Disney World Confirms Single Rider is Ending at Expedition Everest
After testing a new guest grouping process for the standby line over the last several months, Animal Kingdom will soon eliminate Expedition Everest’s Single Rider line. Here are official details, what it means for other attractions at Walt Disney World with the option, winners & losers, WDW’s motivations for making the change, and more.
As basic background, Single Rider lines are offered at a handful of attractions in EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and (kinda, sorta) Magic Kingdom. All groups entering the Single Rider line will be separated prior to boarding, and seated with other parties. Single Riders are best thought of as “seat fillers” who will join other groups to prevent attractions from being dispatched with empty spots.
Although there are additional attractions with circumstantial Single Rider lines, Walt Disney World only has four attractions with dedicated Single Rider lines that are usually open: Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Test Track and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT, and (as of today) Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom.
For the last several months, Expedition Everest has been testing a new guest grouping process that measurably impacts Single Rider wait times. Guests in the regular queue are now being sorted into odd and even numbered groups. Even-numbered groups are directed to the left, odd-numbered to the right.
If you saw the last updates to our Guide to Single Rider Lines at Walt Disney World, you’re likely aware of this change. Or if you’ve visited Animal Kingdom since around mid-summer, you might’ve experienced it yourself.
This sorting happens on many other attractions (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and TRON Lightcycle Run all come to mind) and the end result is that Cast Members can fill ride vehicles more efficiently once guests reach the platform without pulling from the Single Rider line. Because odd-numbered groups are now pre-sorted, Cast Members have a sufficient supply of groups to fill gaps in ride vehicles.
This reduces the frequency with which Single Riders get called, resulting in longer wait times in the solo line as a result. As a result, there were times this summer when we saw the Single Rider line closed completely at Expedition Everest.
This often happens when either the Single Rider line is too long or the standby line is too short, and Cast Members make the call that the Single Rider line won’t offer measurable time-savings versus standby. This often happens on other attractions, as well. Most notable is probably Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, which I’ve seen closed on several occasions since the reimagining launched for precisely the same reason.
There was also some confusion last month because Walt Disney World removed the physical Single Rider sign from Expedition Everest completely, only to reinstall it less than a week later. (We were told this was routine maintenance, and purely coincidental.)
Since then, the Single Rider line has reopened, at least sporadically. It’s not always available and even when it is, it is typically. After a lengthy test of this new procedure, Walt Disney World appeared to be winding down the Single Rider line at Expedition Everest.
We now have official word that this will happen soon. Walt Disney World has confirmed with DTB that Expedition Everest will end Single Rider beginning Monday, September 21, 2026.
Walt Disney World indicated that this follows extensive and successful testing of a new loading process at Expedition Everest that resulted in lower average wait times. As a byproduct of the improved efficiency of the standby line and decrease of overall wait times, the Single Rider line no longer provided the guest experience riders have come to expect from Single Rider lines.
As of September 21, 2026, Single Rider signage at Expedition Everest will be removed, as will with the attraction’s listing on the Single Rider web and app page.
Disney also emphasized that Single Rider lines aren’t going anywhere, and this does not signal bigger-picture operational changes elsewhere. To the contrary, Single Rider lines continue to be a useful tool at select attractions to help Cast Members fill the remaining seats in a ride vehicle that aren’t occupied by guests utilizing standby lines or Lightning Lane entrances.
Our Commentary
None of this is even remotely surprising. When we last updated our Single Rider Guide during the back-and-forth of the Expedition Everest testing, our key conclusion was: “at some point, something’s gotta give.”
Either Single Rider is retired or the new sorting process is. It was (and is) pretty much an either/or proposition, as this type of sorting is much more efficient and leads to far fewer unfilled seats that would need a Single Rider in the first place.
On top of that, at least during the construction of Tropical Americas, Expedition Everest hasn’t had that long of posted standby wait times in the first place. If standby is often only ~20 minutes, it’s tough to eek out any appreciable Single Rider savings under this system.
What our previous analysis got wrong was in concluding the sorting test would end, as opposed to Single Rider. Our basis for that was that the sorting was more labor intensive, and the only other attractions that do this are ones lacking Single Rider lines.
However, we also theorized that it was possible the new sorting system was implemented because there wasn’t a steady stream of Single Riders to fill the gaps, and that the efficiency gains are sufficient to justify the labor cost. There have been times in the last couple of years when I’ve moseyed on up to a totally empty Single Rider line, and was on Expedition Everest in (quite literally) seconds, not even minutes.
None of those occasions have been this summer since testing began. Granted, I only tried it twice, but it moved glacially slow both times. And I understand the underlying basis for that, as grouping by odds and evens means the Cast Members at load can easily pair groups that will maximize efficiency.
In terms of winners and losers here, the obvious loser is guests who utilized the Single Rider line.
That is people like me! Selfishly, I’m incredibly disappointed to lose Single Rider on Expedition Everest. It’s an attraction Sarah does not ride, and was one of the few thrill rides I could “duck into real quick” even when visiting with all three of us. They took a bathroom break, I rode Everest, everybody was done at the same time (and not because they loiter in the restrooms). Huge win!
I won’t be able to do that any longer, so my options are earlier in the day, later in the evening, or buying Lightning Lane Multi-Pass for Animal Kingdom. (Something I would never do.) Suffice to say, I’m really looking forward to the day when Megatron is taller, as she’s already a blossoming thrill seeker and the tables are really going to turn on what we do.
The big winner is everyone in the standby line.
Walt Disney World’s contentions about lower average wait times and improved operational efficiency of the standby line are not PR spin. If you look back at the last update to our Single Ride Guide, that’s precisely why we theorized this test was happening. There’s a staffing cost to this, as guests cannot (reliably) sort themselves into odds and evens. Accordingly, Disney would not be doing this unless there were sufficient satisfaction and efficiency gains to offset the cost.
The thing is that lower average wait times and improved efficiency are more of abstractions. A guest getting into the Expedition Everest standby line on September 21st and waiting 16.73 minutes is not going to comprehend the counterfactual of a 18.28 minute wait time (made up numbers) under the Single Rider line system.
They won’t cheer the change, as they don’t know that their experience improved measurably in the first place. By contrast, there is something tangible about the loss of Single Rider, and the vocal minority (as clearly evidenced by the low waits) of us how leverage the line will be disappointed by its loss.
Zooming out, though, it’s safe to say that guest satisfaction increases as wait times decrease. So even if the beneficiaries don’t realize they’re winners, they feel it in their bones or whatever.
Beyond this, I’d assume there will be the usual cynicism that Walt Disney World is making the change to sell more Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. This is a safe bet since we see it whenever queueing changes are made. Adding virtual queues, removing virtual queues, including or excluding attractions from Early Entry, etc.
As with all of those examples, my take here is that Lightning Lane sales are a non-factor. Most guests who purchase Multi-Pass are not doing it on the basis of one Single Rider line; most probably don’t know it exists in the first place. There are outliers (and I’m a perfect example of this), but we are usually higher knowledge guests and the likelihood of buying Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Animal Kingdom is still incredibly low.
It absolutely does not move the needle for me. There’s no way I’d buy LLMP at DAK. It’s just a complete no-go until Tropical Americas opens. It should not change things for you, either. I know this is a point we’ve belabored, but Multi-Pass is not necessary at Animal Kingdom except when Park Hopping or visiting during like the 4 busiest weeks of the year. You’re better off buying Lightning Lane Single Pass for Avatar Flight of Passage than LLMP for the remainder of the rides.
Even beyond this change not moving the needle meaningfully on Lightning Lane sales, we can pretty easily look to Walt Disney World’s actions as fairly conclusive.
In less than the last 2 years, they’ve added Single Rider to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and (sometimes) Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. They’ve brought it back at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets and Test Track.
If there were some concerted effort to eliminate Single Rider and push guests towards purchasing Lightning Lanes, Disney is executing it terribly. Suffice to say, we can probably take the explanation at face value here, and believe them when they say that Single Rider continues to be a valuable tool for improving efficiency elsewhere.
More broadly, we will once again reiterate that we’re huge advocates of the Single Rider line. It can cut wait times dramatically for those who are willing to separate from their parties. This is great for thrill seekers who want to loop Test Track, which remains my favorite Single Rider line at Walt Disney World.
Single Rider is also beneficial for those who do not use it. For example, after the initial novelty of having a cockpit to yourself on Smugglers Run wears off, you’ll likely discover that the ride experience is much better with a full crew, thanks to the collective energy of the experience.
Most importantly, Single Rider also increases attraction efficiency and that means shorter wait times for everyone. If seats go unfilled, that increases wait times. If Single Rider lines aren’t offered, those guests will instead be in the standby lines. I’d love if more attractions had Single Rider lines–they’re the rare “everyone wins” offering at Walt Disney World.
I mention this because we’ve seen a shocking amount of backlash towards Single Rider lines, and some fans thinking it’s a “cheat” to skip the line. While it can be an issue when dishonest pairs in the Single Rider line try to ride together (Cast Members thankfully shut that down), there’s value for everyone in the Single Rider system as a whole. For precisely the same reason why the sorting system is a win for everyone.
With that said, Single Rider lines aren’t all upside for guests using them. There are tradeoffs.
Every Single Rider line skips a portion of the queue. Expedition Everest has one of the very best lines at Walt Disney World, and we think that’s seeing at least once. Of course, we’re also theme park fans and not simply thrill seekers, so your mileage may vary on that. (The Single Rider line that skips the least worthwhile queue is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.)
Then there’s the Single Rider line at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. In addition to skipping a major part of the queue and pre-show, you’re almost guaranteed to be the Engineer. While the attraction as a whole is interactive, that’s only nominally true of the Engineer. I usually just watch when I’m in that role, as it’s practically pointless. My perspective is that everyone should do Smugglers Run via the standby line or Lightning Lane at least once before trying Single Rider.
Ultimately, it’s disappointing for those of us who love to loop Single Rider lines as an easy time-saving trick to lose one of them. Arguably the best one of them in all of Walt Disney World! So selfishly, I’m disappointed that this test was deemed a ‘success’ and is going to be made permanent. At the same time, it’s hard to argue with a more efficient and shorter standby line for everyone.
More broadly, if you’ve never used them, we recommend the remaining Single Rider lines. They can be a great way to save time waiting at Walt Disney World. They can mean not having to deal with long standby lines or ‘wasting’ a Lightning Lane Multi Pass selection on certain attractions. Just be warned that you can also get unlucky and end up not saving much time (Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is the poster child for this); it’s difficult to predict since wait times often are not posted on Single Rider lines.
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Your Thoughts
Thoughts on Expedition Everest eliminating Single Rider? Disappointed that you won’t be able to use it anymore, or pleased about the efficiency gains for everyone? Have you used Single Rider lines at Walt Disney World? Have you had generally good or bad experiences with them? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Very disappointing. Was the best single rider lane IMO. Yes the queue is amazing but if you’ve seen it multiple times single rider was the jam. Like you Tom, I would get on within seconds almost all of the time with SR.
I think single rider lines are one of Disney’s best ideas in a long time and I think they should have more of them not less. Also, I love the single rider line at Remy, it’s a game changer.
Best idea for who? Disneys largest and most important demographic is families with young children. How do they benefit from the single rider line?
I’m confused – if the new sorting process at EE increases efficiency and eliminates the need for Single Rider, why are they emphasizing that Single Rider isn’t going anywhere and adding it to other rides? Why wouldn’t they be looking to implement this new process at other rides that have Single Rider?
Don’t get me wrong – I adore Single Rider, especially at Disneyland, where I can basically loop almost all of my favorite rides as long as crowds are moderate or less.
There either isn’t the space to sort like this in other queues because they don’t have splits in the appropriate places or because Single Rider offers sufficient efficiency. (Maybe there are other reasons, but those are what comes to mind.)
Sorting requires more staffing, so whatever gains there are have to offset that cost. At Everest, apparently they do.
Single rider at Everest was the best. I once rode Everest 20 times in two and a half hours going as a single rider.
A real loss for single riders. I was able to go for a quick snack while my daughter went through the single rider line for this ride. I don’t really want to wait in a line for nothing, but I don’t want her to have to wait by herself for a ride either. I guess we will take turns.
Couldn’t agree more with the comments above about Remy. When I saw the headline of the email today, I got excited thinking that single order was ending for Remy. Alas! There are certain rides where single riders don’t matter, Smugglers Run being the best example. If Disney wants to allow a couple people to guarantee that they’ll be engineers and sit in the back, that doesn’t matter to me and my family of four. However, being forced to sit with two random strangers on Remy—a ride that is not a thrill ride but all about vibes—absolutely kills those vibes. Further, the cast members working that ride are extremely militant about forcing those single riders into your car. I’m not exaggerating to say that the addition of the single rider line to that ride took it from one of our favorites to one we now consider skipping. I understand that Disney looks at a lot of these things based on analytics and park operations, but they need to recognize that certain rides that have designated seats, like Smugglers Run or Test Track, are much better suited to a single rider than a ride like Remy, which can only fit three people if one or more of those people as a child. Claiming that three adults fit in a bench there is an absolute joke, and I’m not excited about being crammed next to a hot and sweaty stranger.
That is awesome they are ending the rider. That never should’ve been a thing at a Disney park anyway. Maybe it makes sense at more adult oriented parks like Cedar Point but no one wants some creepy adult in the single rider line sitting with their kids
The alternative isn’t an empty seat, it’s two odd parties being seated next to one another. So if you’re a party of 3, your odd will be paired with another odd from a party of 3 or 5.
I’ve been a Single Rider or sat with a Single Rider on hundreds (if not thousands) of occasions. The vast majority of the time, especially on thrill rides, it’s just someone going solo whose family couldn’t do a more intense attraction. Pretty easy to learn this with a quick “hello” followed by a “where are you from? have you ever done this ride before?” (My go-to lines as a truly world-class conversationalist.)
I can absolutely see the argument against Single Rider on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (as others have made here), but not thrill rides.
Trust me, none of us very creepy solo-riders want to be sitting with your kid, either.
Wow. You realize right that MANY adults go to Disney without children? People live nearby and go to Disney after work, people go while they are in Orlando for a conference, etc, etc. People also use single rider even when they are groups of 2 or 3 and they don’t mind being seated as singles because it means a quicker wait. Stop projecting your insecurities or fears onto others who are just at Disney for wholesome fun.
Yeah I realize the alternative isn’t an empty seat. If we are a family of 5 and there is another family of 5 then I’d expect the oldest kids from each party to sit together, on a ride like Everest. That would be fine, and probably fun for them. I’ve done the single rider many times and had people ride with my family from it, and it’s totally different. Most single riders are not 10 year old kids disconnected from their family. They are creepy childless adults or teenagers. No reason those folks should be sitting with my kids. Disney just needs to kill single rider all together
If you have at least one adult in your odd numbered party, then an adult can be the one that sits next to the single rider if that is your concern. When I ride Guardians of the Galaxy with my two daughters (my wife doesn’t like thrill rides), I always have them ride together while I am paired with a member of another party.
Now that my son has left for college, I am the only member of my family that enjoys Everest. Using the single rider line doesn’t make me a creepy adult, just someone who loves the ride and doesn’t have others in my party. It allowed me to ride the ride without being separated from my family for an extended period of time. As Tom pointed out, the efficiency that created was a win-win for everyone. The standby line was shorter without solo riders mixed in.
Well, it takes a lot of peer pressure to get me to ride Expedition Everest, so I won’t miss the Single Rider option for this one.
Hahaha! Sarah’s take–at least before we had our daughter–would’ve been the opposite.
She’ll wait in line with me for attractions that don’t have SR before taking the chicken exit, but her response was always “go have fun by yourself” with Everest. I’m honestly not even sure she was using the restroom. She can put down ice cream fast, and the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck is right there. Hmmm. Maybe this change will be worse for her than for me…
You don’t do anything when you’re the engineer? So YOU’RE the one messing up my scores…
I wish they would eliminate single riders on remy- had a guy awkwardly sit with my family and myself and it killed the vibe.
Like single riders should be alone in back of rat with a party of two in front
I totally agree James. Two adults and a child might fit in a seat, but there is no way 3 regular size adults fit, but we’ve had CA’s become quite stern with their demand that a 3 person join our car when there physically isn’t enough space.
James I wonder if they’re testing something with remy as my husband and I were not given a single rider when we rode earlier this month even though some were waiting. I actually thought they might have only been adding single riders to one side where the rats were loading. On another note it is super awkward to be sat with another party on the bench style seats. They forced my husband and I to sit with 2 other full on adult strangers on MMRR and on that ride you absolutely slide all over the place we had to try not to slide into the other group. We have never been forced to sit with others on that ride. I hope this was just an error by those cast members trying to move a line for a ride that was closed earlier..still don’t think they should’ve done it
Tom, do you foresee the end of single rider lines for other rides such as Remi and Test Track?
“ Then there’s the Single Rider line at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. In addition to skipping a major part of the queue and pre-show, you’re almost guaranteed to be the Engineer. While the attraction as a whole is interactive, that’s only nominally true of the Engineer. I usually just watch when I’m in that role, as it’s practically pointless. My perspective is that everyone should do Smugglers Run via the standby line or Lightning Lane at least once before trying Single Rider.”
Quick thought on this point is that -purely in my anecdotal experience- you’re almost guaranteed to get the engineer role even in the regular line, as a solo or couple. So might as well save time in single rider, seemingly, for that attraction!
Good point! I’d stop short of saying guaranteed, but it’s definitely more likely. Maybe 75% of the time, at least at WDW. (A lot lower at DLR due to guest demographics.)
It’s also the case that, even though the double rider line test has ended (for now?), a couple in the Single Rider line will be in the same cockpit at least 50% of the time. Don’t go that route if it truly matters, but it’s super common.
I will also add an anecdote – we were willing to do the engineer position as a couple from the regular line (had done the ride multiple times before, and the two behind us seemed like first-timers so we were offering to swap.) We did not realize that they joined us from single-rider and the cast member strongly suggested that you could not swap with them because they were single riders. I follow cast member instructions so we kept our gunner seats, but thought it was interesting that they were enforcing that.
I was at AK Saturday, rode Everest 5 times in 30 minutes thanks to Single Rider – each time I was the only person in the SR queue and walked right on a train… pouring one out…
“…each time I was the only person in the SR queue and walked right on a train…”
I’ve also had this happen many times and it, unfortunately, probably explains the sorting change. Probably much bigger efficiency gains to be had via that than SR.
But at the same time, it also means that–at least in theory–Single Rider could return to Expedition Everest once the park is more popular and there’s the potential to fill the queue a bit more. It’s still the cheaper option from a staffing perspective!
I’m with you on being sad about this, Tom. I can’t remember the last time I was in the regular queue for EE! Even during Christmas-New Years week I don’t think I waited longer than 10 minutes in the single rider line. As you said, it is at least one of the best queues at WDW (you could argue EE, Kali, FoP are top 3 at WDW), so something fun to look at. Or maybe hit Everest during Early Entry and just loop it a few times while everyone else does Pandora.
“Or maybe hit Everest during Early Entry and just loop it a few times while everyone else does Pandora.”
I did this recently, and it was glorious. Unfortunately, my body hit its limit before I came anywhere close to reaching the real limit in terms of wait times.
I can see that. We did this a few years ago with my daughter – I was probably about exactly your age. My wife only rode once, but I made it 5x in a row before I had to tap out. that number has probably since gone down.