I've never had any problem with godaddy taking a long time to activate a domain name. I have most of my domains through them. The only bad thing is that if you need support, you're fucked. No contact information, phone number, or anything. Oh, if you want, you can send them your CC# and for $15(?) they'll call you back.
On the plus side, i've only needed support from them once. (it wouldn't let me change DNS entries). (It was a DB problem on their end).