When do ride wait times appear in MDE?

[blam84]

Given that people can book Genie+ spots before the parks open, when will wait times begin to appear in the MDE app? Meaning, if I'm deciding whether to walk to a ride at rope drop, will I be able to see the wait times BEFORE the rope drops? Or do I have to walk there only to find out there is already a long wait?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Meaning, if I'm deciding whether to walk to a ride at rope drop, will I be able to see the wait times BEFORE the rope drops?

Umm… before the rope has dropped? The wait at that time is 0…

 

[Genie+]

It’s been a while since we ropedropped extra hours. Have they started posting wait times during Early Entry?

I remember wait times not posting until the park officially opened. Could be frustrating. Went to Frozen and it had delayed opening for whatever reason, so I tried going to Test Track while looking up the wait time but nothing posted. Get there and it was mad packed. Similar experience at HS too.

 

[blam84]

Umm… before the rope has dropped? The wait at that time is 0…

Is it though? What I mean is, if tons of people book Genie+ before the park even opens, as soon as I get to the ride if I'm the first person there, will I actually put right on the ride? Or will I be waiting behind all of the people who already booked through Genie+?

 

[traveler9]

Is it though? What I mean is, if tons of people book Genie+ before the park even opens, as soon as I get to the ride if I'm the first person there, will I actually put right on the ride? Or will I be waiting behind all of the people who already booked through Genie+?

Genie+ isn’t in use until early entry is over. Also it’s unlikely everyone e who got times for park opening will go to that ride first thing. Many will rope drop something else.

 

[blam84]

Genie+ isn’t in use until early entry is over. Also it’s unlikely everyone e who got times for park opening will go to that ride first thing. Many will rope drop something else.

Well that's something I didn't know! I didn't realize genie+ doesn't start until after early entry is over. I'm struggling with whether to purchase g+ or not and I think this might have confirmed my decision not to. Thank you!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Well that's something I didn't know! I didn't realize genie+ doesn't start until after early entry is over. I'm struggling with whether to purchase g+ or not and I think this might have confirmed my decision not to. Thank you!

https://wdwprepschool.com/planning-and-tips/genie-plus/

Read that^

And review our pinned thread on everything early theme park entry so you don’t waste rope drop. Rope drop is chaos, you need to be armed with a good plan and this will help.

 

[nighttowll]

You might check out Touring Plans to get a better estimated wait time at opening time. You can use their custom plan feature to see what the wait is foretasted to be at opening for a given ride on a given day. You have to pay for that feature, though. If there's one specific ride, I don't mind looking it up for you.

How far in front of the crowd you are will also make a huge difference at rope drop for the most popular rides. If early entry is 8:30, you can't arrive at 8:30. There will already be a huge crowd of people out front who arrived 30 minutes to an hour earlier than that, and rushing to the most popular attraction is going to put you in the back of a long line. Going to a less popular attraction would work or being in the very front of the crowd.

 

[blam84]

https://wdwprepschool.com/planning-and-tips/genie-plus/

Read that^

And review our pinned thread on everything early theme park entry so you don’t waste rope drop. Rope drop is chaos, you need to be armed with a good plan and this will help.

Thanks so much for posting this. At this point, I feel like I deserve an associates degree in Genie+ology. I have red tons, I just for some reason missed the fact that it's not available during early entry.

 

[_19disnA]

The most popular rides will tend to have the longest wait times. I have NO idea how any 3rd party can 'forecast' wait times before a park opens.

 

[nighttowll]

The most popular rides will tend to have the longest wait times. I have NO idea how any 3rd party can 'forecast' wait times before a park opens.

They look at past data and extrapolate to make an educated guess. If ride A has had a 45 minute wait within 5 minutes of opening every day that the crowds are over 6. Then, they can guess that the same will happen in the future on a crowd day of 6. They also use their own recorded wait times to guess, not Disney's posted times which makes things a little more accurate.

It's not 100%. You can always have a day that was expected to be a low crowd day or high crowd day, and it go the opposite way.

This will be first trip coming up using them recently, but in the past they were always super accurate. Way more than Disney's own reported times, and from recent reports I have read, they seem to still be fairly accurate with their assessments.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

It's also helpful to check the MDE app a few weeks before you go to see what morning wait times look like. While it might not be exactly what your day in the parks will look like in terms of waits, you'll have a better idea.

 

[princessjilly]

It's also helpful to check the MDE app a few weeks before you go to see what morning wait times look like. While it might not be exactly what your day in the parks will look like in terms of waits, you'll have a better idea.

I’ve been obsessively checking wait times since mid march and I don’t go until end of June

 

[_19disnA]

Last time we were @ Disney a few years ago, the posted wait times at the ride entrances were all over the map......some clearly too short while others too long. Wonder if MDE displays that same information?