Disney Guests Wait Over 6 Hours in Standby, Wonder if Parks Are Worth It

in Disneyland Resort

A view of Pixar Pier at night, overlooking the lake. You can see Pixar Pal-A-Round and Incredicoaster.

Credit: Disney

One of the biggest complaints Guests have about visiting a Disney Park is the amount of time spent waiting in lines. Waits can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as several hours depending on the day, season, attraction, and amount of people in the Park.

FastPasses were created as a way to help shorten wait times, originally allowing Guests an initial three free FastPasses, with the option to create more as they were used throughout the day. When the Disney Parks reopened after the 2020 pandemic, they unveiled Genie+ and the Lightning Lane system. Guests were no longer given free FastPasses, they had to pay for Genie+ to get them and then certain individual attractions required an additional Lightning Lane fee to use.

Lightning Lane Disneyland
Credit: Five Fires YouTube

With Lightning Lane now being a paid-for system, Guests in that line are often given priority over Guests in the Standby lines, causing higher wait times for those waiting. A recent Reddit post asks Disneyland Guests what their highest Standby wait time was, stating that on its final day of operation, Splash Mountain reached a 240-minute wait.

splash-mountain
Credit: Disney

Many comments mentioned waiting hours for newer attractions, like Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, which ranged from a wait of four hours to over six. Several mentioned Indiana Jones, both when it first opened and even now. Most reported waiting about four hours, although one comment states their father constantly recalls waiting seven hours!

Avengers Campus and Guardians of the Galaxy -- Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disneyland Resort
Credit: Disney

Opening day for Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland was also highly mentioned, with several confirming the wait reached eight hours at one point. Due to its highly technical nature, Radiator Springs Racers is often down for maintenance or other issues, still causing wait times of over an hour on average.

radiator springs racers
Credit: Disneyland Resort

Several comments jokingly mentioned not knowing how they survived such long waits before cell phones were common, claiming they have no idea how they passed the time. However, as one comment points out, is waiting several hours for a ride after paying over $150 really worth it? The Disney Parks offer so much more than just attractions, especially if you’re waiting four or more hours just to ride one specific attraction.

lightning lane web slingers
Credit: Disney Parks Blog

While locals and Annual Passholders may be able to afford the time, typical short-term Guests can spend their time in a number of other ways. It does seem as though waits have gotten longer with the implementation of Lightning Lane, but it raises the question: are the attractions worth the wait at all?

What’s the longest you’ve ever waited in a Standby line? Share your experience with Inside the Magic in the comments below!

View Comments (13)