A BIG problem with TP times for headliner attractions is that they doesn’t consider lollipop waits, those can seriously add to the time.
https://twitter.com/TouringPlans/status/1441046995683184647
Touring Plans twitter posted a video showing how the ROTR queues snakes around DHS.
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??? This is a term I haven’t heard before. What does this mean?
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there’s the “gate” wait time and then there’s the wait time of the sign that the CM is holding. I believe Steve has referred to that as lollipops.
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Ah! Okay. Makes sense! Thanks for clarifying.
Never did care much for lollipops. 
Front of the pack is such an important clarifier! I know the TP crew has a video from MK showing the difference between front of the pack and back of the pack at ropedrop. I would be surprised if there are not a few blog articles with data as well.
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I don’t know if the photos posted are real-time but I see 120 minutes wait and then 220 minutes of “true” lollipop wait.
Most liners don’t and that’s the heart of the problem because you line up at the lollipop not at the gate.
MDE now has wait time down to 100 minutes.
Two hours ago it was briefly at 220 minutes.
About an hour and half ago it was 180 minutes.
At 10 AM it was 150 minutes.
Either the estimates are way off, they are really moving the line fast or absolutely no new guests are getting into the line.
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So you’re saying the listed gate wait time is just from that point? And the Lollipop time is more accurate for the total wait based on where you line up?
That feels like false advertising…I presumed the times were vaguely in sync.
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I’ve really avoided as many spoilers as possible (It’s really difficult now that every blogger in FL has ridden more than I will in my lifetime)
I say that to wonder, how many preshow effects / items are running. When BGs got up to really high numbers a couple weeks ago (they even let ppl in stand-by right before close) a lot of ppl attributed it to many effect being shut off & prioritizing getting people on the ride
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Yes, both wait times are up to that point. I wouldn’t call it false advertising, lines are tricky things always moving and can change quickly.
I wouldn’t can either accurate. What I do is add the difference between gate and lollipop to the TP estimate to get a more reasonable estimate.
Ok, after skimming a bunch of this, looks like my plan to try this in the evening, close to park closing will be a good one. I’m not standing on a line like that at rope drop. I’ll head to MMRR or Slinky dog at rope drop.
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It’s only about an hour at them moment… this is day one where every blogger wants to be FIRST to broadcast “The secrets of the RotR queue that WDW won’t tell you!! You’ll be AMAZED!!”
Track it in about two weeks and see how it’s going!!
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It’s somewhat deceiving if I decide to wait or not based on the gate time, only to find the lollipop and it’s a far different time. Guess I can reevaluate based on the lollipop but I expect the gate to be telling me an accurate overall wait for the end of the queue.
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We jumped in line and it is going fast. It’s likely going to be way faster than when @Julianne_fki and I rode it with a BG at Disneyland on Saturday.
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