After things were shaken up in the past few years with all the queue changes and express number, we were able to finally nail down our queue shorthand estimates by the end of this weekend.
These tricks served us almost to the minute in estimating wait times visually vs posted waits for the whole weekend, and so if a house is suspiciously low, or high, we were able to beat the clock so to speak and get ahead of the digital sign changing or app changing.
-For express to normal line ratios, expect a 5:2 (Express:Standby) ratio for the tent houses in the back. It was easiest to sit and count these numbers, so I can't say for certain it holds for all houses, but we counted distinctly +/-50 express folks then +/-20 standby, and so on.
-For back tent houses, Galkn and Fallout, one full queue lane is about +/-6 minutes to go from one end to the other, and then once you reach the merge point, another 5ish minutes. So if you count three full lanes of queue filled under the tent, expect ~23 minutes or so.
-For Jason, when you approach the queue portal and look back at the line before you enter it, if you do not see any guests waiting in the outdoor portion that runs next to back side of the show building, you can expect anywhere from a 30-35 minute wait. You could wait less, if the interior of the main FF queue hall is only partially full, but we would always assume it was full until proven otherwise. Still, it would routinely be posted 70+ minutes on the app, and yet if there was no outside spillage we knew that was what was scaring people away and jumped in line no problem.
-For Artista, FNAF, Grave of Flesh, and Dolls, one full queue lane is about +/-15 minutes to traverse.
-Artista is the easiest to see from the general park, and usually if there is only one full down and back, it's not going to be more than 30-35 tops. Once you get beyond the merge point it's probably another 5 minutes.
-FNAF is a little trickier, as it is always posted 100+, but the truth could vary. Once you clear the main queue room (with the 15 min. lanes), you still have about another 15-20 before the house. It is worth peeking in as you walk by, as if you can count only one or two lanes, you're probably looking at 45-50. Still a lot, but less than 100 minutes.
-Grave admittedly we had the least data on, because it's...well...yeah honestly if you see any queue spilling outside of the soundstage at all, run. If you walk inside and around the corner, one lane is probably a true 15 minutes...and I would suggest walking back out and coming back later if it is more than one and a half lanes long.
-For Dolls, if the line is only the one full line down the fence bordering the new tent area, that combined with the little switchback by the merge shouldn't tally more than 20.
-Wyatt Sicks is a weird one too, but for their lanes, one lane is a little under 10 minutes or so, probably around 8. Again, once you exit the queue building it is around 5 minutes until you hit the facade. This does vary based off of express lines, but with a three lane filled queue you will likely not be more than 30 again.
-We didn't really get much data for Hatchet, but if you see any queue backed up as anything visible before you get through the entry portal, it's at least 40. If you are stopped somewhere around the section where you turn to the right out of the Simpson's queue to head straight toward the house, you shouldn't be more than 10 minutes out.
-Terrifier we also just saved mostly for the end of the night, so we weren't too concerned with gathering data, as as long as we were in line before 2 we were golden, but from our best estimate, one lane is usually around 10 minutes, potentially slightly less depending on express. Usually it's at least 6 to 7 deep, so consistent with the posted 60-75, but that estimate should potentially get you close enough.
Now, these are certainly rules of thumb, not hard and fast facts, but they potentially saved us a couple hours total of waiting this past week, as we weren't afraid to turn around and look for something else if we saw an underinflated time with a potentially hour+ real wait, and vice versa. Hope these help, and happy haunting!