Waiting times

[CharAkaDisney]

Be been looking at the waiting times using apps for both WDW and Universal. Last night I noticed that Gringotts was two hours. I Immediately pulled a face but my boyfriend, a massive HP fan seemed unfazed (his first trip, my sixth).

We spoke about setting a realistic limit of the longest waiting time for any ride we would accept. We go in August, so yes it's busy. Last two weeks on the month. We have FP+ for some major rides.

So my question...what's your waiting time limit?

 

[pickers1982]

40 mins absolute max if not done a ride before, but i only go out of school hols so may have to adapt that hugely inte next few years!!!

That said if no kids in tow i d wait along tine to give gringotts a go!

 

[NatalieMT]

With Diagon Alley only just having opened those wait times are to be expected. The last week of August might be slightly quieter with US school children having mostly returned to school and less UK families thinking about going away.

We have friends that have been in Orlando for the past two weeks, they waited 3 hours for Escape From Gringotts and they've got 2 younger children 7 and 10 and said it was okay. Personally I'd want to wait to go on it as well, so I'd be willing to do 2-3 hours if it was necessary. We're not going until next August 2015 and we don't arrive until the 24th so hoping it might have dropped off a little by then.

Because we've been so much before I think I'm less inclined to wait for other rides, mostly at WDW, but having said that last trip we waited 90 minutes for Test Track because it'd been redone and we hadn't been on the latest version. For most rides really the longest I'd want to wait would be 45-60 minutes.

 

[queendisney]

There is no way I'd wait 2-3 hours for a ride! The max is maybe 30 minutes or an hour if its a brand new ride I've never done before..
I just think that if I can't get a fastpass at WDW then I'll just go next time we are there.

 

[pad406]

An hour is max for us really, but we're more about the whole experience than just the rides. Also we tend to stay longer 2-3 weeks so we'll catch a ride the next time around. However first time going to Universal this year, so that may change with Gringotts, we are on-site though so will be taking advantage of early entry

 

[hopex]

I don't usually like to wait long for rides, we've just got back from Orlando and this trip I just accepted if I wanted to go on something I would just have to wait because we went at a busy time! We waited 3 and a half hours for Gringotts which is something I would never do, but my boyfriend is a huge Harry Potter fan and he really wanted to go on it before we left. We rode another day on single rider, that took us an hour and a half because the ride was broken down, but other people I spoke to had been on single rider and it only took them 20 minutes! I wouldn't wait that long for things I've been on before unless it was something that I really wanted to do. The wait times I've seen in the past two weeks in WDW were lower than i was expecting as well, so we didn't wait that long for anything in Disney. FP+ was really helpful I think as well, the extra FP helped us to get on a lot more rides!

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

I will wait up to three hours for Gringotts, but plan to be at the gates at 6am on early entry day so we don't need to!

 

[jon18uk]

New ride I've never done before, max 2 hours. Others 45mins.

I've waited in the 1-2 hour range for Toy Story Mania (DHS), Radiator Springs Racers (DCA), The Smiler (Alton Towers), Air (Alton Towers), Rita (Alton Towers) Forbidden Journey (IoA).

Wouldn't wait over 40mins for anything in Magic Kingdom (except seven dwarves as it's new). But at IoA, Busch, or other parks for more thrilling rides I would wait.

Also I can't stand those people who go to a theme park, don't ride anything as its all over a one hour wait and then complain they had an awful day. If you get in those queues you will at least ride something! If you don't join the queue you don't ride anything! If all rides have long queues then accept it and get in the queue for what you want to ride.

 

[pickers1982]

I d just do single rider and cut the wait!

 

[scoobydooby]

I d just do single rider and cut the wait!

We found FPP had made the single rider lines longer than our previous experiences did you?

 

[wayneg]

20 mins for me. No ride in the world is worth losing more than 20 mins of my life.
We will do FP, rope drop(or late night), single riders, ride thru parade or firework times, etc, beyond that I would rather not ride and wait until next visit.

 

[scoobydooby]

20 minutes but I find with a good touring plan and park knowledge this is longer than we generally wait for anything. I am prepared to wait an hour next year for Gringotts otherwise I won't bother. Have five early entries so am optimistic I can see it.

 

[scoobydooby]

20 minutes but I find with a good touring plan and park knowledge this is longer than we generally wait for anything. I am prepared to wait an hour next year for Gringotts otherwise I won't bother. Have five early entries so am optimistic I can see it.

PS. I almost always travel in August. If you plan and use FPP and rope drop wisely, apart from new HP you should not need to queue for hours for anything.

 

[jon18uk]

20 mins for me. No ride in the world is worth losing more than 20 mins of my life.

So if you were in a theme park and all the waits were over 1 hour, would you rather ride nothing, go home (wasting the money spent on admission) or make the most of it and ride what you can?
I know you would avoid those days but that isn't always possible if there are fireworks, or other special events that mean you are there on that day.

This scenario doesn't happen often, probably at Disney over Christmas/New Year or at Alton Towers on the fireworks days. But I know when I go to Alton Towers on the bonfire night weekend there will be huge queues. But arrive early, ride what you can in the morning and just make the most of it.

 

[wayneg]

So if you were in a theme park and all the waits were over 1 hour, would you rather ride nothing, go home (wasting the money spent on admission) or make the most of it and ride what you can?
I know you would avoid those days but that isn't always possible if there are fireworks, or other special events that mean you are there on that day.

This scenario doesn't happen often, probably at Disney over Christmas/New Year or at Alton Towers on the fireworks days. But I know when I go to Alton Towers on the bonfire night weekend there will be huge queues. But arrive early, ride what you can in the morning and just make the most of it.

Would never buy a 1 day ticket to a theme park, never been to a UK theme park.
We buy AP's to allow freedom to pick and choose when to go. If we do visit on a busy day, ie we went to MK for 4th July fireworks then we just go for the fireworks plus a couple of FP's and out again.

With good planning, FP+, rope drop, single rider lines, late night riding etc there is no reason for me to line more than 20 mins.

Everyone is different, I would rather not ride anything, others will stand in lines but now approaching my 50's I will have a different outlook to a 20 year old (although I have had a 20 min limit since our first visit in 1993)

 

[scoobydooby]

I have toured WDW Christmas week. They open the parks at 7am. Almost no one gets up for that, so if you do and if you have a good plan and use FP wisely you would still not have to queue for the headliners for an hour because you'll have done them before everyone else arrives. Boxing Day 2010 my Dd and I did 22 attractions at MK before 2pm. Longest wait was 20 minutes. Organise!!!!!!!

 

[pickers1982]

Think the important thing to remember is each to their own when it comes to waits! If its your first trip and in school hols its different to someone on their 5th trip out of school hols!

 

[Wills Mom]

Same as a lot of PPs, I might queue for a new attraction but mostly use FPs wisely and know that if I miss something we will catch it again on our next trip. Have never rode TSM or the updated TT purely as queues have been mad or FPs have been gone/had a ridiculously far off return time! Longest queue we have done in recent years was for Forbidden Journey at just over an hour, i didnt mind really as the queue is an experience in itself anyway! We queued stupidly long times the first time we went as we were relying on my inlaws to guide us as they had been before and we were newbies but they hadn't a clue!
Every other time we have been back I have prioritised what we want to do, mainly shows or fireworks and a few thrill rides at USO/IOA/BG etc. We do WDW mostly for the magic and just being there and doing a handful of rides/shows is enough for us.

 

[chmurf]

Same thoughts as Wayne

20 minutes or I won't even consider entering the line.

Of course we go at slow times, plan a lot, and use 14 or 21 days tickets, sensible FP+ planning. Onsite for Unlimited Express at Universal

I (we as a family) don't mind spending a couple of hours in the parks, riding nothing if lines are too long;

There are so many things to do besides rides, with little to no wait, it would be a waste of time (from our perspective) to spend longer than 20 minutes in a line. (ymmv)

For HP, we only rode FJ early in the morning, child swap as DS was too short, with under 10 minutes wait.
For Gringott's, we'll see. It will have cooled off next time we go as a family (october 2015) so early entry might do the trick, but if it's too long, then we'll ride it next time we come to Florida.
We're rather big HP fan, but not fan enough to spend several valuable florida hours in a line.

I'd rather ride MiB a dozen times in a row with express, than spending the same amount of time in gringott's line.

same goes for 7DMT, if there is no FP+ and if wait time is over 20 minutes, this train will leave the station without us onboard.

But we'll be doing MNSSHPs so that's another way to do ride with little to no wait.

it's all in the planning.

 

[pickers1982]

Same thoughts as Wayne 20 minutes or I won't even consider entering the line. Of course we go at slow times, plan a lot, and use 14 or 21 days tickets, sensible FP+ planning. Onsite for Unlimited Express at Universal I (we as a family) don't mind spending a couple of hours in the parks, riding nothing if lines are too long; There are so many things to do besides rides, with little to no wait, it would be a waste of time (from our perspective) to spend longer than 20 minutes in a line. (ymmv) For HP, we only rode FJ early in the morning, child swap as DS was too short, with under 10 minutes wait. For Gringott's, we'll see. It will have cooled off next time we go as a family (october 2015) so early entry might do the trick, but if it's too long, then we'll ride it next time we come to Florida. We're rather big HP fan, but not fan enough to spend several valuable florida hours in a line. I'd rather ride MiB a dozen times in a row with express, than spending the same amount of time in gringott's line. same goes for 7DMT, if there is no FP+ and if wait time is over 20 minutes, this train will leave the station without us onboard. But we'll be doing MNSSHPs so that's another way to do ride with little to no wait. it's all in the planning.

No ride ever wows me enough for a quarter of my day.....see you oct 15!