Single rider is glorious

[Chuck96]

The goal is throughput. They want to maximize their ridership on their most popular rides, and empty seats decrement their cumulative capacity. Ergo, single rider lines are utilized intended to fill those single seats. It is literally that simple. Disney (or Universal, or Busch Gardens, or whoever) does not care who is in that line. They just want to fill spots to maximize total riders and efficient usage of the attraction.

My son uses it, and we may use it this fall if needed, exactly as the OP discussed. It is neither rude nor unethical to use it, as long as you fill a single rider vacancy. I would never dream of asking someone to try to seat me with someone I'm in the line with, as that completely defeats the purpose of the line. Nor do I mind 50 people getting in that line in front of me as a group, and riding one after the other. The single rider line isn't a perk or an exclusive use. It is not a promise or a benefit. It exists to help Disney CMs fill busy rides, and concurrently provides win-wins for park attendees willing to split their rides up with POTENTIALLY shorter waits.

I'm probably the 30th person in this thread to make that point, but there it is.

 

[ST1TCH]

I'm flabbergasted that this has gone on for 7 pages. :-D

Thanks for a fun detour from my refreshing of the rumors board waiting for any good news about features re-opening. Sometimes it's fun to read through a thread and shake your head in disbelief.

For those that think groups choosing to enter the single rider line is in any form or fashion greedy, cheating, gaming the system, abuse, etc etc ad nauseam....you're certainly entitled to your opinion however misguided it is.....but in this particular case you're flat out wrong. There are no facts to back it up. There's an insurmountable stack of evidence to the contrary. Taking your "holier than thou" approach and not just giving your opinion but wording in in such a way that you intend to make people feel bad for doing it, pretty disturbing IMO.

 

[tjmw2727]

Yes, it is rather nice debating about this than worrying about covid.

I still stand by it being an abuse of the system, if wait times for single rider and standby are the same. Something is broken if that is happening. It was certainly irritating in my husband's experience as an actual single rider. But that was at Universal. Being our first trip there, we didn't know the importance of Express Pass. Next time we will purchase it, and now I'm totally on board with Disney introducing a paid fastpass as well. I will purchase that too, and then families of 20 can enter the single rider line for all I care.

A family of 20 entering the single rider line doesn't make the standby line longer - they simply take the seats that would have stayed empty otherwise.

When the single rider line is as long or longer than the standby line it typically means that SR isn't really needed on that attraction or at that time because the CM's have enough time to match odd number parties. I once had a guy tell me how lucky I was to be seated next to him on RnRc as he was a party of 3 and waited a long time in line - little did he know I was also with a party of 3, waited right behind them the entire line and my kids were together behind us! Sometimes the CM's have time to match odd number parties other times they just pull singles instead.

If this is an abuse of the system why is there signage in the SR line and CM announcements reminding parties that they will be split up?

 

[ciaoaloha31]

I just remember the few times I have been pulled as a single rider on Space Mountain and Tower of Tower and having to awkwardly get by about 50 people in front of me just so they could fill an empty seat for the next vehicle to be loaded. Single rider lines are for efficiency and throughput purposes.

 

[Heather07438]

"holier than thou" approach and not just giving your opinion but wording in in such a way that you intend to make people feel bad for doing it

Yeah. Sour grapes on moral grounds yet not proving how it’s adversely affecting guests or park operations on the whole.

Implying it’s uncivilized saying ‘This
is why we can’t have nice things.’ What nice things are in jeopardy?


Point to where utilizing Single Rider is morally wrong or uncivilized when that person is willing to ride individually

 

[georgina]

I would like to know how many people actually go to the parks ALONE without meeting up with a group therefore making them true single riders.

I think you'd be surprised just how many of us there are! Pre-covid I did 3 solo trips a year. I use SR lines more at Universal because I often don't have the EP (and Disney only has a few), but am not complaining about anyone else using them too.

 

[Sarahslay]

I think you'd be surprised just how many of us there are! Pre-covid I did 3 solo trips a year. I use SR lines more at Universal because I often don't have the EP (and Disney only has a few), but am not complaining about anyone else using them too.

I only complain because I've been stuck behind large families/groups of people that ended up making the solo rider line much longer than the regular line. Just like any other "system" it can get abused. A couple of people in a family who want to ride when no one else in their group wants to, and they don't want to take up a lot of time because of it? Sure, go ahead, no issue at all. People can laugh at my post/me all they want, but it gets super annoying. I usually go on 3-4 solo trips a year (pre-covid anyway), you just start to notice stuff after a while that gets really annoying. It's like people that don't actually need the DAS pass that use it. Are they hurting anyone? No, not really, but it's an abuse of a system that's put there for a reason. I guess people don't realize how many people are actually alone in the parks though, they should try it some time.

 

[OppR2nist]

I don't see a single thing wrong with single rider lines. (See what I did there?) I haven't used them too much recently, but years ago, I used them almost exclusively.

 

[TinkerPan]

I think groups going into single rider line is self regulating. Each group has to decide if they think there is any advantage in time to do so. The larger the group the less attractive the single rider line is. We are a group of 6. If it takes an average say 5 minutes to get a seat. It would take our whole group 30 minutes to get through not counting standing in line. If single riders fill an open seat on each ride then it might not take so long for the whole group to get through. So, I don't see the advantage of doing single rider line for larger groups unless you are a group of say 4 or less. Bottom line, if it works for your group go for it.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I would like to know how many people actually go to the parks ALONE without meeting up with a group therefore making them true single riders.

I've been to parks (not just Disney) ALONE on plenty of occasions. I use single rider lines when I'm traveling alone and I have no problem with groups being in front of me who intend to ride singly as the line is designed for.

I've also traveled with my family and other groups and have used the single rider line... sometimes when I'm the only one who wants to ride a specific ride and sometimes the whole group will use it (splitting up and riding as single riders).

We decide based on the anticipated wait for single rider if it is worth rolling the dice on splitting up. For rides like RnRC, we usually avoid single rider because it has rarely saved much, if any, time.

There are also a few rides that we want to ride together no matter what... even if single rider is a walk-on, we would rather wait and ride together.

Bottom line: Groups using the single rider line is not abuse as long as they split up and ride as singles. They are forgoing the right to sit together with their group for a (potentially) shorter wait time.

 

[Heather07438]

but it's an abuse of a system that's put there for a reason. I guess people don't realize how many people are actually alone in the parks though, they should try it some time.

With all due respect in what way is it abuse. I admire your solo visits and hope to try one day. But why would or should I then expect to have significantly shorter wait experiences than the average guest? Why would other guests be less worthy of utilizing the service to save time? And how does that adversely affect anything other than my toes getting stepped on when overall it still is making everything on the whole operate better. SR shortens waits except for anomalies and outliers.

I can argue harm if SR truly was only for people by themselves. Wait times would be severely disproportionate between singles and multis where those groups would have extremely different experiences in wait times. Why should one be accommodated higher than the other?

 

[honeymo78]

Anyone, no matter how large or small a group of which they are a part, who is willing to ride without other members of their party (if there are any), is not abusing the single rider line.

 

[Sarahslay]

With all due respect in what way is it abuse. I admire your solo visits and hope to try one day. But why would or should I then expect to have significantly shorter wait experiences than the average guest? Why would other guests be less worthy of utilizing the service to save time? And how does that adversely affect anything other than my toes getting stepped on when overall it still is making everything on the whole operate better. SR shortens waits except for anomalies and outliers.

I can argue harm if SR truly was only for people by themselves. Wait times would be severely disproportionate between singles and multis where those groups would have extremely different experiences in wait times. Why should one be accommodated higher than the other?

I said large groups/families, and it does get out of balance depending on the CM. It's not always shorter, sometimes yes, sometimes no. BUT if you actually read what I wrote previously you would understand, if a large group gets in line, and there are ligitimate single riders (like my example of say a few people from a family that want to ride EE or RNRC but the rest don't) but the main line has a ton of even numbered families or is stacked with odd numbered families that match up and a CM directing the line that doesn't pull well from single rider that line won't run well. That large group would have done better to probably get in the regular stand by in most cases, and sometimes 1 or 2 will get pulled and they end up having to wait a LONG time before their entire group even gets to ride the ride because of how the line moves. I've seen it so many times on RNRC that I won't even use that single rider line anymore. Case in point: August 2019 I was in line for RNRC in the single rider queue, it didn't seem that long but I get in line and soon realize I'm behind a large group of people that are all together, probably in the 12-15 people range. The line stops moving for 20 minutes, then inches on for another half an hour and we're not even inside the building yet. Once we finally get up to where they start loading that group it's been an hour in line in the "fast single rider line" when the stand by was only 45 minutes. It took almost another half an hour for them to get that whole group on the ride, and another 3 trains for me to get on based on group sizes in the stand by line. TT moves much better so I don't mind that one as much, and EE usually moves at a better pace as well but can still get bogged down based on group sizes. I'm not doing it to be in the fast lane, but it is hard when you are alone and standing in line means long periods of time with nothing to do, or if you are with a group where only a couple want to ride a ride and you end up missing out on 3 other rides all because you wanted to ride that one ride but a huge group decides to get in single rider.

In short, because everyone likes to pick me apart without actually reading: I said large groups were a problem.

 

[Sarahslay]

I also really really need to start taking this to heart because I really hate humans right now. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I only complain because I've been stuck behind large families/groups of people that ended up making the solo rider line much longer than the regular line. Just like any other "system" it can get abused. A couple of people in a family who want to ride when no one else in their group wants to, and they don't want to take up a lot of time because of it? Sure, go ahead, no issue at all. People can laugh at my post/me all they want, but it gets super annoying. I usually go on 3-4 solo trips a year (pre-covid anyway), you just start to notice stuff after a while that gets really annoying. It's like people that don't actually need the DAS pass that use it. Are they hurting anyone? No, not really, but it's an abuse of a system that's put there for a reason. I guess people don't realize how many people are actually alone in the parks though, they should try it some time.

Large groups who split up and ride singly are not abusing the single rider line though. I'll concede that it may be annoying to you to have to wait longer because there are more people in front of you in the single rider line, but it just simply isn't abuse of the system.

You and others have said that the single rider line is there "for a reason" but you're incorrect in your interpretation of what that reason is.

 

[Wiltony]

I'm flabbergasted that this has gone on for 7 pages. :-D

Holy cow, I had NO IDEA that use of a single-rider line was so controversial. Some people have really diverse opinions on its intended use! I never even fathomed that some people think it shouldn't be used by familes or groups. Disney even says groups can use it as long as they know they'll be split up.

I only complain because I've been stuck behind large families/groups of people that ended up making the solo rider line much longer than the regular line. Just like any other "system" it can get abused.

Your use of the word "stuck behind..." implies that they have no right to be there, but that you do. This is where your thinking is flawed. The fact that they know each other (or are family) has literally no bearing on the fact that they're single riders, just like you. What if you're there alone and you coincidentally join the single rider line behind someone you know, and start catching up while you're waiting? Does that mean you should get out of the single-rider line and join the regular queue because you know each other? Of course not. You're both still single riders. Same with any large (or small) family or group of people. By joining that line, they have all just become single riders, just like you.

"Abusing" a system implies it's not being used as it is intended. That is not the case here. The single-rider line is indeed intended for groups of people who are fine being split up. To apply your own philosophy for its use, and then judge/get annoyed by people for not adhering to that philosophy, is also flawed reasoning.

 

[FCDub]

I said large groups/families, and it does get out of balance depending on the CM. It's not always shorter, sometimes yes, sometimes no. BUT if you actually read what I wrote previously you would understand, if a large group gets in line, and there are ligitimate single riders (like my example of say a few people from a family that want to ride EE or RNRC but the rest don't) but the main line has a ton of even numbered families or is stacked with odd numbered families that match up and a CM directing the line that doesn't pull well from single rider that line won't run well. That large group would have done better to probably get in the regular stand by in most cases, and sometimes 1 or 2 will get pulled and they end up having to wait a LONG time before their entire group even gets to ride the ride because of how the line moves. I've seen it so many times on RNRC that I won't even use that single rider line anymore. Case in point: August 2019 I was in line for RNRC in the single rider queue, it didn't seem that long but I get in line and soon realize I'm behind a large group of people that are all together, probably in the 12-15 people range. The line stops moving for 20 minutes, then inches on for another half an hour and we're not even inside the building yet. Once we finally get up to where they start loading that group it's been an hour in line in the "fast single rider line" when the stand by was only 45 minutes. It took almost another half an hour for them to get that whole group on the ride, and another 3 trains for me to get on based on group sizes in the stand by line. TT moves much better so I don't mind that one as much, and EE usually moves at a better pace as well but can still get bogged down based on group sizes. I'm not doing it to be in the fast lane, but it is hard when you are alone and standing in line means long periods of time with nothing to do, or if you are with a group where only a couple want to ride a ride and you end up missing out on 3 other rides all because you wanted to ride that one ride but a huge group decides to get in single rider.

In short, because everyone likes to pick me apart without actually reading: I said large groups were a problem.

I can honestly say that in all my time in a Disney theme park, I've NEVER dedicated this much of my attention to caring what other people were doing.

 

[redkel]

Our last Disney trip, we used the single rider line at EE so that we could be in line with DD9 (at the time) who could ride alone, but was uncomfortable being in line by herself. DH rode first as a single, then DD, and then myself -- all on different trains. DH waited for her to get off the ride and then I followed obviously after mine. It made her feel "grown up" enough to do the ride solo, with Mom and Dad near.

Filling seats as efficiently as possible is the name of the game. Disney is no amateur when it comes to this and the rides with single rider have to help them or they wouldn't even bother.

 

[ST1TCH]

I can honestly say that in all my time in a Disney theme park, I've NEVER dedicated this much of my attention to caring what other people were doing.

And thus we get to the crux of the issue here I think. It's all about feelings. I see mentions of it around here when people argue the FP+ hinders the SB line -- "oh it's just because you're upset that you see other FP+ people being let in line in front of you". Seems the majority of those arguing "abuse" of the single rider line comes from this viewpoint. It ticked you off that the line was too long, you attributed it to people who "shouldn't" be in that line based on your own flawed logic and now you're here telling us it's fact.

Bottom line, don't let what others do or don't do affect your happiness or allow it to ruin your day. We're all guilty of it from time to time, but you cannot dwell on it, let it go and enjoy your day.

 

[Wiltony]

I also really really need to start taking this to heart because I really hate humans right now. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Oh hey, I hope that's in response to someone being unjustly rude to you and not because people disagree with you. We can all still be respectful and kind, and still connect via our common love of WDW/Disney.