Gah, I have been on this wheel way more times than I'd like to admit. I am a local, so when ever visitors come we make sure to hit up this wheel. We take a silly photo before we go on the wheel with a green screen that they will later show you the back drop of the wheel.
The wait isn't too long, but granted I have pretty keen patience for waiting in lines. I can see how customers who didn't pre-purchase tickets might get annoyed of the lines.
Anyways. The wheel itself takes about 1 half hour. Usually there is 15 or less people in each pod with a pretty good amount of standing space. The half hour is perfect amount of time, because you will never be waiting too long to use the rest room.
My main annoyance with the pod is that they have very cheesy advertisements on the video screens. The diversity in what gets displayed on the screens hasn't varied too much since I first went on it last year.
I think they should just make some pods customized to not have the videos played, but instead just good dance music..However, you will always get a great view of the city. So this isn't a sight to miss.