Would you pay someone to stay in line for you?

[Tiggerlover91]

I recently read a story about a man who makes a living standing in line for strangers, or people who didn't want to stand in line for themselves. This got me thinking... could something like this find it's way into Disney parks? Before you say anything... according to guess services(I contacted them), there isn't a rule or restriction that says this can't be done. I may cause other guess to freak out. However, paying someone's park ticket just to have them stand in line for you (and paying them for the time spent in line) seems a bit ridiculous.

To give you idea of price, a 2hr wait would cost roughly $90 and an additional $10 for every half hour after that. So that 3hr wait for TS would run you about $110 per person.

A colleague of mine who plans on visiting WDW for GE said this might be his strategy to avoid long lines and wait times. He's a huge Star Wars fan but has back problems and as a result, has trouble standing long periods at a time. I guess it has a lot to do with how you value time and of course, if you can afford it.

From a strategic stand point, staying offsite will give you to chance to stay at a cheaper hotel. No 90 FP window BUT, you don't care because you have a someone standing in line for you, no matter how long the wait.

Personally, I would rather take advantage of the system Disney has in place. (FP, staying onsite, rope drop...etc) But as crowds become larger and new attractions draw incredibly long wait times, I can see people getting more creative towards their approach.

For what purpose? Pay someone to stand in line for me? Yeah....that makes a WHOLE lot of sense. First off, I don't do lines beyond 30 minutes...UNLESS me and family are trying to cool off and we're at an inside queue...then and ONLY then will I do 45 minutes. That's why I rope drop, that's why I do FP and that's why I stay onsite.....for the 60 day window. It's not 90 like you mentioned above, unless I believe you're staying in concierge. That $110 you used in your example, my son and I can have at LEAST 7 meals OFFSITE at one of the kosher restaurants we eat at. That would be 3 for me and 3 for him and we split the last. Which we wouldn't have to split it, but I'm just trying to tie it in to the example. That is a much better use of $110 in my opinion, eating offsite meals, than paying some random person to stand in line for me.

 

[craigkerstiens]

Believe it or not, this already exists for Disney. I saw it first hand about two years ago at Disneyland. Waiting in line for a character a person gradually swapped spots with a person as they were getting close, and then the person that had been standing in line had the family arrive a few minutes before and just meet at the front of the line for the character. There was a bit of conversation for a few minutes so it was very clear that this guys job was fully standing in line to save wait times. I don't know the service or specifics, but it seemed to be an actual company and have more than just a single person. They seemed to have the process down quite pat enough so that most other guests and such didn't even observe it was happening.

 

[KenHutch]

Nope I would never do this. In long lines I take pictures, slightly over 24K last vacation. My picture taking has actually stopped fights as people do not want to be immortalized on some strangers memory card. And I have a simple rule for people wanting to walk in front of me NO. If I see a mother with a small child walking back from a bathroom break of course you let them by. But I have seen a lot of teens try this with the "My family is ahead of you".I say fine have them come back here.

 

[agame2323]

Nope I would never do this. In long lines I take pictures, slightly over 24K last vacation. My picture taking has actually stopped fights as people do not want to be immortalized on some strangers memory card. And I have a simple rule for people wanting to walk in front of me NO. If I see a mother with a small child walking back from a bathroom break of course you let them by. But I have seen a lot of teens try this with the "My family is ahead of you".I say fine have them come back here.

Wow. So if someone is legit trying to catch up to there family for whatever reason you tell them no? Be careful. Things like that can get ugly. Even violent.

The way I see it is we all pay money (a lot) to enjoy the parks. Personally, I have no issues with someone that's being paid to stand in line, even if they're in front of me. I agree with most that I would never do it. But if someone wants to spend their money in that fashion, be my guest. My position is, as long as the process of getting to where ever the place holder is doesn't inconvenience other guest, I'm find it. OH.. and be VERY polite. A party of 4+ navigating through a queue... it's going to cause some to problems. 1 or 2... I can live with.

 

[agame2323]

Nope I would never do this. In long lines I take pictures, slightly over 24K last vacation. My picture taking has actually stopped fights as people do not want to be immortalized on some strangers memory card. And I have a simple rule for people wanting to walk in front of me NO. If I see a mother with a small child walking back from a bathroom break of course you let them by. But I have seen a lot of teens try this with the "My family is ahead of you".I say fine have them come back here.

BTW... you took over 24,000 pictures on your last vacation?! Bless your heart. That's a TON of pictures! How do you find the time to view 24,000 photos? What server do you story them on lol.

 

[KenHutch]

BTW... you took over 24,000 pictures on your last vacation?! Bless your heart. That's a TON of pictures! How do you find the time to view 24,000 photos? What server do you story them on lol.

I started doing this in 2006. I took almost 2000 pictures. Other people get tired, cranky and such in line. I just take pictures of everything around me. And Disney is always adding stuff to look at. And I am IT specialist for the federal government. My home machine has 128 gig of memory and about 60 terabytes of storage space and when I get home I take up to 18 months to edit everything and get ready for the next trip.

 

[agame2323]

I started doing this in 2006. I took almost 2000 pictures. Other people get tired, cranky and such in line. I just take pictures of everything around me. And Disney is always adding stuff to look at. And I am IT specialist for the federal government. My home machine has 128 gig of memory and about 60 terabytes of storage space and when I get home I take up to 18 months to edit everything and get ready for the next trip.

That is awesome!

 

[subtchr]

To my understanding the communication via cell phone and a designated "meet up" time. In other words... Its 1:00pm and I'm paying you to stand in line until 2:30pm. Once 2:30 hits... we exchange places in line regardless of where the stand-in person is.

I don't think the goal is to necessarily have the "stand-in" person stand in-line until she or he reaches the loading zone. I think its just an agreed on block of time. IF... TSM has a 3hr wait... I'll pay you to stand in line for 2.5 hours and wherever you end up is where you end up.

It doesn't matter where in the queue it is. The way Disney queues are set up, especially for the most popular rides, it is not practical to switch places with someone farther up in the queue. You'd have to bother other guests to cut in front of them, engendering bad feelings at the least. Then the place holder would have to work his way back out.