When it comes to visiting Disney World, it usually never feels like there’s enough time to do everything.
And there isn’t! Disney World is huge and full of so many activities, attractions, events, entertainment, and more that it’s impossible to do it all in one trip. We recommend making a list of your priorities and then figuring out what to do. But you also need to know when not to WASTE time on your trip, right?
So we asked our DFB readers what YOU thought were the biggest time wasters in Disney World. Some of your answers surprised us! So here’s what you said:
1. Certain Attractions
When it comes to attractions, many of you felt that Swiss Family Treehouse was a big waste of time. It’s mostly targeted at kids, it involves a lot of climbing, and you told us that it takes time out of your day when you could be checking out way better attractions.
Many of you brought up specific attractions that just weren’t worth waiting in long lines for — short lines, yes, but long lines, no. One of the attractions brought up the most was — surprisingly — “it’s a small world”. We get it, the song is an earworm and it’s hard to get it out of your head, but is it worth waiting an hour for? Not to a lot of you!
Another attraction that was brought up was Jungle Cruise, which also comes as a bit of a surprise. The standby lines for Jungle Cruise can be pretty long throughout the entire day, and is it worth a long wait? Our readers don’t think so.
You also didn’t like waiting in a long line for Tomorrowland Speedway. Some of you said that the ride just wasn’t that exciting, and some of you mentioned that the cars don’t even respond to controls properly. Of course, kids — who haven’t earned their driver’s licenses yet — still find this attraction fascinating, so they may disagree.
Perhaps the ride that was mentioned the most by our readers as being a huge time waste is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The standby wait times are almost always very long for this ride, and many of you mentioned that with the ride being as short as it is (around three minutes), it was a waste of time to wait for hours-long lines.
Granted, you can always purchase Disney Genie+ and bypass the lines at Tomorrowland Speedway, Jungle Cruise, and “it’s a small world”, but it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it. Additionally, is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train worth the additional cost of an Individual Attraction Selection? Only you can figure that out for yourself.
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2. Park Hopping
Another thing that many of our readers feel is a huge waste of time is park hopping. Most of you don’t want to spend time traveling back and forth between parks, feeling that this takes up way too much valuable time out of your day. Now that park hopping is only allowed after 2PM, many of you feel that it’s no longer worth the effort.
It makes sense — you’ll spend a bit of time in transit traveling from park to park if you choose to park hop, and if you’re relying on Disney World transportation, your commute from park to park could take even longer.
Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Park Hopping at Disney World
3. Complaining
Disney World might be the Most Magical Place on Earth, but sometimes, you still hear people complaining a lot at the parks. And when you’re doing that, you’re missing out on time you could otherwise be enjoying. Yes, sometimes things can go wrong, but there are still so many magical things you shouldn’t miss at Disney World. It would be a shame to miss them because you were so busy griping about what DIDN’T go right.
One reader said “There’s so many magical things going on and while there are definitely moments that could be better, there are more moments that are incredible memories.”
Here Are Calming Photos and Videos of a Rainy Day in Magic Kingdom!
4. Starbucks
There are — quite literally — Starbucks locations all over the world, and it’s a coffee shop that’s pretty much readily available wherever you might live. But, nearly every day, Disney World guests will spend a LONG time waiting for a cup of coffee they can get back home. Some of our readers question why!
It’s not like there aren’t other places to get good coffee at Disney World — more often than not, you can stop by one of the many Joffrey’s locations throughout the resort and have a cup of java to go in no time flat. Several readers agreed: don’t waste time on that if you don’t need to.
Here is the Ultimate Guide to Coffee in Magic Kingdom
5. Staking Out A Spot For Fireworks
Guests will spend literal HOURS sitting in a spot on Main Street, U.S.A. or in front of Cinderella Castle to stake out a good spot for fireworks viewing.
Many of you mentioned that you felt this was a huge waste of time. A few readers even mentioned that there really isn’t a BAD spot in the parks to view the fireworks, to begin with.
6. Waiting For Merchandise
We’ve seen it many times — long lines at Disney World stores waiting for specific merchandise drops. Some of our readers mentioned what a huge waste of time this is.
Many of you even pointed out that the merchandise tends to return even if it sells out initially, and that a lot of it ends up showing up online. So many of you felt that this kind of waiting was a huge time waster.
So there’s a list of some of the biggest time wasters at Disney World, according to YOU! But in the end, it all comes down to what your priorities are while you’re at the resort — if it’s something that sparks joy, you do you!
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What do you think? What’s the biggest time waster at Disney World to you? Let us know in the comments!
Ted says
We only take infrequent trips to Disney World so I understand people who go more often might feel that way about iconic rides like small world and Jungle Cruise. For my family, it doesn’t feel like a Disney trip if we don’t do those two rides.
Tomorrowland Speedway is one of my “don’t like roller coaster” kids favorite attractions and the lines haven’t been terrible on the last couple of trips.
Elaine Bennett says
Even if I went to Disney World like I used to, “It’s a Small World” would still be a must ride for me. I have beautiful memories of my mama’s face looking at all the “children” from other countries. She had never seen anything like this, and every time I ride it, I get tears in my eyes remembering her. So what if the song is an ear worm, I’d rather have it playing in my mind than a lot of the other trash that is being called music now! It’s so interesting too, b/c at Disneyland, there is ALWAYS a line for it! Love both parks (Cali and Florida) so much, and I will ride it every single time I am at either park! It is a sweet and innocent reminder that it is a small world, and we should love and care for it and each other as the children remind us!
Tony says
No bigger time waster than the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room…
Halfway thru the show I was frantically looking around for the exit, then I figured “it must be almost over, maybe I should stick it out” BIG MISTAKE