Will Disney Inflate Posted Wait Times

[2012Figment]

Any thoughts on whether Disney will inflate posted wait times to encourage purchases of Genie+ and Lightning Lane attractions?

 

[BrotherCraig]

Disney's posted wait times are always inflated. They are rarely accurate. I would never trust their posted times either way.

 

[hou2009]

Disney's posted wait times are always inflated. They are rarely accurate. I would never trust their posted times either way.

I agree with this. I don't think you'll find hard evidence that they're inflating them purposefully to sell Genie+, but they are definitely inflated now.

 

[wfjny]

We do "know" that they certainly inflate them at the end of the day. I "think" it is to discourage people from getting on line one minute before park closing.

I "think" Disney does it a lot of the time. Don't you just feel better when you waited for 20 minutes on a line that said 35? Aren't you mad if you wait 50 minutes on a line that says 35? Probably better customer relations to overestimate than under estimate.

I have so many ideas about what Genie+ will bring to the parks. But I do think we will have to wait to see what really happens.

I am assuming that eventually "Free Genie+ for the length of your stay" will be the new "Free Disney Meal Plan for the length of your stay"...

 

[Twitterpaited]

You can get a better idea of actual wait times from the Lines app by touringplans.

 

[Sinder]

I wouldn't put it past them

 

[VandVsmama]

The wait times on the app are definitely inflated. The Touring Plans wait times are way more accurate.

 

[JCornell]

The wait times on the app are definitely inflated. The Touring Plans wait times are way more accurate.

I use both and tend to agree, though they both have some ups and downs.
To be fair it's tough, primarily due to the Hawthorne effect.
In short, it's the idea that people modify their behavior when they know they're being observed.

Disney observes people and tells us a wait time. We then react to that wait time, which directly impacts the wait time.
So, if it says 10 minutes, suddenly a bunch of people get in line and now it'll clearly be more than 10 minutes.
Or, if it says 120 minutes, people stop joining the line and the line shrinks and now it'll clearly be less than 120 minutes.
Since I'm sure Disney and Touring Plans both know this, they add some predictive logic to their algorithms to try to account for it. A case could be made the Disney errs on the side of saying it's longer or maybe Touring Plans just has a better algorithm.

 

[Kbrb]

IMO yes, ive said time and time again they "free" genie makes no money. Much better to use it to push people into buying up.

Add time to the genie and let it warn you of the impending lines of doom, all while offering to take it away with a single click.

 

[Kimpossible1]

Wait times were mostly accurate yesterday at the DHS, ROR was posted for 90 minutes and we waited 2 hrs almost exactly, MMRR was posted 65, we waited 60. It was very crowded, it felt like Christmas crowds.

 

[SteveH]

It a obvious overt way? Doubtful, in a subtle way that is hard to prove, I wouldn't be suprised at all. We all know they are doing whatever they can to generate cash. I don't believe for a second that Disney Genie is there to make my vacation smoother, Genie is there to get me to spend more money.

 

[woodjo282]

I don't think so but I'm usually through the line quicker than posted. So maybe

 

[_19disnA]

When we were there in 2019 the posted ride times were all over the map. Some too high and others too low. No idea how they are actually determined or if someone from Disney working each ride has to manually update the sign at the ride entrance. If they don't know the 'real' wait times, then it seems like it would be hard to manipulate it to being something else.

 

[HollyW00d]

We are here now and the wait times have all been overinflated by at least 50%. Every single ride. Longest line we got in was posted as 45 minutes. Took us a little over 20.

Only park we haven't been to yet is HS.

 

[gharter]

Mk wait times greatly inflated today, so far.
This morning:
Peter Pan posted 30, was 10
Splash Mountain 25 was 15
Jungle Cruise posted 45, was 23
Pirates posted 50, was 15
Haunted Mansion posted 60 minutes, was 20

 

[skramer100]

We are here now and the wait times have all been overinflated by at least 50%. Every single ride. Longest line we got in was posted as 45 minutes. Took us a little over 20.

Only park we haven't been to yet is HS.

We just got back and found the same thing. Big Thunder said 45 minutes. I timed it and was 20 minutes from start of wait until off the ride. Splash said 70 and we were done in about 30.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

Today was the first park day of our trip (HS). It occurred to me that many in the parks today were possibly at the start of their trip as well and would be around for the LL debut and it made me wonder if Disney would overly inflate the wait times today and tomorrow to make people really want to purchase LL starting on Tuesday. I timed the waits we had and compared them to the posted wait time. With almost every single ride the wait times were inflated by 20+ minutes. Not sure how that compares to the normally inflated times?

 

[DLRExpert]

Answer YES, but I remember reading about this back when Eisner was in charge. Disney inflates the wait times so when the wait time is shorter the guests are happier.

However, with Genie+ the new incentive is to get people to purchase the G+ for LL. the issue is going to be the confusion that some major attractions are not part of the G+ system.

All Disney needed to do is raise the price to $25 per guest ticket per day and include all LL attractions, especially since you can only use the LL once per attraction. Then offer an unlimited LL option like Universal for $40 and 60 minute wait between LLs instead of 2 hours. Then the AP or MKH the G+ addon offer could be $150 with regular G+ and LL or $300 for the Unlimited G+ and LL.

I think that would have been a better selling option.

 

[ucf_knight]

Any thoughts on whether Disney will inflate posted wait times to encourage purchases of Genie+ and Lightning Lane attractions?

Yes

 

[LSUfan4444]

Any thoughts on whether Disney will inflate posted wait times to encourage purchases of Genie+ and Lightning Lane attractions?

The only way ILL's will work long term for them is if their posted standby times become more, not less accurate.