Don’t get fooled by the weenie!
For those unaware, the term weenie has long been used by Disney to describe massive, eye-catching icons that draw guests’ eyes and encourage them to come deeper into their parks (think Cinderella Castle). Allegedly, the term comes from Walt Disney’s ability to distract his dog with an uncooked hot dog (AKA a weenie). One of Walt Disney World’s parks features a massive weenie as one of its rides, but it’s best not to fall into its initial trap.
EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth might be the definitive Disney weenie. The massive, 180 ft. tall sphere dominates the skyline of the first half of the park, and is instantly visible to those entering through the park’s main gate.
Given the towering size of the icon, it makes sense that guests entering the park in the morning are drawn to it. In turn, it makes sense that many of those riders immediately hop in line for the legendary dark ride attraction held within. This is exactly what Disney wants, as it feels right in line with the concept of drawing guests to a weenie.
It’s best not to fall into this “trap.”
Early in the morning, Spaceship Earth is often swamped by guests drawn to its massive size and the fact that it’s the first ride they come upon in the park. This often causes the ride’s wait times to balloon to double digits early in the morning, sometimes touching the 30-45 minute mark, as seen on a recent day at the park.
However, if you wait until later in the day to ride Spaceship Earth, after crowds have dispersed around the park and the early entrance crush has subsided, ride times for the omnimover attraction are a much more manageable 5-10 minutes.
It’s very tempting to fall into the Disney World ride trap of rushing to Spaceship Earth first thing in the morning, but it’s actually much smarter to circle back to the attraction later in the day for a much shorter wait. Stay tuned to AllEars for more Disney World ride tips.
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What Disney World ride traps do you avoid? Let us know in the comments below!
Totally agree. We made that mistake. But part of the reason we got in line in the first place was the sign indicating the wait time was n half what it actually was. In retrospect we should have either ridden later in the day or gotten out of line when we saw the wait would be like her than it was stated to be.