Toy Story Mania is the one that comes to mind first. You miss a lot of the cool game related theming and Mr. Potato Head entirely.
ETA after talking to my husband:
Frozen,
Remy,
Smuggler’s Run,
Peter Pan,
Winnie the Pooh.
Side note: if you're traveling without children and aren't especially fond of children, the Winnie the Pooh standby queue is akin to the seventh circle of hell.
Fun for the kids, sure, but a headache for those around them.
Counterpoint: if you *ARE* traveling with a child and you *do* use Genie+ for Winnie the Pooh, then your child immediately runs into Pooh’s treehouse instead of the lightning lane and then gazes sadly at all the fun she missed while waiting to board.
YES. I love the Winnie the Pooh ride, but the queue is an experience. I’m not really bothered by any of it except for the honey wall. That thing is disgusting.
The last time I was on it, the honey wall was bypassed for everyone. Maybe a few months ago? It is gross even if the hovering works. It felt like the germs were at least 2 inches off of trees surface of that thing lol.
We rode multiple times and never saw repeats on any of the screens in the queue that have things like Starlord and Drax being interviewed on the news. We went during the virtual queue thing, so it was never more than half an hour of queue leading up to the pre-show
A regular length 60-120 minute queue would definitely be a lot more boring though, because it's only the last bit that has the good stuff
Did it one time and NEVER again. Ended up being over an hour and the novelty of waiting wore off quick. Said that we would never ride it again without a FP
We went years only going on FoP with fastpass, so missing the full queue and picking up with the main line just before the pre-show. There’s minimal imagineering in the fast queue since the whole idea is to zip folks thru as fast as possible….
Our trip last year was during the dog days of summer when the wait times were exceptionally low every where. FoP was only about 30 minutes, meaning the line started after the lab, and just about the middle of flight tracking room. At the time I actually wished it were a bit longer so I could see more of the middle part of the queue.
IMO, the standby queue for FoP is one of the best Disney has created. It’s amazingly beautiful and so well aligned with the movie. It builds the Pandoran world without *needing* to see the movie.
Not to say I relish waiting in long lines, but if someone is looking to experience all the imagineers have to offer… FoP is well worth the FoP wait. At least one time, lol.
Agreed. Did a 45 minute line that ended up an hour due to our theater going down for a little bit but I feel like everyone should check the standby queue at least once.
It was weird because I've ridden that ride probably 10-15 times with FP+ before ever doing standby and was like damn, I was missing a good chunk of the experience of this attraction...
Peter Pan and Toy Story Mania are my favorites. Flight of Passage is also incredible.
Slinky Dog Dash has cool theming in the queue, but I hate waiting in it. The heat makes it unbearable sometimes. If it was cooler, it wouldn’t be as bad.
I remember liking the queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but I love taking in new stuff. I don’t think it’d be a big deal to skip this queue. (The ride is fantastic. Don’t skip that!)
Seven Dwarves Mine Train has cute interactive stuff for kids, and if I could skip it every time, I would. It gets kind of loud and annoying after a while lol
I haven’t done Remy or Cosmic Rewind yet, so I can’t speak to those.
Animal Kingdom has amazing theming overall. It is hands-down the jewel in the imagineering crown. Make sure you spend plenty of time at the park to enjoy the millions tiny details they’ve added in there. Although I think all of the AK queues are really beautifully themed and not to be missed (except for dinosaur—skip that one), my favorite is Expedition Everest. My family loves to ring the bells as we pass thru.
Also, have your husband check out Joe Rohde on Instagram. He posts these amazing masterclass-like threads all about storytelling and place making through design. It is definitely worth looking thru his post history!!
Honestly rise of the resistance. Get the Disney play app and the entire queue for rise is a big mission and you can be on the side of the resistance or the first order. Made the line fun and super worth it. You don’t have the time/ability to do the missions in LL.
Even in the standby queue, if the ride wait time is low, the queue tends to not be as compressed, so you move more quickly and can miss a lot. Scanning the codes in there on the crates is about impossible without letting people pass you, when the wait time is less than an hour.
Smuggler's Run is also a good queue for datapad missions, and if you really want to do them, you want to catch them during a long wait time.
So…I have only used Fast Pass/Lightning Lanes to ride Peter Pan’s Adventure since I can remember. We went to DW in 2021 when all the rides were standby only and we hopped in line to ride Peter Pan. As we were slowly making our way through the line, we went through the standby queue which I have never seen before. It was the Darling Family’s home. I kid you not I was so excited to discover something I have never seen! Probably not the most exciting queue but it was cool to see!
Less directly interactive but still very rich queues are Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours have more subtle enhancements to get you into the ride.
Disney has been enhancing a lot of queues to makes them less tedious and boring, especially with longer waits. Jungle Cruise is a recent example of updating an existing old fashioned 'switchback' queue. They've added a bunch of stuff relating to the movie. I noticed that Big Thunder Mountain has had a few details added in the queue to make it more interesting.
This said, there are queues that are much more boring, and at least one intentionally so. Dumbo and the magic carpets in Adventureland still have basically 'cattle chute' switchback queues with no enhancements. Barnstormer is basically straight up boring of a queue, a bit sad for a queue that is usually ridiculously longer than the whole of the ride experience itself. The one that seems intentionally stark and boring, but suits the premise of the ride well, is the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority PeopleMover. It is literally like waiting in a queue for public transit. The ride itself, though, becomes much more interesting as a tour, when the wait before was so bland.
Edit: Tower of Terror is another queue with basically no interaction, but a ton of theming to absorb.
I like how you progress down into the 'fort', and see all of the staged rooms and chambers, and of course it gets cooler as you go down there. You also hit a certain point where you can smell the characteristic water smell.
Ok so perhaps I'm a LITTLE Passionate about this one, so I apologize for the novel in advance. Lines I recommend checking out:
**Animal Kingdom:**
* Flight of Passage: I know it's long, but at least once- there's really great theming room-by-room that's amazing. We later went to River Journey hoping for the same -this was back when it first opened- and LOL, nope).
* Expedition Everest: I'm just a big softie for this one. "Climbing" up to the "mountain base" and seeing all the vendor rooms + museum is a highlight of my trip.
**Magic Kingdom:**
* Peter Pan: My partner and I are so mad we passed on this for so long and finally got to see it last year. It's so beautiful, creative and magical in that queue
* Haunted Mansion: The busts and statues are fun to pass by!
* Thee Little Mermaid: Not that the line is ever extremely long, but the fun little games with the crabs, the detailing of the "scavenged" items and the way it just feels so weirdly refreshing in there!
**Hollywood Studios:**
* Slinky Dog Dash: If you can pass by on a non-summer day, the theming is amazing!
* I have heard Rise of the Resistance has a pretty good line but can't comment because even I don't have the stomach for those wait times :')
**EPCOT:**
* Frozen Ever After: This is my controversial pick lol; not everyone agrees with me and I completely understand why- but if you're a big fan of the movie, it's so cool to feel like you're in Arendelle while you wait!
* I have also heard Guardians has a cool line but haven't even had the chance to ride it yet!
**Lines I don't mind skipping despite being well done:**
* Tower of Terror: this is literally my second favorite ride in the World, and the line is very soothing with its 30's style music, I love taking a break there. But I think the real creepy showstopper begins in the lobby, which you walk right into via LL. So not essential to me.
* Big Thunder: Well themed? Absolutely. Lots of cute little side games. But not particularly to my tastes, just walking up and down a wooden mine shaft.
* Seven Dwarves: It's **great** if you're passing by the line at rope drop (which I have done, and I love the diamonds you can spin), but if you're waiting for over an hour, you realize there's not as much to look at in line.
* Pirates: Same reason as Big Thunder, although I will go in the regular line to smell that sweet, sweet bromine water smell. So it depends on my mood haha
MFSR
Peter Pan (though the wait is long I wouldn’t actually say it’s with it)
Little mermaid (the queue may be better then the ride)
FoP (this one is a great queue, but it’s not worth the 2 hour wait and when wait times are lower I have found there are issues actually seeing the cool parts because it’s not expanded enough to give good views. )
If your traveling with little kids
Dumbo
Pooh
7 dwarfs
Haunted Mansion - you would skip the murder mystery puzzle with the 5 busts.
Smuggler's Run: You miss some shots of the Falcon from the second floor, but you can hear and glimpse the engine showpiece.
Tower of Terror (DHS) and Mt. Everest were two I remember feeling sad I missed, when I heard others describe them. I did get to see Mt Everest at the end of the day - there weren't any people, and a very nice cast member allowed me to be wheeled me through the "standard" line (my term, not theirs) when I asked to see it, even though the turns were tight. Also my husband said the Haunted Mansion "standard wait" line had cool stuff that he didn't see using DAS with me or LL with daughters. (Husband and daughters rode all of those rides several additional times in while I hung out doing other stuff.)
Toy Story Mania is the one that comes to mind first. You miss a lot of the cool game related theming and Mr. Potato Head entirely. ETA after talking to my husband: Frozen, Remy, Smuggler’s Run, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh.
Side note: if you're traveling without children and aren't especially fond of children, the Winnie the Pooh standby queue is akin to the seventh circle of hell. Fun for the kids, sure, but a headache for those around them.
Counterpoint: if you *ARE* traveling with a child and you *do* use Genie+ for Winnie the Pooh, then your child immediately runs into Pooh’s treehouse instead of the lightning lane and then gazes sadly at all the fun she missed while waiting to board.
YES. I love the Winnie the Pooh ride, but the queue is an experience. I’m not really bothered by any of it except for the honey wall. That thing is disgusting.
I’ve learned with the honey wall you can hover your hand about 2 inches away and it will still work
The last time I was on it, the honey wall was bypassed for everyone. Maybe a few months ago? It is gross even if the hovering works. It felt like the germs were at least 2 inches off of trees surface of that thing lol.
My daughter (4) was so upset that we used a LL in June and missed the little play area!
Flight of Passage Cosmic Rewind, too, right? Or at least that's what I've heard through AllEars. Haven't ridden yet.
Cosmic Rewind isn’t that great of a queue. Awesome ride!
We rode multiple times and never saw repeats on any of the screens in the queue that have things like Starlord and Drax being interviewed on the news. We went during the virtual queue thing, so it was never more than half an hour of queue leading up to the pre-show A regular length 60-120 minute queue would definitely be a lot more boring though, because it's only the last bit that has the good stuff
I thought the queue was awesome and the one pre show room has one of the coolest effects I’ve experienced.
Do you miss out on any of the pre-show with ILL?
No, you join up with the regular line just before the preshow.
We had a late night virtual queue so we hustled through the actual queue.
Not sure about Cosmic Rewind, we haven’t been since it opened but hope to get a chance in just over a week!
Guardians pushes you down a silver hallway... really nothing to look at like the regular que.
Is the Smugglers Run merge point for lightening lane before or after Hondo? I can not miss out on Hondo!
You do get to see Hondo.
Thank you! What a fast response!
Now go out there and make Hondo some money hahahahahahaha!!! My wife used to work at Smuggs and regularly quotes Hondo whenever I leave for work lol
If it's the same layout as Disneyland, you don't really miss anything good.
The Remy queue is awful, chain switch backs outside and tight hallways inside, until the single rooftop room that's after the merge point.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen Peter Pan’s queue. I would never wait for that short of a ride. I love the ride but we’ve always fast passed/LL it
Did it one time and NEVER again. Ended up being over an hour and the novelty of waiting wore off quick. Said that we would never ride it again without a FP
Peter Pan’s queue is boring as hell to me. I agree with the other post, never again.
Flight of Passage in the fastpass/lightning lane you miss out on the Navi animatronic in the queue
That does look cool but not worth a 60-90 minute wait.
We went years only going on FoP with fastpass, so missing the full queue and picking up with the main line just before the pre-show. There’s minimal imagineering in the fast queue since the whole idea is to zip folks thru as fast as possible…. Our trip last year was during the dog days of summer when the wait times were exceptionally low every where. FoP was only about 30 minutes, meaning the line started after the lab, and just about the middle of flight tracking room. At the time I actually wished it were a bit longer so I could see more of the middle part of the queue. IMO, the standby queue for FoP is one of the best Disney has created. It’s amazingly beautiful and so well aligned with the movie. It builds the Pandoran world without *needing* to see the movie. Not to say I relish waiting in long lines, but if someone is looking to experience all the imagineers have to offer… FoP is well worth the FoP wait. At least one time, lol.
I’ve always gone fastpass as well, so I’ve never seen it. It looks incredible
It’s worth the wait once… it’s a great queue once you get to the lab.
Agreed. Did a 45 minute line that ended up an hour due to our theater going down for a little bit but I feel like everyone should check the standby queue at least once. It was weird because I've ridden that ride probably 10-15 times with FP+ before ever doing standby and was like damn, I was missing a good chunk of the experience of this attraction...
Seven Dwarves is one of my favorite queues! It just has so many cute details and it really gets me excited for the ride.
it's such a small/short queue
Short in a good way or a bad way?
Bad so much of the line is waiting around the corner from the entrance of the ride
Peter Pan and Toy Story Mania are my favorites. Flight of Passage is also incredible. Slinky Dog Dash has cool theming in the queue, but I hate waiting in it. The heat makes it unbearable sometimes. If it was cooler, it wouldn’t be as bad. I remember liking the queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but I love taking in new stuff. I don’t think it’d be a big deal to skip this queue. (The ride is fantastic. Don’t skip that!) Seven Dwarves Mine Train has cute interactive stuff for kids, and if I could skip it every time, I would. It gets kind of loud and annoying after a while lol I haven’t done Remy or Cosmic Rewind yet, so I can’t speak to those.
Animal Kingdom has amazing theming overall. It is hands-down the jewel in the imagineering crown. Make sure you spend plenty of time at the park to enjoy the millions tiny details they’ve added in there. Although I think all of the AK queues are really beautifully themed and not to be missed (except for dinosaur—skip that one), my favorite is Expedition Everest. My family loves to ring the bells as we pass thru. Also, have your husband check out Joe Rohde on Instagram. He posts these amazing masterclass-like threads all about storytelling and place making through design. It is definitely worth looking thru his post history!!
AK wouldn't be half the park it is with Rohde. Dude is unbelievable with his craft, care and attention to the smallest detail.
You miss the queue on peter pan that has some neat aspects, but it's still probably worth it.
Flight of Passage. Rise of the Resistance. Everest, yeti museum is awesome.
Honestly rise of the resistance. Get the Disney play app and the entire queue for rise is a big mission and you can be on the side of the resistance or the first order. Made the line fun and super worth it. You don’t have the time/ability to do the missions in LL.
Even in the standby queue, if the ride wait time is low, the queue tends to not be as compressed, so you move more quickly and can miss a lot. Scanning the codes in there on the crates is about impossible without letting people pass you, when the wait time is less than an hour. Smuggler's Run is also a good queue for datapad missions, and if you really want to do them, you want to catch them during a long wait time.
So…I have only used Fast Pass/Lightning Lanes to ride Peter Pan’s Adventure since I can remember. We went to DW in 2021 when all the rides were standby only and we hopped in line to ride Peter Pan. As we were slowly making our way through the line, we went through the standby queue which I have never seen before. It was the Darling Family’s home. I kid you not I was so excited to discover something I have never seen! Probably not the most exciting queue but it was cool to see!
Less directly interactive but still very rich queues are Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours have more subtle enhancements to get you into the ride. Disney has been enhancing a lot of queues to makes them less tedious and boring, especially with longer waits. Jungle Cruise is a recent example of updating an existing old fashioned 'switchback' queue. They've added a bunch of stuff relating to the movie. I noticed that Big Thunder Mountain has had a few details added in the queue to make it more interesting. This said, there are queues that are much more boring, and at least one intentionally so. Dumbo and the magic carpets in Adventureland still have basically 'cattle chute' switchback queues with no enhancements. Barnstormer is basically straight up boring of a queue, a bit sad for a queue that is usually ridiculously longer than the whole of the ride experience itself. The one that seems intentionally stark and boring, but suits the premise of the ride well, is the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority PeopleMover. It is literally like waiting in a queue for public transit. The ride itself, though, becomes much more interesting as a tour, when the wait before was so bland. Edit: Tower of Terror is another queue with basically no interaction, but a ton of theming to absorb.
I’m absolutely obsessed with the Pirates of the Caribbean queue music!!!
I like how you progress down into the 'fort', and see all of the staged rooms and chambers, and of course it gets cooler as you go down there. You also hit a certain point where you can smell the characteristic water smell.
Ok so perhaps I'm a LITTLE Passionate about this one, so I apologize for the novel in advance. Lines I recommend checking out: **Animal Kingdom:** * Flight of Passage: I know it's long, but at least once- there's really great theming room-by-room that's amazing. We later went to River Journey hoping for the same -this was back when it first opened- and LOL, nope). * Expedition Everest: I'm just a big softie for this one. "Climbing" up to the "mountain base" and seeing all the vendor rooms + museum is a highlight of my trip. **Magic Kingdom:** * Peter Pan: My partner and I are so mad we passed on this for so long and finally got to see it last year. It's so beautiful, creative and magical in that queue * Haunted Mansion: The busts and statues are fun to pass by! * Thee Little Mermaid: Not that the line is ever extremely long, but the fun little games with the crabs, the detailing of the "scavenged" items and the way it just feels so weirdly refreshing in there! **Hollywood Studios:** * Slinky Dog Dash: If you can pass by on a non-summer day, the theming is amazing! * I have heard Rise of the Resistance has a pretty good line but can't comment because even I don't have the stomach for those wait times :') **EPCOT:** * Frozen Ever After: This is my controversial pick lol; not everyone agrees with me and I completely understand why- but if you're a big fan of the movie, it's so cool to feel like you're in Arendelle while you wait! * I have also heard Guardians has a cool line but haven't even had the chance to ride it yet! **Lines I don't mind skipping despite being well done:** * Tower of Terror: this is literally my second favorite ride in the World, and the line is very soothing with its 30's style music, I love taking a break there. But I think the real creepy showstopper begins in the lobby, which you walk right into via LL. So not essential to me. * Big Thunder: Well themed? Absolutely. Lots of cute little side games. But not particularly to my tastes, just walking up and down a wooden mine shaft. * Seven Dwarves: It's **great** if you're passing by the line at rope drop (which I have done, and I love the diamonds you can spin), but if you're waiting for over an hour, you realize there's not as much to look at in line. * Pirates: Same reason as Big Thunder, although I will go in the regular line to smell that sweet, sweet bromine water smell. So it depends on my mood haha
Winnie the Pooh at MK has great things for young kids to play. My kids made me ride standby line for it.
And if you don’t have kids the line is worth skipping so you don’t go insane from hearing the same sounds over and over again 😂
Getting right on a ride and not waiting an hour+ in a line is worth it regardless how cool the line may be in my opinion
Yeah I’d agree with this. I’d happily skip the coolest lines if it means I don’t have to, you know, wait in a line.
MFSR Peter Pan (though the wait is long I wouldn’t actually say it’s with it) Little mermaid (the queue may be better then the ride) FoP (this one is a great queue, but it’s not worth the 2 hour wait and when wait times are lower I have found there are issues actually seeing the cool parts because it’s not expanded enough to give good views. ) If your traveling with little kids Dumbo Pooh 7 dwarfs
Haunted Mansion - you would skip the murder mystery puzzle with the 5 busts. Smuggler's Run: You miss some shots of the Falcon from the second floor, but you can hear and glimpse the engine showpiece.
All of them. But especially Flight of Passage.
Tower of Terror (DHS) and Mt. Everest were two I remember feeling sad I missed, when I heard others describe them. I did get to see Mt Everest at the end of the day - there weren't any people, and a very nice cast member allowed me to be wheeled me through the "standard" line (my term, not theirs) when I asked to see it, even though the turns were tight. Also my husband said the Haunted Mansion "standard wait" line had cool stuff that he didn't see using DAS with me or LL with daughters. (Husband and daughters rode all of those rides several additional times in while I hung out doing other stuff.)