Theme Park Secret: Single Rider Lines
The single rider line is a great little secret for theme park visitors who want to pack as much in a trip as possible. Now Disney's got one for the recently-reopened Splash Mountain at Disneyland.
Disneyland's Splash Mountain is back up after its rehab. There are no new safety restraints and no increase in the minimum height. But each log now has five individual seats, instead of the toboggan bench-style seat of the past.
(Larger or mobility impaired riders can wait for one a a few four-seat logs.)
Since most logs are five-seaters, Disney's now introduced a single rider line for Splash. According to one friendly neighborhood Theme Park Insider correspondent, Disney now has single rider lines for Indiana Jones and Maliboomer, as well.
The single rider line is a great little secret for theme park visitors who want to pack as much in a trip as possible. As I mentioned in my recent trip report, I rode Men in Black at Universal Studios Florida three times in the time it took groups to get through the line once.
You don't have to be visiting a park by yourself to use a single rider line. Just have your whole group go through. When you get to the load area, you'll be broken up, but likely will ride in adjacent vehicles. In some cases, a couple of you might even get to ride together.
But you'll all exit the ride within moments of each other. And you'll have saved many minutes (even over an hour on some rides) that you otherwise would have wasted on line.
Single rider lines are more convenient than ride reservation systems like FastPass and Universal Express, since you don't have to wait until later to ride. And since there are no reservations, you won't get shut out late in the day like you can with Fastpass.
Indeed, late in the day, most single rider lines become walk-ons, as it was for me on Men in Black. It's like visiting an empty park--even on a busy day!
IMHO, unless you are on a date with a significant other, or visiting with a small child whom you don't want riding alone, single rider lines are *the* way to wait for any theme park attraction that offers them.
What are some other attractions that offer single rider lines? What's the typical single rider wait on those rides, compared with the normal wait time? Let's build a list here that folks can use to help shave wait time minutes off their next theme park trip.
Spiderman, Dr Doom's Fearfall, and The Hulk at IOA both open up single rider lines when the park gets busy. Just like MIB, you can get on the ride in a fraction of the time it takes groups to go through the regular queue.
Same with Test Track at EPCOT. That ride is great if you do single rider.
There is a list of the single rider lines at the Disneyland Resort.
Disneyland
Indiana Jones Adventure
Splash Mountain
California Adventure
Soarin' Over California
Grizzly River Run
Mulholland Madness
Maliboomer
I use these almost every time I go to The Disneyland Resort. Sometimes it's actually quicker than a fastpass, and sometimes it goes slower. The maximum wait one of my family members waited in single rider was 35 minutes for Soarin' Over california( the wait was 90 minutes that day and people in front of her got mean to 1 of the cast members waiting there, so they made everyone wait longer than they would have. )I use single rider every time I go and I cut the poular rides wait times out. For example: Mulholland Madness is a small wild mouse coaster with very long wait times( 40-65 minutes ), using single rider you can get on quicker than the actual wait time that is not worth waiting that long to ride.
From Anonymous
Posted May 30, 2002 at 9:29 AM
This summer, "Jaws" at USF will have a single riders line. they are laying out he queue for it now.
I went on this at CA adventure on the Maliboomer and I would have been much quicker in the normal line.
From Anonymous
Posted August 16, 2002 at 9:58 AM
anyone know if busch gardens williamsburg or kings dominion has this?
At Thorpe Park, Vortex, Quantum and Detonator all have single rider queues.
At Alton Towers, Air has a single rider queue.
At Chessington World of Adventures, Samurai has a single rider queue.
Robert, you are correct. I just got back from visiting EPCOT (I still like the capitals) and although the Fast Pass machines were closed for Test Track, our group of three took advantage of the single-rider lane. We waited for a total of 15 minutes, whereas other groups in the regular que seemed to wait closer to at least 30 minutes. Does Cedar Point offer this option?
Every park should have a single rider line for every major attraction. They don't have to be open all the time, but they should definitely be open when the park is busy. It not only allows you to get on rides faster as a single rider, but also allows the ride operate at optimal capacity, which is very important on busy days.
The MIB single rider line is a little unusual in that you get to skip the pre-show, so not only do you avoid the line, but you also save 5 minutes by skipping stuff you've probably already seen(go through the normal line at least once to see the pre-show stuff). In addition, on slower days, the MIB single riders end up riding together anyway. It's also fun to compete against you friends on oposite tracks, and it's easier to accomplish in the single rider line.
Coaster single rider lines are almost essential, especially on B&M's which go 4 across. It's surprising to see how many parks don't have single rider lines. Six Flags is the primary culprit, because they never seem to have very well designed coaster stations.
From steve lee
Posted April 8, 2003 at 9:31 AM
Dudley Do-Right at IoA offers a single rider line as well. The attendant gave me some good-natured abuse when I showed up after waiting about 30 minutes for my Express pass window to open.
From Anonymous
Posted April 8, 2003 at 7:17 PM
The Single rider line for Spiderman at IOA is great. Everytime we go we always end up on the same car..sometimes on the same row
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