Disney’s Long Lines are NOT Something You Must Accept
Who waits 90 minutes for Peter Pan? Wayyyy too many people.
“And with the ubiquitous crowds, lines lasting up to two hours for a ride, it is doubtful that they will get to experience one-quarter of the 58 attractions.”
This quote was a portion of an article about Disneyland, published on the LA Times website. It’s not the first quote of its kind that I’ve seen – not by a long shot. I’ve seen it in blogs, in news articles and in comments below these articles. It seems like it’s simple common knowledge: if you go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World, you simply have to accept lines of well over an hour. You’ll be lucky, they say, to get on more than 5 rides in a day. And, many complain, it’s not a good value when you can only ride 5 rides.
All of this is true, but only for some people. Realistically, it’s actually mostly true for most people. But it is not true for me. And it’s not true for my clients.
The Secret Is In The Planning
The difference is entirely in the planning. Showing up to the parks, to decide what to do on a whim, is what a vast majority of travelers do. And why not? They have no reason to think otherwise. If everyone stands in lines, so will they, as far as they figure. A good plan, though, one built out of strategy, completely changes the game. Suddenly, you’re no longer waiting in these huge lines for each ride. You’re riding rides back to back with very little wait most of the time.
What Previous Clients Have Said
As soon as I read this, I wondered what my clients would think. I put a quick Facebook post up to some of my past clients. Here are just a few of the responses I got:
“We went [to Disney World] over Christmas week, which is supposed to be the most crowded time of the year. We followed the touring plan and were shocked to not have to wait in lines longer than about ten minutes at the most. We did everything we wanted to, some rides twice, and had no problems.” – Kara, VA
Kara has been many times to Walt Disney World and is familiar with different crowd levels. She’s right that Christmas is absolutely the most crowded time with the longest lines of the year. But note that she was able to accomplish all that she wanted to do with low lines after using our planning services.
“I went to Disney World over Presidents day weekend last year. The crowds were huge, but by following The Enchanted Traveler plan our longest wait time was 30 minutes, and most were under 15 minutes. We were able to ride every ride that we wanted while still taking a mid-day swimming break. There was a 3 hour wait for the Mine Train ride and we walked right on!” – Mandy, WA
“They obviously need to call you. Our wait times were around the five minute mark.” – Melissa, MI
And to see a lot more commentary on the low waits and ease of park touring, you can read past testimonials here. If you want to read a really cool third person article about what it’s like to have an expert plan your trip, read this blog post by Queen Bee Coupons.
The point is that these articles about the terribly long waits perpetuate the idea that nothing can be done about these lines. It frames the Disney Parks as places where you simply give up, show up, and suffer 1 or 2 hour waits for anything you want to do. And that’s frustrating for me, because I know you don’t have to simply accept that. I love helping families get the most out of the Disney vacations and that includes creating customized plans that keep them out of those crazy long lines, allow them to accomplish what they want to accomplish in an easier, less stressful way. And in the end, the value get they out of the parks by working with a Disney expert is far more than they get from just showing up and riding only a handful of rides per day.
