Everything Steve said. If I hadn't already left park operations, this system would guarantee me handing in my walking papers pronto.

To me it all depends on execution. As described in the article, not so much. But they are targeting, at least initially, Fantasyland. Given the choice between waiting 45-60 minutes in line for Peter Pan vs. spending 30-40 minutes playing a carnival game of throwing foam rocks at a Wendy bird, learning lyrics to the movie's songs from a sing-a-long display, and watching rubber-head Hook futilely chase Peter in a short street performance, I'd take the latter.

Again, it relies on solid execution and a focus on making it a pre-ride themed environment vs. a holding pen with sh*tty merch and a cash register. Optimistic to expect as much from Disney? Perhaps, but a boy can dream.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. Insightful post. I didn't even think of the Matterhorn until you mentioned it.

The most themed queues are also pretty irritating to stand in because of the NOISE of all the people stuck in the cavernous line with you. Indy, Roger Rabbit. The idea of being stuck in an arcade with a bunch of kids for an hour or more sounds like hell. Parents don't put up with Chuck E Cheese more than a couple times a year. Can you imagine waiting in more than one of these "lines" in one day?

The ideas you mention are intriguing but all I can think of is the noise, noise, noise.

How many people are in a 60 minute Peter Pan ride? 500-600? Can they possibly create a themed interactive area that keeps that many people occupied? Or do you just end up waiting in line to do something instead of waiting in line to ride?

How many people can Innoventions interactively entertain at once?

Then mix it with shopping? Put the Buzz Lightyear queue in the Star Command store instead, how much bigger does the store need to be?


I'm sure if they're testing it, the Imagineers have something in mind and have done plenty of math. But I'm not seeing it based on that article.

I keep thinking about how much I hate wondering around the mall for an hour while I'm waiting to be paged at the Cheesecake Factory. I've stood in 2 hour lines and had more fun.

Oh, I really have to recuse myself from this topic, but ... possibly not enough math has been done. (scampers away)

Actually it's being developed for the Dumbo queue, and I think it's a great idea in that context: little kids who don't always get the concept of queueing. They will be able to play in the area until their group is called. I saw it being test at RnR when I was there last year.

Kids should learn to grasp the idea of waiting their turn. If they are old enough to get the concept that this is something cool, they should get the concept that they have to wait for the others that were there first to do it first.

I don't see how there could possibly be enough space to to allow for something interesting to do. Pirates handles what....1200/hour? On really crowded days with an hour wait, where the hell will they put 900 (or so) people so they have room to roam about and wait? Will they close off the waiting area at a certain size and then have a line waiting to get into the queueing area?

At first thought I don't see how it can be done logistically. And the thought of having a waiting area similar to walking down main street on a saturday afternoon in the summer doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. Sounds awful.

I don't know how many that is, but 500-600 seems high. I'd be surprised if there are more than 200 people in that line at any one time. I could be wrong. And it obviously wouldn't work in Disneyland's Fantasyland as currently configured. But with a ground-up design as they seem to be doing in Florida, I think there's potential for a successful re-think of the queue concept.

But then, Pan may not have been the best example. As Steph pointed out, Dumbo makes a better candidate, I just used Pan because the interactive concepts jumped into my head.

It wouldn't make sense to do it with every ride. Pirates, Matterhorn, Haunted Mansion. Those are all huge people-eating rides with queues that move steadily because. Rides like Dumbo whose design is such that everyone in line just stands still during the duration of other people's ride would make more sense. Especially in the context of grouping people.

I surely don't see this replacing the concept of ride queues park-wide, or even in an entire land. But for a select few attractions I think it has potential.

They still have to wait their turn. They just don't have to do it trapped between metal bars.

This is at Walt Disney World. They're redoing Fantasyland at WDW. The queue will be specifically designed to handle the expected crowds in this manner. http://www.mouseplanet.com/8976/Walt...t_Update#news1