If you’ve visited a Disney theme park, you know how frustrating it can be to wait in a long line for one of the attractions. These days, some fans have voiced displeasure not just at the wait times themselves but at the fact that sometimes, the wait times posted are much longer than the wait ends up being. Now, a Magic Kingdom cast member has shed some light on one potential reason for the inflated wait times, and it’s surprisingly not for the reason many fans might guess.
Some fans online have been discussing whether or not they think the wait times at Disney Parks are inflated on purpose, to incentivize guests to purchase Genie+. But on the WaltDisneyWorld Subreddit, a user named aidenb981 refuted that idea and offered a different potential explanation. They said that they don’t believe the inflated wait times are done purposely to try to upsell the new Genie service. Instead, they said, there are two reasons behind the disconnect between actual wait times and those that are shared with fans.
The first is that it’s difficult to actually estimate a wait time, so they can be inaccurate. The second is that they prefer to overestimate, rather than underestimate, because it leads to higher customer satisfaction. They also pointed out that if cast members had really been instructed to purposely inflate wait times, a lot more of them would be posting about it on the Internet.
When Disney Parks first announced that it was retiring the FastPass system, some frequent park goers weren’t happy. Then they learned that the replacement system, Genie, only grants access to the new Lightning Lanes, which allow you to skip some lines, for an added daily fee. Many have not been shy about their anger that the company monetized a formerly free perk – and they’ve used social media to share their thoughts on the matter.
It should be noted that this recently revealed information is not an official statement from the corporation. However, that explanation does make sense – most people would probably rather wait for less time than they expect to rather than have it be the other way around. Still, some fans in the subreddit thread weren’t buying that logic. They contend that it’s still questionable that the company would allow wait times to be overestimated to such a degree when guests’ money is on the line and argue that the parks should just stop posting wait times altogether.
Disney Parks have a long history of long wait times for the most popular attractions. Sometimes, lines can stretch on for hours – which can be a problem for guests who only have a finite amount of time in the park. Over the years, the company has tried several methods to alleviate the frustration surrounding these long waits, from the FastPass system to virtual queuing for rides like Rise of the Resistance. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have found a solution just yet.