Wait times for DLR v. WDW

[bigAWL]

Anyone look at Touringplans.com and their wait time estimates? I was just looking at them and comparing DLR wait times to WDW. I'm a WDW guy who is planning our first family trip to DLR this summer. It's going to be in July so I'm thinking it'll be busy with long lines. But when I look at Touringplans' estimates I wonder if they are acurate.

Their estimates for WDW seem to make sense in general: it's hard to find a day when Toy Story Mania doesn't reach 60-min waits and usually goes much higher. Soarin, Space Mountain, regularly get up around 50-60 minutes. Some of these headliners might even be under-estimated in my mind.

But in DLR, does Soarin over California really only reach 30-40 minute waits on the busiest days? I can't find a ride that is estimated at 60+ minutes on any day.

On days with similarly rated crowds, I see rides like SM, Peter Pan, BTMRR all have waits about 10-20 minutes longer at MK than at DL.

I guess if you consider that DL has slightly fewer guest per year and more attractions than MK, then this might make sense. But it still surprises me since I'm so used to WDW lines. I've heard a lot of people say you can get more done in a day at DLR because everything is so close together and you don't have to spend so much time on transportation. I've never heard that you can actually spend a lot less time in line as well.

 

[hurleyboy04]

Being a WDW vet myself. I have been to Disneyland two trips now and the lines are a lot shorter in Disneyland. I think primarily it is because Disneyland uses the fastpass system on very few attractions which keeps the standby line a lot shorter. Where as WDW uses fastpass for everything and makes the standby lines longer. I've waited two hours for Midway Mania in WDW. The longest I've waited for it in DCA was 40min. I found Disneyland resort's wait times are a lot easier to deal with than WDW. Good luck with your trip and I am sure you will love it. I love it more than WDW now. Have fun.

 

[HydroGuy]

I guess if you consider that DL has slightly fewer guest per year and more attractions than MK, then this might make sense. But it still surprises me since I'm so used to WDW lines. I've heard a lot of people say you can get more done in a day at DLR because everything is so close together and you don't have to spend so much time on transportation. I've never heard that you can actually spend a lot less time in line as well.

I think the fact that DLR has more rides has a lot to do with it. I can't see how FP can have that much of an effect as it just moves someone from one line to another. But they are still in the parks.

Also, DL tends to have longer park hours - 8AM-Midnight vs. MK 9AM-11PM. Again, more time to spread things out.

 

[Huff]

On busy days I often see 60+ minute waits on DL's major rides. Space Mountain is one of the longest as is Indiana Jones. Splash Mountain can easily get 90 minutes on a busy sunny summer day.

Toy Story Mania seems to stay right around 45 minutes on any day, slow or busy. I think when the outside que area fills up people tend to skip it and thus it sits at a constant 45 minutes.

Soar'n quickly hits 40 minutes on most moderate to busy days. It will peak around 60 minutes late afternoon and evening.

Tower of Terror tends to peak at about 45 minutes on a very busy day. Other days it hits about 30 minutes midday.

One thing I have noticed is that DL gets far more massive traffic jams. In front of Splash Mountain can be a hassle to get through. Frontierland is a mess on a busy day when Fantasmic is running. Main Street is almost impossible to get through during fireworks. I have not seen the wall to wall no way to get thru type crowds at WDW. Part of that is probably because the walkways and streets are much narrower at DL than MK and other WDW parks.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I am on old grizzled WDW vet making my first pilgrimage to DLR this summer as well. I will be interested to see how wait times compare in mid-June at DLR vs WDW, also how my tried and true crowd-beating touring principles translate to DLR. Most of all I can't wait to see what we get done in 3-4 days at the parks, and have a smashing good time.

 

[silmarg]

I am a WDW vet who is visiting DLR as we speak. Granted this is not crazy busy season here, but I think part of the reason the wait times might be shorter here is that many attractions don't have the physical space in their queues to hold more people. Many lines in fantasyland can only hold so many people in DL, but in WDW they can hold far more.

 

[silmarg]

I am on old grizzled WDW vet making my first pilgrimage to DLR this summer as well. I will be interested to see how wait times compare in mid-June at DLR vs WDW, also how my tried and true crowd-beating touring principles translate to DLR. Most of all I can't wait to see what we get done in 3-4 days at the parks, and have a smashing good time.

If u r a WDW touring vet, your touring plan instincts will (more or less) carry over into DLR. There are less FPs , but smaller waits. There are several more slow loading attractions here (storybok boats, Casey jr train, etc) that can mess up the best touring plan, but if u r looking to do every attraction- then 3-4 days is about right.

 

[starshine514]

Anyone look at Touringplans.com and their wait time estimates? I was just looking at them and comparing DLR wait times to WDW. I'm a WDW guy who is planning our first family trip to DLR this summer. It's going to be in July so I'm thinking it'll be busy with long lines. But when I look at Touringplans' estimates I wonder if they are acurate.

The consensus on this board seems to be that touringplans.com is not yet accurate for DLR (either in wait times or in crowd levels). If you're looking for more accurate wait times to plan, most seem to point you to RideMax (which is what I'll probably be purchasing when our trip gets a little closer).

I haven't been to DLR since I was 8 years old; however, I've been reading/asking on this board and that's what I've learned.

 

[silmarg]

Part of that is probably because the walkways and streets are much narrower at DL than MK and other WDW parks.

this is a very true statement. Walkways and the queues themselves are VERY narrow at DLP (not so at DCA). So narrow that DW and I sometimes jokingly refer to DLR as the "skinny people park". Some of the queues are seriously narrow / claustrophobic.

The best comparison to WDW is at Country Bears... u know that super narrow turnstile there? Well I think it came from DLP - they are all over this park. And unlike Country Bears there often is no easy way around them.

 

[bigAWL]

The consensus on this board seems to be that touringplans.com is not yet accurate for DLR (either in wait times or in crowd levels). If you're looking for more accurate wait times to plan, most seem to point you to RideMax (which is what I'll probably be purchasing when our trip gets a little closer).

I haven't been to DLR since I was 8 years old; however, I've been reading/asking on this board and that's what I've learned.

Thanks, I definitely plan to subscribe to RideMax as we get closer.

As far as Touringplans' crowd level predicitions they state this:

...we are sorting all the possible crowd sizes at the Disneyland Resort into ten groups. The highest ten percent get a rank of ten; the next highest ten percent get a rank of nine, etc

So I would expect their one year list to have roughly as many 10s as they do 9s as they do 8s, etc. But that's not quite what I found. From Feb 24, 2011 to Feb 24 2012, here's what I did find:

10: 56 (15%)
9: 44 (12%)
8: 41 (11%)
7: 30 (8%)
6: 39 (10%)
5: 37 (10%)
4: 26 (7%)
3: 30 (10%)
2: 43 (12%)
1: 20 (5%)

This isn't really a big deal, it just means that any particular day might also be considered either one step up or one step down. Probably neither of which is a noticeable difference once you're in the park.

 

[brenda1966]

I go to DL/CA in July, peak time, and I have only seen toy story mania lines over an hour the first year it opened. It seems to average around 45 minutes -- but there's no FP. At WDW I've seen the line reach 100 minutes in October, non peak times.

Soarin is also easier to ride in DL/CA. You can fastpass it and then ride and get another fastpass and ride again. At WDW even if you fastpass it first thing in the morning, by the time you get back to ride it all of the fastpasses are usually gone. I can ride soarin multiple times in CA, in WDW I'm lucky to ride it twice and usually only once.

On a hot day Splash is the ride that really suffers the long lines. 90 minutes easily. 20 minutes to stand in line for a FP!

Crowds are huge in July, but we have a great time in the parks and get to see and do so much. Enjoy DL and CA!

 

[Captain Hindsight]

WDW is a mess... At least they have EMH!