Disney World Ride Lines and Queues
Waiting in line is a fact of life at Disney World. Every Disney World attraction has at least one entrance for guests. Some have a second entrance for wheelchair or special needs guests who have a DAS (Disability Access Service) card. Some of these queue lines start forming outside, and some are completely indoors. These queues can be totally themed and entertaining, or they can be completely boring. Some provide protection from the elements and some provide none.
For many attractions, guests with disabilities and special needs are sent through the lines or queues with everyone else. Some of the rides and attractions do have separate entrances or allow you to bypass the entire queue or certain parts of the queue. Some even allow you to bypass parts of the attraction.
Many rides have a “chickening out” door which allows you to go through the queue line, but to exit before you go on the ride. Some queues are so interesting that it’s worth it to wait in the line even if you don’t go on the ride.
At times being in a wheelchair has cut down our wait time considerably. Yet, for some attractions, we’ve actually had to wait longer because we had a wheelchair guest in our party. For many attractions, we probably waited about the same amount of time as everyone else. Really the best way to reduce wait times is to use Disney’s Lightning Lane passes whenever it’s available.
We have found that when approaching or entering an attraction, there is usually a cast member who will direct a wheelchair or DAS guest to the correct entrance or queue line. There is a booklet that you can get at Guest Relations that gives you an up-to-date listing of all special entrances. At times, they do change, but it’s usually pretty easy to find the correct entrance without the booklet.
Our Rides and Attractions section of this site shows you how to find the entrances that are more difficult to spot. Some of the queues are indoors with air conditioning. Some are outdoors with full sun, partial shading or full shade. This site gives you the queue conditions for each attraction.
Most queues do not have any seating whatsoever. On occasion, you will find a rail to lean on or the occasional prop such as a rock to sit on. Before my wife Sarah began using an ECV (electric convenience vehicle or wheelchair), she would just sit on the floor in front of me. I’d stand behind her to keep people from stepping on her.
There’s a book that may be helpful for those queues that are particularly long or boring. It’s called The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook by Kimberly Button. It has activities, puzzles and trivia questions related to the attraction, as well as tips for avoiding long lines. This may be an effective way of keeping kids occupied and entertained. You can buy it on Amazon.com.
(This article was taken from the guide book Walt Disney World with Disabilities).
