Wait time vs quality of attraction

[bdrex28]

People Mover
Expedition Everest
Pirates of the Caribbean - maybe I'm just lucky but never had it over maybe 15 minutes and it's my favorite nostalgic ride.

 

[itf]

Star Tours is my daughter's favourite ride so if you could keep quiet about it being good please

 

[hahall3]

People Mover hands down.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

This one is somewhat timing dependent - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I've found that if you ride it around afternoon parade time the parade cuts off a lot of the traffic to that park area. During that time I've been able to do standby with almost no wait.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

We really love Expedition Everest! If you go there first, we've often had 5-6 rides in the first 30-45 minutes of opening. Always a hit, and my kids love the option to ride back to back.

Shhhh. You are giving away the secret!

We also love to loop this ride! Unfortunately it was down at park opening when we were there a couple weeks ago. Completely threw my plans out the window!

 

[meanwoodwhite]

The seven dwarfs mine train has to he the worst in this respect.

My son loves it but I ain't waiting 90 minutes for a 2 minute ride. They must make $$$ on the LL on this ride.

 

[scrappinginontario]

The seven dwarfs mine train has to he the worst in this respect.

My son loves it but I ain't waiting 90 minutes for a 2 minute ride. They must make $$$ on the LL on this ride.

This is a great one to ride just before park close. Ignore the posted wait time and hop in line as the wait should be minimal. 2 years ago the posted wait time was 80 mins and we rode it 3 times in 20 mins! Got in line at 9:40 and rode it twice before getting back in line again at 9:59. YMMV but normally a reasonable wait time happens just before park close.

 

[Mermaidtails1323]

This is a great one to ride just before park close. Ignore the posted wait time and hop in line as the wait should be minimal. 2 years ago the posted wait time was 80 mins and we rode it 3 times in 20 mins! Got in line at 9:40 and rode it twice before getting back in line again at 9:59. YMMV but normally a reasonable wait time happens just before park close.

I’ve heard this with a lot of rides and I think my anxiety that the wait time is right keeps me from joining! Have you ever had it where the wait time was accurate at the end of the night?

 

[scrappinginontario]

I’ve heard this with a lot of rides and I think my anxiety that the wait time is right keeps me from joining! Have you ever had it where the wait time was accurate at the end of the night?

Personally I have found it works and I’ve used it for a number of rides over the years. I will say joining late does not always mean multiple rides, just shorter waits has been our experience. The longest we’ve waited for a ride joining just before closing was about 40 mins for Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance but both of those were still shorter waits than the attractions had been the rest of the day.

The one instance it didn’t work wasn’t because of wait times but because an attraction went down earlier in the evening and did not come back up. That can be a risk.

 

[elaine amj]

This one is somewhat timing dependent - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I've found that if you ride it around afternoon parade time the parade cuts off a lot of the traffic to that park area. During that time I've been able to do standby with almost no wait.

Ooo…I didn’t think of this and will have to try it in a future visit. I used to go the last half hour of the night and ride it over and over. But I think waits are longer now.

I’ve heard this with a lot of rides and I think my anxiety that the wait time is right keeps me from joining! Have you ever had it where the wait time was accurate at the end of the night?

I do this a lot and have never seen wait times be accurate. It works great for rides that are consistently long wait times.

Now this is true when you go 1-5 mins before park closes. If u go half hour before park close, you can still get a long line (hello, Kali River Rapids).

And if the wait time ends up being too long, just leave the line.

7 dwarves is usually super short (at least it used to be), Flight of Passage is pretty consistently 30-40 mins, Rise of the Resistance also about 30-40 mins, Remy 20-30 mins.

Same is true at Universal. I have many photos of getting to Escape at Gringotts exactly at park close and basically the walking onto the ride.

 

[Lesverts]

Living with the Land
Three Caballeros
People Mover
Single Rider Expedition Everest (so much fun to just circle that line for an hour or 2)

And the hot take:

Any wait of 60 minutes or less for Jungle Cruise is worth it to me. I love that ride, love that queue, love the people you interact with in the queue. It is just a happy wait for me.

 

[Captain UP]

This is a really fun thread!

I tend to agree with everything folks have said here.

I'll just throw in that on a very hot day, Carousel of Progress is an AWESOME break with no wait.

 

[Lesverts]

This is a really fun thread!

I tend to agree with everything folks have said here.

I'll just throw in that on a very hot day, Carousel of Progress is an AWESOME break with no wait.

When it’s working.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Best… Expedition Everest for sure. I still don’t understand the long line for Peter Pan! Most disappointing ride ever!

 

[Captain UP]

Best… Expedition Everest for sure. I still don’t understand the long line for Peter Pan! Most disappointing ride ever!

I feel like I'm supposed to SAY how amazing Peter Pan is...you know?

 

[Lesverts]

Best… Expedition Everest for sure. I still don’t understand the long line for Peter Pan! Most disappointing ride ever!

It has a very small through-put. Makes the wait time, making it seem more desirable. When the ride has more competition in Disneyland its wait is considerably lower.

 

[jimmymc]

I have a few, including some single rider lines:

• Splash Mountain on a cooler day
• Carousel of Progress
• Journey of the Little Mermaid
• Test Track single rider
• Smuggler's Run single rider
• Expedition Everest single rider
• Rise of the Resistance
• Living with the land

 

[FallsChurchDad]

Everest line has always moved quickly with those long trains, but it is especially good now because people either don't do Genie+ at AK, or they do it but of course can only use one LL on Everest. So Everest doesn't get as bogged down as other rides letting LL folks ahead of standby.

Completely agree that Star Tours, Everest and PeopleMover are currently the best wait time values.

We still love Mine Train and Peter Pan, even though they are short experiences.

 

[LoKiHB]

I only saw one vote for CoP! - Along those lines I'd like to add HoP and American Adventure. All three are entertaining, but if it's hot, and you're exhausted, then you're looking at 20-40 minutes in the a/c in the dark for a solid nap!

 

[VolvoManiac850]

Star Tours is one of the best in this respect. I seem to remember the lines being far longer back in the 90s, but now it's pretty easy to get on.

Peter Pan is great and worth every minute of the wait. I can say the same about Mine Train.
Strategy? Rope drop Peter Pan. Duke it out after lunch in line for Mine Train so your food digests over the 45 minutes or so that you wait for it. If you're coming back for fireworks some other night, hop right on Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear right when they begin--you can get on both before the fireworks are over.