During a day at Disneyland, every minute counts. And being able to see accurate wait times on the Disneyland app is essential to executing a successful park strategy. Disney just quietly changed how wait times are reported for a classic Disneyland ride, giving guests a much more precise estimate that was long overdue.
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New Disneyland Railroad Station Wait Time Update
The Disneyland Railroad is an iconic opening-day attraction that makes guests of all ages feel nostalgic. Guests can board one of the five restored, working narrow-gauge engines for an 18-minute grand circle tour around Disneyland. It is a great option if you’d like to get to the other side of the park without having to walk there.
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The railroad has four stations: Main Street, U.S.A., New Orleans Square, Mickey’s Toontown, and Tomorrowland. For years, the Disneyland app has reported the same wait time at all four train stations based on a generalized operational average rather than a precise estimate for each individual station.
Wait times for each station fluctuate naturally throughout the day based on crowd flow and can vary widely from station to station. For example, Main St., U.S.A. station can get notoriously long lines, especially after a parade. However, Tomorrowland station often has a shorter wait. By showing one general wait time at each station as they did in the past, guests were either pleasantly surprised by a shorter wait or very disappointed when they had to wait longer than expected. This happened so often that the railroad developed a reputation among guests that its wait time was frequently inaccurate.
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However, Disney just updated the way the wait time is reported, showing a more exact wait time at each individual station based on the actual line rather than a generalized number.
With this new change, guests have a much more precise wait time at each station and can plan their strategy accordingly. This is a long-overdue update to the way wait times are reported for the Disneyland Railroad, and we are excited for guests to take advantage.
The railroad is a great place to recharge during the day when you need a shaded break without leaving the magic. Not to mention, it has some of the best views of the park, including park icons like The Rivers of America and It’s a Small World, as well as behind-the-scenes areas that guests don’t always get to see.
We have been monitoring the Disneyland app to see if the same change has been made to the Monorail wait times, which similarly seem to have reflected the number of trains running in the past vs. the actual number of people waiting. It doesn’t look like there’s been a similar change there yet.
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