Even now at the most popular bakeries the wait has extended to a couple of hours. Since it's traditional to consume at least two pączki on Fat Thursday (otherwise bad luck will plague you!), some people are already stocking up on those which will be most in demand on the day.
Agnieszka Bielawska and Elżbieta Krajewska consider.
For the record: the iconic Polish pączek is a ball of nicely risen yeast dough, filled with rose petal marmalade, fried in hot fat, glazed with icing and sprinkled with candied orange peel. The original pastries were supposedly as hard as cannonballs but nowadays we prefer them light and springy.