Wait Times

[Goofy_guy]

I was able to spend a short time at the Magic Kingdom while I was in Orlando for one of the Bowl Games held there last week and me and my group ended up waiting for Space Mountain for almost two hours. It got me thinking on how long would you be willing to stand in line for a WDW attraction at any park and what attraction would worth that long of a wait.

For me I would be willing to stand in line for around 1-2 hours for things like Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and maybe Star Tours.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I am not willing to stand in line for anything for more than 45 minutes. This applies to Disney and non Disney parks. This is the reason I tend to go during low season and utilize FP/FP+ as well as single rider lines as much as possible. If it is crowded, I do attractions with shorter waits and wait for my FP time or for the attraction waits to go down.

The longest I've ever waited for an attraction at WDW was when Star Tours first opened. We waited about 60 minutes for it. Later that day, we waited about 20 minutes for it. I also recall waiting quite a bit for EE during a passholder preview, but not horribly long.

 

[erwinalber4]

It depends. As a FL Resident and passholder I would not spend over 45 minutes for anything. Especially since I can always come back and get fastpass or visit during a less crowded time. However, when I was visiting from Texas once upon a time I would have a higher tolerance for how much I'd wait. Longest was 90 minutes for Test Track. I'm sure I would go even more for things that I just can't miss since time is limited. So long story short it depends on how much overall time I have and how soon I'll be able to come back.

 

[JasonDeyoung]

Also a FL resident and prem pass holder, I normally don't go when lines will be to that extent. But that being said, if I pass an attraction and has a wait time shorter than 25-30 I'll get in line. Being able to go almost at anytime it just makes no sense for me to stand in a line more than that.

 

[BigRedDad]

Wait times now are FAR less than they were in the 70s and early 80s. I remember Space Mountain being 4 hours. I also remember the Lion King show at MK to be 6+ hours when the movie came out. BTMRR had similar line that wrapped back past PotC when it opened.

For me though, there is NOTHING at WDW worth me waiting an hour for. If it is waiting an hour or not seeing it, not seeing it is the way I go. There is very little that we have not done at WDW. If we must do something, we do it first thing in the morning before lines get insane or get a FP for it.

 

[SamandChel]

I have never waited more than 45 minutes for a ride. If it's longer than that it isn't worth it. There is always other stuff to do and you can always come back during slow times. 2 hours for a 3-5 minute ride is not worth it when u spend so much to be there.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I can see both ways. I remember days prior to Fast Pass when you had to just wait to ride your favorites. Space Mountain would be packed, but the excitement to ride was incredible.

Since I'm not a kid anymore, I think I prefer walking on with a Fast Pass or coming back when the standard queue is shorter. There is something to building the anticipation waiting in a good old fashioned line though.

Sitting at work right now, I'd wait about 3 hours to ride Tower of Terror if it meant I didn't have to be here.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

I will not get in the que is the wait is longer than 25-30 minutes.

 

[shannon12]

Wait times now are FAR less than they were in the 70s and early 80s. I remember Space Mountain being 4 hours. I also remember the Lion King show at MK to be 6+ hours when the movie came out. BTMRR had similar line that wrapped back past PotC when it opened.

For me though, there is NOTHING at WDW worth me waiting an hour for. If it is waiting an hour or not seeing it, not seeing it is the way I go. There is very little that we have not done at WDW. If we must do something, we do it first thing in the morning before lines get insane or get a FP for it.

I can remember my mother making us wait almost 3 hrs for 20K Leagues on our first trip. It was July and BRUTAL lol.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

before I have my daughter which for her first time she was 16 months I would wait an hour but with her I would say nothing over 20 minutes because she would start to get antsy.

 

[Nick Wilde]

Like others have said, my time cap is 45 min. But I won't wait 30 min for Living with the Land. 30 min for Soarin' or Splash is fine though.

 

[FrostyNaples]

I will not get in the que is the wait is longer than 25-30 minutes.

That's the sweet spot right there.

We can FP+ our way around, and go when we want being pass holders, i don't see it any other way.

I remember when being in New England, going to Riverside/Six flags, waiting 1+hrs for the attractions thinking to myself, this is stupid, not fun.

Never again.

 

[LauraRose]

I'd wait however long if it was a decent attraction. Didn't go on a 9 hour flight to skip attractions because it's a long wait, it is awful in the heat though. Longest Iv waited was for the mine train in June. Can't remember how long exactly but it was a nightmare.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

I will not get in the que is the wait is longer than 25-30 minutes.

Yup. Call me a line snob....fine. But with Fastpass and other things (arriving early, etc...), this is what we accomplish every trip.

 

[MickeyMomV]

Yup. Call me a line snob....fine. But with Fastpass and other things (arriving early, etc...), this is what we accomplish every trip.

I would second this. With EMH and FP+ we ride everything we want on every trip with out an issue and dont wait more than 30 minutes in lines. And with the MDE app it makes it easier to know where the lines are and are not.

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

Yup. Call me a line snob....fine. But with Fastpass and other things (arriving early, etc...), this is what we accomplish every trip.

That's how it was for us on our trip in September. Between booking our FP+ accordingly, getting to rope drop whenever we could, and looking at crowd calendars to decide when to go to each park, I think the longest lines we waited in were about 30 minutes twice for Test Track (we had Soarin' FP those days) and probably about that same length for the Safari at AK once because there was an animal standing on the track, holding up the line.

This also includes us riding the Mine Train four times (three FP and one rope drop).

I'd say if it REALLY came down to it, like "wait in this line right now or you don't get to ride at all this trip," the longest would be an hour. As a kid, we went sometimes during Easter week, so an hour (or two) for any of the MK mountains, Jungle Cruise, and a few other rides was always expected.

 

[Goofy_guy]

See I dont have the luxury of going whenever I want. This past trip Disney unfortunately wasn't the main part of the trip so we only had 9hours in the park. For me I dont know when I'll be able to go back so I'm willing to wait as long as I have too.

 

[sgtmgd]

Wait times now are FAR less than they were in the 70s and early 80s. I remember Space Mountain being 4 hours. I also remember the Lion King show at MK to be 6+ hours when the movie came out. BTMRR had similar line that wrapped back past PotC when it opened.

For me though, there is NOTHING at WDW worth me waiting an hour for. If it is waiting an hour or not seeing it, not seeing it is the way I go. There is very little that we have not done at WDW. If we must do something, we do it first thing in the morning before lines get insane or get a FP for it.

Tell me about it I was there when POTC opened as a kid the Line started near the jungle cruise! Those days were a race to get reservations at places like the Diamond Horseshoe Review ( I wish they would bring this back...sighs..) but yes Lines were INSANE

 

[draybook]

I think that the longest we've waited on any of our trips was about 70 minutes for TSMM. That's pretty much my limit.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

That's how it was for us on our trip in September. Between booking our FP+ accordingly, getting to rope drop whenever we could, and looking at crowd calendars to decide when to go to each park, I think the longest lines we waited in were about 30 minutes twice for Test Track (we had Soarin' FP those days) and probably about that same length for the Safari at AK once because there was an animal standing on the track, holding up the line.

This also includes us riding the Mine Train four times (three FP and one rope drop).

I'd say if it REALLY came down to it, like "wait in this line right now or you don't get to ride at all this trip," the longest would be an hour. As a kid, we went sometimes during Easter week, so an hour (or two) for any of the MK mountains, Jungle Cruise, and a few other rides was always expected.

Exactly! We were there end of September and it was unusually very busy but we got to the parks @ rope drop and with setting up fastpasses, the longest we waited was 25 mins for TT and 25 for Pooh. We did every attraction and the headliners multiple times not to mention seeing Pooh and Tigger in Epcot, Duffy in Epcot and Sorcerer Mickey in DHS.....all without FP+).

The only ones we didn't do are a few we don't care for (i.e. Country Bear, Tiki Room, Ellen, EO, Indy, Tricera TopSpin, Barnstormer). The only thing we didn't get to that my wife likes is Finding Nemo the Musical but that's a big time eater and it wasn't a priority.