Inaccurate Wait Times

[jbh275]

I'm really disappointed in the inaccurate wait times. Why have a system and not update it?! At 8pm in EPCOT the wait times showed 60 min for Soarin. I walked right up to the cast member. Are they just showing long wait times to sell Genie +? This was almost every ride in EPCOT.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Lies and deception. It's Disney Today.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Disney does this often in the evening, specifically around park close as a gentle way to get people to not enter the queue so they can clear out the ride quicker.

Disney also often tends to overestimate their wait times rather than underestimate. People who see that a wait time is 40 minutes and then their actual wait is around 15, they'll be happier vs. the other way around. From my experience, rides like Peter Pan and the mountains (Space, Big Thunder, Splash) don't have inflated wait times. If Peter Pan says it's a 100 minute wait, it WILL be 100 minutes due to how slow that ride loads and Genie+ (was the same with Fastpass+ too, by the way).

 

[Parkhopstacker]

from my experience the inflated times were around before genie+. I don’t think it’s gotten worse or better, just the same as it ever was.

 

[Parkhopstacker]

Wait times are definitely up since pre shut down for sure. But I think how much Disney inflates the times is about the same. (Pre genie+ vs Post genie+) So if Disney used the old standard reasons for inflating times and that equates to about 25% from actual (just an example) pre shut down, that’s about the same now.

Keep in mind they have algorithms that change the inflation of times throughout the day so it’s not a set amount.

 

[Marionnette]

Including a link because previous post was deleted due to it not being included.

Wait times are up significantly from 2019 (the last "normal" year). Yet attendance is down from 2019 levels at domestic parks according to the Q3 earnings report. So, is Disney fudging the wait times more than before or has Genie + made standby wait times significantly worse?

https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/chain/wdw/

Note that these wait times are derived from data collected between 10 AM- 5 PM and does not included the hours just prior to park closing.

 

[rwdavis2]

Longer wait times could be due to some rides not running at full capacit. For example, Space Mountain running only 1 track.

 

[RoseGold]

Night wait times are a complete joke. I did 7D with 60 minutes posted and it was almost walk-on. It's not like they don't know that.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Are they just showing long wait times to sell Genie +?

Yes.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Lies and deception. It's Disney Today.

Or better put, It's Disney the past 13 years. They've always done that.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

from my experience the inflated times were around before genie+. I don’t think it’s gotten worse or better, just the same as it ever was.

Exactly. But don't try to tell some folks that. They are confident that it's all to scan the guests in to buying Genie. They conveniently forget that Disney has always inflated wait times. I mean, I know Disney is full of horrible decisions and am all for calling them out for every last one of them but come on, lets not call them out on the ones where they aren't out to get guests.

As mentioned above. This is a case of they can't get it perfect all the time. If they are going to be wrong they better be over estimating the wait not underestimating it. Who is going to complain when they wait 15 min instead of 45?

 

[_19disnA]

We were at Disney back in 2019 before Genie (and prior to covid) and the posted wait times at the entrance to various rides were all over the map........some were far too short while others were clearly too long. We would decide for ourselves about how long a ride line was based on how fast it seemed to be moving. No idea if those lighted signs update from a central system (or how often) or if some Disney person has to manually change them. Whatever method being used was clearly not very accurate.

 

[Praying Colonel]

They've been doing this for years, especially at rope drop and closing. Several years ago I walked up to Soarin right after RD. The standby wait was listed as 300 minutes. There was no one there. I asked the CM if it was accurate, and he said, "Well, maybe not quite 300 minutes." It was <5. Another time we walked up to RnRC about an hour before closing and it was listed as 120 minutes. Again, virtually no crowd. We were on in 20.

 

[Marionnette]

Longer wait times could be due to some rides not running at full capacit. For example, Space Mountain running only 1 track.

Then it begs the question "Why are attractions not running at full capacity in order to bring wait times down?" If Disney is going to control park attendance through the reservation system, then they should also control attraction capacity to meet that number by running additional track(s) or opening additional theaters (i.e. Soarin', FoP, etc.)

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We were at Disney back in 2019 before Genie and the posted wait times at the entrance to various rides were all over the map........some were far too short while others were clearly too long. We would decide for ourselves about how long a ride line was based on how fast it seemed to be moving. No idea if those lighted signs update from a central system (or how often) or if some Disney person has to manually change them. Whatever method being used was clearly not very accurate.

All of the above.
They hand out those red cards periodically to time waits.
This means the guest who gets the red card has to turn it in to the CM at the end.
Some guests forget, accidently or on purpose, you guess.
Sometimes a huge run of guests will come in between red cards and skew the wait significantly.
Sometimes they inflate them to deter guests from getting in line.
Sometimes they do change them manually, some computerized. I believe this varies by ride but mostly in WDW they are by computer
There are many factors that play in to it.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I'm really disappointed in the inaccurate wait times. Why have a system and not update it?! At 8pm in EPCOT the wait times showed 60 min for Soarin. I walked right up to the cast member. Are they just showing long wait times to sell Genie +? This was almost every ride in EPCOT.

This is normal to discourage folks from getting in line close to park close. We use the Touring Plans lines app which is normally much more accurate that posted wait times and times in MDE. However, you can usually tell how long a ride is just by looking where the line ends, is it outside the building, normally much longer, etc. And CMs will never admit to guests at the parks that they do this but this is common practice. Of course, this would diminish the guest's experience if they knew they purposely posted inflated wait times.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

They've been doing this for years, especially at rope drop and closing. Several years ago I walked up to Soarin right after RD. The standby wait was listed as 300 minutes. There was no one there. I asked the CM if it was accurate, and he said, "Well, maybe not quite 300 minutes." It was <5. Another time we walked up to RnRC about an hour before closing and it was listed as 120 minutes. Again, virtually no crowd. We were on in 20.

I don't know if errors happen at Disney, I know they do at Universal. I have seen instances of 800 min pop up on the app for rides that aren't popular, like a kiddie ride. They are typos. They get changed back pretty quick. No idea if that can happen with Disney's wait time system or not.

 

[set88]

Then it begs the question "Why are attractions not running at full capacity in order to bring wait times down?" If Disney is going to control park attendance through the reservation system, then they should also control attraction capacity to meet that number by running additional track(s) or opening additional theaters (i.e. Soarin', FoP, etc.)

Staffing issues. That's the reasoning behind the reservation system. Disney isn't capping certain days because they are at 10/10 most guests ever. They're capping them so that the amount of staff they have assigned to work that day can handle the number of guests that were allowed to reserve that park.

Disney does not want to cap attendance below their theoretical max capacity. That doesn't benefit Disney in any way. When they do it, it's because they have to, because they are still short staffed.

 

[reddog21]

Wait times have always been off this is not something new and it definitely didn't happen when Genie+ was introduced. Wait time are not an exact science never have been and probably never will be. This goes not just for Disney but for every theme park, Universal has the same issue.

 

[Marionnette]

They're capping them so that the amount of staff they have assigned to work that day can handle the number of guests that were allowed to reserve that park.

If "staffing issues" is at the root of the increase in wait times from 2019 to 2022, then it stands to reason that either Disney IS allowing more guests into the parks than staff can manage OR Disney is inflating overall standby times (possibly in order to make Genie Plus more attractive).