TT wait times for PM EMH

[Ds4angels]

Anyone have any real life experience w/ TT during evening EMH? My kids live TT, but don't want to do Single Rider Line, so wondering how long lines are for EMH? Could we ride and then ride again w/ 15 minute wait? When we were there last time we RD and rode twice in a row w/ little wait, but they are thinking they'd like to sleep in a couple days this time (I know, amatures) Just wondering how slow the line really is since they inflate wait times at the end of the evening?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Sorry, can you please explain your short forms?

 

[Ds4angels]

Test Track
Evening extra magic hours (the free ones for on site)
I thought I was using all common short forms, I guess not??

 

[scrappinginontario]

I was trying to make SRL an attraction and couldn't so couldn't figure out what park you were in.

Bottom line for all EMH is that the later you stay the shorter the lines get. When EMH starts you would not be able to ride it twice within 15 mins. Towards the end of the night it's quite likely you could, especially if you get into line just before the park closes. We have done this on a couple of different trips.

 

[eagle1992]

We did EMH this past April...it was on a day that it rained for a good couple of hours late morning into early afternoon...as a result, all the parks cleared out and we took advantage by park hopping ending with EMH at Epcot that night. The crowd calendar on TP shows as a "1" for that day afterwards as a result.

TT was still jammed...but that was because it was down for most of the afternoon and into the early evening. We were able to snag a FP+ last minute and honestly it didn't seem to make a difference...we were still in line for a good 40 - 50 minutes...everything else at Epcot was literally walk on save for Frozen which we got into line with about an hour left in EMH and it still took as about 20 minutes.

So not typical circumstances but gives you some idea...

 

[Sweettears]

I was trying to make SRL an attraction and couldn't so couldn't figure out what park you were in.

Bottom line for all EMH is that the later you stay the shorter the lines get. When EMH starts you would not be able to ride it twice within 15 mins. Towards the end of the night it's quite likely you could, especially if you get into line just before the park closes. We have done this on a couple of different trips.

Single Rider Line

 

[siren0119]

Just wondering how slow the line really is since they inflate wait times at the end of the evening?

Just curious why you believe they would inflate wait times? There's really no benefit to that from the park's perspective.

 

[Ds4angels]

Just curious why you believe they would inflate wait times? There's really no benefit to that from the park's perspective.

It's actually been well noted here and several other boards that Disney inflates wait times at the end of the evening to have crowds leave parks rather than try to get one more ride in. Most people would wait 15 minutes for a ride before heading back to their hotel, while a 45 minute ride wait will have them no bothering to get in line.
I don't know why they do it, just that it's been noted

 

[greg9x]

Just curious why you believe they would inflate wait times? There's really no benefit to that from the park's perspective.

Get people out in more orderly manner.... Prevent excessive lines at closing time... Drive people to stores instead of rides. Etc.

 

[siren0119]

It's actually been well noted here and several other boards that Disney inflates wait times at the end of the evening to have crowds leave parks rather than try to get one more ride in. Most people would wait 15 minutes for a ride before heading back to their hotel, while a 45 minute ride wait will have them no bothering to get in line.
I don't know why they do it, just that it's been noted

That's interesting - I wonder how effective it really is though, with things like the Touring Plans app available to crowdsource actual wait times, ADRs that run right up to park closing so that people are in the parks anyway, etc. We're not going back until August but now I'm going to pay attention and see how big of a difference there is between TP and MDE in the evenings!

 

[ShadeDK]

I've done a few PM EMH at Epcot in the past year. TT is always one of the larger draws and longest waits. The shortest wait I had was in the spring at about 15 minutes. During the summer, it was a 60 minute posted wait at the beginning of EMH (and we waited every bit of that). Last week, TT was down for the entirety of EMH - which pushed up wait times all over the park (especially Mission: Space (Orange), which hit 45+ minutes). Depending on the time of year, you might be able to ride and then have a short 15 minute wait to get back on. But most EMH nights I'd think you're looking at a 30-45 minute wait for Test Track.

The best bet may be to try to hit the line during Illuminations or close to the end of EMH. Once Illuminations ends, a lot of guests make a beeline for TT and the line grows quickly.

 

[Cynthiab]

We entered TT with 30 min left at EMH in mid-August. (5 or 6 CL) When we exited, the park was closed.

Also, the single rider line was waaaaaaay longer than the not single rider line.

In case you we curious, we did mission space twice, soarin, and TT during EMH. We debated going to frozen before TT but decided not to risk it.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Just curious why you believe they would inflate wait times? There's really no benefit to that from the park's perspective.

We read about the intentionally exaggerated wait times in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so this is nothing new.

Disney has a process in place known as Line Stacking which creates an illusion of the line being longer than it actually is. This combined with the posted wait time is a very effective in funneling guests toward the gift shops then the exits.

To answer the original question, on our most recent visit in June, we found a 40 minute posted wait with a 10 minute actual wait about midway through evening EMH.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

That's interesting - I wonder how effective it really is though, with things like the Touring Plans app available to crowdsource actual wait times, ADRs that run right up to park closing so that people are in the parks anyway, etc. We're not going back until August but now I'm going to pay attention and see how big of a difference there is between TP and MDE in the evenings!

The Touring Plan app relies on guests to provide the actual wait times. Late at night it seems that very few guests report those times, so Touring Plans only has the posted waits to go by.

When you check this out on your next visit, you’ll probably find that the TP and MDE times are about the same.

From our experience, those posted times can be up to 4x the actual wait. When in doubt just ask the attendant as they do have both times on their monitor.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

But the inflated wait times are at Park closing not during the early parts of EMH. We have been at the beginning of EP PM EMH during May (4 or 5 crowd day). Soarin was a walk on - so much so that they could only fill one theater. We rode 2x right after Illuminations with no issues. TT was definitely more crowded though. Wait times were listed as 30-40 mins and simce it was early on, I believe that. I assume it got less busy as the night went on but we have young kids so we didn't stay long enough to find out.

 

[siren0119]

We read about the intentionally exaggerated wait times in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so this is nothing new.

Disney has a process in place known as Line Stacking which creates an illusion of the line being longer than it actually is. This combined with the posted wait time is a very effective in funneling guests toward the gift shops then the exits.

To answer the original question, on our most recent visit in June, we found a 40 minute posted wait with a 10 minute actual wait about midway through evening EMH.

It's new to those of us who are fairly recent Disney converts/vacationers! Thanks for the explanation!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

It's new to those of us who are fairly recent Disney converts/vacationers! Thanks for the explanation!

You’re welcome. Enjoy you’re next visit and maybe you can use this info to your advantage.

Disney knows that guests are more likely to stop and spend money on the way out of park if it is before closing time, even though those gift shops are open well past park close.