Chasing Short Lines

By: Justin

Sometime it feels like Disney World is just an un-ending line.

All of the cool attractions at Walt Disney World have a wait time posted outside the entrance.  That same wait time is updated to the My Disney Experience mobile app, so that you can see them on your phone.

This wait time information should be incredibly valuable, right?  For instance, you might be waiting in an hour long line for Space Mountain.  You pull out your phone and see that Pirates of the Caribbean has a 10 minute wait.  If I assume that I want to go on both rides anyway, the smart move would be to get out of line and walk over to Pirates, right?  Well, not necessarily.

There are at least three reasons you might not want to get out of line and chase short wait times.

1. The published wait times are not always updated in real time.  At times, they are way off.  I have seen Toy Story Midway Mania listed as a 90 minute wait, when it was nearly a walk-on (just walk through the queue and get on the ride).  Since the wait time was listed at 90 minutes, few people wanted to get in the line.  We rode it 3 times before the sign and app caught up.



All the people waiting for Avatar: Flight of Passage



2. The published wait times are based on what just happened, not what is about to happen.  Let me explain.  While at Walt Disney World, you may be handed a yellow electronic keycard at the beginning of a line.  You are asked to give this to the ride operator when you board the ride.  Both the operator at the beginning of the line and at the loading platform swipe the card on a card reader.  A little simple subtraction, and viola Disney knows how long you just waited.  A few programs later, that information can be updated on the signs and the app.  They may do a few additional calculations, but the underlying information comes from those keycard swipes.  This results in kind of an accordion affect.  The wait time says 20 minutes so everyone gets in line including me.  I get a key card, but end up waiting 2 hours because everyone got in the "short" line.  The 2 hour wait time is published, and nobody gets in the line, so the wait gets shorter....And on and on it goes.


3. Everyone has access to that same information, so everyone is playing the same game, so point 2 above gets worse.

So, use the app but don't think it is incredibly accurate and don't chase short wait times.