The truth behind posted wait times... - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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It's so funny because I enter the queue with no expectations. I figure we're on vacation and let's enjoy every minute without anxiety or stress.
DH on the other hand LOVES to look at his watch and test the accuracy of the listed wait times. His undeniable results:
We always got in quicker than the stated standby wait time.
I think it depends on when you go as well.
The actual wait time has to do with the last time they used the guest card (the white card given to a guest at the entry point and who then gives it to the CM at the loading point) to update the time it took the guest to get from "entry to load."
I was so excited the first time I got a card!
I've waited less, more, and exactly what the posted wait time was.
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I always thought the wait time posted was more a suggestion than anything. Sometimes it takes longer to walk the queue line. And the card given to the guest to update the wait time doesn't always get handed over to the CM at the loading area. I should know, my BFF and I kept the card one time. But it was by accident as we were talking and not paying attention. So if you rode Splash Mt that day sorry if the wait time posted was really long.
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Every management lecture I have ever been on has taught me to try to 'exceed expectations'. Consequently, if, say, I prepare a will for a client, I usually say I'll have it to them in five days, but try to get it to them in three.
I’m in sales and we refer to this as "Under Promise; Over Deliver"
I’m not typically one to focus on the time it takes to get through the line, besides, most of Disney’s lines are entertaining to walk through.
As someone else mentioned earlier, I use it as a gauge on if we will go to that attraction now or head to a shorter wait time attraction.
My husband thinks that Disney pads the wait times during slow periods (like the current economic downturn) so that the Park seems busier than it really is.
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Margaret and I got to see the Cubs play in October. They won!
My husband thinks that Disney pads the wait times during slow periods (like the current economic downturn) so that the Park seems busier than it really is.
Interesting theory . . . anyone leaving soon who can check this?
Did you ever notice that some attractions lines are really distracting from even thinking about how long you are waiting in them, for instance.... Splash Mountain. Sometimes the line starts moving before I am finished listening to Brer Frog's story.
Then there are those lines which you feel are really moving and then all of a sudden you enter a room of non-stop back and forth railings stacked with people (Space Mountain!)
My husband thinks that Disney pads the wait times during slow periods (like the current economic downturn) so that the Park seems busier than it really is.
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I’m in sales and we refer to this as "Under Promise; Over Deliver"
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I think this is spot on. If you are paying attention to the wait time you feel happy when you get through the line more quickly. If, however, you wait longer than the posted time you feel unhappy. It's Disney using psychology on a "subconscious" level.
Consciously you may not "care" about the length of the line, but deep down in your "subconscious" the "feel good" factor of "beating the system" i.e. having a shorter wait than expected, will make you enjoy the experience more.
I think Disney probably aim to be as accurate as they can with the wait times, but I bet they ALWAYS like to overestitmate a little rather than underestimate.
agree that the posted time to us is a guide, and found that most of the time we waited less than that. There were a few time my dd and I were given those time cards so they see how long the wait time is at that moment.
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Aren't the times posted from the point of the sign? If the sign says 25 minutes but you are walking past it to get to the end of the line, won't the wait time be less?
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