A Virtual Solution to Long Lines

If there’s anything worse to endure than Anaheim’s traffic, it has to be the lines at theme park attractions--thousands of customers, boredom turning to annoyance, cooling their heels instead of enjoying themselves and spending money on food and souvenirs.

Now Disney, as always a pioneer in such matters, is trying out “virtual queuing” at some Florida attractions--a time-saver that could spread to its other parks if it proves successful.

The tests give park-goers two options: waiting in the regular line or feeding their tickets into automated machines at the attraction. Out of the machine come printouts specifying an hourlong window of time during which the customer can return later and stand in a shorter line.

Kevin Yee, a former Disneyland employee, boarded the Space Mountain roller coaster with virtually no delay when he visited the Magic Kingdom in Florida recently. The concept is not new--Universal Studios officials say it’s long been talked about at “blue sky” discussions of improving that company’s parks. But Disney apparently is the first company to try it out on customers.

Walt Disney World publicist Rick Sylvain called it an “intriguing experiment” with the summer crush approaching, but added: “I want to stress: This is a test. This is only a test.” Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez said virtual queues won’t be tested at the Anaheim park but could eventually be used there if they work out in Florida.

E. Scott Reckard covers tourism for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com.