Wait Times Compared to Disneyland

[Abbey1]

My family will be visiting WDW this October. We are regulars at Disneyland, but this will be only our second time visiting WDW (the first being a trip my husband and I took pre-kid in 2010).

About a month ago I downloaded the WDW app to check out wait times. As I’ve checked the app, the wait times seem so much longer than what I am used to at Disneyland. Are the WDW app’s listed wait times fairly accurate? And are the wait times really just that much longer than they are at Disneyland?

At Disneyland, we won’t get in a line that is more than 20 minutes long (or 30 minutes if we are visiting during a busy time), unless we have a fastpass. For you WDW vets, what’s your cutoff in terms of how long you’re willing to wait for an attraction without a fastpass?

 

[pitpat]

keep in mind you are looking at Spring Break wait times.

Between rope drop and Fast Pass, we don't spend much time in lines. 20 minutes would probably be a limit, but rarely wait that long.

 

[DebbieB]

Using fastpass will save you. Schedule 3 first thing in the morning and check after that to see what’s available. Keep hitting refresh and usually something will pop up.

 

[hakepb]

WDW has enough space that they added FP+ queues for 98% of attractions (there’s a handful that don’t have or need them)

This means FP+ usage results in longer standby times.

25 min is generally my cutoff (I’d go up to 50 for FoP, but that’s rare)

Also remember that times vary throughout the day. You can do a lot more Fantasyland rides an hour before closing than mid-day family ride peak time.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

25 ish minutes is the limit with my toddlers. But we don’t usually wait that long by getting to the parks early and using FP. As they get older, we’ll bump that wait time up a little. Probably 40 for something we really really want to do. I actually don’t mind waiting 45-60 minutes for something I really want to do and when I was growing up I remember waiting in some pretty hefty lines. But I do not want to wait that long while entertaining toddlers

Since we get to the parks early and we (mostly) skip any rides my kids aren’t tall enough for, it’s very easy for us to have enjoyable days in the parks without very much waiting by getting to the parks early and using FP+. When they are tall enough for some more popular rides, we’ll probably revisit our gameplan

We use our 3 FP before 1pm so we can book more if we want either for after a break or right away. We have had good luck adding more FP after we use the first 3.

We have been to Disneyland twice in the last 8 years - last time was 2 years ago. I don’t really remember how lines compared to WDW on our trip.

 

[PHXscuba]

Some "headliners" at WDW are much higher waits than their DL counterparts. For example TSM and Soarin are both #1 or #2 in their parks usually but not in DCA. I feel like the WDW lines have higher ceilings than Disneyland overall, in part because a lot of Disneyland visitors are like you -- "if the line gets too long, we just don't get in it." But WDW visitors skew more toward "this is my only chance so I'll just have to wait longer."

Working the FP+ system -- both the 60-day reservations and the day-of refreshing -- will be key. And your priorities will be different than many WDW visitors because you can justify skipping rides that are duplicates on the west coast.

PHXscuba

 

[Linkura]

Standby lines are certainly longer since almost every ride at WDW has FP+, whereas many at DLR don't have FP at all. However, if you play the FP+ system right, you'll be waiting in fewer, shorter lines than at DLR.

20-25 minutes would be my limit as well. But 90% of the time I have a FP. The only times I'm not using FP is at RD or at a ride that has shorter lines like Mad Tea Party.

 

[Haley R]

We normally won't wait more than 30 minutes for something and it needs to really be worth that 30 minutes. I would say the lines we wait the longest in are for characters because we don't get FPs for those. If you show up at rope drop, schedule your FPs from around 10-12, and keep getting more FPs after that you should be fine. We rarely wait in long lines by having a good plan.

 

[g-dad66]

We have been to Disneyland the past three summers and to WDW the past three fall/spring seasons.

We haven't found the wait times to be longer overall at either location. With judicious use of Rope Drop and Fast Pass, we have managed to only wait more than 20 minutes a handful of times (and those were no longer than 30 minutes -- I recall one for Pirates at DL and one for Frozen Ever After at WDW).

You may even find average wait times at some WDW attractions to be lower overall than at their DL counterparts (Star Tours and Space Mountain come to mind).

 

[BellaandMickey]

My home park is Disneyland also. We went to WDW last summer. I do think that lines are much longer at WDW than Disneyland. For example, we went to Disneyland on July 17th for the 60th anniversary (so, a very busy day). We rope dropped and rode 9 rides as walk ons, not even needing fast passes. (Indiana Jones, Pirates, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, BTMRR, Alice in Wonderland, Roger Rabbit, Goofy’s coaster) all before the park had been open for 2 hours.

We went on July 17th last year to WDW and it was not even close to the same as far as waits. We only rode 4 rides in the same amount of time and that was with Fastpass+.

I will say though, that I liked Fastpass+ better than the paper fastpasses at Disneyland. After we used the first three FP+ I was always able to find another one within the next hour. We ended up never waiting in line again the rest of the day, as we always got and used a FP+. So although our morning at WDW wasn’t as productive as our mornings in Disneyland, it still ended up being a good day but the end.