How bad is the wait while in the queue?

[yaya74]

As titled. Please KINDLY share your experience. Was there something to look at to distract your kids? Mine are 10 and 13 and 50.
My family have been spoiled by FP+. We always visit WDW in July/August. With FP+ and Touringplans, our wait time was always less than 20 minutes. We have a trip planned for the upcoming July and I really need to tell my family what the real situation during this trip......

The voice in my head is to cancel my WDW trip and go to Universal instead. I am trying to silence that voice since it has been a couple years since my last visit at WDW. Personally I am not a big fan of Universal....

TIA!

 

[kdonnel]

On my trips in July, September, November and February, the average wait per ride has been 20 minutes or less.

We only waited longer than that for 7 Dwarfs and Flight of Passage.

While the lines look really long wait time wise, they move very fast. The constant walking makes the 20 minute wait seem shorter.

 

[wilkydelts]

There are countless experiences on this topic on the Here and Back Now Thread

 

[scrappinginontario]

Here's a link to the great thread @wilkydelts mentioned: Here Now and Just Back thread.

 

[yaya74]

There are countless experiences on this topic on the Here and Back Now Thread

Here's a link to the great thread @wilkydelts mentioned: Here Now and Just Back thread.

thank you but I have been reading almost-all posts on that thread but cannot find the answer that I am looking for. Thus I am asking this question here.

 

[DWillowBay]

I honestly don't think anyone can project what July is going to look like. Things in different areas of the country are changing so rapidly, it may instill confidence or apprehension about "normalized" functioning. I think that the best prediction is that it will be 'different' from how your family typically tours, but different isn't always bad. Approach with an open mind!

 

[happilyeverfirstgrade]

Many of the cues had interactive things to do while in line but I think most of those have been disabled right now due to touch points for Covid. My family likes to pass our time in the lines by searching for hidden Mickeys (there are lots of books with locations or clues to locations) and also playing Heads up on our phones. We enjoy it. We've had other families jump in and get involved in the games some times. Just go and relax and go with the flow it'll all be fine.

 

[Shellyred8]

If you used FP+ a lot in the past, now is actually a good time to see what the regular queue line looks like. Until our post-covid trips, there were several queue lines where we had never been through the regular line. While the interactive stuff is shut down now, it's still fun to see the entire queue and all of the design that went into creating it. The lines are almost constantly moving, so it's not like pre-covid where you would just stand in one place for a while before you actually moved.

 

[yaya74]

If you used FP+ a lot in the past, now is actually a good time to see what the regular queue line looks like. Until our post-covid trips, there were several queue lines where we had never been through the regular line. While the interactive stuff is shut down now, it's still fun to see the entire queue and all of the design that went into creating it. The lines are almost constantly moving, so it's not like pre-covid where you would just stand in one place for a while before you actually moved.

This is the type of information that I am looking for!! Experience from fellow FP+ users!
@Shellyred8, thank you very much!!!

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Many of the cues had interactive things to do while in line but I think most of those have been disabled right now due to touch points for Covid. My family likes to pass our time in the lines by searching for hidden Mickeys (there are lots of books with locations or clues to locations) and also playing Heads up on our phones. We enjoy it. We've had other families jump in and get involved in the games some times. Just go and relax and go with the flow it'll all be fine.

Yes and on the Disney app there are games you can play while you wait. My DD usually ends up taking a small book with to read while in line lol

 

[JennyDrake]

I've been 3x now since Covid and another trip planned next month. The good news is that with the spacing it is less crowded, claustrophobic and hot. I found wait times to either be under 20 minutes or over 35 - not much in between. Some lines flow steadily but there are still lots of stop and waits while stuff is cleaned. It IS a totally different experience from FP+. Laugh if you will, but I bring a cheap paperback from used bookstore! My SO brings booklets of crossword puzzles, word search etc. The games app is OK but VERY slow to load and it drags.

YMMV

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

I've been 3x now since Covid and another trip planned next month. The good news is that with the spacing it is less crowded, claustrophobic and hot. I found wait times to either be under 20 minutes or over 35 - not much in between. Some lines flow steadily but there are still lots of stop and waits while stuff is cleaned. It IS a totally different experience from FP+. Laugh if you will, but I bring a cheap paperback from used bookstore! My SO brings booklets of crossword puzzles, word search etc. The games app is OK but VERY slow to load and it drags.

YMMV

Yes a small mass market paperback book is the perfect size to fit in a bag.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I think the measure of how "bad" it is depends on your tolerance for stand-by lines (many of which are in the direct sun) and how old your children are.

For us, even 20 minutes is a terrible wait. We have a toddler, and that's an eternity when trying to wrangle him (we have had to leave so many lines...), and I was a FP pro and never ever waited anywhere close to 20 minutes pre-COVID. So the standby, for us, is a beating. No beautiful queue is going to make it better

We go often (we're semi-local) so we have some strategies that work for us, ride only walk-on's, and don't care if we miss things. I LOVE going to Disney and can't wait for my blackout to lift to go again but I'm perfectly happy going for 1-2 hours, riding a couple things, letting DS play in the hub grass, and leaving.

With those ages, you should be good! I'd be prepared for the sun and heat in the lines. Make sure you have some shade and water with you. The line DOES move almost constantly, which helps a ton! Also warn the family that the line will look really really really terrible but usually isn't. It's just how far it's dragged out.

 

[BethanyMouse]

I am in the same boat as you. Except I have a 2 year old and a 7 year old. We are big users of the FP+ system and never had to wait more than 20 minutes for an attraction. We are heading down in late July into early August.

 

[yaya74]

I am in the same boat as you. Except I have a 2 year old and a 7 year old. We are big users of the FP+ system and never had to wait more than 20 minutes for an attraction. We are heading down in late July into early August.

oh boy.... I know how you feel...

 

[Bullseye]

Disney themes most rides pretty well. You see what you see while waiting in line. Other than that you nudge along in anticipation of your ride experience until it happens. Hopefully the ride was worth the wait!

 

[Evita_W]

Honestly, most wait times now are comparable to how long you would wait after returning for your FP window. In other words, the lines look long, but really aren't bad at all, in fact you will likely be able to do a lot more in a single day than with FP unless you are going when it is extremely busy.

 

[yaya74]

Honestly, most wait times now are comparable to how long you would wait after returning for your FP window. In other words, the lines look long, but really aren't bad at all, in fact you will likely be able to do a lot more in a single day than with FP unless you are going when it is extremely busy.

I am going in July which when my family usually goes. Summer with FP+ has not been bad. Not sure about now.

 

[lovethattink]

I go to a park about once a week. But right now I’m blocked out with my Gold AP. The queues can get long and winding. We usually go there last 3 hours a park is opened or the first 3.

As I said in the Here Now thread, I find that my family is walking anywhere from 3 to 7 miles in those 3 hours. The increased walking is coming from no trams from parking to park and back, and the long winding queues.

Waiting in queue when it’s 60 to 70 degrees is a piece of cake! Waiting when it’s hot, humid, and sunny is a different story.

Waiting for an attraction is different because you are almost always constantly moving. Usually the Disney wait time posted is longer than the actual wait.

Depending on the time of day, there can be queues for shopping. We waited about an hour to shop in the market at Galaxy’s Edge. That wait was hard on the legs and feet. The queue moved very slowly. It was much harder to wait an hour there than an hour in a constantly moving attraction line.

If you’re eating qs, Mobil ordering in advance and picking a time for later is a time saver. Most people seem to order right outside the restaurant which adds the time of ordering to your wait. We usually order while in line for something else and choose a time in the future. So that when we arrive at the qs we just have to click that we are there and wait for the order is ready to show in MDE.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I found that although the lines looked long, it was mostly constant motion because there is not FP+. It made the time pass faster for me in most cases. That said, my sons have the Heads-Up app on their phone that we will play. Often people around us would help. Prob not the best thing ever but when my older son (read: 25 yrs old) went with his cousin and her hubby, they would wait until the family ahead of them had moved off the next distance marker then "race" to the next one. I've seen video of this. They were entertaining everyone in line around them, too. LOL!