When Do You Justify A Long Wait Line?

[ValentineMouse]

At WDW, I generally don't wait more than half an hour. I don't mind getting to shows more than half an hour early, because at least then I have somewhere nice to sit down =).

I'm one of the people that use their fastpasses to the fullest extent - dashing from one side of the park to the other to get as much in as possible =).

The longest wait I've ever done was about an hour and half / forty-five minutes. That was at the Walt Disney Studios Paris for Crush's Coaster, every other wait at the resort was less than 20 minutes. I was at the resort for three days and was determined to get on as much as I could (out of everything at the two parks, I only missed four things - the Riverboat, the Magic Carpets, the Cars Race Rally and the Autopia *cries*). I got to the Studios for park opening, but there was already a queue right up to the gates! Anyway, me and my girlfriend played the Disney alphabet game to pass the time - and I have to say... Crush's Coaster was DEFINATELY worth it! It's SUCH an amazing ride!

 

[bigorangeandy]

We will normally use about 30 minutes as a max, depending on the ride que. I don't mind Space Mountain in the summer, because its cool and dark, so a little longer is ok, BTMRR no way. If the line is interesting its much easier to tolerate a longer wait. We have done Peter Pan a few times late during extra magic hours, with no wait at all, but at 1:30am everyone is dragging.

 

[Married@WDW]

The only time we wait in lines for more than 20-30 minutes is if a ride is fairly new and we can't get fast passes or want to do it more than once.

On our honeymoon in late 1998, we waited for 3 hours to do Test Track (they actually shut down the ride for an hour, offered to let people leave, then shutdown the lights and special effects in the building -- everybody took a nap. It was actually kinda fun!)

We just returned home and we waited for 60 minutes to do ToyStory Mania. We actually had fast passes, but wanted to do it twice in a row.

DH and I don't have children and we ALWAYS have a video game to play together in line. We used to carry 2 Nintendo DSs, but now we use my iPhone and play Scrabble. The time flies and we love the competition. I think we finished 9 games during this 6 day trip.

 

[MKCP 1985]

probably not going to change anybody's minds with this post, but the simple fact is that there are certain times of year when the only options are to wait long times to ride or don't ride.

Easter, Fourth of July, Christmas to New Year's are a few examples of those days.

So, what's a person with excited young kids to do? "Forget it kids, we'll come back tomorrow" isn't going to work when you've traveled 6 hours or more to get there. :lol:

That said, here is my list of rides I've waited an hour to ride and felt it was worth it, given the other options available:

1. Splash Mountain
If you are waiting a long time for Splash, chances are it is summer time. The payoff is a cooling down splash.

2. Toy Story Midway Mania
it is new, different and the payoff comes in the competition for bragging rights.

3. Space Mountain
Hey, at least you're indoors, out of the heat, but this is a pretty miserable queue when you are waiting for an hour. There go the cookies across the ceiling, again!

Others I would consider waiting an hour to ride, but haven't:

4. Expedition:Everest
This has an interesting queue that tells a story. Getting my trip tickets, and then my gear, exploring the tea garden, the yeti museum and if its hot, a trip into the icy caves hits the spot.

5. Soarin
I have to say part of the reason I like Soarin as much as I do is that I've never had to wait a long time for it. Love the fastpasses, but if the fastpasses are gone . . . well, I'd try this queue once anyway. I hear it has been upgraded with various things to watch to pass the time.

6. Test Track
To be honest, I'm probably not going to wait an hour for Test Track, but if I have a kid who reeeeeally wants to ride, at least there's lots of cool stuff going on in the queue once you're inside.

7. Tower of Terror
I guess I've been lucky that the wait time for Tower hasn't been so bad the last few times I've been, but I can relax in the ruins of the hotel grounds while winding my way towards a date with the 6th Dimension. I really dig Tower of Terror. If I have to choose between waiting a long time or not experiencing it on a trip, honestly, I'm going to get an ice cream and a drink and get in the queue.
. . .

That's about it. The argument over whether to wait 45 minutes to an hour for Peter Pan's Flight has almost ruined my marriage more than once and has gotten me in trouble with my mother, also. What is it the women see in this attraction? Thank goodness for fastpass!

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

We waited 80 for the Tower one day because it was hot and the line was cool. Plus, one side broke down after we'd waited 20 minutes and we didn't want to get out of line. We waited 45 for Toy Story last year and thought that was a decent wait. So, I guess the best answer is depends on the ride but 20-30 is usually our max.

 

[b94ronman]

I remember waiting 2 hours to ride Journey into Imagination back in 1988.....and it was worth every minute of it. Now I hate to just walk by it.

 

[Jasper Dale]

Since you will be there Dec. 13 -17, your longer waits will be on the 13th. According to Touring Plans (dot) com, the 13th is a 6 (on a scale of 1 emptyish to 10 jampacked).

Sat, 13 Dec '08 6 MK DS
Sun, 14 Dec '08 4 AK MK DS
Mon, 15 Dec '08 4 DS MK EP AK
Tue, 16 Dec '08 3 DS EP AK
Wed, 17 Dec '08 3 MK DS AK
(least crowded)
(most crowded)

thanks so much for that info. it makes me feel a lot better knowing that only our first night will be somewhat crowded. we arrive in Orlando at 1:30 in the afternoon and plan on going to Magic Kingdom and use it as the day my wife can take all the pictures she wants so she can get it out of her system! :ROFLOL:

 

[Jeff456]

I don't mind waiting a long time for example over an hour for longer rides like test track, or for a ride I have never been on before(i waited 2 hours for soaring). But normally I dont enjoy waiting much over 45 minutes, in the UK however queue times are pretty much always over an hour for big rides anyway.