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Thinking back, I never heard the question posed this way before, of whether the Good Thief had to "wait", for however short a period, until Jesus died to save him.

But I WAS taught that after His death and entombment, Jesus opened the gates of heaven for those who are saved (not that Heaven is a physical location with GPS coordinates and "gates", but you know what I mean) --- and that the holy faithful people who came before Christ (Abel the Just, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah and all the rest) had to wait for Christ to die for their sins and accomplish their salvation.

1 Peter 3:19–20
(Jesus) "went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits..."

The Bible also says this:

Hebrews 6:13-15
"And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised."

The immediate context here is that Abraham received many offspring, starting with Isaac. But then Scripture goes on to say that it means not just Isaac, Jacob, Jacobs' twelve sons, etc. etc. but that it pre-eminently means his descendant, Christ.

Galatians makes this very clear:

“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).

So Abraham waited patiently for ... Christ.

So --- this is not a gotcha question, I just would like to know what you think --- isn't it reasonable to think that if the Good Thief died, say a couple of hours before Jesus did, he would have to wait (as did Abraham and all the rest) for Jesus' death on the Cross to save him?

Abraham waited maybe a couple of millennia, and the Thief on the Cross, might have had to wait--- a couple of hours?

Just askin' ...