Once the portal finally opens and you step through it, you still have to wait for the target realm to prepare, so standing around waiting for the portal to open feels like a pointless waste of time. When entering a vault, at least enemies spawn so there's something to do, but in the crossroads and portals elsewhere all there is to do is stand around while absolutely nothing happens.
Either the target realm needs to begin preparation in the background (this is probably a bad idea since the player can choose not to step through) or better, the waiting time should simply be cut down.
