Precise versus posted wait instances for rides at Walt Disney World has been a identified situation for years. Many followers have reported important disparities throughout their days in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom–and questioning why inaccuracies persist regardless of this being a identified “downside.” (Up to date April 25, 2023.)
Let’s begin with some background into precise versus posted wait instances at Walt Disney World. For starters, that is completely nothing new. Walt Disney World has been doing this for so long as I can bear in mind, which is not less than the final couple of many years. Anybody who has ever visited the parks and used standby traces to a major diploma for a couple of days can inform you that posted wait instances are greater than precise ones most of the time.
There’s actually no debating whether or not that is taking place. The higher questions are: why does Walt Disney World inflate posted wait instances? and to what extent does Walt Disney World overstate wait instances? This put up will try and reply these questions plus a couple of others, discussing why Walt Disney World has traditionally inflated wait instances, greatest offenders, and the corporate’s “purchaser beware” warning in Genie+. We’ll additionally some technique, suggestions, and data for utilizing the wait time disparity to your benefit…
There are a number of the explanation why Walt Disney World intentionally inflates wait instances. First, it’s good for visitor satisfaction–an extension of the ole “underpromise and overdeliver” mantra. It’s surprisingly easy: company will likely be pleased in the event that they wait much less time than is marketed, however sad in the event that they wait longer. Because it’s robust to make predictions which might be 100% correct, it’s higher to err on the aspect of inflation.
This type of client manipulation is extremely frequent. We’ve typically “joked” that Disney follows the Kohl’s faculty of pricing–the shop the place every thing is at all times on sale. Though this 12 months has been an odd outlier, Disney by no means lowers sticker costs, as a substitute providing aggressive and typically illusory reductions for his or her psychological attraction. Free Eating isn’t actually free–it comes with a possibility value–however nothing sells higher than FREE. Related thought right here. Individuals find it irresistible once they suppose they’re popping out forward.
Second, wait instances themselves are a type of crowd management. This isn’t a giant revelation, however some sights are extra common than others. In case you give 100 company the selection between Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice and Nation Bear Jamboree with out another constraints, 99 of them are going to make the incorrect resolution and decide the curler coaster.
Generally, all of us simply want a delicate little nudge to do the fitting factor. That may come within the type of inflated wait instances at common sights, which push folks in direction of much less common ones. Everybody has a balking level–a wait that is just too excessive to justify the time spent ready in line–even for his or her favourite rides. Greater wait instances on headliners enhance utilization of much less common sights, making the park extra environment friendly and higher capable of take up crowds.
Lastly, pumped up wait instances provide a wide range of different operational benefits. Certainly one of these is discouraging abuse of DAS, as those that have adequate data to abuse that system are additionally doubtless conscious of inflated wait instances. (It’s not an ideal resolution and there’s an apparent draw back, however there is no such thing as a good resolution right here.)
One other is clearing the park on the finish of the night time. Our go-to instance for that is Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, which is so persistently inflated that our Trip Information for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice extremely recommends doing that attraction after the fireworks and ignoring the posted wait time. That is persistently and predictably overstated, and that’s solely by design. It’s to discourage company from leaping in line on the finish of the night time so Magic Kingdom might be cleared faster.
To that time, we’ve discovered that wait instances are least correct and most inflated on the finish of the night time. That is notably true amongst headliners in any of the 4 theme parks. Often, the extra common the attraction, the extra the wait time is inflated. Prime examples listed below are (once more) Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, Peter Pan’s Flight, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Frozen Ever After, and Check Observe.
Oh, and actually each single attraction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. These parks are dwelling to a number of the greatest offenders, with Slinky Canine Sprint, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, Avatar Flight of Passage, and Na’vi River Journey being among the many worst. Na’vi River Journey might be the largest crimson flag, as we had numerous experiences with it having a posted wait time of 50-75 minutes and an precise wait time of quarter-hour or much less.
One other particular instance is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which is commonly means off. That’s not listed above as a result of it’s incessantly inaccurate in each instructions. We’ve had precise waits which might be lower than half the posted time (very often, the truth is) but additionally precise waits which might be practically double the posted wait time.
The wild fluctuations with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are as a result of the attraction is liable to breakdowns and delays, so the corporate is constructing in a buffer. In case you get fortunate and it’s not having any points on the day of your go to, that 75 minute posted wait time at 7:45 pm is perhaps an precise wait time of 20 minutes. In contrast, if it’s been up-and-down all day and there’s a backlog of Lightning Lane company, it is perhaps an precise wait of 70-80 minutes. Worse but, it might break down whilst you’re in line and find yourself being a triple-digit wait.
On the different finish of the working day is the morning, which additionally might be inaccurate. For the reason that debut of Early Entry and Lightning Lanes, we’re discovering that wait instances are usually abnormally inflated through the first 60-90 minutes of the day (together with Early Entry) earlier than settling into regular patterns. They’re nonetheless inflated, to make certain, however not as unhealthy as at the start of the day or finish of the night.
Then there’s the guts of the day, from about 10 am till 6 pm (or round 4 pm at each DHS and Animal Kingdom). That’s when wait instances have the bottom quantity of inflation. Once more, they’re nonetheless normally overstated, however to not the intense levels as earlier and later within the day.
Turning again to sights, different huge offenders are literally the least common sights. No less than, in share phrases.
The rationale for that is really fairly easy–it’s as a result of the least common sights typically have minimal waits or are walk-ons, making nearly any posted wait time inflated by a major diploma. For instance, if the posted wait time for Journey into Creativeness is quarter-hour, however the precise wait time is nonetheless lengthy it takes to stroll by an empty queue (3-4 minutes), the posted wait time is 5 instances the precise wait.
On paper, that’s actually unhealthy. It’s objectively worse than the aforementioned headliners in pure share phrases. Nonetheless, subjectively or as a matter of notion, that’s in all probability not the case. Most affordable company–and particularly seasoned Walt Disney World guests–view quarter-hour or much less as shorthand for “mainly no wait.” So it thus comes as little shock that the precise wait time is actually nothing. It could come as a much bigger shock to see a 5-15 minute posted wait time and really wait 20 minutes.
Over the course of the final 2 years, our expertise throughout all of Walt Disney World has been that precise wait instances common about two-thirds to 75% of posted wait instances many of the day. That drops to round 50% at night time, if not decrease. These are averages; we’ve waited considerably much less and even typically greater than posted wait instances, too.
Furthermore, that is solely anecdotal and primarily based on our first-hand experiences, however they’re fairly in depth at this level. We’d love to listen to generalizations from different common Walt Disney World guests about posted v. precise wait instances within the 2 years and past within the feedback.
This background data is simply good data to have that may assist you to plan and construct itineraries. It must also illustrate how inflated posted wait instances are literally mutually helpful for the corporate and company. Nicely, not less than they’re to anybody who’s conscious that posted wait instances are exaggerated (and who doesn’t use DAS).
That is data you may leverage to your strategic benefit–see the above Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice at park closing, for instance. We point out this as a result of in the previous couple of weeks we’ve obtained a ton of reader complaints about inflated posted wait instances. It’s not unusual to get feedback about these, however normally it’s in a matter-of-fact and even optimistic means. Extra lately, it’s been cynical and detrimental.
Lightning Lanes have added a brand new wrinkle to this dialog about posted v. precise wait instances at Walt Disney World. (As at all times, when you’re new to paid FastPass, begin by studying our Information to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ.) In spite of everything, if company are paying for Genie+ or ILL to skip a line, don’t they should understand how lengthy that wait really is?
The attitude amongst some followers has been that Walt Disney World simply began inflating wait instances with Genie+ to encourage company to purchase that and Particular person Lightning Lanes. Individuals have indicated they’d be mad in the event that they paid to skip the road after which discovered the precise wait time was half what was posted. Others have questioned whether or not Disney had an obligation to remove inflated wait instances or threat claims of fraud, client deception, false promoting, and many others.
I perceive that lots of you hate Genie+ and Lightning Lanes–going from free to paid FastPass sucks. Nevertheless it’s sufficient to dislike it on precept, and never attempt to concoct different causes to detest Lightning Lanes. There’s no must pile on, I promise. Particularly within the case of posted v. precise wait instances the place it sorta seems like throwing the newborn out with the bathwater.
Nonetheless, it will appear that Walt Disney World has heard this criticism, as the next is included within the phrases & situations of Genie+ that company can learn earlier than shopping for:
In fact, nobody goes to really learn all of this legalese moreover bloggers and different dorks. (No offense, my fellow dorks.) That’s precisely the purpose, and arguably the aim of “efficient” phrases & situations–lavatory them down with boring boilerplate language and make them tedious to learn…so nobody does!
This could reply the questions on Walt Disney World’s intentions to proceed inflating wait instances. Fairly merely, the observe is just too vital operationally and integral to visitor satisfaction to cease doing it now. The elevated transparency to potential patrons of Genie+ doesn’t transfer the needle. And admittedly, it shouldn’t.
Finally, that is merely CYA language from Disney and isn’t supposed to be dropped at the eye of common company. There’s actually no want to take action, because the majority of individuals buying Genie+ or Particular person Lightning Lanes won’t ever have any clue as to the posted wait time that they bypassed. The entire aim in shopping for is to avoid wasting time; folks aren’t going to undercut that by standing outdoors the trip exit and polling others as they depart about how lengthy they waited.
Overanalyzing the variations between precise and posted wait instances is solely the area of dorks on the web. Common park company don’t care past the happiness in saving time, whether or not that outcome from spending cash to bypass the road or “beating” the system by not splurging and nonetheless not ready so long as marketed. On the plus aspect, us dorks have a strategic benefit in understanding how all of this really works, leveraging it to our benefit, and persevering with to go to Walt Disney World extra effectively. Let’s not get too vocally detrimental a few observe that advantages us, capisce?
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you concentrate on Walt Disney World’s observe of inflating wait instances? Assume they need to be extra correct to precise waits, or do you perceive the rationales for inflating them–and respect the strategic benefit it confers on educated company? What has been your expertise with precise v. posted wait instances at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!