universal stand by times...what gives?

[LeoGrrrrl1982]

Okay...let me start this by saying that I love Universal and IOA. On my last two trips to Orlando I had been semi forced to skip these parks because Disney was on my traveling companions' brains. SO I was sooo excited to get to do USF/IOA three days of this trip.
Alrighty you say so whats my gripe??? The posted standby wait times! They were NEVER, EVER accurate. Now I know they are an estimate, but at Disney, unless they announce technical difficulties the wait time has always been on within 5 minutes or so (and sometimes much shorter then the wait time). So I figured it was reasonable to assume the same for Universal (no such luck). First we went to the Hulk which boasted a 25 minute wait...try 60 minutes!!! Then we went to spiderman which was much better since it said the wait was 30 minutes and we got on it within 45 minutes. Jurassic river adventure said it was 40 minutes and took 75 minutes....and it goes on and on.
Oh and heres a weird one...we went to the Mummy ride on Tuesday and it said 20 minutes wait and we actually got on in 10 minutes, then the next day it said 20 minutes and took us 50 minutes....so I guess im asking does universal not keep tabs on the line or what for it to be so off so often???

BTW all the rides were worth the extra wait and were AWESOME! I did use Express pass for a few rides but almost all machines were out by 1-2pm.

 

[Metro West]

I think the wait times are just a guess. I've had the same thing happen at Disney with either shorter or longer times. Space Mountain had a 20 min wait time and it turned out to be about 10 mins intstead. M:S had a 15 min wait time and it turned out to be about 35 mins. ROTM had a 70 min wait time and we were in and out in 45 mins. I don't know how they actually set the times but, most of the times are not correct. Just use it as a guide..nothing more.

 

[JessicaR]

I would imagine it would only ever be a guess. I dont see how they could list an accurate wait time since they have to deal with the on-site hotels express and never really know how many people there will be online at any given moment.

The last time we were at Disney we did have wrong wait times as well. One day at AK the wait times were wrong on everything we went on. I think it was an off day.

 

[damo]

I think they just judge from where the line goes to and how long it generally takes when the line reaches that point. I would imagine that any malfunctions would mess the timing up very quickly.

 

[ChrisFL]

All the parks I've been to in Orlando use the same process where there is an employee at the front entrance, they'll hand a card on a string to a guest getting on and tells them to hand it to the employee at the start of the attraction. This is how they come up with their wait times, and I've been with family that's done it SEVERAL times. We're just lucky i guess

 

[Foladar]

The times were off when I was there (5/1, 5/2) too. 15 and 25 minute wait times for MIB when .. there was no line at all