5 Disney attractions now warn guests before entering

Photo credit: Dave Brett. Flickr

Disneyland Paris has issued an all-new warning for many of its attractions to help families avoid disappointment on rides.

At Disney and many other theme parks, there are several ways guests can avoid the lines. Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort offer Disney Genie+, a paid system that allows you to enter the Lightning Lane queue instead of the regular standby queue with 2-3 attractions per day. At its highest cost, Disney Genie+ has reached almost $40 per person at the Magic Kingdom.

Guests can also purchase individual Lightning Lane passes to e-ticket attractions such as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON Lightcycle/Run, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and more. These passes have individual costs and only allow you to skip the line for a single attraction.

This is a system that was introduced after the pandemic, after the FastPass system was abolished.

It also mimics what Disneyland Paris has to offer. Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park (soon to be Disney Adventure World) have the Disney Premier Access option, which allows guests to use certain rides in their Premier Access lines when paying individually. Unlike Disney Genie+, there’s no flat-rate payment to use multiple attractions while skipping the line.

Premier Access is a pay-per-ride system that allows guests to select a return time for specific attractions. Each trip has a different individual cost and can only be used once to bypass the line. Prices vary depending on the season and the number of visitors to the park. This system is available at both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park.

When Premier Access launched, Disney stated that prices would fluctuate based on demand. For example, particularly popular e-ticket attractions could be more expensive than rides with shorter queues or lower demand. It was also noted that prices for each attraction may vary depending on the time of year. For example, visiting Disneyland Paris during peak season may incur higher Premier Access costs.

While Premier Access solves the problem of long lines, it comes with a cost that guests don’t always want to add to their ticket price.

Another option for some guests to avoid the regular queue is the single rider queue. The queue for individual drivers is not intended to shorten the waiting time. Instead, it is often added to attractions to accommodate guests traveling alone. When an odd number group boards an attraction, a single rider is often used to fill the gap in the seat to ensure maximum efficiency.

Although it is not intended for guests to shorten the wait time, sometimes the single rider queue is actually shorter than the regular queue at no additional cost. The catch, however, is that a single driver will not ride with another single driver. So if you wait in line with your family, you will be separated during the journey. Although this may seem obvious, some guests are often disappointed when they reach the front of the queue and make this discovery.

To combat this, Disneyland Paris has added new signage.

Disneyland Paris reporter Cave 0f Wonders shared the new signs, writing, “Signs have been placed at the entrance to certain attractions making it clear to guests that they will be separated if they take the Single Riders line.”

✨ Guests who have selected the “Single Rider” card can be found separately and directly at the entrance to certain attractions ✨#DisneylandParis pic.twitter.com/HxLIosvMlV

— 🧞‍♂️ Cave 0f Wonders (@Cave0fWonders) May 19, 2024

Disneyland Paris has single-rider lines for the following rides:

• Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain
• Crush’s coasters
• Toy soldier parachute drop
• RC racer
• Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toqué de Rémy

Now it is made clear to guests that if they choose to join the solo rider queue, they will not be riding with their group.

Disneyland Paris is suffering from growing pains

Disneyland Paris has recently encountered operational hurdles related to guest capacity. These challenges have manifested themselves in the form of entry restrictions at both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park (soon to be renamed Disney Adventure Park).

Last summer, the park’s peak hours of 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. required temporary crowd control measures. Guests wishing to avoid congestion will be asked by signage to leave the park during this time. This seemingly drastic policy resulted in a noticeable reduction in crowds.

The recently reopened Disneyland Hotel also struggled with capacity issues following a major renovation. A significant influx of non-overnight guests wanting to explore the renovated hotel created challenges for registered guests attempting to enter the property. In response, Disney introduced a virtual queuing system for visitors.

These latest incidents are a result of previous capacity restrictions that impacted hotel guests who faced long lines despite paying extra fees for their accommodation following the park’s closure. Proof of hotel affiliation was required for entry, with non-hotel guests having to wait for a limited number of visitor passes that only became available when other guests departed.

The upcoming Summer Olympics are expected to exacerbate these capacity issues, particularly with the closure of Studio 1 and ongoing construction related to World of Frozen. Original plans for the opening ceremony of the Olympics called for a crowd of two million spectators along the Seine to watch a boat parade with fireworks.

Due to the convenient connection to Disneyland Paris via the RER train from the Paris Opera Station, many Olympic guests are likely to be tourists, potentially leading to increased congestion at the park. Given current capacity restrictions, these expected crowds represent a major challenge for Disneyland Paris.

What do you think about single rider lines at theme parks?