What's your take on line spot holding?

[gbp02]

For starters, there are not too many attractions at Disneyland or California Adventure where you can have people "sneak in" to join some family member who has been waiting in line. I guess that the fair question to ask is: Am I more annoyed to be in line behind three screaming children under the age of 10 who are having a complete melt down because they have been standing in line for 45 minutes, or would I rather just have the Dad in front of me for the first 35 minutes, and have the kids and Mom hop in, excitedly, for the last 10 minutes. Personally, I am much happier dealing with the latter scenario.

Maybe not "sneak in," but people can and do cut the line at every attraction in the park. They just pass the queue on the side until they reach their family.

 

[gbp02]

I have seen people stand aside and let the line move along when they need to send their kid off for a potty break, showing such class that it really impressed me, but they did not lose their spot in line, they just lost any progress they would have made during the potty break.

This is what all guests should do. If you need to leave the queue, you should return to the spot you were at when you left the queue, not way ahead to meet your families.

 

[Mousequake]

God I would hate that (despite the fact we have bought PP+ the last 2 trips and plan to for this years one)
One of the things I like about Disney is while it is not cheap to visit I don't feel like they nickel and dime you (most of the time). This policy just comes across as money grabbing to me.

I think a lot of it has to do with the difference between the American parks and Tokyo Disneyland-- the characters are EXTREMELY popular there, and it's their way of trying to move the lines along. Even the least popular characters routinely have lines 30 minutes long on a slow day.

 

[todzwife]

As a mom of 4, I send as many kids with DH to save spots for me and the baby in the morning before rope drop. We potty everyone every couple hours so we don't usually have potty emergencies. I hate having 5 people join 1 but if there are 3 joining 3, is that as bad? Especially if the 2 younger kids are 3 and 1?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

As a mom of 4, I send as many kids with DH to save spots for me and the baby in the morning before rope drop. We potty everyone every couple hours so we don't usually have potty emergencies. I hate having 5 people join 1 but if there are 3 joining 3, is that as bad? Especially if the 2 younger kids are 3 and 1?

If you're taking a second ride vehicle, then yes it's just as bad. There are always going to be exceptions, but I still think everybody should wait in line. I have 4 kids myself, and not too long ago my youngest were your kids' ages and we made it work. If you're talking about at the gate, I'm not a huge fan of holding spaces because if a lot of people do it what seemed like a short line suddenly isn't, however because it's easier to join the line (not having to squeeze past people) it doesn't bother me as much.

 

[Virgoinab]

This is what all guests should do. If you need to leave the queue, you should return to the spot you were at when you left the queue, not way ahead to meet your families.

We have done this, my DH who gets really upset at line cutters, not children having to go for a potty break, or even adults needing to go (we have experiance with this, and his father has issues and often has to go now, older adults can have issues as well), but line cutter's, he states flat out that if we all can't get into the line at the same time, we wait until everyone is ready.

Well, when we went during our wedding in 2011 there was 18 of us. It worked out really well, the waiting till everyone was ready until this one time at POTC.

I had thought DH & his best friend were right behind us, and lo and behold they are not. I look back and there is about 20 ppl between them and us. So I called to everyone up the line, and we all stood and waited right at the spot when you enter into the building to let them catch up, meaning that the 20 ppl between them and us went first. Looks of shock ensued from those being sent past us, but it was the right thing to do. They where two, they could have easily pushed past everyone to catch up to us, we waiting where 10, but we stopped and waited for them.

I am not telling this story to make us sound all wonderfull or anything, I, like everyone else wants to get on the rides asap lol, however It would have been pretty darn hyocrictial of me to complain about line cutters and then turn around and not follow up on what I preach.

It can be done with a large group, waiting until everyone is ready, we did it for a week with at times the full 18 of us. It takes planning and the willingness to wait, not rush onto rides.

 

[sherilaine]

As a mom of 4, I send as many kids with DH to save spots for me and the baby in the morning before rope drop. We potty everyone every couple hours so we don't usually have potty emergencies. I hate having 5 people join 1 but if there are 3 joining 3, is that as bad? Especially if the 2 younger kids are 3 and 1?

While I would not do this myself, I find this is not as big of an issue for me when it comes to lining up at the park gates vs an actual ride line. The reason is we can move fast once we get through the gates as a family of 4 with the youngest being 10. So we are going to beat any family with strollers or little kids once we get in through the gates and make our way to the ride or FP lines, even if they were ahead of us in the gate line.

However, similar families to you, with strollers and several small kids might not be so impressed with your actions as they likely won't be able to scoot past you once through the gates.

My biggest issue at gate line up is those people who take FOREVER as they don't have their passes and ID out and ready - you ask yourself what the heck were they doing in line the entire time?