[Question] What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

[lily23]

Hi all,

We just finished our four day Disney World Christmas trip ( ). I noticed with every single ride that we did not fast-pass, the actual wait time was about half what was posted outside. This was the case in all four parks. I feel like they used to exagerate by five or ten minutes, not double! Example "Toy story mania - 50 minutes". No, it was twenty five minutes. We almost didn't go because we were deterred by the wait time (The fast pass return was hours later, and we wanted to fast pass ToT and RRC). So glad we went, it's so much fun!

Anyway, are they deliberately trying to deter people from getting in line, or what? I wouldn't have thought much of it if it happened once, but it was the whole four days we were there.

[Spacoli]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Ya I don't know I went on Spac Mountain in Novemeber it said 30 minute wait it took 13 minutes. I've gone on other rides too for example I was told there was a 20 minute wait for Test Track, In reality the wait was only 5 minutes.

[ttztotdca50]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

They usually only put a 5-10 extra minutes just to be ahead of the curve... however, a 20-30 minute extra is definitely excessive. It could be that Disney World has issues updating their wait times (they are guest-determined, after all), and they need to start giving wait time slips to guests more often.

[yoyoflamingo]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

They also give guests Flik Cards (those red cards on lanyards) to pass to the load CM for wait times....many people don't understand them. I've seen them on guests in walkways, as well as been on attractions where kids thought they were front of the line passes. So, depending on who gets the card depends on how accurate the wait time is as well.

[coaster3001]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Flik cards are the problem. If they just adjusted the wait time by site and not by average of wait times gathered with flik cards then things would be much better.

[ttztotdca50]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Well the problem is that it could become such a complex problem, as wait times can be influenced by the amount of cars on the track, the weather, the speed of the cast members...it's just easier to calculate wait times based on the guests' experiences in the queue.

[Imagineer Scott]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

On my last trip, the CMs at the start of the line would call out the correct waiting time if it was wrong. It was almost like they had no control over changing the displayed time. Quite odd.

[Spacoli]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

On my last trip, the CMs at the start of the line would call out the correct waiting time if it was wrong. It was almost like they had no control over changing the displayed time. Quite odd.

My experience was quite the opposite, I asked several CMs about the quee before I went on and every time they told me the wait was accurate. Example is when i went on Spac Mountain.

[The Future Is Ours]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

I one time saw a child change the wait time on Toad in Disneyland. It worked like a circle with numbers at every 20 degrees. She changed it from 20 minutes to 50 minutes. I was shocked and changed it back!

[lazyboy97O]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Well the problem is that it could become such a complex problem, as wait times can be influenced by the amount of cars on the track, the weather, the speed of the cast members...it's just easier to calculate wait times based on the guests' experiences in the queue.

I one time saw a child change the wait time on Toad in Disneyland. It worked like a circle with numbers at every 20 degrees. She changed it from 20 minutes to 50 minutes. I was shocked and changed it back!

Disneyland and Walt Disney World use different systems when it comes to posting wait times. It seems that the Flik Cards are the source of times in Florida and Cast Members are not allowed to adjust the times. The biggest flaw with the Flik Cards is that the time they track is a past waiting period that has just ended. If few people enter the queue behind a person who has to wait an hour, the displayed wait will be that longer time and not the actual shorter time.

[Bill]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Exactly... at WDW, if the sign says it is a 50 minute wait, well, there was a 50 minute wait 50 minutes ago, but no one has a clue what you will wait if you step in line right now.

[lily23]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Disneyland and Walt Disney World use different systems when it comes to posting wait times. It seems that the Flik Cards are the source of times in Florida and Cast Members are not allowed to adjust the times. The biggest flaw with the Flik Cards is that the time they track is a past waiting period that has just ended. If few people enter the queue behind a person who has to wait an hour, the displayed wait will be that longer time and not the actual shorter time.

Exactly... at WDW, if the sign says it is a 50 minute wait, well, there was a 50 minute wait 50 minutes ago, but no one has a clue what you will wait if you step in line right now.

Ohhh! I see. Then maybe people see what a long wait it is, don't get it line, and then there's a shorter line.

The only thing is, we went to the Toy Story ride pretty early in the morning, around 9, the park was pretty empty, and I really don't think there had been a 50 minute wait fifty minutes earlier, though I suppose it's possible.

One other thing I noticed: I used the Iphone app, where people put in wait times, and I saw that a couple of times people had just entered what the wait time was posted outside, whereas other people posted what the real wait is (always shorter), then the app would average out these times and result in something not at all accurate. Cool app, though, I wish more people would use it and only enter real wait times

[SummerInFL]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

I agree that the wait times are always grossly exaggerated, especially at the end of the evening. However, most of that has been based on my own experiments.

The majority of my visits, if its near close the wait time is usually jacked up 20-40 minutes higher than the actual wait time, of course to deter those from getting in line so they can close on time.

Some examples:

Test Track - 10 minutes until close - Wait time - 90 minutes - Actual - Walk on.
Soarin - 30 minutes until close - Wait time - 90 minutes - Actual - 20 minutes
Toy Story Midway Mania - 15 minutes until close - Wait time - 110 minutes - Actual - 20 minutes
Space Mountain - 10 minutes until close - Wait time - 60 minutes - Actual - Walk on.

Those are just my experiences, there isn't any time that I can think of that the posted time was the actual wait time. At that time of day mind you.

[Code90]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

It's a flawed system... Just like the biometric system utilized at all the park entrances.

[Thorpeedo]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

I've said elsewhere in the fastpass debates that the beauty of a long "visible" line is that it self regulates the people that can't/don't ride. With respect to small capacity rides like Peter Pan, people see the line and because they feel they make the decision to skip it, are ok with that. The real reason the queue is as it is is because of design that was "of it's time" and can't cope with throughput at todays levels. As Summer seems to validate it's exactly that principle that seems to be in use to make sure they do not have a disappointed line of people to turn away at close of play. Managing expectations it's called.

[SummerInFL]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

^Exactly, now I determine if I want to ride an attraction based on how long I know the line takes from a certain point, not what the sign says.

Of course, all that is subjective when you factor in break downs, CM's that can't seem to juggle FP and standby correctly etc..

[Kiba]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

They also give guests Flik Cards (those red cards on lanyards) to pass to the load CM for wait times....many people don't understand them. I've seen them on guests in walkways, as well as been on attractions where kids thought they were front of the line passes. So, depending on who gets the card depends on how accurate the wait time is as well.

So they give out one at a time, then? I got a Flik card when I handed in my Fastpass in at Space Mtn in CA some weeks back and spent the whole waiting time examining it (and getting a shot of it on my cellphone ) before returning it to a castmember at loading. I thought it might be some sort of TAP system like you can do with credit cards, bus passes and Pal Mickey... Do you think the load CM getting the card might skew numbers because they can't just record its return right away?

[yoyoflamingo]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

So they give out one at a time, then? I got a Flik card when I handed in my Fastpass in at Space Mtn in CA some weeks back and spent the whole waiting time examining it (and getting a shot of it on my cellphone ) before returning it to a castmember at loading. I thought it might be some sort of TAP system like you can do with credit cards, bus passes and Pal Mickey... Do you think the load CM getting the card might skew numbers because they can't just record its return right away?

Every time I see the load CM take the Flik, they scan it right away. Of course, I'm sure that might be another part of the problem as well.

[azyourlily]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

Ohhh! I see. Then maybe people see what a long wait it is, don't get it line, and then there's a shorter line.

The only thing is, we went to the Toy Story ride pretty early in the morning, around 9, the park was pretty empty, and I really don't think there had been a 50 minute wait fifty minutes earlier, though I suppose it's possible.

One other thing I noticed: I used the Iphone app, where people put in wait times, and I saw that a couple of times people had just entered what the wait time was posted outside, whereas other people posted what the real wait is (always shorter), then the app would average out these times and result in something not at all accurate. Cool app, though, I wish more people would use it and only enter real wait times

So where on iPhone apps did you find it? What's the actual name of the app?

[Bill]

Re: What in the world is up with the grossly inaccurate wait times?

It's a flawed system... Just like the biometric system utilized at all the park entrances.

Not to change topics completely, but how do you see the bio-system being flawed? Works out pretty nicely for most of us...