Yesterday, guests were able to participate in an extremely limited test of a Single Rider line at Space Mountain. We stumbled upon the end of the test, which only occurred for a few hours in the morning. Here’s a look at how the test worked, and our experience with Space Mountain Single Rider at Walt Disney World!
Space Mountain Single Rider Test
We stumbled upon the Single Rider test shortly before noon on January 27th. We were told that the test only operated for a couple of hours, and that it’s possible that it doesn’t return. That said, we wanted to share our experience and thoughts on how it worked.
There was no signage for the Single Rider test. Instead, Cast Members at the front of the attraction were advising guests that a Single Rider queue was available. To enter, guests had to speak with Cast Members at the Lightning Lane entrance. A quick briefing from Cast Members about how the Single Rider queue worked advised guests that Single Riders would be split up from others in their traveling party, and that guests should inform the next Cast Member that they see that they’re a Single Rider. With that, we entered the Lightning Lane queue and made our way through the underground tunnel to the Space Mountain attraction.
A quick note about the “party of one” sign seen above. It is not new, and it’s not part of this test. It does make for a nice visual, though. During normal operations, this sign is meant to be informative and a bit proactive. If you’re a Single Rider during normal operations (read: not during the Single Rider test), you would wait in the normal standby queue and then inform a Cast Member at the merge point seen in the photo below that you’re alone. From there, Cast Members typically would try to expedite your wait, fitting you in where they can to fill a rocket. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Back to the Single Rider test.
The next Cast Member that we encountered was a Cast Member at the merge point for Lightning Lane redemption. We let this Cast Member know that we were a Single Rider, and they directed us down a dedicated Single Rider queue on the Omega side of the load station. Guests are not able to “sneak” into the Lightning Lane from here, given that there is a redemption tappoint that all Lightning Lane guests must use. Thankfully, there is no gaming the system.
Essentially, the Alpha side of the load station was completely dedicated to standby guests, and the Omega side was dedicated to Lightning Lane guests. Single Riders would backfill, as needed, on the Omega side with Lightning Lane guests.
Once we were in the dedicated Single Rider queue, it was just a matter of waiting. We watched countless Lightning Lane guests zipping by (as should be the case, by the way), with a slow drip of Single Riders used to backfill.
All told, the Single Rider queue probably took me about 12 minutes, with an extra 2 minutes or so “wasted” while I stopped to take photos and let people pass me.
Overall, I really enjoy any Single Rider option, and the Space Mountain offering was no different. I’m not sure if it’ll actually be able to move forward give the seemingly limited queue space for Single Riders. It’s possible that if the offering does move forward and becomes popular, Disney will need to reconfigure the queue a bit to ensure that Single Riders don’t end up clogging the shared Lightning Lane queue prior to being separated.
Similar to Rise of the Resistance, Space Mountain doesn’t have a dedicated Single Rider queue, so operations can get a bit wonky. Hopefully, the test was a good learning opportunity for Disney, and operations is able to come up with a solution to offer a Single Rider queue long term.
For now, we don’t expect the Single Rider option to return anytime soon.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!