[Chat] Badly Estimated Wait Times

[I.M. Loco MiceChatter Find all posts View Profile Close I.M. Loco]

Does it bug anyone else when the signs at the beginning of the queue are way off on the actual time? Obviously this is mainly when they underestimate it, because when you get on faster it's really like a pleasant surprise. But generally on Indy, SM, Star Tours, and occasionally Autopia you end up waiting longer, throwing your carefully thought out schedule() off.

[The Forbidden Eye Find all posts View Profile Close The Forbidden Eye]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Well, it's pretty hard to determine how long the line is exactly.

Thats why certain rides have ways to see how long the wait is.

Indy has those red cards on laynards that is scanned at the front of the entrance and given to guests in the stand-by or fastpass lines. They then give it to the CM that loads them on to the vehicle and they can know how long they waited.

Others would have the wait time cards that CMs have to write the times.

The best they can do is to give you an estimate on the wait time.

[GummiBears_Rock Miss Teen Fresno of RCMC Find all posts View Profile Close GummiBears_Rock]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

i'm glad i'm not the only one who likes carefully thought out plans

but yeah i know what you mean
i think star tours is kinda the worse though
cause when it doesn't have a line
the time would say 5 minutes
but you're still kinda in line
and then the pre-boarding video
and it's counting down
making you feel like you're waiting longer

i think i'm just rambling

[Eric5675 Senior Monorail Minion Find all posts View Profile Close Eric5675]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Gadget's Go Coaster was a walk on yesterday and had a posted wait of 20 minutes... Roger Rabbit's makes you feel like it takes forever when no one is in line.

[ttrocc7007 We Want The Redhead Find all posts View Profile Close ttrocc7007]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

In defense of Disneyland CMs, I have seen guests (usually teens) adjusting the manually operated wait time markers (such as the one at Mr. Toads) as a prank. I saw one kid change the wait time from 10 minutes to 60 minutes one day. I asked him why and he politely explained that if other guests saw a 60 minute wait time, they would avoid the line rather than wait. This would allow he and his friends to stroll back on multiple times with virtually no wait time at all. I nodded, and then reset the dial myself for the accurate 10 minutes.

[PirateMickey A Pirate's life for me! Find all posts View Profile Close PirateMickey]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Does it bug anyone else when the signs at the beginning of the queue are way off on the actual time?

But generally on Indy, SM, Star Tours, and occasionally Autopia you end up waiting longer, throwing your carefully thought out schedule() off.

That is why they are referred to as "estimated" times... No guarantee's.


When we are at the Park, we are on "Disneyland time". Schedule's are for work, not our leisure time!

[dfan07 Johnny and Me! Find all posts View Profile Close dfan07]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times


If this isn't a badly estimated wait time, IDK what is!

[SCUBAbe no flash photography... Find all posts View Profile Close SCUBAbe]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

no, it dosen't bother me, but I can remember the days when there were no wait times posted.

[DLFreak71 --------------- Find all posts View Profile Close DLFreak71]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

no, it dosen't bother me, but I can remember the days when there were no wait times posted.

As mentioned
it's a estimated time
and it doesn't bother me.
I personally think they should get rid of the signs.

[rollrcostrfrk807 MiceChatter Find all posts View Profile Close rollrcostrfrk807]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

i'm glad i'm not the only one who likes carefully thought out plans

but yeah i know what you mean
i think star tours is kinda the worse though
cause when it doesn't have a line
the time would say 5 minutes
but you're still kinda in line
and then the pre-boarding video
and it's counting down
making you feel like you're waiting longer

i think i'm just rambling

Just subtract a minute and 10 seconds from the counting down time and that is actually how long you have to wait before the doors open

[ErikInTheCity Established 2005 Find all posts View Profile Close ErikInTheCity]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

While we're on the subject of wait times, I honestly wish that they would post the wait time, adding in the length of time it takes to enjoy the attraction from beginning to end. With preshows and attractions being longer than they seem from the exterior, this would help people with planning or meeting up with a group later.

They could possibly put times in the park guide as well, such as "Splash Mountain: 8 minutes, Autopia: 7 minutes" etc.

[DLFreak71 --------------- Find all posts View Profile Close DLFreak71]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

While we're on the subject of wait times, I honestly wish that they would post the wait time, adding in the length of time it takes to enjoy the attraction from beginning to end. With preshows and attractions being longer than they seem from the exterior, this would help people with planning or meeting up with a group later.

They could possibly put times in the park guide as well, such as "Splash Mountain: 8 minutes, Autopia: 7 minutes" etc.

(Someone correct me if wrong...cause I might be)They can't post ride length times b/c it can be manipulated. The days that they are busier, some rides (such as water rides) they can decrease the ride time by speeding up the ride. Doombuggies can also be speed up a bit.

[techskip I Break Things Find all posts View Profile Close techskip]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

(Someone correct me if wrong...cause I might be)They can't post ride length times b/c it can be manipulated. The days that they are busier, some rides (such as water rides) they can decrease the ride time by speeding up the ride. Doombuggies can also be speed up a bit.

To my knowledge the only thing "sped up" is the station itself (as in shorter dispatch intervals and less time to load/unload)... with the exception of places like Jungle where the individual ride operators can control the physical speed of the vehicles...

As far as wait times... they can be notoriously inaccurate. Partially because it is almost impossible to accurately estimate some attractions, and partially because it requires a "spare" CM to update the wait times. For some reason they never made the update locations easily accessible. For example Indy's update pc is in the Fastpass... which is great... except when you drop Fastpass or never pick it up then someone at Greeter needs to walk over and change it. Which means one person has to handle height checks plus Fastpass validation... :blink: Gotta love it when the powers that be make decisions like that.

[karebear286 Disneyland Nomad Find all posts View Profile Close karebear286]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

In defense of Disneyland CMs, I have seen guests (usually teens) adjusting the manually operated wait time markers (such as the one at Mr. Toads) as a prank. I saw one kid change the wait time from 10 minutes to 60 minutes one day. I asked him why and he politely explained that if other guests saw a 60 minute wait time, they would avoid the line rather than wait. This would allow he and his friends to stroll back on multiple times with virtually no wait time at all. I nodded, and then reset the dial myself for the accurate 10 minutes.

How kind of you :thumbup:

[Krillinish MiceChatter Find all posts View Profile Close Krillinish]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

While we're on the subject of wait times, I honestly wish that they would post the wait time, adding in the length of time it takes to enjoy the attraction from beginning to end. With preshows and attractions being longer than they seem from the exterior, this would help people with planning or meeting up with a group later.

Just ask the CMs of the attraction. They should know the cycle times of their attractions. For example, Golden Zephyr is 1 minute, 28 seconds. ...I think. TSMM is... ummm... well somewhere between 6 and 7 minutes. I should know this.


Inaccurate wait times for the queues are dependent on a few things. The greeter out front may not be changing it accordingly. Some don't feel like it and would rather just tell you the wait time when you ask. Sometimes there's no number between the "30" and the "40" on the wait time sign. Sometimes there is no one to adjust the wait time because the greeter position is not staffed. And sometimes the time may change while you are in line because something happened to reduce ride capacity while you were waiting.

[GummiBears_Rock Miss Teen Fresno of RCMC Find all posts View Profile Close GummiBears_Rock]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Just subtract a minute and 10 seconds from the counting down time and that is actually how long you have to wait before the doors open

ok the first time i read that i added instead of subtracted
but i got it now :thumbup:

[JerrodDRagon Adventure First, Ad Last Find all posts View Profile Close JerrodDRagon]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Screamin has had 30 mins wait and we wait less than 15 mins, those Estates can always be wrong for me and I wont care.

[BurtGummer Nill Find all posts View Profile Close BurtGummer]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

What's worse is when the park information wait time board is off. I walked past it yesterday and it said Indy was 15 minutes, and the actual Indy sign said 30 minutes. The 30 minutes was correct though, since only one side of the station was running, which basically means that the normal 10 minute wait from film is at least 20 minutes.

Keep in mind though, when a guest is sent through with a time card, then the resulting time will be off by that much.

So if it takes the guest 20 minutes to get to the groupers, but 10 minutes earlier Fantasmic got out, then the line might be 40 minutes from Fantasmic viewers entering the line once they get the result from the guest with the card......I hope that makes sense.

[karebear286 Disneyland Nomad Find all posts View Profile Close karebear286]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

Would you prefer a wait sign with not enough wait time, or too much? I feel if they give you longer you feel better because it hasnt taken as long.

[splash114 I Love Disneyland Find all posts View Profile Close splash114]

Re: Badly Estimated Wait Times

That is why they are referred to as "estimated" times... No guarantee's.


When we are at the Park, we are on "Disneyland time". Schedule's are for work, not our leisure time!

Amen to that. Just enjoy the happiness.