Does waiting on the phone count? If so, six hours to get someone at the IRS, so they could fix the mistake in 2 minutes.
That's wild. I feel like the phone network is too dicey, like my call would have dropped at some point over six hours
Back in the before times, I sat in line for 36 hours for front row seats for a David Bowie concert in 1987.
It turned into a street party for the 100 or so people in the line.
The first time I was at Disney Land after they replaced the People Mover Tram in Tomorrow Land with that Crash Test Dummy ride. Waited like 2 and half hours for a 6 minute ride that wasn't even that impressive.
But no. I once got to the DMV an hour before they opened and only just barely got to the counter before they stopped serving people at 5pm.
Rocket Racers! You had the unique opportunity to experience one of the worst rides in theme park history, in idea, design, and execution! I am more than willing to bet the ride broke down at least once while you were staying in line, as it happened to do that a lot.
Fun fact: since they used the same track layout as the peoplemover they had to slow it down a ton at the turns since they were too sharp. Another reason they closed the ride so quickly (other than it being fucking terrible) is because the supports suffered structural damage that would have required them to be replaced for continued operation. Disney was in a rough spot in the 90s, cutting costs at every corner after their investment in Euro Disneyland completely flopped, so they closed it to save money. The tracks are still there, as they were built into many of the buildings at Tomorrowland, meaning pretty much the entire area would need to be closed to take them out.
Probably not the longest, but the most ridiculous. We have a big free African music festival in our city and there are loads of different food stalls with great food. There was a Kenyan one that my best friend really wanted to go to as she lived in Kenya when she was a kid, and the queue was big which usually means good food. However once we were in the queue we realised the queue was moving really slowly... No matter, it must be worth it when we get there surely... After 45 mins I really wanted to go somewhere else but the sunk cost fallacy and the thought of getting in another queue made me stay... After over an hour we finally get to the front and realise that the reason it's so slow is because they have the most illogical ordering system that doesn't make sense, and even the staff seem totally confused. An hour and a half later we finally get our food and it's ok. Just ok. In a big field full of amazing food we managed to pick the most mediocre one, and stupidly queued along with loads of other stupid queueing people for no good reason except being in a queue.
I hope that experience hasn't kept you from trying it again, Kenya has some amazing cuisine!
Something like 13.8 billion years from the Big Bang till I was born. Still not sure it was worth the damn wait.
Considering how long the earth will be around (or at least in a comfortably livable state) I think we got fucked over
Well hey, we got in when there's medicine and electricity and internet, but before mad max, so I think the timing isn't too bad
Could be better, could be worse.
Don't have to die of Cholera, food/water isn't considered a human right.
You win some you lose some
I thought waiting a line with 30 to 40 people ahead was a nightmare, until I saw the Brits queuing for a mile to see the deceased queen. That day I realized no one can beat the Brits at queuing.
7 hours at the DMV only to get rejected even after checking documents when I arrived because I needed another one.
Never went back to that hellhole office and found another one that took 15 minutes.
I once waited 3.5 hours for free pancakes at IHOP. I had a shit week and just wanted some free pancakes, but they accidentally crossed my name out before even seating me, so I saw multiple groups arrive after, eat, and leave before my dumbass thought "maybe I should say something."
Also, my phone was dead for the last 2 hours of that.
4ish hours to get into the Catacombs in Paris. Not long by some of the other times mentioned here, but I got sunburnt pretty bad despite being in the shade a lot. Totally worth it though, it was really cool and my dad really wanted to see it
Waited 3 hours for a Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios.
Family used to go to Disney World in Orlando every winter when I was a kid, and we ended up visiting Universal too one of the years. At the time, the Harry Potter section was still new so everyone wanted to check it out. We got in line for the main ride which runs through a giant Hogwarts castle. Every time we thought we had finally made it, the line snaked into a new room and we would all groan. We probably shuffled through rooms for like 2 hours until the line went outside and you could finally see the sheer volume of people ahead of us. Eventually we did make it and I was very excited to finally see what the ride was-!
Turns out the entire thing was just 15 minutes of rocking around on a seat while watching a projected video of some dudes on broomsticks.
I remember the first thing we all joked about afterwards was how much of a let-down the final ride was after all that build-up. Funny enough, today I still only really remember the wait in line and almost nothing about the ride.
This also ended up being the last of our Orlando trips. My mom found out she had cancer around that time and would pass a few years later. Now writing this out, I wonder how she felt back then, spending one of her last remaining moments in this world waiting in line for a silly theme park ride.
For me at least, the entire thing is still a fond memory with family.
The most I remember too about Disneyland Paris are the queues. And from what I have read our experience is very common.
I am no longer interested in amusement parks unless I have some kind of fast pass (or it's a slow enough day to not need one). If the line takes 2-3 hours, you only get to ride 3-4 rides in an 8 hour period, and even then only if you don't eat (or eat in line and don't have to wait in line for the food).
These days, the longest line I'm willing to wait in is like 15 minutes.
This is kinda an unethical life hack, but I have a young niece and nephew with autism, and both have doctors notes that can get discounted fast passes to basically any ride anywhere, with free/discounted passes for carers. It's ruined pretty much every amusement park for me, because the most I think I've ever queued with them is about 10 mins.
Apparently the notes are fairly easy to obtain, and my sister-in-law only found out through her daughter's school that these were straightforward to get.
I always stress to my wife that this is not unethical at all. We are raising two autistic boys. That is a literally insanity-inducing level of non-stop effort. If we get to get on rides faster on the rare occasion we go to theme parks, that is not cheating the system. Our kids have needs, and they have the legal right to have those needs met. Any extra joy we get from not having to wait in absurd lines is easily offset by the other challenges we will face.
Dude, live your life. If I see you in a fast pass line it's really none of my business what's going on in your life and what you're dealing with. I can understand where your wife is coming from but fuck what other people think.
I waited in line for 3 hours to ride Avatar Flight of Passage for the first time at Disney.
I was in Disney shortly after that opened. I had a cousin who interned there and old me the ride was amazing, but with that kind of wait and the fact that I never cared about the Avatar movies, I couldn't be bothered. Went on the other avatar themed ride though since the line was shorter and it was pretty neat. Classic boat dark ride iirc, but the animatronics were well designed, as they generally are when you have the money Disney has.
I didn't dislike that ride, and the animatronic was amazing, but that's just it. I feel like Disney could have done something more with the ride.
It was pretty awesome. It was still not worth 3 hours wait. I would probably wait an hour and a half to do it again.
Traffic. I25 north from Denver. 3 hours from when I realized my fuck-up to the next possible exit thanks to a flatbed truck across all 3 lanes trying to remove a white suv that was somehow high centered perpendicular on the concrete median with no visible damage.
The first week of lockdowns, line for restaurant workers to get free food from a restaurant before it went bad. Three blocks long.
Ah, I remember being at the grocery store when it first started happening and they were only letting so many people in at a time, so they had turned their parking lot into a queue by flipping grocery carts over and tying police tape from cart to cart