Single rider queues explained, and which rides have them

A single rider queue is a separate, usually much shorter line for people willing to ride on their own. You give up sitting with your group, and in return the operator uses you to fill the odd seats the main queue leaves empty. It is free, it is not a queue-skip pass, and how much time it saves depends almost entirely on how the ride's seats are laid out.

Park Queue Times marks 37 rides across 11 parks as having a single rider queue, and where a park publishes a live single rider wait the live board shows it under the main queue figure. The full list is below, grouped by park. A ride missing from it does not mean the park has no single rider line, only that the list is kept short and is added to when a line has been seen or the park lists it.

How a single rider queue works

The main queue moves in groups. A family of three walks up to a row of four and the fourth seat would go out empty, so on rides with awkward seat counts the park opens a side entrance for people on their own and pulls one across whenever a gap appears.

You join the single rider entrance, normally signposted near the main entrance or at the exit, and queue with other solo riders. At the platform a member of staff calls you forward when there is a spare seat. You ride, get off, and meet your group outside. Americans say single rider line; UK and European parks say single rider queue.

Three points that catch people out:

• You are only guaranteed a seat on your own. Two of you entering together will almost certainly be separated, and staff will not hold a row.
• Height and health restrictions are exactly the same as the main queue.
• It does not always move faster. It moves only as fast as gaps appear, and it can stall.

Why the saving varies so much by ride type

The system runs on odd seats, so the number of odd seats a ride produces per hour sets the ceiling on how many single riders it can take.

Four-across rows. A row of four filled by groups of two and three leaves a gap regularly, and a train of seven or eight rows produces several gaps a dispatch. The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot and Galactica all run wide rows, and this is where a single rider queue is at its best.

Two-across rows. A two-seat row only produces a gap when a group has an odd number, and the next odd group behind them often fills it anyway. Stealth at Thorpe Park and Jurassic World VelociCoaster are two-across launched coasters, and on those the single rider queue moves in fits and starts.

Vehicles that carry six or more. Test Track at Epcot loads cars of six and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run puts six in a cockpit, so an odd group almost always leaves a seat. Universal's motion simulators and dark rides seat around a dozen and produce gaps as reliably as any coaster.

Spinning cars. Spinball Whizzer runs small spinning cars. Gaps appear, but the cars are few and the wait to fill one is unpredictable.

The rough rule: the wider the row and the longer the train, the more reliable the single rider queue. The narrower the vehicle, the more it depends on luck.

Etiquette

Single rider queues survive on goodwill, and parks close them when they are abused.

• Do not ask to be seated with your friend. Staff will say no and it holds everyone up.
• Be ready: bags stowed, phone away, before you reach the platform.
• Take whatever seat you are given. Asking for the front or back row from the single rider line is not the deal.
• Meet your group outside the ride, not on the platform or in the exit corridor.
• Do not enter as a group and try to re-form on the platform. It is the main reason lines get shut.

When single rider queues close

Parks open and close single rider lines through the day without notice. The usual reasons:

• The main queue is short. At a 10 minute standby there is nothing to gain and the park does not staff the side entrance.
• The single rider queue is full. On the busiest days it backs up to its own entrance and the park closes the door until it clears.
• Staffing. The line needs someone at the merge point, and on a quiet weekday it may not open.
• Breakdowns. After a stoppage the priority is the main queue, and the single rider line often stays shut for a while.
• Season. Several UK and European parks only run single rider lines at certain times of year, which is one reason the list below is conservative.

The site's ride descriptions reflect this: Oblivion's says its single rider queue is occasionally available, Hyperia's that the line saves significant time when offered. Neither promises it will be open when you arrive.

Where a park reports a single rider wait in its live feed, the ride page's day chart carries a separate single rider line, and you can set a free alert for when a ride's wait drops below a number you choose. A Park Queue Times Plus account can also be told when a ride's single rider line opens, and the park cheat sheet groups the single rider rides together.

Every ride the site marks as single rider

The waits below are main queue averages from each ride's own page on the day of writing, not single rider waits. The site does not yet publish a typical single rider figure for any ride. "No page yet" means the site has no ride page for it.

UK parks

Both parks have a best time to visit page and a reliability page worth a look the night before, because a closed coaster has no single rider queue either.

Universal parks

Universal's two Orlando parks account for 14 of the 37 rides, which reflects how widely Universal uses single rider lines.

Disney parks

The list has no Magic Kingdom rides and marks nothing at Disneyland Resort in California or Disneyland Paris, so treat those parks as untracked for single rider rather than as having none.

Other US parks

Apollo's Chariot at 8 minutes and Wild Eagle at 9 minutes are the clearest cases of a single rider line to ignore: at those averages you lose the shared ride and gain almost nothing. Check the Busch Gardens Williamsburg hours page before relying on any line being open.

Single rider versus a paid queue-skip for a solo visitor

For a visitor on their own, the choice between a single rider queue and a paid queue-skip (Fastrack at Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, Universal Express, Lightning Lane at Disney) comes down to four things.

If your main targets are on the list above, single rider covers most of what a paid pass would, at no cost, and it is usually fastest exactly when the main queue is worst. Paying makes sense at a park where your must-do rides have no single rider line (most parks on the site have nothing marked), or on a day so busy that the single rider lines themselves close.

The site does not track queue-skip prices, so check the park's own site on the day. What it can tell you is whether the main queue will be long enough to make either worth it: the best time to visit tool and each park's crowd calendar show the days when neither is needed.

Questions people ask

Can I use the single rider queue with a friend?

Yes, but you will ride separately. Two people in the single rider queue are two single riders, and the operator fills two different gaps with you. To sit together, use the main queue.

Is a single rider queue always quicker than the main queue?

No. It is quicker when the ride produces plenty of odd seats and the main queue is long. On a two-across coaster, or on a day when the single rider line has backed up, it can be as slow as the main queue or slower, and it can close without warning.

Does Park Queue Times show single rider wait times?

Where a park publishes a single rider wait, the live board shows it under the main queue figure and the ride page's day chart carries a separate single rider line. The site does not yet calculate a typical single rider wait for any ride, so the averages in this guide are all main queue figures.

Which UK parks have single rider queues?

On the site's list, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, with five and six rides respectively. Other UK parks may run single rider lines on some rides at some times of year, but they are not marked because the list is only extended when a line has been confirmed.