

Soarin' is my wife's favorite ride. But we wouldn't wait more than 20 minutes for it or ANY ride.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You ask multiple questions.

Nowadays, we are inclined to skip Soarin'. I just don't think the attraction is all that exciting. In my opinion, the image quality is not nearly as good as it should be.

One of rare semi-recent times we waited 30mintes for anything was when Soarin' had it's soft opening for AP holders. (If you consider that 'recent.')

The OTHER time we've waited 30+min is for ADR's.*

Oh, once I did the crazy, and waited an hour+ for a certain high demand character. We mostly avoid (long) character lines.


*At 1900 Park Fare we had an epic 90+min PAST our ADR time wait!!!! It was terrible! (We arrived 15min before our ADR) Same trip, we were ALSO seated an hour late at Citricos! The kicker (1900PF) was seeing TWO other parties of our size, who arrived after us, get seated ahead of us. To add insult to injury, we were seated at a table two seats too small - AND - we were surrounded by EMPTY tables fully big enough for our party! It was amazingly bad customer service! It's one of the few times ever that I lost all sympathy for the staff.

 

[kmb584]

I'll wait, at most, 20 minutes for Soarin'. It's just an okay attraction in my book and while the rest of my family will happily wait upwards of 90 minutes for it, I'm out of there (and usually in The Seas). BTMRR is the one that I will wait in line (it's mine and DD's favorite) for but even then I'll skip it if it's longer than 45-50 minutes. Everything else is 30 minutes or less. As far as 7DMT is concerned I would probably wait 90-120 minutes to ride but only for that first time. After watching its building progress every 5-6 months I'm itching to ride the final product!

 

[darkwing818]

Soarin' is my wife's favorite ride. But we wouldn't wait more than 20 minutes for it or ANY ride.

Mine too!!! Totally agree

 

[Jennasis]

Soarin' is worth the wait, but regardless I will not wait more than 30 minutes for ANY ride.

 

[JennyMP03]

I think it's kind of boring when repeated, but I wouldn't skip it unless the line was outrageous because there aren't too many headliners in Epcot. It's neat that first time-- depending upon what seats you get.

 

[DaisyNY]

Love Soarin and one of our favorites...our absolute limit is 40 minutes and even then we get antsy! We do tour differently now...schedule FP+ in the afternoon...don't get to most parks until then and take advantage of late park hours (i.e.,...when evening parade is happening will go on BTM multiple times in a row)

We have the advantage of visiting between 1-3 times per year (DVC Members)so I also don't feel like I am missing out on anything if I don't hit it on a particular visit.

I can't imagine waiting 1-2 hours for anything!

 

[Stefecatzz]

I am in the same boat as PP being a passholder & going several times per year, so I don't feel like I miss out much if I don't get to ride something on a trip. I know there's always next time or later in the trip. I usually do not get in a SB line that says more than 20 minutes. I couldn't even wait for NPH for 50 minutes in the reserved line for the Candlelight Processional this past year! I just get way too antsy & excited to stand in one spot waiting for one thing while I'm up there.

 

[lizzyb]

I love Soarin' but would not wait 2hrs.

 

[Kate and Family]

I have lost so many of my disney notes, but I remember in those notes that one of the Soarin' sides (theatres) has a better screen than the other - I cannot remember which. That may not be the case anymore. Have any of you noticed a difference between the right side and the left side?