Waiting in Line - any survival tips?

Have you done the version at Disneyland with the MaxPass on your phone?

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Sounds like you shouldā€™ve got a FP for BTMRR. :wink:

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Nope. Because then the other lines would be been longer. Thatā€™s the point I keep trying to make. Saving time in one line is exchanged for a longer wait for other lines. You have a short waiting in line X, but then lines Y and Z are longer because you donā€™t have FP for them.

It is smoke and mirrors. Ride capacity does not and cannot change due to a FP system.

No. Last time I was at Disneyland I was like 12.

I really enjoyed it last year. On Disneyland day we rushed to all the dark rides that donā€™t have FP but secured ourselves FPs for Tomorrowland rides first. You have to wait 90 min till you get the next one or when it becomes available but first thing in the morning they are available so fast you can get them literally back to back to back. It was amazing. Best time ever at that park except for back when they did 3 evening EMH and we went till 12 or 1am and there was noone there.

Also, I disagree it just moves where you wait in line in terms of physically standing in a line. If you RD you can do some rides before the park is crowded without FP and save your FPs for the afternoon when it would be crowded. Maybe Iā€™m spending the same total amount of time waiting for rides in that I have to wait for my FP to become available but while Iā€™m waiting for those PM crowded rides Iā€™m not standing in a physical line. So I prefer them to not having them. Parks like Magic Kingdom I can get 6+ FPs in one day easy if I rope drop and have my first three for the first three hours. I donā€™t like the Tier system at DHS or EPC though.

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I agree with this. We used the same strategy and got to ride everything we wanted, some things twice, only waited more than 30 minutes for SDD but remembering the wait times in standby pre-covid thatā€™s just fine by us. We did the Play Disney Parks app but sometimes it wasnā€™t working. A lot of times we found that the line was moving too quickly to actually get into the game. Mid-day at HS, we had a lunch ADR, built droids, and watched the motorcades. We also spent some time in the AC of our car, which was weird but it felt good. We were going to take the droids back to the car and then take the skyliner to the Boardwalk for milkshakes, but the AC in the car felt so nice LOL. At MK, we stayed on Mainstreet by the tree and watched the Dans and the cavalcades, then went back to the resort for some pool time. Our feet hurt so bad by mid-day, because we were able to get so much done during the first couple hours, we needed that break each day! Definitely get there as early as possible, that will cut out a lot of wait times if you can ride things before official park opening. I think itā€™s still pretty easy to avoid lines

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But, youā€™re not limited to only those fast passes that were pre-booked at Wdw. Even on a busy day, multiple more are (have been?) possible.

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True. But the rides where you can get same day fast passes are often rides that donā€™t really need them or benefit you. For example, in 2016 when we were there, we got in line for Space Mountain without Fast pass. We walked all the way up and it was a 5 minute wait. The people who had FP actually got in line behind us because they were delayed by having to tap in! So they thought having a FP benefitted them, but it didnā€™t at all.

I canā€™t imagine wasting a fp for a walk on. That would not be my choice. Sounds like odd planning unless there was some weird situation for SM being a walk on at that specific time. But, to each their own, as they say. I let other ppl do their own thing. Maybe it was the best thing for their group. Frankly, with the latest FP system, we did great, and usually finished high demand rides earlier than weā€™d planned, and mostly anything we wanted more than once or twice, too. If it comes back, and our son can work them on his device, too? Thatā€™ll be a riot. He got the hang of the fp hunt on our last trip when he was 10. Now weā€™ll have the whole squad on board hunting fpā€™s (if the system returns.)

I am referring to same day availability. After your first three, you can only get same dayā€¦and the ones you can typically get same day FPs for are rides that donā€™t really save you much, if any, time. That was the SM caseā€¦people were getting same day FPs for SM thinking it was saving them time when it didnā€™t.

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Holy balls!!
I need to go when you go.
If you go when sm is a 5 min wait, and other high profile attractions have similar wait times, I publicly declare you my hero. I thought I was going at the right times for low crowd levels. I usually try for early Nov, but thereā€™s still 30-40 min standby lines for the big attractions a few hours after rd during the day. We generally just crush same day fp all day to cut wait times down to 10 min for everything.

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Yes. We have typically go me when waits are low. September and October. :slight_smile:

We were going LONG before FP+ were a thing - back when there was ONE Dumbo and the line had zero shade. No cell phones to have our noses stuck in. No tablets. Nothing like that.

We gasp talked to each other.

And never had an issue.

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Now thatā€™s just crazy talk! :wink:

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I remember those daysā€¦ fondly too. I remember making the younger ones run to grab fp at kiosks too

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In the current COVID times, we used time spent waiting in line to mobile order food. This can be a lengthy process involving passing the phone around to everyone in the party and/or reading the menu aloud. Better to do it in line than standing in the middle of a walkway. We also were able to send one person to the bathroom if the queue was outside the normal queue area. This meant no stopping at the bathroom. We could jump right in line and take turns heading to the ā€¦ uh ā€¦ head. Lastly, we were able to take advantage of at least one character appearance while waiting in line. Captain Jack Sparrow was out in Adventureland. The PoC queue was outside and we could take turns going over and getting pics with him. All of these things made the lines feel more productive so we didnā€™t resent the time spent. With little ones ā€¦ well, someone recommended the Eye Found It! Disney version card game. I havenā€™t tried it, but it looks like something you could easily bring along.

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Thanks! Iā€™ll check out it out!