The Waiting in Line Experience – Taking a “Queue” from Walt Disney’s Vision

When I go to see a movie, I make sure to be at the theater with plenty of time before the show because I absolutely love seeing the previews! When I visit Walt Disney World I also spend a lot of time enjoying the previews. But wait, previews at Walt Disney World? Walt Disney World isn’t a show…or is it?

As a Cast Member at Magic Kingdom Guest Relations, one of my roles was hosting the historical and behind the scenes tour, Keys to the Kingdom. The tour starts at the main entrance to the park about 30 minutes before rope drop. If you’ve ever been to a Magic Kingdom rope drop, you know there is a show featuring several Disney characters riding to the main entrance to welcome the guests on the Walt Disney World Railroad. If you think of the Magic Kingdom as a show, the railroad acts as a curtain to the show, encircling the perimeter of the park. The daily morning rope drop show with the train coming in acts like an opening curtain and as the train passes by, the curtain has dropped and all the guests come piling in! Immediately after the curtain opens, before any show there are always the previews, right? Well as you cross under the railroad station at the entrance, there are vintage movie size posters of several of the attractions in the park. So these are the previews to the “main show” which is the park itself! Pretty genius huh? (All Walt’s idea, of course) On a side note, I know that you must have noticed all the names on the windows along Main Street USA. What comes after the previews in a movie? The opening credits! Indeed, those are the names of the “producers” and the “crew” and of course, the Director, Walter Elias Disney (last window, located above the ice cream parlor facing into the park), who helped make the Magic Kingdom “show” a reality.

The “show” and “previews” concept goes beyond just the entrance to the park. Walt knew that waiting in a long line for a ride is not fun, so why not make the wait fun AND part of the show? Have you ever noticed the amount of detail that goes into the waiting lines for the attractions? Well, that’s because the waiting line is the preview to the attraction! Also, the line serves another important purpose, it is the bridge between the world of reality to the world of fantasy and the Imagineers spend a large amount of time puting in the fine details to make you feel like you’re becoming a part of the show as you transition through those lines.

I think one of the finest examples of this can be seen in the queue for The Seas with Nemo & Friends at the Living Seas pavilion at EPCOT. When you first enter the line, you’re in a beach scene with sand dunes and beach signs indicating the possibility of strong currents. As you progress through each room of the queue you realize that you’re transitioning under water! If you look up in one of the final rooms, you’ll notice there are boats above your head and you can see the top of the water glistening. Now you’re ready to board your clam mobile and continue on your underwater journey with Nemo.

So the next time you’re waiting in line, I recommend to look around and take in the details, you get to experience another one of Walt’s incredible before-his-time ideas that is still utilized today.