Here is a first hand account from someone who waited something like 105 minutes for 7DMT
We had ridden it once with a Fastpass (this was around 2018) on that day
We had ridden all other rides that we wanted to
It was the only ride my kid wanted to ride again. It’s a very good coaster for a 6-8yo who wants some thrill but not much, and way less rattling than BTMR or Space.
It’s an ok queue, there’s some interactive stuff, part of it’s inside, it wasn’t a melting hot day and we had snacks
That is probably the longest I’ve waited (in my adult life) for anything at WDW. We’ve also queued about 70 minutes for EE and 80-90 minutes for MFSR when it was new.
As for why people generally do this… I suppose a lot people just walk into WDW without any preparation or at most, knowing which rides they want to ride but don’t know how other than walk up and queue.
I feel “why do people do this?” about rope dropping. Getting to MK an hour early to wait for 7DMT to get in a line that’s 15 min long is a still a 75 min wait! It’s not saving me a ton of time from just jumping in line later in the day when it’s posted 80 min. Plus to rope drop, you have to wake up early, wait in an uncomfortable mass of people, and (in my experience) deal with people using their strollers as a battering ram.
I went to WDW twice during the period after fastpasses went away and before G+ and so I’m excited about anything that prevents me from waiting in line.
But! You didn’t pay for the hours you waited in line before it opened.
I calculate how much I paid for the tickets and divide it by hour many hours the parks are open on the days we go. (And we go open to close.) The dollar signs start whipping past my eyes the moment they drop that rope, not before.
We are also early risers. That helps. I wish the parks opened at 5AM!
I’ve stated this sentiment in the past. However, there is a reason to rope drop other than just saving time for a specific ride. It actually gives you more usable hours during the day. That is to say, by waiting 15 minutes for a ride at RD, rather than 80 minutes later, you have gained 65 minutes in the day to “spend” on other things during park hours. So, there is an advantage still. But I do agree that the “gain” isn’t necessarily WAITING less, since you are in fact “waiting” to get into the park.
As far as waiting in long lines in general…there are so many factors as to why one would or would not. Plus, the line itself can matter. I hate lines with LLs (or previously FPs) because the lines move much slower. There is a perception of just waiting as opposed to moving. I find moving constantly in a line for 60 minutes is much more enjoyable than just standing in place for minutes at a time during the same 60 minutes. Disney, knowing this, started adding lots of interactivity into the lines to help make people think less about the fact that the line is moving slowly.
I don’t think anyone LIKES waiting in long lines…but there is often a ROI cutoff that differs for each person. I’m willing to wait 2 hours for Millennium Force at Cedar Point. I’m not willing to wait 2 hours for Space Mountain. I’m not willing to wait 1 hour for 7DMT. But if I had young kids who haven’t graduated to bigger coasters, I might be.
Most of the time you don’t have to be an hour early though, I’d calculate it from the time you get there to the time you enter the park or queue. Unless it’s a terribly busy day you can get away with 15-20 minutes at the taps, they let you in a bit early, 5 minutes walking, 15 minute queue. That adds up to much less.
That said, I agree about RD’ing 7DMT, if I really want to ride it I just buy ILL. if I were to RD I’d rather use it to walk on (or wait 5 minutes) on multiple rides that are 30-60 minutes later in the day. And enjoy the park when it’s much more quiet. Plus of course the additional park time as mentioned by others.
Maybe not buying a particular LL is “spending less on something else” due to a different splurge.
This kind of “if you can afford a Disney trip, you shouldn’t complain about price increases” logic is a bit ridiculous. Of course there are limits on what people spend. The constant drip drip drip of $5 more here, $15 there adds up and eventually, people are priced out or unwilling to trade money for time.
Judging how others spend (and value) their time and money is non productive, and I feel like you just had a spat with a friend who found your spending choices silly.
Fact is, you need a far amount of people to wait in long standby lines. To ensure shorter lines on other rides and LL availability to those who choose to purchase it (either ILL or G+).
Me too!
I think they should open much earlier and stay open much later (to everyone) Disney has a major-league capacity problem. They could increase their capacity by ~ 50% by extending the hours without building anything. Payroll would go up, but that goes up with new attractions also.
People like you, me, and those from across the pond could rope drop the 5 am. My family would leave late lunch-ish and not come back that day. Those that like to sleep-in could arrive lunch-ish and stay until say 11 pm.
Liners reading this are probably thinking, “I’d stay from 5 am to 11 pm” But, liners aren’t the normal Disney guest.
My last time to MK we skipped 7DMT entirely. The wait never subsided even in the extra magic hours for guests of certain hotels (we were in the contemporary).
I rode it before the pandemic, and wasnt impressed. It’s a small world meanwhile has no or low wait most of the time, and it’s worth the nice little cruise. The attention to detail, the cleanness of it all, it’s amazing. There must be a team of people that keep those little outfits clean and in a good state.
I’m not sure IASW and amazing are used together very often, but that’s what is nice about WDW. Something for everyone, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it.
We waiting about 20-30 minutes for 7DMT because it was the right speed/thrill level for my DD9. Our previous trip she was only 2 and too short to ride and her older siblings enjoyed multiple rides because of rider switch. It was important for me to give her the chance to ride this ride since her older siblings liked it so much at her age. As a family of 5 I really didn’t want to spend the money on ILL for 1 ride. We caught a shorter wait by going during fireworks.
It was interesting. I’ve never been a big IASW fan. I ride it. I mildly enjoy it. My wife loves it. But this past December, I focused much more on the details of that ride, and realized…it really IS amazing. I think my mistake in the past has been sort of just looking at the forest, and not taking time to look at the trees, as it were. There were so many details I had never noticed before.
There were a bunch posts in this thread that I don’t remember reading, so I thought the forum glitched again. But I had liked some of those posts, so now I am questioning my reality. Did someone pose as me and like those posts, or was I really just liking without reading?
Please tell us which techniques worked best for this. I like saving money, too. A lot of people will RD, but then I hear about end-of-day lines sometimes, too. Wondering which you did.
