Tired of long lines at Magic Kingdom? Now, there's an app for that

Who didn't see something like this coming? Neat to see it as an 'unofficial' thing. Why don't the parks jump on this? They could charge for the app and then feed the actual waits rather than rely on users.

This kind of info via personal device makes so much sense to me. (and has for years :) )

Heh, I saw that on http://twitter.com/ThemeParks and replied to him with, "My question is, when is Disney going to let you make ride reservations from your iPhone?"

I like the concept, but I doubt the accuracy. Like Gonch said, if the park did this, it'd be a home run.

As long as you can see when posts were made, I think I'd trust the info. At least as much as I trust GasBuddy.com or Wikipedia

Great Idea! We talked about that kind of thing a while ago. While I'll not comment on the ride reservation subject, I really like the idea of looking at your i-phone for line lengths. It would help all the lines in the park even out.

A few parks (IOA) have had signs that told the current line lengths for major attractions. I still have no idea why that never caught on.

^ They also have signs at Epcot. I believe that they have them at other WDW parks, but I never saw those.

While not an app, there is software for WDW & DL called RideMax. I used this for our Spring Break trip and was thoroughly impressed.

Jason Hammond said:
As long as you can see when posts were made, I think I'd trust the info.

I think that's going to be the problem here. Perhaps it will be accurate, but will it be useful? This is real-time stuff. A couple of hours later, and it could be worthless. Dozens of attractions across four parks would require quite the volunteer army.

But like I said, I think the concept is terrific.

Since the park has some well-placed signs already with wait times already, I'm not sure I understand the point.

But it's essentially one sign per park. If I knew the information was updated and accurate, I think I'd find it pretty useful.

Hasn't Universal Orlando already been doing this via mobile web?

They did, but they didn't keep up on it. They have two signs I believe for each park, one in the front, one in the back. Disney seems to have one for each end of their loops as well, though I can't think of where a second one is in the studios.

Let me play Devil's advocate here. I am at Magic Kingdom and really want to get a couple rides in on Space Mountain. Therefore I intentionally post wait times of 15 minutes for BTMR, Splash Mountain, and POTC to pull people away from the ride I want to go on and decrease my wait time. Not that it would actually work, but people could try. A volunteer system has it's drawbacks.

^ you have an evil mind. I love it. :p

I'll use my tech free method of looking at the line, for whichever ride I intend to go on, and decide if I really want to wait, however long I think it will take.

I dont think Ive waited in the MK's mountain chain's normal line since fastpass came along. Splash and Space usually give out passes until around 3-4 pm and BTMRR can go as late as 8 pm. Then I just save some FPs to squeeze in around my viewing of Spectro and Wishes.

Jeff said:
Disney seems to have one for each end of their loops as well, though I can't think of where a second one is in the studios.

If you are referring to Fast Pass wait times displays, Hollywood Studios only has one at the attraction for that attraction and a Fast Pass board (which hand updated by a castmember who writes it on chalk board) at the corner of Hollywood and Sunset, which updates for all the attractions at HS.

It's called "Disney World Wait Times" and provides wait times for all of Disney World, not just the MK, for the same price. It also gives you locations of over 400 points of interest (dining, shopping, restrooms), as well as providing real-time commenting and reviews on everything as well.

It's here:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=315597335&mt=8

sws said:
Let me play Devil's advocate here. I am at Magic Kingdom and really want to get a couple rides in on Space Mountain. Therefore I intentionally post wait times of 15 minutes for BTMR, Splash Mountain, and POTC to pull people away from the ride I want to go on and decrease my wait time. Not that it would actually work, but people could try. A volunteer system has it's drawbacks.

Why not just say the wait for Space Mountain is 2 hours?

Your output is going to be only as good as your input. What if you get people who honestly can't judge how long a wait is, so they guess at some number which is totally wrong? And you pay 99 cents a pop for this?

^Kind of hard at Disney since they digitally post the ride times (determined by handing the guest a scanned ticket at the entrance and then having it be scaned at the platform) at every entrance.

DaveStroem said:
^ you have an evil mind. I love it. :p

Pssst...I'll let you in on my secret plan to take over the world if you promise not to tell anyone. ;)