You'll Never Wait In Line The Same Way Again

Over the 39 years that theme parks have existed in Orlando, guests have been waiting in lines to see their favorite attractions. It is always the most boring part of a trip to the parks, but it is unavoidable. The attractions can only handle so many people at once, so lines form. In the late 1990's, Disney revolutionized the system with FASTPASS, a ticketing device that allows guests to get a ticket with a return time, allowing them to come back to an attraction later with the promise of little to no wait. Nearly every theme park has copied the system since then, from Universal Studios to Six Flags. Some have even made huge profits selling the shorter line perks for a premium price.

A new revolution in lining up for attractions is already in use in Orlando, and you may never realize you're waiting in line. The idea of an interactive queue was first introduced at Epcot's Soarin' attraction in 2007, allowing guests waiting in line to play motion based games on giant screens while waiting to board the attraction. The ride had wait times averaging in the hours and Disney wanted to make sure guests were entertained while they waited. This was taken to a much larger scale in 2009 when Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom introduced gaming stations along the stand-by attraction line. Guests are now blasting asteroids, sorting interstellar luggage, and moving galactic freight by button-mashing while they wait to board a rocket.

Here's a video of guests moving and shaking to motion based games at Soarin':

A look at one of the games guests can play while waiting for Space Mountain:

The latest innovation is coming in the form of play areas for guests while they wait in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in Fantasyland. Beginning this week, guests can bounce with Tigger, play in Rabbit's garden:

and paint with honey:

By the time they're done, they may not even realize they were waiting to ride. Even better, they may have enjoyed the time they waited more than their time on the attraction!

I can't begin to count the number of times I have walked away from an attraction because the wait time was too high and I feared standing in a boring line. It would seem these lines are more part of the experience now than ever. Guests skipping these experiences to utilize FASTPASS may now have to think twice: do you skip the line completely and miss out on the fun other guests are having playing games and taking part in activities? It may be a harder decision the more in-depth these line-shortening experiences become.