Nobody loves waiting for hours in line at theme parks, even though sometimes the queue is part of an attraction worth seeing like GOTG: Cosmic Rewind. Yet, considering the millions of people that visit them every year, it’s basically impossible to avoid them. Of course, there's also nobody that likes it when someone jumps the line or when a large group decides to jump in front of you. To that point, a recent viral video from of Epcot’s Soarin’ Around the World has theme park fans discussing not simply the footage itself (which is a whole can of worms) but the proper procedure for handing lines.
The video went viral on TikTok, and it shows a group of young people moving up the queue to get with a friend who is in line. When somebody objected to the large group that was shifting up, the expletives flew. Eventually, Disney World security got involved, and the group left the line, though exactly what happened at that point is unclear. A repost of the video on Twitter (or X) is below. Also be warned, that there's some NSFW language here:
Imagine behaving like this at DISNEY WORLD. In front of little kids. What the hell is wrong with people??? pic.twitter.com/nqnxlyZu9sDecember 14, 2023
While there's certainly one conversation to have about the behavior of the group, there's arguably another in regards the ethics of holding space in the line specifically. Some are as upset that people would jump ahead in line, as they were the test of the situation. Several fans are talking about experiences they’ve had where people were “saving space” for others for as much as an hour.
A lot of the responses convey very zero-tolerance attitudes in regard holding space. Room is left for people who are in line to return to their spot due to a restroom emergency or something along those lines. Others feel that in some cases, such as the need to deal with small children, there should be some allowances made.
Certainly, a lot of Disney World’s wait times can get crazy, and you might get in line fully expecting to be able to be there the whole time, only to find that a bathroom is calling or something else is forcing you out. It would certainly be frustrating to have to wait so long and not even get to ride the attraction.
And in many cases, holding space doesn’t delay anybody. Depending on the attraction, a single person might take up an entire ride vehicle that three or four people could fit in. So adding those couple extra bodies doesn’t change the math. But in many cases it does, so it’s understandable that people would disagree.
I'd like to think that most would almost certainly agree that, regardless of the line-skipping situation, the behavior of the group above is uncalled for. We’ve seen disagreements over queues result in brawls and arrests, and it’s just good that those didn’t happen here, as that would have only made the situation worse.
