Theme parks have mastered queue lines. Let's talk about how - a video
collaboration with Jan Walsken, Research Assistant at the Chair of Logistics
and Services Management from WHU, Germany. We’ve all come to expect at least one thing
from a visit to a theme park - queues. The idea of waiting a substantial amount of time to ride
your favourite attraction isn’t unfamiliar. You wouldn’t choose to wait an hour to buy some milk,
or actively choose to sit in standstill traffic for an hour - so why do we decide it’s okay to
queue an hour for rides and roller coasters? If the wait time itself was the only factor
involved in people’s enjoyment of a ride, everyone would hate Disney - their most popular rides
consistently have hour-long queues! Fortunately for Disney however, we don’t hate them. Disney,
and many other theme parks across the globe have become masters at designing queue lines
- ones that we all don’t mind waiting within. In some cases, people are willing to spend three
hours queueing for a ride, a ride which could last as little as a few minutes. So, how do they do it,
how do they get everyone to be okay with queues? Step 1: Queue entrance
Step 1 to creating the perfect queue line is a memorable entrance. Here,
first impressions matter. Unsurprisingly, the most memorable parts of the queuing
experience are the beginning and the end. Before we enter a queue for a ride, a list
of questions usually race through our heads: How long does the queue look?
Is the ride worth the wait? How does this queue compare
to other rides in the park? To help us answer these questions, theme
parks usually provide wait-time estimates, either as a display at the ride’s entrance, or via
an app. These estimates are there for a reason, they actually enhance your overall experience.
Firstly, approximate measures of queue times cause people to rethink their decisions. If you walk up
to a ride and see an excessive queue time, you may feel obliged to turn away. Over time, this limits
the length of the queue, keeping wait-times down. Some parks also employ pessimistic queue times,
ones which are longer than the real wait. Generally, we’d much rather find out that
we’ve waited less time to board the ride, than more time. This almost gives us a sense
of achievement, the feeling that you’ve won, rather than lost out. On top of this, knowing the
approximate wait time also mentally prepares us for the wait. Queuing for an unknown amount
of time can feel long, even if it isn’t. Ultimately, the decision to join
the queue comes down to value. For some rides we’re willing to wait excessive
amounts of time, like at Disney, while for other attractions we wouldn’t want to wait long at
all. This generally happens with new rides, as everyone wants to experience the theme
park’s newest roller coaster for example, and therefore it’s perceived value is higher.
This idea of value also works in reverse. If you’re unfamiliar with the rides at a
park, you may unknowingly use queue times as an indication of how good each ride actually
is. A roller coaster with a short queue could be perceived as having less value, so you’d
naturally gravitate towards the busier rides. A ride’s entrance should help its perceived
value. A large, extravagant beginning to the queue is both memorable and impressive, making
the attraction seem better. Many regional american theme parks use large ride signs to attract guests
to the ride’s entrance - the bigger the sign, the more impressive the ride, at least
that’s what they want you to think. Step 2: The Queue Layout No one particularly likes queuing, but we don’t
mind it as much when the queue is constantly moving. Theme parks have developed ways to make
the queues move quicker, or more importantly, appear as if they’re moving quicker. Making
physical progress towards the end of the queue makes wait times seem shorter, especially compared
to standing still for excessively long periods. Queues often use corners to make them appear
smaller - compare one single straight line to a line with a few turns - at first glance the latter
looks shorter even though it’s the same length. Another aspect of the queue line at theme parks’
disposal is it’s width. The wider the line, the less space groups of people take up. To give
the perception that the queue is moving faster, parks can make the line narrower. This seems
detrimental, but consider what happens when a group finishes queuing. The entire line
moves forwards more if the queue is narrow, giving you the feeling that
the line is moving quicker. Though, a balance must be had. We all appreciate
personal space, especially when waiting in line, so this trick isn’t used all of the time. The
perception of both time and progress is important. Well designed queues will remove objects
that convey how much time has passed, such as a TV that loops the same 10 minute video,
or a song that restarts every 5 minutes. These things become repetitive, allowing you
to acknowledge how much time has passed. Not all queues can be designed perfectly however.
Theme parks have a finite amount of space for each ride, space in which the queue line needs to
fit. To pack as much queue into as small a space as possible, some parks use a cattlepen, known
as single serpentine lines to queuing experts. No one really likes cattlepens, for good
reasons. They often feature rows upon rows of adjacent lines, causing you to traverse
up and down the line, seemingly endlessly. These single serpentine lines
break two fundamental rules. One, they remove everyone’s personal space,
placing people as close together as possible, and two, they make it impossible to determine
progress. You’re stuck for what feels like years travelling up and down a small patch of
queue line, not really going anywhere. To make matters worse, emotions within queue lines can
be contagious. Unhappy and frustrated guests in one part of the queue could spread through the
line, making the experience worse for everyone. In queue lines, it’s very easy to become
frustrated. We’ve all been waiting in a long queue and have experienced people shoot to the front in
the fast pass lane. It’s not unheard of for some guests to pay money to reduce their wait time, but
seeing them make more progress than us is simply frustrating. Theme parks can try to hide their
fast-track-esque lines from the regular queue, so guests don’t feel cheated. On many rides this
is achieved through a merge-point, a place where the two lines come together, close to where you
board the attraction. Theme parks also aim to have the smallest number of queue lines possible. To
reduce wait times, some rides and roller coasters feature two loading platforms. Parks often split
the main queue at the last possible moment, allowing one to filter to each platform. If these
were two separate queues from the entrance, guests would constantly be frustrated that the other
queue is moving faster - even if it perhaps isn’t. Step 3: The Queue Design
There’s more to queue design than just the layout however. The best theme parks have
learnt that keeping guests stimulated in the queue provides both a better overall ride experience.
Firstly, many rides and roller coasters use interaction to make the wait more exciting. The
queue line might flow next to, above, below, or around part of the ride’s track. That way,
while waiting, you watch the attraction you’ve queuing up before. You see guests hurtling around
the track, screaming their heads off, all of which builds anticipation and makes you more excited.
When it comes to the actual ride, it feels more exhilarating. Being in the right mental state
before experiencing an attraction can improve your enjoyment of it. Naturally, if the queue line
is empty, you might not get a chance to build up this anticipation, or absorb your surroundings
- diminishing aspects of the overall experience. For many theme parks, considering the
overall ride experience is a crucial step in attraction design. To further involve guests
within their rides, the best theme parks often attach a storyline to their attractions. This
story is told through theming and decorations, placed around the ride area, including the
queue line. Having a well decorated ride is more visually interesting and engaging to
guests. Compare Disney’s Star Wars themed land, Galaxy’s Edge, to a roller coaster built on a
flat piece of land - there’s no competition. Disney theme parks in particular aim to take this
one step further by transporting guests into an alternate world, placing them within the story.
Prior to boarding Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, a themed ride within Galaxy’s Edge, guests get
to board the famous Millennium Falcon ship. They spend time roaming around the vessel,
taking in the details, building anticipation. Riders then move into the ship’s cockpit, before
beginning the actual ride experience. This all works together to immerse guests within the Star
Wars story, making them one of the characters. Other queue lines use interactive elements
to keep guests engaged. Upon its debut, Disney’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride featured
a game guests could play within its queue line. The game saw visitors sort gems using interactive
touch screens accessible from both sides of the line. Disney hoped this would help occupy guests
while they wait to experience the roller coaster. The concept worked, as intended, but it wasn’t
without its flaws. Some guests became too engrossed within the game and held up the queue,
ultimately making others frustrated. As a result, Disney has since removed this interactive
element from the Seven Dwarfs queue line. To create a completely immersive experience, we
need more than just visual stimulation. Many theme parks around the world, even ones outside
of the big names of Disney and Universal, use themed audio to help draw guests into a
ride’s storyline. Music is fantastic for setting the scene and is quick to influence the mood of
guests. Fast paced music can build excitement, psyching us up for the ride; while
slower soundtracks create anticipation, and perhaps even make you slightly nervous.
Likeable music, one which isn’t repetitive, can actually help to reduce the dissatisfaction of
queuing for a ride. To achieve this, parks create soundtracks with no beginning, middle or end, to
keep the music fresh throughout even long waits. Some theme parks even take it one step further
and utilise another one of our senses, smell. Smell pods can be found in a range of
rides and roller coasters around the world, further helping to transport guests into the
world created by the designers of the attraction. Scent affects our mood subconsciously,
and helps to stimulate our senses. Some rides employ smells of damp air, to create
the illusion that the building guests are waiting inside is old and weathered. Interestingly
though, the combination of both music and scent can be too much for our
senses, causing them to be overwhelmed. Step 4: Dealing with uncertainty
One of the worst things about waiting in a queue line is uncertainty. Being told your
flight is delayed, but not being told by how long, is incredibly frustrating. Similar experiences can
happen at theme parks, where rides find themselves unexpectedly delayed due to technical issues.
When this happens, the uncertainty makes the wait seem even longer. First, you notice that
the ride is no longer sending out new trains, or that the queue isn’t moving anymore. Then,
you start to become agitated and thoughts of “what’s wrong with the ride, is it broken” begin
to propagate through the queue. To combat this, theme parks often attempt to update their
guests if an unexpected delay does occur. Simply explaining why there’s a delay can
reduce people's frustration with queuing significantly. Furthermore, giving an
approximate duration for the delay, even if it’s wildly inaccurate, can also
set people’s mind at ease. Ultimately, we’re all much happier to queue when we’re
informed - we just want to know why we’re waiting! Step 5: End of the line
The end of the queue marks the beginning of the ride. The last few steps of the queue should make
you feel excited to ride your chosen attraction. Rides that achieve this often greet you with
expansive and well themed station buildings, impressing you moments before boarding.
Other attractions use pre-shows, short videos or animatronic audio-visual experiences,
to further explain the story of the attraction and build anticipation. The preshow on Disney’s Tower
of Terror is a well known example, where you find yourself bundled into a themed room, while an
old TV sets the scene and further establishes the ride’s storyline. Other attractions take advantage
of ride hardware to create a memorable end to the queue. Disney’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster features
a launch, which propels guests to 92kmh 57mph at the very beginning of the ride. The final part
of the queue sees you walk adjacent to the start of the launch, forcing you to witness riders
shoot off into darkness at high speeds. This is a fantastic way to quickly build anticipation,
and to make the entire experience memorable. Ultimately, the end of the queue line
can define the entire waiting experience. If the queue becomes slow at the end, guests
may perceive the entire wait as being longer than they had anticipated, reducing
satisfaction. Theme parks can cause the impression that the end of the line
is moving faster by making it narrower, causing you to move forward quicker
than before. A quick end to the queue, matched with an exciting and grand finale,
simply makes the wait seem more worthwhile. Step 6: Boarding The final step before you get to experience the
ride - board the ride vehicle. The quicker you board the attraction, the sooner you can be sent
around the track, allowing more people to board. Ultimately, theme parks can reduce wait
times by increasing the capacity of their attractions - the more guests that ride every
hour, the shorter the queue time - simple. As a result, parks will do anything to improve
the speed at which you board the ride. One method they use is to make sure you know
how to board the ride before you actually have to board the ride. Some
parks use in-queue videos that explain the boarding process, to
reduce problems when the time occurs. These videos are often found on rides with
quirky ride vehicles, such as Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure at
Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. However, it’s not just guests boarding that
can slow things down, but also passengers leaving the ride vehicles. For you to board,
the other guests must first leave. As a result, theme parks often open the air gates,
the gates blocking guests from boarding, before riders have left the vehicles. This
causes those waiting to naturally ‘push’ passengers out of their seats quicker than
normal. This action is exaggerated by narrow air gates - the small space is not somewhere you
want to be for long. The entire boarding process is also sped up by having guests board
and disembark from the ride on different sides of the station. This ensures the ride’s
platform doesn’t become overwhelmed with guests, all trying to do different things. Some
attractions get rid of this process altogether by utilising separate loading and unloading
platforms. Passengers who’ve just experienced the ride exit at a separate part of the station,
meaning an empty vehicle is presented when you go to board. This reduces loading times, improves
the ride’s capacity and brings down wait times. No matter what methods theme parks
employ however, guests frustrated with their wait can sometimes board slower
than normal - ruining the entire system. Conclusion Theme parks have come a long way since their
inception. The queue used to be an annoyance, something inevitable before you get to experience
a ride. However, parks have begun to change the way we look at queue lines. Interactive elements,
highly themed details, music, preshows and a whole host of other things have helped to integrate
the queue into the overall experience. For guests to be entirely impressed by a ride, they
must first be impressed by the queue line. Next time you visit a theme park, take
note of the measures they employ to keep you happy while waiting. Does the queue feature
music? Did you wait less time than estimated? Could you see any other, alternate queues nearby?
Soon, you’ll quickly be able to spot a bad queue, ones with tight cattlepens and repetitive
televisions. What’s worse than a bad queue? Knowing you have to queue in a bad
queue. Perhaps theme parks will abolish queue lines altogether - instead implementing
virtual waits. We’d love to hear your thoughts on queue lines in the comments below. Thank you
for watching, and, we’ll see you all next time.
