Whats Next Parks

A live wait-times card on your iPhone lock screen for the day you are in the park. Turn Park Mode on when you walk through the gate, turn it off when you leave.

WHAT IT SHOWS

Each ride, how many minutes away it is on foot, and how long the queue is. Two figures side by side, so you can weigh a nine-minute walk to a ten-minute queue against a two-minute walk to a thirty.

One list, or two side by side. Two is the point: a family is asking two questions at once, and one ranked list cannot hold both. Thrill rides under 45 minutes on the left, kids rides under 30 on the right.

Optionally, today's steps and distance.

IT UPDATES EVERY MINUTE

Not on a widget's schedule. Widgets refresh when iOS decides, and about fifteen minutes is the honest floor. This card is pushed, so the numbers move while the phone is locked in your pocket.

BEST FIRST, NOT NEAREST FIRST

The order weighs each ride against what it actually costs to reach: the queue, the walk, and how long the ride itself takes. A five-minute queue for a spinner does not outrank a twenty-minute queue for a headliner, which is what happens when a list is sorted by wait alone.

SET UP IN SIX TAPS

One question per screen, with the card drawn above it at full size using real wait times. Nothing to save. Every change is applied as you make it.

HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT KNOWS

If the wait times cannot be reached, the card says so on the card rather than showing invented numbers. If it stops being updated, it starts saying how long ago it last heard anything.

PRIVACY

No account, no sign-in, no advertising, no tracking. Steps and distance are read on your phone and never sent anywhere. Walking times are optional; with them on, your approximate position is sent to the update service so it can measure the walk, rounded to about ten metres at the park and about a kilometre away from it, and forgotten when the card ends.

COVERS

Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

Whats Next Parks is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, authorised by, or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company. Wait times come from the public queue-times.com feed.