Are Wait Times For Rides Really That Bad?

[Tribe]

Yep, I had little to no trouble getting Slinky yesterday (saw Smugglers quite a few times, but wasn't going for that) and then FOP twice today. Hoping we get similar luck in MK tomorrow!

This is a head scratcher for me and seems like such a contradiction. How are people getting same day fastpasses for the biggest headliners when the app is showing 120, 150, 180 minute waits all-day for these rides??????? I guess I really don't understand what Disney is doing with fastpasses.

 

[JETSDAD]

This is a head scratcher for me and seems like such a contradiction. How are people getting same day fastpasses for the biggest headliners when the app is showing 120, 150, 180 minute waits all-day for these rides??????? I guess I really don't understand what Disney is doing with fastpasses.

It's mostly just from people dropping/changing FP's.

 

[Thecouch]

It's mostly just from people dropping/changing FP's.

Plus I don't know how true this post was but I've seen these additional fastpass drop times quoted before if the rides are doing OK that day


AK 11:01, 1:01, 3:01, 5:01
HS 9:31, 12:01, 2:31
EP 11:31, 1:31, 3:31

 

[vincep]

I've wondered about that myself. People are maybe considerate enough to cancel them if they know in advance they can't use them and/or they don't use them causing the fast passes which I assume Disney allots a certain number every hour or for a fixed period of time to be underused which is noted by a computer which then automatically generates new ones.
I on the first day I was allowed to tried for FOP at 7AM for the day I wanted for which there was nothing available. Now remember this is 60 days out. By that very afternoon it was available. Maybe somebody switched their schedule around 60 days out which then freed them up?

 

[JETSDAD]

Plus I don't know how true this post was but I've seen these additional fastpass drop times quoted before if the rides are doing OK that day


AK 11:01, 1:01, 3:01, 5:01
HS 9:31, 12:01, 2:31
EP 11:31, 1:31, 3:31

Yeah, there's those as well lol Most refreshing/adding of FP's is done outside of the drops but they do help!!

 

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,

A couple of comments.

For the family of 20. Recommend to break down into groups, no more than four per group. It will make it easier for Fastpass and dinning. For the youngest children, recommend more Resort time than park time. The 10 and under will probably enjoy the Resort as much or more than the parks. Too much waiting and walking at the parks. Don't tie down any teenagers with groups using strollers.

Secondly, from observing Board comments and actual WDW wait times, it appears to me for a typical group of at least four people, its very challenging to enjoy five or more E ticket rides at the same park on the same day. The parks and the employed Fastpass system have destroyed any attempt to enjoy a relaxing day at the WDW parks with the hope of enjoying five plus E ticket rides and countless D ticket and below rides. I hope Disney management seriously considers improving the WDW park experience by implementing the DLR daily Fastpass grab and greatly reducing the amount of rides requiring Fastpass. IMHO, these two changes would vastly improve the WDW park experience.

 

[dchronister]

Looking at wait times now would be no indication on wait times when you plan to go! There is a website called Touring plans and they have historic Crowd levels and even ride wait times at that time, you can look at the crowd levels and wait times for the end of May from 2019, 2018, 2017 and so on! That would give you a better idea of what to expect for your time frame! And as past posters have said, the most popular and newest rides will have heavy lines all day, but with a little patience and good use of Fast passes you will be fine! I have been that time of year before and I didn’t think the lines or crowds were too bad! last Week contained presidents day and it’s always crazy during that week so the wait times were awful all week so comparing your time frame to last week is apples and oranges!!! I have been presidents week before and will NEVER do it again!

 

[eeyoresmom]

I'm here now solo and it has been challenging to get fast passes, even for a party of 1. I grabbed a fp for JC yesterday on the bus to MK around 3 pm but could not get anything else before 7 pm except a few of the shows and meet and greets. I was only hoping for Small World. I would have been happy to just wander around and people watch but it was too crowded for that as well. I was ok with it as I'm a frequent visitor but I really feel bad for guests who don't come often.

 

[confetti]

This is a head scratcher for me and seems like such a contradiction. How are people getting same day fastpasses for the biggest headliners when the app is showing 120, 150, 180 minute waits all-day for these rides??????? I guess I really don't understand what Disney is doing with fastpasses.

I think so many people are not knowledgeable about fastpass and just stand in line. We were there the first week of Feb and we got fastpasses for every headliner, several of them day of. I got FoP twice within an hour while there was a 120+ minute wait. I wanted to shout at the people in line that there are fastpasses available, they just need to try! I can't tell you how many times I heard people asking CM how to get a fastpass, they have no idea! It wasn't a low crowd time either, the parks were super busy. I can't imagine going without a good fastpass plan, we would have had a miserable time. We even stayed off-site, so we couldn't get fastpasses until 30 days out. I was able (with a lot of checking beforehand) to get all the big headliners. Then same day, I was able to get quite a bit too. We didn't wait in any line more than 20 minutes, even when crowds were really high. Our HS day would have been awful if we didn't have a good plan going in. It was so insanely crowded. But we managed to hit all the rides between rope drop and fastpasses with little to no wait. The longest we waited was 30 min for Smuggler's Run. If we didn't have a plan, we would have been waiting in 1+ hour lines for everything. Even food had long lines, but we mobile ordered everywhere we went and didn't wait for that either.

And yes, those drop times quoted in this thread are accurate from my experience. I heard about those and checked for fastpasses at those times and found everything I wanted.

 

[bjs317]

So this week (President's Week) was our first time in Disney World since about ten years ago. Would ordinarily NEVER come during this time but my wife had a conference. We brought our 8 month old daughter, and used FP+ and child swap extensively.

The crowds were...bad. However, since I am a huge trip planner, we were able to make this a successful trip. Believe it or not, people mover was the longest line we waited in (45 mins). Our day by day rides are below (I've listed them from beginning of the day to later):

Saturday (MK; afternoon arrival)
-Peter Pan (FP)
-People Mover
-Space Mountain (FP)
-Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (FP)
-Fireworks time dinner a California Grill
-Haunted Mansion (after dinner; about at 30 min wait at around 10 pm)

Sunday (Epcot; morning arrival; shortly after rope drop)
-Soarin' (FP)
-Spaceship Earth (FP)
-Figment (FP)
-Pixar short film festival (this was AWESOME for a standby ride)
-Wife went to conference later in the afternoon so me and the baby just hung out in world showcase

Monday (AK; rope drop)
-Navi River Journey
-Dinosaur
-Triceratop spin
-Expedition Everest (FP)
-Kilimanjaro Safari (FP)
-It's tough to be a bug
-Asia animal trail
-Festival of the Lion King (around 1pm, it got REALLY hot and the crowds were insane, so we left and went back to the resort pool and came back for a later show)
-Flight of Passage (FP; this was a 550 pm FP; we left the park to go to the resort pool as crowds got insane early in the afternoon at AK; there was a minor mishap with getting on the ride and I was granted two "multiple experience" fast passes from a CM as a result)
-Dinner at Jiko

Tuesday (Epcot; morning arrival; after rope drop)
-Wife had conference in AM so I again hung out with baby in WS
-Frozen Ever After (FP)
-Nemo (FP)
-Spent the rest of the day in WS as a family before dinner at Le Cellier

Wednesday (DHS; Rope drop)
-Somehow obtained RoTR BG 13! By the time we entered GE, our BG was called. Did child swap.
-Oga's Cantina
-MFSR; wife went through single rider (took about 30 min) then I went through FP as child swap
-RnR Coaster (FP)
-Star Tours (FP)
-Tower of Terror (FP)
-Left park around 4pm to get ready for dinner at V&As

Thursday (MK; morning arrival, after rope drop)
-7DMT (FP)
-SM (FP)
-Dumbo
-CoP
-It's a Small World
-JC (FP)
-Left in mid afternoon for pool because of heat and crowds
-Dinner at Toledo

Friday (DHS; morning arrival; after rope drop)
-Toy Story Mania (FP)
-RnR Coaster (FP)
-Frozen Sing Along (FP)
-Muppetvision 3D
-Left in mid afternoon for flight home

Was a fantastic trip overall! Was able to minimize wait times by heavy strategic reliance on FP and rope dropping a couple of times. I tracked stand-by wait times closely during the week. All of the "headliners" were a minimum of 2 hrs by late morning, with some reaching 3-4 hours. Honestly cannot believe people stand in line for this amount of time.

 

[Eswift]

Hoping late April is better.
Current crowds are concerning.

Spring break, it will be worse.

 

[petrola]

I am starting to detest spending my vacation with my face in the MDE app to maximize our time.

Agree with this! I spent a lot of time one day on our trip last April trying for 4th fast passes. FWIW, 8 people, Easter week, it really wasn't worth the amount of time I had to spend with my eyes on the MDE app -trying to get a 4th fast pass that really never panned out, versus watching my kids enjoy their day. And I'm not a novice to MDE ie: tried to split the group up to have overlapping fp times, etc. It just wasn't worth the hassle, IMO. So I learned after day one, that I wasn't going to do that anymore. What we did do that worked was early morning magic, a nearby ride without FP at 9, then used our three fast passes, had a late lunch then back to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. We also usually do two dessert parties during the week to avoid having to scope out a place to sit an hour or more before the show. Little things like that can make the week (especially an extra crowded week such as Easter week) much less stressful and much more enjoyable. It would be great if we could do another early morning ticketed event like the one at MK, but I"m fairly certain at this point that HS will no longer offer that. Too bad - my DS loves Toy Story land !

 

[dieumeye]

riding what we can ride with fastpass, and the rest of our time enjoying Disney's no-wait under-appreciated gems.

We are taking the same approach for our upcoming trip.

I'm happy with the 3 FP+s that we've booked each day, and have expectations set that we'll be satisfied even if that's all we ride. I'll look for 4th FPs, but will not obsess over it. Beyond that, we'll only do things that have a short wait. We may not rope drop, but if we do, it'll only be to get into the park; it will not be to rush to a specific attraction.

We know this means there will be some things we don't experience, but we are choosing to value a lower stress approach to the entire vacation over stressing about experiencing any specific attractions.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I will reiterate, though, that wait time inflation at the end of the night can be VERY significant. A purported 120 min wait time for Mine Train was 30 minutes in reality this past Saturday. We waited in line behind a couple who has been going to WDW twice a month for 30 years and they said this is consistently the case, since Disney wants people leaving the park.

We first read about Line Stacking ( yes, it does have a name) in the 1999 Unofficial Guide so this is nothing new.

The theory is that the inflated wait times will push guests toward the gift shops and eventually the exits.

It works really well and you will find the shortest waits of the entire day just before closing time.

 

[PoshMom]

Now granted, it's been five yrs since we've visited. But I do know booking your fastpasses strategically and doing your research on these boards makes all the difference. And we always go during June which is ridiculously crowded. Look at your maps and make sure you're not crisscrossing all over the parks to get from one fastpass to the next. I pride myself on not waiting more than 20- 30 min ever on a ride with all the credit going to fastpasses and researching this site. I may eat these words this trip with all the new rides/attractions. But it's always worked for us.

 

[Remy is Up]

This is a head scratcher for me and seems like such a contradiction. How are people getting same day fastpasses for the biggest headliners when the app is showing 120, 150, 180 minute waits all-day for these rides??????? I guess I really don't understand what Disney is doing with fastpasses.

FPs have nothing to do with Stand by. Ive said this time and time again. 90% of the people in the parks on any given day have no idea how to use FP+ properly ( Not WDWs fault, its their own fault for not learning), little to none of them understand tiers, burners, refresh, drops in tiered parks, etc. And thats absolutely fine by me. On Christmas day we watched people just getting into the 120 minute Stand by lines, while we walked past and pulled a FP for right then. Did this on pretty much anything we wanted. We do this all the time now. This board is a very small percentage of the people in parks so even if everyone here did each of those things, there would be plenty of FPs because the majority of the people there have no clue. And that works to our benefit.

And yes the post about the drops is accurate and on some days there are even top hour drops for some reason at tiered parks and its always just random at MK. Once we learned 60 day and 30 day means absolutely zero to us because we know how to use the system, we became spontaneous WDW people again. We go, we pull what we want, we set our times to fit our plans, and we enjoy our trips. From August through December we went to AK either saturday or sunday 11 times and everytime we went, we jumped from a morning park to Ak after the 101 drop and pulled FoP everytime. Then still pulled everest, dinosaur, safari, etc.

Just learn and use the system

 

[wilbret]

This is a head scratcher for me and seems like such a contradiction. How are people getting same day fastpasses for the biggest headliners when the app is showing 120, 150, 180 minute waits all-day for these rides??????? I guess I really don't understand what Disney is doing with fastpasses.

People will argue this point, but I think most of the "success" stories are solo travelers, or very small groups. I have had limited, almost zero success with this as a family of 5, and certainly no real Tier 1 success (7DMT, etc). I think the FP system sucks, no one should spend $600/day and be forced to plan months in advance, or refresh refresh refresh to game the system. I'd love to see a new system rolled out, or even the universal system with a limited number of express passes.

 

[skippytx]

The problem is the Universal system doesn't scale to something the size of WDW. WDW has over 36,000 hotel rooms and on any given day 60 to over 100 thousand people visiting its theme parks.

I've had limited success with same day FP+ with a party of 4, but zero success with same day FP+ for a party of 8.

 

[JETSDAD]

People will argue this point, but I think most of the "success" stories are solo travelers, or very small groups. I have had limited, almost zero success with this as a family of 5, and certainly no real Tier 1 success (7DMT, etc). I think the FP system sucks, no one should spend $600/day and be forced to plan months in advance, or refresh refresh refresh to game the system. I'd love to see a new system rolled out, or even the universal system with a limited number of express passes.

We're normally a party of 3 and have great success but also did so as a party of 7. This included getting same day SDD, night before FOP, etc. We also went through MK using FP's for most rides. For the most part we would break it up into groups of 3 & 4 and get overlapping times. It does take a bit more patience and flexibility for the harder to get rides and being strategic with things such as shows to fill time, but left us not needing to wait in long standby lines.

 

[S.o.N.D.]

Does it generally make a difference using the app vs. website when trying to pull additional FP+? Is one more effective than the other, or are they equal?