Stand By Wait Times Since FP+

[CanadianPaco]

From what I've read at on other sites, they're likely still figuring out how to accurately gauge wait times under the new system.

This makes sense.

 

[wisblue]

From what I've read at on other sites, they're likely still figuring out how to accurately gauge wait times under the new system.

I really think there is some of that, and it's that much tougher at the rides that didn't have FPs before.

But, in our experience, Disney has always overstated wait times, sometimes to encourage guests to go somewhere else, but more often just for the sake of customer expectations. If a posted wait is 30 minutes, but you get on in 20, you'll feel pretty good. But, if the posted wait time had been 10 minutes, that same 20 minute wait might upset you. I've never heard anyone in a line at WDW complain that they were getting through it too fast.

 

[disney1990]

If more people are using FP+, then, of course, the standby lines have to be longer. No way around that.

 

[skater]

When I went to Disney last October, SB lines were terrible. I got in the line for TSMM at 9:10 in the morning and didn't get out until 10:45. I always go the same time of year and I could normally ride it twice before 10:00 using the SB line. I especially remember the long SB line at the HM. We waited over a hour just to get inside the building. I was really surprised at this since the SB line was always so quick in the past. The long SB lines really affected our vacation - we didn't do as much as we could in the past. .

This was similar to my experience in October with SB lines.

 

[Chimaera]

From what I've read at on other sites, they're likely still figuring out how to accurately gauge wait times under the new system.

If people are booking 3 FP+s but not using them, Disney still has to account for those people in the estimated wait time so that would definitely lead to artificially inflated times. I'm sure there are a lot of people booking FPs for POTC and HM 60 days out and completely forgetting about them, or not even going to MK that day. Especially people who never really used FP-

 

[pens4821]

Can't you just look on the MDE app at any time and see what the waits are?

From our trip last week, the app wasn't really that reliable. Sometimes it was much lower, sometimes much higher than what the app showed. That I remember, I don't think it was ever the same (although, it's not like we were looking at every ride and comparing, just the ones we wanted to go on).

As for the waits, we were shocked at some. Pirates was over 45 minutes a few times, Small World was over 30, and we waited around 30 minutes for Aladdin and Dumbo.

 

[TempusFugit]

We were at WDW all last week and the guest volumes were surprising. It's been a few years but we've always like Feb because it was so quiet. Not this time!

The tremendous amount of cheerleading groups didn't help either. A teenage boy would have been in heaven but to 40-year-olds and their young children it got tiresome quick.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I was there January 25 through February 2. Some days, I was shocked at wait times. For example, the crowd calendar would be a 3 and there would be a 15 minute wait for Imagination. Now, 15 minutes doesn't sound like a long wait until you realize it was for Imagination. I had never stood in line before. I was always able to just walk on. I also saw waits of 20+ minutes for Maelstrom, but I attribute a lot of this to the increased popularity of the pavilion due to Anna and Elsa. Then there would be other days where the rides were what I was accustomed to: No wait for Imagination, little to no wait for Malestrom. I don't really know what's going on. I think that, for the most part, things seem normal, but there will be days or times that Fast Pass+ seems to decrease waits at rides like Soarin and Test Track by a whole 10 minutes (YAY! I can now wait 70 minutes instead of 80) and those people are now in line for things you wouldn't expect like Imagination.

 

[skilesare]

If more people are using FP+, then, of course, the standby lines have to be longer. No way around that.

This makes no sense. Why do standby lines have to be longer if more people are using FP+?

If FP+ is distributing people around the park more evenly then lines would be shorter.

 

[drew64]

We were there Feb 5-10 and never waited more than 15 min for anything.

The cheer leading groups did make it a bit hectic a few days in the parks, but wait times were not bad.

We park hopped and did EMH every day as well as RD and walked onto pretty much everything each day up to noon.

We were back at parks around 330-4 each day and used our 3 FP in the evenings every day.

The headliners now seem to have shorter wait times than before - Soarin was 40 min or less all nifght, TOT 50 or less, TSM was 60 or less, SM 50 or less, etc. most of the time.

Did see longer times posted at times for others such as POC or HM but could always find something under 15 and went back to those and found 10 min or less.

Was able to ride everything multiple times.

 

[SnowWhite2]

When we were there in mid-Dec, I specifically wanted to see if the app had the correct wait times. I would say 80% of the time the app was different than what was posted at the ride. I must also say that many times the wait time at the attraction didn't match what the line showed. There was barely a full queue at Pooh and it showed a 40 minute wait. HM showed a 25 min wait at the attraction and no one in line. In general, I didn't believe either.