7DMT and 57 min wait predictions?

So, we are staying offsite, so no chance getting a FP+ for 7DMT. No matter where I put it in the touring plan for the 2 days we are going, the first week of October, it has the wait at 57 minutes.

It doesn’t put it at rope drop the first day we are there either. But, even if I move it there, still says 57 min.

Advice on when to try and ride standby? We are going on Sun, Oct 2 (RP to 7 - we aren’t going to MNNSHP) and Wed, Oct 5, arriving after lunch to closing. We are planning on going to the 11pm electrical parade.

Is there ever a slow time for it? I’m also thinking it will be affected with the closing of Big Thunder Mtn Railroad.

I haven’t studied it closely - at least not lately - but “general wisdom” is that it is a line that stays pretty constant all day. Pre-RD ADRs “feed” the line before RD, so by the time you get there at RD, there is already a line. And it’s very popular because (a) it’s a coaster (that isn’t too scary for people who don’t really like coasters), (b) it’s Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, and © it’s still the newest ride in the park. This is the primary reason that TP will rarely put it first on an optimized plan; the line will remain pretty constant all day, whereas other attractions really do have shorter lines during the first couple of hours, so you should ride those then.

I haven’t looked up the CLs, but I agree that 57 min seems a little bit high - but as you pointed out, with BTMRR closed, it could well be the case.

I mean…is it worth it? To wait an hour? I read about some people waiting 90 minutes! Isn’t it like a 2 min ride?

Is lines pretty accurate on wait times? Should I just keep checking throughout the day and if it gets low, just hoof it over there?

When we rode in 2014, the wait was an hour. I would say the ride was just OK, but I like thrill rides, and this ain’t that. This year, it’s the only Must Do for DW, so we will ride it by hook or by crook.

The queue is decorated, with interactive elements. Most? of it is inside. It’s not like waiting an hour for the spinerattler at your local Six Flags where the queue is just a bunch of metal tube fencing under an awning, where all you have to look at is the people in line one row ahead of you. It’s a pleasant hour in line (if there is such a thing).

We really enjoyed it and rode several times during our trip in March! I hope you get a chance to ride! If you want I can share our PhotoPass Video! :slight_smile:

The consensus from our group last visit was that if we didn’t have FPP it wasn’t worth the wait. We were a rollercoaster group at the time. I’d have a hard time justifying more than a 30min wait with a toddler who would enjoy it, especially when there are so many other things to do and our little one has a short attention span.

Personally, I don’t think it’s “worth” more than a 10 or 15 min wait. It’s a 90 second ride; 30 sec of “coaster”, 30 sec of “dark ride”, and 30 sec of “coaster”. Each element is very well done and it’s a masterpiece of detail work. But it’s just too short. One more show scene and one more coaster section and it would be great; now it kind of leaves you feeling - “So that’s it?” If you’re kind of “Pooh shaped” the way I am, you might find the seating to be slightly less comfortable than, say, being waterboarded. I had bruises that lasted a week.

About the last 30 min of the standby line is indoors with the interactive elements, the rest is in a series of switchbacks in a small “forest” (and then out onto the main walkway, if the line gets much longer than an hour).

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Touring Plans offers a predicted wait by time feature on your particular touring day:
https://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/seven-dwarfs-mine-train/wait-times/date/2016-10-02

That has it dropping to 41 minutes at 7PM and then 33 minutes at 10PM. Those are probably your best bets for a “short” line but it’s still going to be a wait.

Even at Rope Drop you’ll wait around 35 minutes unless you’re a quality sprinter which is why it’s not listed first. Is it worth it? Depends on how patient you are & how much you want to ride the “new ride”. It’s very well themed, impressive animatronics, and has a solid queue to pass the time while waiting. While it’s not a top thrill ride coaster, I found it similar in thrills to Big Thunder - that may have been because I came in with low expectations based on comments though. We rode it a fair number of times on our last visit because it was the new ride and I only regret our last ride as 7DMT broke down so our wait was more like 55 minutes instead of the 30 minutes I was hoping for which cost us some final rides at park close that day. Nothing we could really foresee of course…

Have you tried to get a FPP? I signed on right away for the last 2 years at 30 days and got FPP for it. They weren’t my first pick, but take what they offer you, and work your plan around it. Also, if you don’t get one right away, keep checking back, because people do change their plans and you might get one. It’s the newest in the park, but it’s not ‘new’, as it’s now 2 years old.

My family enjoyed it (DH isn’t a roller coaster guy, so he had a few choice expletives on one of the turns), but I do wish it was a little longer or maybe a little more to see in the dark park of the ride.

We wouldn’t personally choose to wait any amount of time for it. We throw a FP at it if we have several days at Magic Kingdom, but the ride cars are very uncomfortable for adults and it’s so short I would feel majorly cheated if I had to wait more than 10 minutes for it.

But some people love it…

I will say it’s better at night and even if nothing is showing up for FP at thirty days, keep checking. Plans change and the closer you get the more chance you’ll have of finding one.

It’s a fun ride and there are a couple cute things in the queue. It is short, but people used to wait two hours for Dumbo before that attraction moved and that wasn’t a particularly long ride either. For me, I’d rather wait half on hour for 7DMT, than get in a short line and spend 10 minutes on it’s a Small World. It’s really personal preference, though on how you want to spend your time in the parks. I know you didn’t really ask if it was worth spending time on, but since some folks seem to be suggesting it’s not, I wanted to suggest that it may be.

As for when to ride. If you make rope drop, then you won’t wait 57 minutes. You will wait, however, and if you get in line first thing in the morning you would be sacrificing time when you could ride a number of other attractions with short waits. That first hour right after rope drop is very valuable time, and sometimes is better spent riding a few quick attractions that get busy later in the day (Peter Pan and Space Mountain, for example). The Touring Plans Optimizer also assumes that you won’t be at the front of the pack at rope drop, thus it projects you to have to wait in a line even if your start time is right at park opening. Thus, the Optimizer usually suggests you see a lot of other attractions early in the day and stand in on longer line (for 7DMT) later in the day.

If you’re willing to get to the Magic Kingdom 30-45 minutes before opening, skip the Welcome Show to stand in one of the tunnels under the train station, walk purposefully straight to 7DMT (knowing ahead of time what route to take), then you will be one of the first people to the attraction and will have a very short wait to ride.

If you arrive a little later, then I’ll give a couple examples of wait times from a recent trip in July. I rode 7DMT several times last July, since my little cousin seemed to like the attraction quite a bit. One EMH morning, we entered the park a few minutes after the Welcome Show ended, got in line at 7:59 AM and waited 24 minutes. A couple days later, I arrived shortly after 8:00 AM rope drop (for everyone, not Extra Magic Hours), got in line at 8:19 AM and waited 11 minutes (when the posted wait was 30). My cousin and his parents had arrived earlier and already ridden 7DMT before that time, so their wait must also have been relatively short.

Hope this helps give you an idea what the morning wait times are like. It’s do-able.

Thanks everyone! I will keep checking FP+ periodically, but there are 10 of us, so doubt that many will come available! I guess I could try smaller numbers for those desperate to ride it.

Will also watch the posted wait times on the days we are there. I don’t want to waste time after RD, so not going to bother with that. Maybe during the 9pm electrical parade the numbers will die down? Fingers crossed. :slight_smile:

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If you go straight there at rope drop, it can be a walk on…no wait at all.

This is contrary to pretty much what everyone else is saying. Is this your experience?

He’s right if you are at or near the front of the rope at rope drop and stay in front of the crowds as you walk (briskly) down Main Street. If your group of 10 can commit to being at the park long before opening and is willing to start walking as soon as the drop drops (even though the Welcome Show will still be going on), can maintain a decent walking pace, and doesn’t stop for pictures, bathrooms, to tie shoes, or any other reason, then you can beat the crowds to 7DMT. However, not everyone wants to do that!

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@FlyerFan1973 is right. There are caveats for sure. I typically arrive around 45mim before opening and stay with the CMs all the way to 7DMT. I’ve been on the first ride of the attraction on several visits: this works for any attraction in any park (with caveats of course).

The other caveat for 7DMT is this is best done on mornings when the park opens at 8am as this precludes the breakfast BOG folk. At a 9am opening, you can still have a very short wait (10-20ish min) but you will be behind the BOG people and certainly won’t be on the first ride (no wait) of the day.

We’ve done the BOG trick and gotten 3 rides with no to little wait: 2 of those were before the crowds even showed up.