What are the rules for waiting in line?

[LadyRayado]

What does Universal do? I thought they just had the rider swap rooms. Disney use to have those but it was creating some issues so they went to rider swap passes.

We've only used it twice - Gringotts and Forbidden Journey. TMs have little slips of paper - you just ask for one, come back to the same TM, and they let you back through to find your group. It was really easy.

 

[maxiesmom]

Disney should really just have a bathroom pass. They use them at Disneyland for the Frozen stage show once it started. I guess they would have to employee a Cm for inside the queue though. Was just imagining a like step off area where your party would wait you could grab the pass form the CM and then exit and come back to that exact spot and the entire group rejoins the line at that spot.

Or they could go the other way and do what Cedar Point does, no leaving the line and rejoining in the middle for any reason whatsoever. You leave for the bathroom, you start at the back of the line.

 

[wilkeliza]

We've only used it twice - Gringotts and Forbidden Journey. TMs have little slips of paper - you just ask for one, come back to the same TM, and they let you back through to find your group. It was really easy.

Ah yeah that makes sense. It sounds like Disney has it as well since a PP said they saw someone get one.

 

[wilkeliza]

Or they could go the other way and do what Cedar Point does, no leaving the line and rejoining in the middle for any reason whatsoever. You leave for the bathroom, you start at the back of the line.

That seems rough and seems like it would lead to a lot of accident clean ups. Thankfully longer than 2 hour waits are not common at Disney. Even FOP can get under 2 hours.

 

[EdmondD]

Or they could go the other way and do what Cedar Point does, no leaving the line and rejoining in the middle for any reason whatsoever. You leave for the bathroom, you start at the back of the line.

Don't they generally cater to teenagers? Not many 5yos in line for Millennium Force. Depends on your guests and guest needs.

I literally have never thought once about a person making his way through the line in an attempt to get to his family.

 

[BrianL]

Just go to the bathroom before you get in line.

This works for most rides, however if Flight of Passage is pushing 3 hours that's a good chunk of time and it is totally understandable that someone might need to go (again) in that span.

 

[maxiesmom]

Don't they generally cater to teenagers? Not many 5yos in line for Millennium Force. Depends on your guests and guest needs.

I literally have never thought once about a person making his way through the line in an attempt to get to his family.

The height restriction for FoP is 44 inches. Think that leaves out many 5 year olds. Most of the rides with the really long lines are not meant for kids that young.

 

[jpeterson]

I've had to pop out of line with my 3 year old at least once. We were waiting for Elena and Cinderella at Magic Kingdom. The wait was far longer than advertised (15 minutes took over an hour). Nobody really batted an eye, but then everybody had young kids with them too.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

We had FPs for Soarin', but had to wait in line for a short bit anyway. Ten minutes into the line, my then 3-year old son realized he had to go. I was the only adult in the party, with a 3 YO and a 6 YO, so there was no one to hold our place in line. We asked the nearest CM, and he gave us some sort of paper FP so that we could re-join the FP line. We didn't get back to our original spot, but we didn't lose our FP either. The standby line was a lot longer than 10-20 minutes.

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

My personal view is that I don't care what happens in the line in front of me as long as my expectations regarding my wait time are not impacted. If I join a line that is posted to be 30 minutes, I expect to wait 30 minutes.

• If 50 people in front of me leave the line and are replaced by 50 different people who assume their places in line, my expected wait of 30 minutes remains at 30 minutes and I don't care. (As long as the 50 people leaving and 50 people taking their places don't push their sweaty bodies past me.)
• If a person leaves the line to go to the bathroom or get a drink, or take a phone call and returns to the line and my wait is still 30 minutes, I don't care.
• If a teenager sees her parents in the line and wants to join up with them, I don't care. Great to see the family having fun together and it doesn't cost me any time. And in most rides, it won't cost you any time. Odds are, you are still going to get into the same PoC boat that you would have gotten in anyway. And if three people get into a single honeypot instead of two, my place in line has not changed. I get the same honeypot either way.
• But if a bus load of people try to join a line and it causes me to get pushed back from 30 minutes to 45, then yes, I care. Number of times that I have had that happen in pretty much annual visits since 1972? Zero.

 

[Spencer Wright]

Line jump in what matter is acceptable? Are you meaning going to the bathroom and coming back or a legit line jump like keeping yoru kids out of line until the very end and jumping in?

I only mean like going to bathroom or throwing something away.

Def not like having someone hold a place and then five people jumping in.

 

[Kristine316]

Personally, I am okay with someone leaving a line to run to the bathroom. If the line is really long, it can be difficult... sometimes as we get older it is not that simple to just hold it. If you come up on a long line, it is probably a good idea to use the restroom before you get in the line but, what if like someone said in this thread you start a line that is suppose to be an hour, and it turns into 3? In the Florida heat, trying to stay hydrated, I would think a 3 hour wait with no bathroom break would be difficult for a good many people.
My thought is that if someone leaves the line to use the bathroom.. fine, totally understandable.. now if they are leaving the line to go to the gift shop, or kill time so they don't have to stand there, that is not okay with me. I am also not okay with family members holding places in line for any length of time. Leaving a line to use a bathroom is fine, never standing in the line to begin with and then coming up to meet family, is not okay. My attitude is the person should be standing in the line the vast majority of the time, just like everyone else but, a bathroom break is something that should be excused.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I find it pretty easy to tell who has a legitimate reason for catching up with their family and who doesn't. I try not to care too much.

That said, I wouldn't ever want to be the person who has to leave the line then return. I don't want to deal with the judgments from others or feel like I have to keep telling everyone why I'm moving ahead of them. I just don't want to do it. (I hope neither of my kids have major diaper blowouts in line this Sept )

 

[EdmondD]

The height restriction for FoP is 44 inches. Think that leaves out many 5 year olds. Most of the rides with the really long lines are not meant for kids that young.

But I mean in general, Cedar Point can have that policy because there are very few five-year-olds in line at Cedar Point, since they cater to teenagers and adults with all of their coasters. I wouldn't think such a strict policy would work at a place like Disney World, where bathroom emergencies with kids is a real thing.

 

[si-am]

The simplest answer is to not choose to wait in lines that are so long... Is any ride really worth a 2 hour plus wait?! My line cut-off is 30 minutes. I guess I'm just not that patient!

I wouldn't mind, though, if someone in front of me had a bathroom emergency and then had to leave and come back. But you have to start off in front of me... If someone random just appears and says they're joining their party and they have not previously been in line, well that's a problem.

 

[wilkeliza]

The simplest answer is to not choose to wait in lines that are so long... Is any ride really worth a 2 hour plus wait?! My line cut-off is 30 minutes. I guess I'm just not that patient!

I wouldn't mind, though, if someone in front of me had a bathroom emergency and then had to leave and come back. But you have to start off in front of me... If someone random just appears and says they're joining their party and they have not previously been in line, well that's a problem.

If you only go every few years then yeah it may be worth it. If I can't get a FP I'll wait with my group and make a time of it.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

admittedly what happened to us when DD got through 3/4 of the Barnstormer line and then almost didn't make it - the CM stood with Dad in line and switched herself out when we returned, but I didn't expect this Pixie Dust at all!!!!

My answer: Standard queue rules. You don't get to save your place in line anywhere else when you leave it - the grocery, the bank, an amusement park...

I get that Disney has massive attendance of little ones and so if you ask a CM, they might help you join your group again, but I don't think it needs to become ANOTHER crowd management platform to use like Rider Swap and DAS!!!!

Like another poster said, if you can't hold it for the length of the ride and the line, then re-think getting in that line! You're already managing when you eat, when you ride transportation, etc, just don't schedule being in a 60+ minute line after you eat/drink something. Use FP+ and ADR's to allot yourself enough time to eat, go to the toilet and get in line for a ride without hopping in and out of the line to manage your personal hygiene. Everything in your Disney planned life is meticulously laid out, how come bathroom breaks aren't in there too?

 

[Farro]

Oh my god, I can't believe anyone would have issue with someone (one person) that had to leave the line to use the bathroom!
If you leave, start at the back of the line?

If I see someone have to leave the line to use the facilities and then squeeze their way back in, I will move out of the way and smile at them with empathy.

 

[LilyWDW]

Or they could go the other way and do what Cedar Point does, no leaving the line and rejoining in the middle for any reason whatsoever. You leave for the bathroom, you start at the back of the line.

I actually have no problem with this and I have a medical condition that sometimes makes it so I am using the bathroom way more then a normal person. If I had to leave the line to use the restroom, then I would simply deal with getting back in line at the end. That's the way things go. I don't know why I should be treated special and get to cut back in.

 

[Farro]

I actually have no problem with this and I have a medical condition that sometimes makes it so I am using the bathroom way more then a normal person. If I had to leave the line to use the restroom, then I would simply deal with getting back in line at the end. That's the way things go. I don't know why I should be treated special and get to cut back in.

Who's being treated special? If someone was in line, had an emergent bathroom issue, left and then got back in line in their respective spot, who's harmed by that? No one lost their space, no one cut in line.

The only person harmed is the poor person who had to go to the washroom, all those evil looks they must get as they slink back!

Geez tough crowd. I can get annoyed by things, but someone needing to leave a line to use a washroom after waiting 3 hours isn't one of them.