Space Mountain has resumed its Single Rider system at Disneyland and it is unlike any other Single Rider line we’ve ever experienced.
Single Rider lines allow solo guests or those willing to split from their party the chance to bypass the standby queue, electing to ride with uneven parties in exchange for the advantage of shorter wait times. The option allows for each ride vehicle to be filled as guests who elect to ride as a party of one are funneled into the uneven parties waiting in standby, making it through the queue usually in much less time.
The Disneyland version of Space Mountain features ride vehicles with rows of two passengers, leaving uneven parties with open spots. To fill these open seats, Disneyland introduced a single-rider queue as a test back in 2021. Today, the Single Rider line has reopened to guests with a revamped and unique procedure.
Guests opting to take advantage of shorter wait times by using the Single Rider queue are given a laminated badge to designate them as a single rider. The card offers a run-through of standard boarding requirements and clarifies that single riders are not guaranteed an immediate boarding and if they’re with others, they will most likely be separated.
We entered the Single Rider queue for Space Mountain and were split from the Standby line, left standing next to the Lightning Lane queue.
Cast members quickly added single riders to lightning lane parties early on in the queue, balancing out the odd-numbered parties with the single riders.
For example, if a family of three elected to use the lightning lane, the single rider would be added to make them an even party of four. You then get sent toward through the remainder of the attraction’s queue alongside your new-found group.
Usually, there is a designated Single Rider line and all three lines, including Standby, Lightning Lane, and Single Rider, will merge just before boarding the ride vehicle. Ordinarily, a single rider is the last to be chosen for a ride vehicle, being used to fill in the gaps.
This new method handles the grouping much earlier on in the wait, essentially adding single riders to the lightning lane, itself. A Cast Member will take your Single Rider card after the Lightning Lane, which now includes all single riders, and the Standby queues merge.
A number of attractions across Disney Parks utilize Single Rider queues to increase efficiency by filling ride vehicles to capacity, but no other attraction features a single-rider queue that merges single riders with lightning lane groups before reaching the merge with all guests in the standby queue. The system worked well for single riders visiting Space Mountain today.
We’ll be interested in seeing how the new Single Rider procedure will work when the HyperSpace Mountain overlay returns to the Disneyland attraction on May 1.
What do you think of the revamped and unique Single Rider Queue for Space Mountain? Let us know in the comments below!
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