Attention spans are A LOT shorter nowadays. I don't know how some of these families do it.
Not really. People have phones and tablets to keep them busy while in line. We had nothing as a kid. My daughter just turned 5 and when my sister came in town we waited in some pretty long uni lines and my daughter had no issue. She knew to ride she had to wait. When I am with her by myself or with my husband we will give her the option if the line is long (with my sister she had no choice) and 95% of the time she picks to wait in the long line. She is always good and we have no issues with her. And we don't even use a phone. The only time we give her a phone is when waiting for sea world shows. In a line we are moving too much and that is enough entertainment for her.
Kids are not more impatient if you don't raise them that way. There was spoiled brats when I was a kid and there are spoiled brats today. But not all kids are that way.
You don't think we're currently living in an instant gratification culture? This affects kids too and yes.. even the way we wait in lines for theme parks. MyMagic+, Express, interactive queues, etc. isn't just about data mining and dollars. It's also a sign of the times.
^ Mercy, you had something to say and damn it, you said it...
Historically, Universal crowds are not nearly as intense as Disney's for NY Eve & NY Day. Same thing for Xmass Eve & Christmas day.New Years Eve wait times as of 2:00 PM, under the spoiler cut:
- Jungle Cruise: 115 minutes
- Peter Pan's Flight: 115 minutes
- Big Thunder Mountain: 130 minutes
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 130 minutes
- Space Mountain: 190 minutes
- Journey into Imagination: 60 minutes
- Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival: 70 minutes
- Spaceship Earth: 95 minutes
- Mission Space: 140 minutes
- Soarin: 180 minutes
- Test Track: 205 minutes
- Tower of Terror: 90 minutes
- Star Tours: 105 minutes
- RNRC: 110 minutes
- TSMM: 165 minutes
Universal, oddly enough, seemed to have mostly managable waits currently. I don't know if they're as bad as Disney or not on New Years.
The only reason I can think of is that it's the first ride people see besides Minions which probably had a 1 hour+ wait and Shrek which most people don't like.So why don't those people do something else? HRRR is just not worth that kind of wait.
Universal/IOA Wait Times as of 12/28/16
2pm
Hulk - 120min