Wait times and "ride starts"

[Jennasis]

Wait times are a huge part of planning your day, but where do rides "start" in your opinion and where does Disney consider the ride to "start"?

Does Rise start when you get IN the vehicle or does it start in the first pre-show room? What about HM? ToT? Where do you consider your wait to be over?

 

[musicguy856]

I usually consider my wait over when I’ve passed the merge point.

 

[_19disnA]

To me a ride starts when I get in the car/vehicle that takes you on the ride. I have no idea what Disney considers as the 'start' but I would guess they count the various pre-shows are part of the 'ride'. While I think it is fine to provide safety instructions where appropriate, most of the 'pre-shows' seem like a waste of time where you are waiting in yet another queue before the actual ride.

The most popular rides usually have the longest lines so I am not sure what does/doesn't count makes any difference in how you plan your day. The time it takes from the start of the line to exiting the ride will be the same regardless of when you consider the actual 'ride' to start.

 

[Disneylover99]

To me a ride starts when I get in the car/vehicle that takes you on the ride. I have no idea what Disney considers as the 'start' but I would guess they count the various pre-shows are part of the 'ride'. While I think it is fine to provide safety instructions where appropriate, most of the 'pre-shows' seem like a waste of time where you are waiting in yet another queue before the actual ride.

The most popular rides usually have the longest lines so I am not sure what does/doesn't count makes any difference in how you plan your day. The time it takes from the start of the line to exiting the ride will be the same regardless of when you consider the actual 'ride' to start.

I was going to say this, but I’ll take it a step further and say when the ride actually starts to move. I’ve waited a good 5 to 10 minutes on certain rides after getting on a ride and there is a stoppage or backup of some sort.

I really do enjoy the pre-shows though. I just don’t consider them part of the ride.

 

[Anthony1971]

Can’t say if they still do this but in the past we were given cards randomly for the wait time and they were collected after any pre show when you were getting on the moving part of the ride.

 

[FreeTime]

Places I can remember in queue handing the clock cards in:

Mission Space: when going into the first stage pre show
Space Mountain: when splitting to the left or right when both sides are open
Expedition Everest: when telling how many
Tower of Terror: when being assigned a pre show room

Maybe the hand off place changes hand based on seasonality, staffing, etc.?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't think they do cards anymore. Your MB and your phone tracks it for them.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Most of the time it's when I'm on the ride but if there's a preshow that is part of it I'll at least put in my notes "pre show at X time" and depending on the ride I will add in "in ride vehicle at Y time" like for Test Track I may say "design studio at X, on ride at Y" because while there is a set time you get in the design studio you may get backed up between the time after it to the actual ride.

One thing that may help when you know the time you're actually on the ride is ride photos. One of our Test Track photos didn't connect so we went to the photopass area and told them the time we were on the ride (I had written down when we were actually in the vehicle not the preshow) and it helped locate at least the starting point for scrolling through the pages.