Standby lines- before and after

[wdhinn89]

Do you feel that the wait on standby lines has increased, decreased or stayed the same since FastPass+ has been implemented?

 

[prudence64]

Decreased for headliners. Increased for others.

 

[mrzrich]

Was in Epcot on a recommended day with a crowd score of 5. Soarin had a 40 minute wait, Mission Space 10 minute, SSE 25 minute, the Land 30 minutes, FIGMENT 35 minutes!

 

[mrzrich]

We used to always walk on POTC and Small World, now it's not uncommon to see them with greater than 30 minute waits.

 

[disnut8]

But the thing with standby lines is if you walk by one and see a long wait, you could walk by it later in the day and see a much shorter one. A PP mentioned Figment with 35 minutes and we found that to be even worse Thanksgiving Day. So we passed, went on and did other things, came back and it was still longer than we wanted so went on and did other things, and then came back again and it was a walk on.

I think what is happening now is people are so concentrated on FastPass that they don't realize how the attractions load. Or what happens if a show has just let out so the standby lines at nearby attractions are swamped.

 

[Cormoran]

I agree that SB headliner lines have decreased, and other attractions that had short waits, like Figment, now have longer SB lines. Personally, I think this is a loss for our family. I always expected to wait for headliner attractions, but prior to FP+ I was able to ride the secondary attractions like POTC, IASW, Figment with a very short SB. Now the SB lines are long for every attraction. Not great for us!

 

[Yoshi]

I was very surprised with the standby lines both days at the Magic Kingdom last week. Rides like Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Space Mountain were in the 20 - 50 minute range depending on the time of day while other rides like Pirates and Jungle Cruise were 30 - 50 minutes for much of the day. When we went to use a Pirates FP+, the standby line was posted at 50 minutes with the queue going back and forth inside the room before main entrance to the 2 lines. The 2 days were 5 and 4. It was the same at Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania was at 45 minutes a few times during the day, Tower was around 30 most of the day and Rock N Rollercoaster was 40 - 60 minutes most of the day and Great Movie Ride was 25 - 30 minutes. That was a 6 day.

 

[cakebaker]

A couple of sites have show slight decreases in headliners, slight increases in lesser rides. It was never enough one way or the other that we noticed. We plan around the busiest times of day, scheduling our FP+'s for those times, and ride other things during less crowded times so those increases really wouldn't affect us much. If I don't have to stand in it, I don't care how long the wait is.

 

[minnie mum]

A couple of sites have show slight decreases in headliners, slight increases in lesser rides. It was never enough one way or the other that we noticed. We plan around the busiest times of day, scheduling our FP+'s for those times, and ride other things during less crowded times so those increases really wouldn't affect us much. If I don't have to stand in it, I don't care how long the wait is.

We were there last week, when crowds were rated anywhere from 2-5. Even on recommended days we found the wait times at non headliner rides, especially in MK and DHS, to be significantly longer than in pre FP+ days. Most headliners, OTOH, had wait times shorter than we had previously experienced (during the same time of year).

Josh at easywdw.com has been demonstrating this change for many months with his wait time tables.

My feeling is that these changes were de!iberately orchestrated by Disney. Slap FP on more attractions, which automatically inflates the standby times. Which pushes more guests to get FPs. Which further lengthens the standby lines, as they allow a greater proportion of FP guests through the line first. Which further increases demand for FPs. But there are only so many FPs available per day. So at some point on most days in MK (if not in all the parks) you are going to be forced into long standby lines, or not ride at all.

 

[Luckybee]

Do you feel that the wait on standby lines has increased, decreased or stayed the same since FastPass+ has been implemented?

The majority of posters are correct. For the secondary rides standby times have definitely increased , but you do get 3 shorter lines of your choice !

 

[Disneylover99]

Decreased for headliners. Increased for others.

Yup. The problem is, the decreased wait time for the headliners is not significant enough for me to ever want to use the standbye line for.

 

[Retro Magic]

I'm very curious about 2am nights at MK....from 11-2, is most everything walk on? I really wanted to wait in line for Peter Pan when I go in April for the new queue, but was hoping to not have to wait more than 20min around 1am.

 

[MrInfinity]

But the thing with standby lines is if you walk by one and see a long wait, you could walk by it later in the day and see a much shorter one. A PP mentioned Figment with 35 minutes and we found that to be even worse Thanksgiving Day. So we passed, went on and did other things, came back and it was still longer than we wanted so went on and did other things, and then came back again and it was a walk on.

I think what is happening now is people are so concentrated on FastPass that they don't realize how the attractions load. Or what happens if a show has just let out so the standby lines at nearby attractions are swamped.

^^^ This.

The lines are about the same - possibly al little longer overall due to higher attendance. From one trip to another it might seem like one was longer, but you can come back later and it's short. The above was my similar experience w Figment. Early morning - a line. Later? Nothing. IASW, HM, and other secondary rides were varied too.

What's happening here, is ppl who used to be going to pull that next FP ticket -- now, don't have to do that. They have free time, so they go ride something. Instead of riding Soarin then expeditiously heading over to TT to pull at ticket, they're just riding LWTL, and then going out to Figment or Nemo, then hitting TT at their return time for that. The new system lends itself to riding these other things, because there is no pressure to keep moving and pull another ticket.

We waited longer in 2010 and 2012 (FP-) for some things, but then for other things, longer in 2014 (FP+). Overall, we got about the same amount done in a day.

 

[WhispyPixie]

We did one late night at MK over the Christmas holidays which of course is a high level attendance time. After the last fireworks and parade cleared out we waited fewer than 20 mins..except for mine train. It was about 30 mins.

 

[yooperfan]

RI think the lines are longer and I think it's because people that would have moved on to another park are tied to the park they are in until those 3 fast passes are burned.

 

[DisneyWisher]

We went last week of January..According to 2 different crowd calendars it was 2-3 crowd levels. Potc 30 min, jungle cruise 55 mins, buzz 45 mins, if those are 3 level days im in deep water when we go in 2 weeks. Its a 7 crowd that week. Theres 7 of us plus a 2 yr old. All on mine train (we'll use baby swap too) 1/2 Splash other half big thunder. Our 3rd right now is Wishes, but that'll depend on new viewing area....I liked being able to chill on astro turf. Not sure if you have to stand in the new locations.

 

[lauradis]

Last time we where there was Oct 2013. Lines for non headliners where longer. longest we waited in line was for TOT about 20 mins at the highest, then again we did ride it like 4 + times in arrow, in less then hour of park opening. We did less rides that trip, but more shows. Not really because of the lines, but it was planned that way. Less running, less rides, more relaxing and goofing off. It was different, then any other trip.

But then we have been enough and will be back that the rides are less of draw for us.

I wasn't really counting how long we where standing in line, but most of the rides we went on without FP+ where basic walk on less then 10 mins.

 

[lauradis]

RI think the lines are longer and I think it's because people that would have moved on to another park are tied to the park they are in until those 3 fast passes are burned.

I was thinking this too. So I guess we will all have to learn the new pattern of the masses and learn to zig and zag the other way.

 

[JimmyV]

What's happening here, is ppl who used to be going to pull that next FP ticket -- now, don't have to do that. They have free time, so they go ride something. Instead of riding Soarin then expeditiously heading over to TT to pull at ticket, they're just riding LWTL, and then going out to Figment or Nemo, then hitting TT at their return time for that. The new system lends itself to riding these other things, because there is no pressure to keep moving and pull another ticket.

This doesn't really add up. First of all, supposedly, FP- was under utilized, so the small percentage of people roaming around the parks hunting for fast passes wouldn't make a dent in the lines were they to now get in them. Secondly, the people who did use FP- pulled, on average, 2 per day. So the amount of time they spent hunting for passes was negligible. Third, the time it took to acquire their Fast Passes wasn't enough to account for riding extra rides now. For example, if you got off of Splash Mountain and then walked over to Thunder Mountain to get your next Fast Pass, how much time did that "waste"? 30 seconds? Eliminating that time gap doesn't allow for extra rides on other attractions. Same with Space Mountain and Buzz. Or RnR and ToT. And so forth. Very few people toured in such a hodgepodge way as to burn 10-20 minutes getting Fast Passes when they could have been riding rides. The few people who did criss-cross parks in an inefficient manner could not be enough to make standby lines longer now. And fourth, we all know that Fast Passes were obtained by "runners", so the time it took them to get those Fast Passes was not very long. It doesn't take but a minute or two to run from Peter Pan to Pirates.

I would bet that the number of people who are now in lines instead of out hunting for Fast Passes is much smaller than the number of people who are now in lines instead of being on buses, boats and monorails hopping from park to park. Until people learn to work the new system, I'll bet there are a lot of people who used to hop who now do not. When those people stay in one park all day, they cut an hour of travel time out of their day and spend that "found" hour riding rides making lines longer.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

Increase.