What do you all think?
Now that SE is officially announced as closing, will demand for it in the next few months go up?
I had put it in our plan as tentative because I was afraid it was going to close before our trip…but now that it isn’t closing until afterwards, I’m leaving it…but the wait time TP estimates is 6 minutes at 6:00 pm. (This is Tuesday, May 12.)
I think that now seems unlikely.
I agree. I would expect wait times to go up before the upcoming closure. I have been wondering what the walkway will be like with this work added to the rest.
Maybe a bit, but I’d bet that most people in the parks will have no idea that it is going to close soon.
Of course I say that, and watch on my early May trip they’ll be promoting it with a big campaign: “Last chance to ride Spaceship Earth Classic”
I upped priority for fastpass for SE, as we are going 5/18. I don’t think lines will be crazy, but they may be longer.
Wonder if we’ll have any overlapping days on our trips for a Liner photo op.
Our plan is:
Sunday, May 10 - MK
Monday, May 11 - HS
Tuesday, May 12 - EP
Wednesday, May 13 - Universal/IOA
Thursday, May 14 - Universal
Friday, May 15 - HS
Saturday, May 16 - MK morning, AK DAH evening
Sunday, May 17 - MK afternoon/evening
Monday, May 18 - IOA
We rode BTMRR back in 2016 the day before it closed. I think the estimate was 25 mins, and it was actually 15 mins. It was something like that anyway, we ride twice without really impacting in our plans at all. So I do agree that people don’t necessarily realise if they aren’t planners like us.
That’s reassuring. (And that means you were there JUST BEFORE us, since were in the parks in 2016 right after it closed.) 
It was our first day so maybe at the same time!
I hope your husband isn’t the guy I hugged from behind while in line once because I thought he was my son standing in front of me! Turns out, my son had moved behind me, but was the same height and wearing the same color shirt. 
Spaceship Earth was usually prone to getting mobbed during peak arrival periods because the layout of the main entrance funneled arriving guests right to it and it was the first ride encountered.
I was listening to Len describe the construction wall layout on Disney Dish recently, and he noted that wait times were up at Living with the Land because the rat maze (my description, he was nicer) is funneling guests there first. The first thing I wondered is will that take some of the pressure off of SE. Given the number of guests who simply follow the herd I would expect the answer to be yes. Notwithstanding the upcoming closure.
By the way, if you’re planning to visit EPCOT in the near future I recommend giving that episode a listen. It may save you a lot of time and confusion.
Hahaha! Not that I remember.
Good to know. I actually have SE as the last ride of the day, as we leave. Good to know about LWTL, though. I plan to FP it, and do Soarin’ standby.
Thank goodness we got SE in there because it is one of my son’s favorites… we usually do it twice but was a short trip this time around. Epcot crowds were subdued compared to the other parks for us this trip… we only were there in EP in the afternoon one day and night another day. SE stayed around what I think are normal times… 15 to 25 minutes posted when we were paying attention. LWTL was high one day and low another. Were able to snag a late FP the night before our planned EP afternoon .
And the rat maze… yeah, that was confusing.
I have this on my May 4 TP after a GG PPO breakfast and RD Soarin. I just re-evaluated to see if this increased wait time he’s seeing impacts my plan, and no change. Remained a 4 minute wait estimate.
Ack! Don’t do Soaring SB amigo!! That line is the most uninspired, tedious, mind numbing, boring queue in the known universe. Induces little lemmings to throw themselves off cliffs. Honest.
I’m overlapping 
Your first park day is my last park day. We’ll be at AK. My first park day is May 3 in MK (last day for BTMRR…)
I would be curious to know if the TP robot overlord has adjusted to the new dynamic.
How bad have things become that we rate lines based on entertainment value? Remember when a line was just something you stood in on your way to the entertainment?
I will keep an eye on it. I’m not FP it at this point, but I am planning on using a FP for Figment later in the morning which is probably not really necessary anyway and could be moved. If I see an impact, I’ll report back 
If it was Disneyland, APs would be flocking to ride it one last time. That’s pattern on the west coast - everything is blase until it’s scarce.