Single Rider Line cheaters

[NavyDad]

Wow - I am surprised to hear this only because I have always been amazed at how well the CM's manage the single rider lines. Especially the case with RnR.

I'm a big dude who has served in the military for 17 years and I was a bit intimidated by the 5' 3" 20-something spunky female CM giving me orders last time I was in the RNR single rider line in 2013

I will say that one time myself and 2 of our kids rode EE single rider line pretty early in the morning. We intended to be split up but there were so few in line that they couldn't fill the cars fast enough so we ended up getting put together...

 

[DebbieB]

The CM's from what I've encountered are normally good about enforcing the single rider line.

On test track a couple months ago my group was next in line and in the single rider line a lady was called up to fill an empty seat. She had a younger child with her and said "well I want to ride in the same car with my child", the CM told her she's in the single rider line, if she wants to ride together she'll need to get out of line and go in standby. If not they'll be separated.

I'm sure some CM's cave in as they'd rather not deal with the headache of hearing people complain about being split up, even though they should know that already..but the CM's do know about it and try to enforce it to keep it fair for standby

I was in the single rider line for Soarin out at DCA and a woman was in front of me with 2 young kids. The cm asked their ages and the one was under 7, so he said they could not do single rider. The woman put on sad eyes and convinced the cm to let them go together.

 

[ttintagel]

It usually seems to be single mothers with kids who do it the most, because they know they're the least likely people to be told no and made to go to the end of the line.

 

[hpriamson]

I'm at a loss.

If you can manage to put an entire family into one car, then it is not random selection of seat assignment.

If seat assignment are not random (not luck), then the OP never should have had his family broken into two cars.

I have never seen a Cast Member refuse to keep a family together.

On RnR, each row holds 2 people. Each car has 2 rows. So each car, which is photographed individually, holds 4 people.

On the day we were there, they were stacking loading groups into the individual queues for each row. So for each row, you'd have 6 people, 3 groups of 2, in line for each individual row. As each empty coaster arrived, 2 people would load into each row, and the CMs would then place 2 more people into line for each row. As long as everything goes right, every person in that new group of 28 (I think it's 7 cars per coaster) will wind up loading at the same time. If you're a group of 4, you wind up in two rows next to each other, but load at the same time.

But if someone who is supposed to get into a car holds back, the rows of a loading group are now out of sync. So people who should be loading at the same time, will no longer be.

Think of it this way - the first group on is group A. 28 people, 14 groups of 2. The CMs can then stack up groups B and C, each consisting of 14 rows of 2. As long as everyone loads in the group they're supposed to, they could theoretically go all they way back to group Z, and everyone would stay in sync.

But someone in Group A doesn't get into the car when he's supposed to. Say that's row 7. He's got a Single Rider buddy in group B, back in row 13. So row 7 group A leaves with only one person in it. Now, the holdback guy in row 7 gets into the car when group B loads, and his buddy from row 13 walks over and gets in with him. So the rest of the people in row 7 are now out of sync - the people scheduled to get on with group B are now getting on in group C, the original group C are getting on with group D, while everyone else in the coaster gets on in their scheduled group. That's what happened to us. The CMs didn't plan to split us up, or refuse to let us sit together - instead, since the guy ahead of us didn't get on when he was supposed to, and we didn't notice what had happened in time, 2 of my daughters were in the car while me and my other daughter had to wait for the next one.

I freely admit that had I been watching things more carefully, I could have had my daughters let the people behind them go ahead, or just had them stay back and not get in the car until we were going to load too. Certainly if we ever return to Disney I'll be watching the line like a hawk for any rides with pictures. But that doesn't change the fact that those single riders cheated the system, and I lost out on a good picture because of it.

 

[hpriamson]

It prevented my family from all riding together, and screwed up our picture. Just like I said in the OP. Plus, don't you think if a park is going to have multiple lines with different criteria for getting in them, they should enforce those criteria? It's pretty annoying to wait 60 minutes in standby so you can ride with someone else, just to watch some single riders who waited 10 minutes cheat the system so they can ride together. Next time I guess I'll just take the whole family into SR, and tell everyone to jump into the same car, if it's not a big deal.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm at a loss.

If you can manage to put an entire family into one car, then it is not random selection of seat assignment.

If seat assignment are not random (not luck), then the OP never should have had his family broken into two cars.

I have never seen a Cast Member refuse to keep a family together.

I've seen it happen....although the CM didn't realize, at the time, that the two single riders were 'working' the system, so to speak. It was pretty much exactly how OP explained it a few posts up.

What a stupid thread. So one person in front of you cheated. How does this impact your experience? Did it delay you entering the ride by a few seconds? Wow. It took you much longer to come here and complain. You want some cheese with that whine?

Seriously? So....a family stands in the line for up to an hour, and fully expects to enjoy the ride together...all in the same photo. The CM sends them to the gates in such a fashion as to have this happen. BUT....two single riders mess up the system so they can ride together, with little to no wait? Sorry...that's not right. And yes, it does impact a families experience. This may have been the only time they were going to ride this particular ride. Or perhaps they didn't have the money to spend on two photos....whatever. They should have expected to be able to ride together...that's why they stood in line for an hour!!!!

 

[cakebaker]

It's irritating, no doubt about it. But I have much bigger issues with fp+ line jumpers when Disney doesn't have the 2nd checkpoint. It's like these people have radar and know when it's not being used.

But in both cases, it really doesn't cause a huge issue that I'm willing to get worked up over it. I read on these boards where people take on other guests they think are in violation of the rules- and as big a stickler as I am for following rules- this is something I would never, ever do. First, it puts me in a bad mood to get snippy with a stranger and secondly- I'm getting snippy with a stranger completely unaware of how they may or may not react.

People who are so desperate to ride a ride that they'll cheat to do it aren't worth it.

Just curious, because I personally don't use single rider, although some in my family have- could you tell the CM boarding you that you want to be together when this single rider issue caused the problem ?

 

[Luckybee]

What a stupid thread. So one person in front of you cheated. How does this impact your experience? Did it delay you entering the ride by a few seconds? Wow. It took you much longer to come here and complain. You want some cheese with that whine?

If someone takes the time to come on the boards and complain about something then obviously it impacted their experience. The op even explained how it did have an impact but had he not, it still would have been obvious that it did , otherwise he wouldn't be wasting his time complaining....pretty easy to figure out.

 

[aaarcher86]

I see a ton more reports of CMs. Ring strict about the single rider line.

There's probably not much they can do after they assign someone a spot if they decide to move though.

 

[nilla]

Our daughter and I ride RnRC single-rider a lot. One time, she was assigned to be seated directly in front of me. After noticing us talking, the person who would be sitting next to us asked if we'd like to sit together, and switched with us

It certainly wasn't our intention going in, but that was really nice of him.

As for the cheaters, I'm surprised this happens, since the CMs usually only let single riders in one at a time to fill in odd-numbered groups, and assign the rows.

 

[nilla]

It prevented my family from all riding together, and screwed up our picture. Just like I said in the OP. Plus, don't you think if a park is going to have multiple lines with different criteria for getting in them, they should enforce those criteria? It's pretty annoying to wait 60 minutes in standby so you can ride with someone else, just to watch some single riders who waited 10 minutes cheat the system so they can ride together. Next time I guess I'll just take the whole family into SR, and tell everyone to jump into the same car, if it's not a big deal.

Did you say something to the offenders? If it got my family split up after the CM assigned us to rows together, you should've had a pretty solid case.

 

[Mikie]

We all know people don't read signs, but is there signage at the entrance saying you will be separated to ride singly? I don't do single-rider, so I don't know. Also a slim possibility that some people just see a shorter line and get in it, not knowing exactly what will happen, just that there was a short line and they got in it.

 

[goofy4tink]

We all know people don't read signs, but is there signage at the entrance saying you will be separated to ride singly? I don't do single-rider, so I don't know. Also a slim possibility that some people just see a shorter line and get in it, not knowing exactly what will happen, just that there was a short line and they got in it.

There is signage at the entrance to the single rider line. I'm not sure what people think 'single rider' means. It seems pretty obvious to me. There are also a lot of times that CMs are standing there, letting people know they will be split up in that line. My friend and I often use the single rider lines....and have been told this many times. But on several occasions, we've actually ended up very close to each other, and sometimes even in the same photo. But we just don't care about being close...we just want to ride, without a hugely long wait.

 

[Love Tink]

As for the cheaters, I'm surprised this happens, since the CMs usually only let single riders in one at a time to fill in odd-numbered groups, and assign the rows.

I was thinking the same thing. In my experience, single riders are sent down one at a time to fill in. You wouldn't have an opportunity to cheat if you wanted to. I have always noticed it because it seems like such a simple way to keep people from cheating while not making it a big deal.

In general, I find that Disney only puts one group in each stall to wait to load the ride vehicle. They are so efficient. At Six Flags or Busch Gardens the stalls fill in and you have to count how many people are waiting in each one, and work out the math for the soonest ride with your party all together, and choose quickly. But at Disney, they continuously move and you are assigned a stall and go there and - voila - the next car pulls in. It's nice.

 

[hpriamson]

Just curious, because I personally don't use single rider, although some in my family have- could you tell the CM boarding you that you want to be together when this single rider issue caused the problem ?

Had I noticed what was occurring before my daughters actually started getting into the car, yes. But as it was, by the time I realized we wouldn't be riding together, and was watching the other guy from 6 cars down get into "our" row with the single guy ahead of us, my daughters were already in their row with the restraints down.

I see a ton more reports of CMs. Ring strict about the single rider line.

There's probably not much they can do after they assign someone a spot if they decide to move though.

At Gringotts in Universal, when I saw some SRs try the same thing, a CM saw them and instructed them to get back where they belong. So sure CMs can tell people to follow the rules. It may have helped that the Gringotts CMs were wearing bank security uniforms though.

Did you say something to the offenders? If it got my family split up after the CM assigned us to rows together, you should've had a pretty solid case.

Again, by the time I noticed, it was too late to do much of anything. I suppose I could have flagged down of the CMs checking restraints, but it was a "Hold on, what's happening, who's that guy, oh crap, the ride is pulling out" moment.

I was thinking the same thing. In my experience, single riders are sent down one at a time to fill in. You wouldn't have an opportunity to cheat if you wanted to. I have always noticed it because it seems like such a simple way to keep people from cheating while not making it a big deal.

In general, I find that Disney only puts one group in each stall to wait to load the ride vehicle. They are so efficient. At Six Flags or Busch Gardens the stalls fill in and you have to count how many people are waiting in each one, and work out the math for the soonest ride with your party all together, and choose quickly. But at Disney, they continuously move and you are assigned a stall and go there and - voila - the next car pulls in. It's nice.

In the Everest case, the single rider line was actually behind the CM letting groups in. She turned around, asked for a single rider, then when she turned back, two people came up from the single rider line and got in a car together. So there was zero difficulty for the cheaters to cheat.

In the RnR case, they were stacking up multiple loading groups in the individual row queues. So they'd tell you "Row 5", but when you got to Row 5, there were 4 people ahead of you and you had to wait for the 3rd coaster before you actually loaded. Which allowed these 2 guys to wait for each by letting others pass then go into the same car.

 

[MermaidMommy]

In general, I find that Disney only puts one group in each stall to wait to load the ride vehicle. They are so efficient. At Six Flags or Busch Gardens the stalls fill in and you have to count how many people are waiting in each one, and work out the math for the soonest ride with your party all together, and choose quickly. But at Disney, they continuously move and you are assigned a stall and go there and - voila - the next car pulls in. It's nice.

That hasn't been my experience at all. We were there last month, and I can't think of a single ride where we were the only people in the stall. Space Mountain, RnR, BTMRR, Test Track, even Winnie the Pooh all had people in front of and behind us in the stall.

 

[HM]

I've never seen that happen, and believe me, I'm watching where people go when the CM moves them from the line. I understand how it could happen, I've just never witnessed it. Besides, usually at WDW they wait to add the single riders until after the groups are set in place for a particular vehicle.

 

[robinb]

We were in the parks last week, and saw a few instances of people taking advantage of the Single Ride line to ride together, instead of waiting in the long Standby line like the rest of us.

The first was on Rock n Roller Coaster. Standby wait was 60 minutes. Two guys were in the single rider line, but when they got put into the lines for each car (separate cars), one waited until he was in the same loading group as the other, then one just walked over to the same car as the other and they rode together. It was pretty damn annoying, since thanks to that my family group got split up, and didn't get our picture together. Had I been paying closer attention I would have held my daughters back, but by the time I realized what had happened, they were in the car & ready to go.

The second was on Expedition Everest. Standby was 50 minutes. A group of cheerleaders was in the single rider line, and when the CM waved one of them forward to go with a group of 3, two of them actually walked up, and got seated together. This didn't get anything out of sync, since they weren't queuing up multiple groups for each car at that time.

So what should the parks do about cheating single riders? The SR lines in Universal seem to keep a closer eye on this - I saw a group of two in SR at Gringotts try to ride together, and the CM there told them to either get back to the spot they were told to, or exit the ride.

The first one was indeed cheating as the guys horned your DDs out of her spot. The second one was just the CM being nice. I have seen them stop people who try to walk up together like that.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

What can they do, bring in an additional CM to monitor the line?

Most of the time they are very good about it but it sounds like another person sneaked forward without the CM seeing them.

There is a point at which the CMs quit watching and trust the guest to go where they are supposed to go.

 

[Allison]

I have never encountered any issues with the single rider lines.