Smugglers Run has same wait time as Meet Mike & Sully

[SarahD112]

Both are 30 minutes right now. Longer line at Rock n Roller Coaster. I don’t know what else to make of this except to say the ride doesn’t seem to be a big deal. I expect bigger crowds in October than early September, and post hurricane, but regardless of whether the line is long or short, it’s how it compares to other current wait times. Does anyone think Disney might amend hours if it proves not to be as popular as predicted? Might really mess with my plans, park strategies and FP.

 

[Orsino]

As long as the queue is never completely empty, the ride is operating at full capacity. Longer lines do not mean more people ride the ride. All longer waits mean is that people wait longer to ride it. And from what I've read, Smuggler's Run has decent throughput so comparing to Mike and Sully, which does not, is a bit off.

 

[Turk February]

Hourly capacity is much higher than Mike & Sully, and without a fastpass queue they can take more standby than Rock N Roller Coaster. I wouldn't equate wait time with popularity for this specific ride. IMO Disney's plan for crowd control is working exactly as they had hoped.

 

[mom2rtk]

I guess my question is what is Mike and Sully's typical wait time? If it's typically what it is today, then MFSR being 30 minutes would be noteworthy. If it's typically an hour, then not as notable.

 

[Liljo22]

You might be right. But FOP is 35 minutes also so it’s honeymoon is finally over. EE is 5 minutes so Disney might finally shut it down to fix the Yeti since no one rides it any more. SDD is 35 so Disney wasted a lot of money on TSL. Or Disney is dead right not as people cancelled their trips due to Dorian.

SR has running 70-90 minutes this week while usual long waits at Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain have been walk one.

 

[CastAStone]

To answer your question, no, I don’t think Disney will meaningfully change hours. They’ve been blasting the EEMH in their marketing, it’s even on the home page of their website right this second, and in several places I’ve seen it without the typical “park hours are subject to change” disclaimer. They’ve leaned into it too far to pull back.

If they do anything my prediction is that they would close DHS at 9 instead of 10, but I doubt they’ll do that.

Don’t expect 16 hour days at DHS after 11/4 (except holidays etc)

 

[mom2rtk]

After how the rollout with MFSR went, I'm betting the play it too safe with RotR opening in December. It will be very interesting to watch.

 

[magicband]

When I checked out wait times today everything was extremely low in all parks. I figured a lot of people changed their dates because of Dorian? People can feel free to stay away until after my trip in October

 

[monkyby87]

i

You might be right. But FOP is 35 minutes also so it’s honeymoon is finally over. EE is 5 minutes so Disney might finally shut it down to fix the Yeti since no one rides it any more. SDD is 35 so Disney wasted a lot of money on TSL. Or Disney is dead right not as people cancelled their trips due to Dorian.

SR has running 70-90 minutes this week while usual long waits at Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain have been walk one.

I really don't know what you're trying to say with this "no one wants to ride" or "Disney wasted money"...?

 

[SaintsManiac]

Labor Day week, hurricane Dorian, EEMH = crowds are dispersed and thinner than normal.

Character meets always have long wait times, because they spend a good amount of time with each party and it's one party at a time for Mike and Sulley.

 

[yulilin3]

You might be right. But FOP is 35 minutes also so it’s honeymoon is finally over. EE is 5 minutes so Disney might finally shut it down to fix the Yeti since no one rides it any more. SDD is 35 so Disney wasted a lot of money on TSL. Or Disney is dead right not as people cancelled their trips due to Dorian.

SR has running 70-90 minutes this week while usual long waits at Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain have been walk one.

sigh, again, this has been discussed in several threads.
You cannot compare FoP and SR wait times
They are 2 completely different attractions, with 2 different loading systems. Have you counted how many minutes it takes from the moment you sit on your Banshee to when you start "flying"? Just compare that to the moment you sit in the MF and you start "flying"
The Falcon has a quicker loading capacity
Along with the HUGE fact that it's not offering fp. Once they start offering fp the standby line will balloon to an hour plus
And yes the park was rather empty even though in the evening SR did go up to almost an hour wait (I was there)

 

[firefly_ris]

Comparing apples and cantaloupes.

 

[Liljo22]

I really don't know what you're trying to say with this "no one wants to ride" or "Disney wasted money"...?

I was trying to say that everything has low wait times right now so how can you compare SR to anything else. The OP looked at wait times at one moment in time while Disney was the least crowded it has been in a long time. I jokingly threw other rides under the bus that had unusually low wait time since the OP was saying SR was no big deal due to a 35 minute wait time.

I have been watching wait times all over WDW this week to see how the storm has affected it. Anyone that decided to still go this week got a gift handed to them with the storm staying off the coast. 7DMT was the longest wait at MK this week and it was consistently around 35 minutes. That is unheard of. Space and Thunder were both walk ons most of the week. Even with the low wait times, SR was usually the longest wait all week at 70-90 minutes and that is without FP.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Dropping the Mike and Sully part it WOULD be very interesting that Smugglers Run only had a 30 minute wait if there weren't a half dozen blog posts about how empty ALL of WDW is this week post Dorian cancellations.

 

[sponica]

@yulilin3 everytime I look at FoP and SR ride times, I have to remind myself the FP is clogging up the works for the FoP wait times. Honestly, the wait times look reasonable for smuggler's run...at the times I've checked out wait times this week.

Although I'd like to see what it's like when we get deeper into September and in October.

 

[YawningDodo]

So...because Peter Pan's Flight frequently has a longer wait than Space Mountain, does that mean no one cares about Space Mountain and PPF is the most popular MK ride ever? Or is it perhaps a reflection of the fact that PPF can only accommodate around 600 people per hour compared to SM's 1800?

As one of my professors always liked to say, you're not comparing apples to oranges--you're comparing apples to bottles. That's not even mentioning the FP+ and Dorian factors others have brought up.

 

[monkyby87]

So...because Peter Pan's Flight frequently has a longer wait than Space Mountain, does that mean no one cares about Space Mountain and PPF is the most popular MK ride ever? Or is it perhaps a reflection of the fact that PPF can only accommodate around 600 people per hour compared to SM's 1800?

As one of my professors always liked to say, you're not comparing apples to oranges--you're comparing apples to bottles. That's not even mentioning the FP+ and Dorian factors others have brought up.

Right now is a rather strange and unusual time for Disney; it's historically not a super busy time (it's picking up though), and Hurricane Dorian did alter a lot of peoples plans. Because of that, I think we're seeing unusual wait times and crowd levels. I certainly don't expect that trend to continue, and I'm sure we'll soon be seeing posts about the lines being so long, lol. There's absolutely no reason to be talking about "failures" or "disappointments". As you said, most people are comparing apples to bottles.

 

[tlmadden73]

Right .. wait times isn't about popularity .. They just need to count how many people rode MFSR as opposed to Rock n Roller coaster.

I think MFSR will be lower wait times because (besides it having a high throughput):
1) It's september .. probably the slowest time of year
2)A ton of people probably cancelled vacations due to Dorian
3) There is a lot more to see/do in SWGE to spread out the crowds (compared to say TSL).
4) A lot of people are avoiding it "thinking" it will be overcrowded.
5) A lot of people are deferring their vacation there until it is "all" opened.

and most importantly .. it doesn't have FP+!! There isn't hundreds of people skipping the line every hour, making the wait longer for everyone else.

 

[monkyby87]

Right .. wait times isn't about popularity .. They just need to count how many people rode MFSR as opposed to Rock n Roller coaster.

I think MFSR will be lower wait times because (besides it having a high throughput):
1) It's september .. probably the slowest time of year
2)A ton of people probably cancelled vacations due to Dorian
3) There is a lot more to see/do in SWGE to spread out the crowds (compared to say TSL).
4) A lot of people are avoiding it "thinking" it will be overcrowded.
5) A lot of people are deferring their vacation there until it is "all" opened.

and most importantly .. it doesn't have FP+!! There isn't hundreds of people skipping the line every hour, making the wait longer for everyone else.

Agreed, and I think this is really a great chance for people to understand just how much FP+ can affect things. I can assure you, having already gone a few times to SW:GE, a lot of people are lining up to ride it. It is indeed popular and attracting most everyone that visits the area. But without the FP+ to interrupt things, only the stand by line is riding, and that helps keep the wait times down. I'd be very interested to see what FOP looks like without a FP+ option. I suspect the results would be quite similar.

 

[YawningDodo]

Agreed, and I think this is really a great chance for people to understand just how much FP+ can affect things. I can assure you, having already gone a few times to SW:GE, a lot of people are lining up to ride it. It is indeed popular and attracting most everyone that visits the area. But without the FP+ to interrupt things, only the stand by line is riding, and that helps keep the wait times down. I'd be very interested to see what FOP looks like without a FP+ option. I suspect the results would be quite similar.

I'll be interested to see what the addition of FP+ to SR does to standby waits whenever they do implement it. I can't imagine they won't eventually, though I'm hoping it won't be before my visit at the end of January (ditto RotR since it'll be open then)--I think FP+ for those rides will be very hard to come by for a long time after they're implemented, and tbqh I'd rather just wait standby if the lack of FP+ keeps it reasonable.

BUT as others have said, what we're seeing now isn't representative of what we should expect in the coming months. I'm concerned that January will not be a great time to go in terms of crowds; I scheduled the trip before the opening dates were announced and I have concerns that people who want to wait for RotR but also want to try to avoid opening day crowds will end up doing January visits. We'll see. It's too early for me to strategize.