What is going on with SW wait times.. they are... LOW?

[Darkhaund]

We are going in LATE October... and i am surprised to see Smugglers run with low wait times...
I was not expecting this... i am excited and definitely a welcome surprise..but what is going on.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

In my opinion the primary influencers are no FPs (which is likely a material factor) and abundant park hours. Those 3 hours of EMHs from 6am-9am every day are very efficient at serving a large number of EMH-eligible guests through the land/ride. Then you have regular park hours 9am-10pm, so people have all day to spread out their visits, even comfortably into the evening hours. Take away the daily EMHs and that’s a lot of people that would otherwise shift their park/ride time into regular park hours.

It has been forever since there has been a major ride without FP distribution - it would be (or I guess eventually, will be) fascinating to see the difference with and without them.

It’s also proving to be pretty efficient - no major breakdowns, handles people relatively well, etc.

Probably a few other macro influencers too - theme park crowds in general have felt a little down so far this fall, all for debatable reasons. People may be waiting for the second ride to plan their visit.

Probably some combo of several factors.

 

[monkyby87]

In my opinion the primary influencers are no FPs (which is likely a material factor) and abundant park hours. Those 3 hours of EMHs from 6am-9am every day are very efficient at serving a large number of EMH-eligible guests through the land/ride. Then you have regular park hours 9am-10pm, so people have all day to spread out their visits, even comfortably into the evening hours. Take away the daily EMHs and that’s a lot of people that would otherwise shift their park/ride time into regular park hours.

It has been forever since there has been a major ride without FP distribution - it would be (or I guess eventually, will be) fascinating to see the difference with and without them.

It’s also proving to be pretty efficient - no major breakdowns, handles people relatively well, etc.

Probably a few other macro influencers too - theme park crowds in general have felt a little down so far this fall, all for debatable reasons. People may be waiting for the second ride to plan their visit.

Probably some combo of several factors.

I really think people underestimate, or simply don't understand, the effect FP+ has on the rides. Smugglers Run is busy and has a lot of people moving through. But I think Disney really does have a ride that runs efficiently and is far less prone to getting backed up as other rides do. I don't have any data about the number of people that ride or the capacity, but just from my own personal observation it moves people through at a good pace. All of that combined has made for good wait times. It indeed will be interesting to see what happens if and when FP+ becomes available.

You can blame Disney for this, but I think a lot of people have actually been scared off to visit SW:GE for fear of high crowds. That has ironically caused there to be lower than you'd think crowds overall.

 

[yulilin3]

This topic is being discussed at length in several other threads, older continues the discussion in the main swge thread stickied above