Originally Posted By RoadTrip I've started to wonder if Disney at times intentionally inflates their wait times. At the DHS today (Wednesday) the wait for Midway Mania had been posted at 90 minutes and our actual wait was 50 minutes. When I saw the queue did not extend outside the building I knew there was no way the actual wait would be 90 minutes and told my wife we should go ahead and get in line (all fast passes were gone for the day). Later on during EMH at Epcot, the wait time for Soarin' was posted at 45 minutes and our actual wait time was 15 minutes. My thought was that they either want to beat people's expectations, or perhaps even discourage people from getting in line to keep REAL wait times more reasonable. Has anyone else experienced this and what are your thoughts?
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper It's not inflating, it's keeping expectations in check. If they post 90 and you wait 50, you're happy. If they post 50 and you wait 60, you're not happy. Most of the time that's what the deal is. They put a worst case scenario up if they get flooded with Fastpasses, and most of the time you'll wait less.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I've thought that ever since they started posting them. I'm not sure I have ever waited as long as a posted Wait Time projected unless there was a ride breakdown. I take that back. I may have waited longer for Toy Story Midway Mania the first time I rode it but that was shortly after opening and maybe they just didn't have a good handle on it yet.
Originally Posted By Manfried There have been times the wait times were posted longer than actual times. Then there have been times it was right on.
Originally Posted By Indigo A stopped clock is right at least twice a day. I don't know why I said that, except it seems like there's some truth in there. Most Disney attractions these days use the FLIT cards (those red tags on lanyards) to track wait times and adjust those signs outside. There is definitely an algorithm involved, but the FLIT cards play a key part. If a cast member forgets to send through a card or a guest forgets to deliver a card, it can affect the wait time posted. That said, I believe certain attractions are typically over-estimated. As mentioned above, guests give better marks to an attraction when their wait time was less than posted.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 The red Flit cards go out regularly in an hour and sends that info to a computer that the attraction coordinator then uses to guestimate a proper wait time. My experience is that most coordinators over estimate the wait time for two reasons. The first that is wait times can fluctuate quickly. For instance if you get a rush of Fastpass holders, it will push the standby wait time up suddenly as FP guests are usually loaded first. The second reason is that the coordinator is usually the person who bears the brunt of the complaints at an attraction and it is easier to avoid unhappy guests if they feel that their wait time was shorter rather than longer
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I understand the difficulty that Fastpass usage would cause when estimating wait times. But Fastpass would not have been a factor at Soarin' during Extra Magic Hours. Perhaps they had a big rush of people when EMH first started, creating a 45 minutes estimateed wait, but by the time I arrived 90 minutes later the crowds were reduced but the estimate had not been updated.
Originally Posted By CDF2 As long as the estimates are within 10-15 minutes accuracy, who cares? My pet peeve used to be lack of wait times being posted in places other than the town square or central hubs in the parks - but with new aps that issue has been resolved. More so is wait time information useful at WDW because of the distances between attractions in MK or the fact you might even want to park-hop if one park is less heavily attended during the day. As far as DL park goes, probably not as important since you can get from one side of the park to the other in about 5-7 minutes.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I wasn't upset about it, it just seemed pretty unusual that they would be 30 minutes off on a 45 minute estimate... especially without Fastpass to contend with.
