While no one minds that happening every once in a while — near park open and close, or on especially slow days — parks want to minimize the amount of time with wasted capacity. So that means parks design their attractions to have a wait for almost all of the time that they are operating.
Which raises the question, what to do with all those people who are waiting? The tradition queue is a simple back-and-forth, "serpentine" line, where people walk single-file through a chained lane. But no one wants to spend time in those frustrating eyesores. Better queues get the show started right away, holding us in a themed environment that sets the mood for the adventure to come, while establishing whatever story — and safety instructions — we need to know.
Disney set the standard for theme park queues when it opened Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1973. Instead of the basic chain queue that held riders in California, Florida's Pirates sent visitors through a Spanish fortress, with richly decorated scenes for people to look at while they waited. (So who won that chess game, anyway?)
In recent years, Disney has worked to reinvent the queue yet again, even as it expands its Fastpass ride reservation systems to allow more people the option of skipping them. (At least Disney is trying to provide more entertainment for people who end up in its standby queues!) According to a Disney spokesperson, Disney's Imagineers have created interactive queue experiences for nearly a dozen attractions, including:
At the same time as Disney is adding new animation and play elements to its queues, Universal seems determined to blur the line between what is the queue and what is the attraction itself — then doing away with everything else. At Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, some fans take the "castle tour" of the Hogwarts-themed queue and skip the ride itself. And at the recently opened Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, many fans consider the green room experience with Hashtag the Panda and the Ragtime Girls' live singing performance superior to the flying theater ride that follows.
The Fallon attraction also features Universal's Virtual Line system, which replaces the standby queue with a timed reservation system — eliminating any wait before you enter the attraction building for the start of the experience. Universal is using a virtual queuing system for its New Volcano Bay water park and promises to use it on its upcoming Fast & Furious - Supercharged attraction, raising suspicion that Universal might have built its last physical standby queue for an attraction.
In my Orange County Register column this week, I list my picks for the Top 10 theme park queues in America, based on theming and entertainment value. The list includes Disney World's Pirates, for its historic value, as well as recently-opened queues including Flight of Passage and, yes, even that new Jimmy Fallon experience. But some fun queues didn't make the cut. (Sorry, Haunted Mansion fans!)
What are your favorite theme park queues? And which attractions do you think need some enhancements to their queues? Let us know, in the comments.
Read Robert's column:
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I also enjoyed the redo of Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom, more gags for the grave markers and some "touch and play" stuff to entertain.
Also Jurassic Park River Adventure, videos of Hammond and models of the park, a nice bit there.
And whenever I went to Horizons (even if no line), I paused to check out the gorgeous murals of future cities they'd have there.
Also, a shout-out to Six Flags Great America's Batman the Ride. You go through a nice quiet park area, complete with a "donated by Bruce Wayne' bit, nice and sedate. Then you're in a dark back alley with crashed police car and such, sets the stage for the differing parts of Gotham and a cool ride.
I'd also cut Pirates from the list and put Roger Rabbit at Disneyland in. Pirates may have been big back when it opened, but the crowds today have turned it right back into a barebones, barely-themed switchback.
I'd like to see some attractions start to do a post-experience also, where the exit has some theming and finishes off the storyline and mood. That is, of course, before it dumps you into the gift shop!
Escape from Gringotts
Forbidden Journey
Flight of Passage
The Mummy
Men In Black
Jimmy Fallon
Star Tours
E.T.
Minion Mayhem
Spider Man
Tower of Terror is another one I really love.
MIB has a great queue as well except for that annoying song. I heard somebody not CREATIVE came up with that one ;)
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