What’s the one part of a Disney Parks visit that’s never shown on a commercial, but the most common part of a trip? Waiting.
No one likes to wait. The good news is, Imagineers know that, and over the last several decades in particular, they’ve developed some pretty astounding ways to make sure that guests’ multi-hour waits for the most incredible attractions are worthwhile. To prove it, today we’re proud to hand out “The Golden Standby Awards” – our list of the top three (plus an honorable mention) queues that are worth waiting in.
Okay, okay… Tossing $15 per person at Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lanes may be your preferred method of reaching these rides on repeat visits… but once-in-a-while – or especially with first-timers! – these queues are worth slowing down in, absorbing, and exploring. As silly as it may sound, we think sometimes, the build-up and anticipation of waiting makes the ride on the other side even better… and on these rides in particular, Standby are worth it for building the atmosphere, understanding story, and seeing some of Disney Imagineering’s most incredible, often-uncelebrated work...
Honorable mention: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
In the 1990s, then-CEO Michael Eisner’s “Ride the Movies” era saw Disney Parks add massive, immersive E-Ticket attractions on a scale never imagined before. Surely the living embodiment of that bold, cinematic, thrill-focused era, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is an absolute icon of Imagineering in every way. Within, Imagineers crafted an entirely original episode of CBS’ classic ’60s sci-fi anthology series, The Twilight Zone, telling the tale of the doomed Hollywood Tower Hotel whose guest wing flickered out of existence “one stormy night, long ago.”
In some ways, the queue experience for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror begins on Sunset Blvd., with the lightning-scarred remains of the once-glorious hotel looming over the heyday of Hollywood. As guests approach the daunting structure, the line itself begins with winding paths that climb through its overgrown, abandoned gardens, past signs insinuating the long-lost ruins of swimming pools and tennis courts enjoyed by stars of the ’20s and ’30s. Dried, cracked fountains, vine-encrusted pergolas, and crumbling ruins could be a walkthrough in their own right, especially with the distant, hazy songs of the era hanging over the property like ghosts…
Of course, the line’s true artistry begins in the Lobby – still frozen in time from its Halloween 1939 abandonment – then through its dusty Library where guests are mysteriously transported back in time in a lightning flash. Then, the queue proceeds into the claustrophobic boiler room, hissing and churning and creaking once more as the Hotel groans back to life. All of it sets up the dramatic, chilling, and eerie ascent into the hotel aboard antique maintenance elevators, where its haunted history unfolds once again… You are the star in this sci-fi spectacle, but the Hollywood Tower Hotel is an absolutely showstopping co-star from beginning to end.
3. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye
Location: Disneyland Park
Until Disney’s newest generation of E-Ticket rides, there was no question that the best queue in any Disney Park belonged to Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland Park. From the outside, the long-lost riverside temple to the ancient deity Mara doesn’t look like much… but inside, the story begins to unfold. Local legend suggests that in ancient times, anyone who made the journey to Mara’s altar would find the Chamber of Destiny, with three locked doors – each corresponding with a mystical gift: Timeless youth, earthly riches, or visions of the future.
But, there’s a catch… Ancient murals, frescos, carvings, and statues all depict Mara with his eyes closed or covered. That’s because a glimpse into the god’s dark and corroded eyes dooms the viewer to an eternity of torment. Of course, that’s all the invitation we – the nouveau riche European explorers of the 1920s – need to make the trek to this temple-turned-tourist attraction, where distant jazz music cuts through the noise of the misty jungle.
The queue through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye carries guests past countless depictions of Mara – and of the torture that awaits those who look into his eyes. Along the way, guests pass through collapsed chambers open to the jungle, through booby traps (some tripped, some still armed), into a great ceremonial rotunda, and even into an ancient altar, repurposed to project black and white newsreels of the temple’s discovery. It all leads to the Chamber of Destiny, where feint-hearted guests can opt for a wall of mirrors to sneak a peek at the three doors of legend, while the rest of us load into World War troop transports and journey into the temple’s heart to face Mara at last…
So what finally dethroned the Temple of the Forbidden Eye? Our top two, must-wait queues await on the last page…
2. STAR WARS: Rise of the Resistance
Location: Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Though Disney’s immersive, storytelling queues have been around for decades, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is probably the first Disney Parks attraction where it’s genuinely hard to determine where the line stops and the attraction begins. It’s true that from beginning to end, the headlining attraction utilizes no less than three physical ride systems (as well as portions that we’d rate as a “walkthrough”) which is part of why we suggest that Rise is something more than an E-Ticket. (We invented the term, “U-Ticket,” as in, Ultra-E-Ticket.)
It begins amid the rocky hoodoos of Batuu on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost, where rusted artillery marks the entrance to a secret, mobile Resistance encampment. Once guests are recruited by Rey and BB-8, they’re invited aboard a transport shuttle that will carry them to the Resistance Base set up on Pacara, under the control of General Leia Organa. But en route, the nefarious First Order captures the vessel, unloading guests aboard a Star Destroyer and sending them for interrogation.
From beginning to end, Rise of the Resistance is huge, but there’s nothing there are very few “big reveals” at Disney Parks that leave as many jaws on the floor as guests’ emerging into the ship bay of a Star Destroyer. Only a portion of the ship is explored on foot (with most happening once guests climb aboard Prisoner Transport vehicles with a stealthfully-reprogrammed R-5 Droid at the helm), but from the moment guests pass through Batuu’s wilderness to the second they’re finally seated, Rise of the Resistance is one of the most breathtaking “queues” on Earth.
1. Avatar Flight of Passage
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Brilliantly (and by design), you don’t have to know much about 2009’s Avatar to make sense of Pandora at Animal Kingdom or its anchor attraction. Rather than recreating a place (or even the time) seen on screen, Pandora invites guests to The Valley of Mo’ara – an ecological preserve somewhere on the moon of Pandora – as eco-tourists, visiting to gaze in awe at the moon’s flora and fauna, and to learn from the ways of the indigeonous Na’vi (you know, the “big blue cat people” seen in the film).
Given that it’s easily the most popular ride at Animal Kingdom (and probably among Disney’s best attractions ever), the wait for Flight of Passage can be long. But frankly, it’s almost needed. After all, the queue for the ride is an emotional and physical trek, with guests literally hiking mountainous paths up and into Pandora’s craggily peaks and mountainscapes. The journey continues through caverns, where Na’vi paintings depict their reverence for the flying Ikran (or Banshee) that calls the floating mountains home – and the treacherous rite of passage that all young Na’vi embrace, riding on the back of the dragons in a commune with the planet’s spirit.
The line then continues through long-abandoned military bases, set up by our own foolish human ancestors who so stupidly sought to pillage this planet for minerals. Now, their concrete and steel are being reclaimed by bioluminscent plant and animal life; their laboratories overtaken by the Pandora Conservation Initiative, studying how the Ikran serves as a keystone species whose protection can restore the moon’s natural ecology.
Reaching the summit and finally loading into a link chamber, it can feel like your path to Flight of Passage wasn’t an easy one… but really, it shouldn’t be. Like a real rite of passage, the journey matters. So even if it’s frustrating to see guests who forked over $15 a person whizzing past in the Lightning Lane, there’s something to be said about the build-up to such an emotional and extraordinary experience… and Disney Imagineers have sure made the wait worth it through an incredible queue and a one-of-a-kind ride.
