Waiting in Line - any survival tips?

That was My Plan.

I have my suspicions of a pro-Muppet bias in the TP logarithm… :thinking:
HS Attractions but Mostly Muppets
image

2 Likes

FYI We went
MMRR
SDD
TSM
AS2
WDOMD
lunch @ Backlot
Vacation Fun
Star Tours
MFSR
RotR
ToT
RnR
and then left.

The only things with hot long waits were ToT and RnR for us and that was late afternoon so expected. RnR was the worst and was about an hour.

3 Likes

LOL that’s exactly what the Unofficial Guide says.
(I had to double-check when I saw that optimization!)

1 Like

We had to wait a lot more on Sat/Sun Dec 5/6. Park was at capacity, at least on Sat, maybe Sun too. Yeah, XP waits were shorter than posted wait times, but not always by much. The Hogwards Express was an especially big time killer… and we tried to avoid doing it multiple times a day when possible.
There were rides like The Simposons, King Kong, etc… that had unusually long waits in XP that we only did once.

1 Like

The 4-D movies have been experiencing longer than usual waits because it takes longer to sanitize the large space. I have seen posted wits if 45 minutes for Muppets, Bug’s Life, and Philharmagic because of this. Lines must be picking up on that. Still, unless you haven’t seen the Muppets, I wouldn’t do that and chance it that I could get in line just before they open the doors.

2 Likes

This is something we didn’t notice. Muppets was practically no wait (just normal preshow wait) and we walked right in and saw the people in the previous show exiting as we came in. Same was true with the two Sing-along shows. Of course time of day matters.

1 Like

I doubt I’ll return until Fastpasses return, but if anyone wants to know the perfect way to handle waiting in a line for 60 minutes?

Dad Jokes!

The only thing worse is talking to each other…ugh!

2 Likes

The other thing to keep in mind is that when you optimize a TP, it assumes you didn’t beat the rope drop crowd and will join a long line at opening for any headliner attraction, so unless the attraction’s line doesn’t immediately build up, the optimization will point you to something else to ride first. Instead, you have to override the optimization if you are actaully going to “Rope drop” and be among the first in line on an attraction.

Even so, it’s weird it doesn’t at least send you to something like TSM …

1 Like

Since TP is testing early opening data in the Lines app, I wonder if they will eventually provide these projections ahead of time for more accurate planning in the touring plans.

2 Likes

100% agree with @DeepInTheHeartofTexas. TS lunches in the middle of the day as the park gets crowded were perfect. Then we’d take a break sometime between 1-4 and relax at the hotel, go to a resort, hit the hot tub… then head back into the parks. It was a great strategy last week.

7 Likes

I can’t recall waiting in a line where we just stood unless it was right before getting on the ride. Most lines moved right along. Possibly stand a minute or so on a spot. Then move several spots. Then stand again.
All week, according to my sister, the ride with the most standing in one spot was Tower of Terror on a Thursday morning somewhere between 9 and 10 am. And that was like 5 minutes and then move a bit. Posted wait time 50 or maybe 60 minutes.

Probably frowned up on, but there were 5 of us, including a 6 year old, two stood in line for Space Mountain while two entertained the 6 year old and hopped around to different places where you could sit in that line :joy: (it was 60 min wait) That was the one day I actually waited in long lines- Monday of Thanksgiving week. That is one part I miss about Fast passes, normally not a line I would wait in. On the flip side, that same trip, we did Epcot with virtually no waits (skipped Test Track, did Frozen first thing) It all balanced out.

2 Likes

My kids love to play Sticks or Ninja, they are well suited to waiting - quiet and don’t bother others (I have 3 boys, they tend to ramp up the physicality when they get bored, so having low key stuff to do is important).

I also had a headbands-type game on my phone that we used (I think there are picture versions for littler kids who can’t read).

1 Like

My teens actually did something similar but mom and dad always held the place and text em when we got close to the real line entrance.

This has always been one of my points about FP. The time you save in one line you spend in another. It is smoke and mirrors. Life is so much better in WDW without FP. Not because you won’t still wait, but because you will be constantly moving and your aren’t tied to a FP decision in you planning for the day 30 or 60 days in advance!

1 Like

Kind of silly to frown on that, your party was always 5 people. Detaching some to keep the line tranquil and little ones happy doesn’t change that. Folks gotta chill.

1 Like

Fastpass (in its original version) used to be great because 1) they only handed out a fraction of the ride’s capacity so it didn’t impact the standby line as much; 2) you were able to go to the very front of the line with essentially no wait; 3) You didn’t have to book in advance - only day of - and could keep snagging new ones throughout the day (or not, if you didn’t need one).

At Disneyland, which uses basically the old system + app version (MaxPass), I can routinely get a dozen Fastpasses in each day if I work the system right. At WDW, it takes a lot of planning and quick fingers to get the original three early enough in the day that you can get a substantial number of same-day FPP. And more than likely, you’re going to end up with a FPP for something like IASW that’s nice, but not what you would have chosen if you could go on any ride.

If they reworked the system to negate those three downsides, I’d be much happier. But as it is, I’d prefer all lines were standby only.

2 Likes

I recall getting a hard copy FP for Jungle Cruise with an hour-long return time set one hour from the time I got it from the machine.
Seemed to work no problems.

Mind you, I can’t recall if each member got a FP ticket or if the ticket displayed how many were in our party. If the former, I wonder if anyone ever ran into FP shortages when they machine wouldn’t dispense tickets for the entire party.

1 Like

I agree DLR FP + MaxPass > WDW FP+
I can get a dozen Fastpasses if I rope drop because you can get 'em so back to back in the morning unlike WDW where you have to wait a full hour.

1 Like

I disagree. I have used FP in forms, including the original. Hated it from the start. It was perfectly clear it just made the standby lines slower and longer. I remember being in line for BTMRR when there was no FP. Queue was filled entirely including outside. We never waited more than 30 minutes because the line moved so quickly.

Once FP was introduced was when we started experiencing exceptionally long lines.

So, yeah. Never has FP been good.

1 Like