Walt Disney World has confirmed that the single rider line at Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest will be closing. The popular line for solo travelers, adult groups, or people who want a break from their families (mostly kidding) has been in flux at the attraction for months thanks to a different loading procedure of getting guests into the ride vehicles. In this post, we’ll share more about the news and add our commentary.

Expedition Everest’s single rider line was a gift for many years, both strategically and on a personal level. The latter comes from Melissa loving roller coasters slightly more than I do. We’d typically ride Everest together once, followed by us both going through the single rider line separately but together. A lot of the time we’d get lucky and end up sitting together, or at least within a few rows of each other, going that route. Once that was done, I’d go off to take some photos while Melissa would circle back around for the single rider line another 3 or 4 (or 10) times.

This became an end of the day tradition at Animal Kingdom, and one we think of fondly thanks to the lack of time spent in line in between riding a great coaster! I might not have the stomach or bravery to ride Everest over and over again, but Melissa would be happy to do just that any day of the week. And she did!

With that nostalgia seeping in, you might think I’m totally against this change. I’m happy to say that isn’t the case. Earlier this year, Animal Kingdom started working on a new loading procedure for Expedition Everest. Calling it new might be disingenuous because plenty of other attractions use this system. As you get closer to the ride vehicles, Cast Members split groups into 2 lines. One of those lines is filled with even numbered groups and one is filled with odd numbered groups.

From there, loading the ride vehicles becomes much easier. Instead of having a group of 2 followed by 3 and then adding a single rider, this system (theoretically) lets Cast Members pull from the odd groups whenever there’s a seat open. It’s a smart system that is generally efficient! We’ve noticed this being used at Tron: Lightcycle Run, Epcot’s Cosmic Rewind, and a few other rides.

In theory, this system also does away with the need for single rider lines because there should hardly ever be a seat left open. And that’s exactly what Walt Disney World has said about the decision to close the line. Single rider at Expedition Everest used to move quickly but now takes longer than guests anticipate.

The official closing date of Everest’s single rider line is September 21st but it’s availability has already come and gone for the last few months. We noticed in the summer, more during our July visit than our May visit, that the single rider line was closed more often than it was open despite the sign for the line still being up. Having an official closing is definitely preferrable to not know if it’s open or closed.

As I said, we’re mostly happy with this change in procedure. While we take advantage of single rider lines when they’re offered, we don’t think they should be an emphasis for family-centric parks. Having a line load as efficiently as possible for the most amount of people should be the priority. That Expedition Everest had the existing infrastructure to implement this system made it an easy choice.

The only question I have about the single rider line being permanently closed is whether the line actually closed due to inefficiency or because of staffing. Yes, the new loading system should theoretically do away with needing a single rider line but what happens on paper doesn’t always match reality. One group can get backed way up while the other is short on numbers and all of a sudden some single riders would stream through the line.

It’s most likely that the new loading system makes the single rider line less efficient AND Disney is using that as a way to not have to staff a single rider line. Again, we could just call this optimizing efficiency and it wouldn’t be wrong. Now that the coaster is going to the sorting by odds and evens process, the single rider line became redundant.

Walt Disney World has said that the move to retire this single rider line will not impact any other single rider lines. We’re thankful for that, personally. I love being able to utilize these and we write them into itineraries when we see them as highly efficient. Lowering wait times of standby lines should always be the priority but it is a bummer for those of us who like to use single rider. Melissa was rather disappointed when I told her the news.

In the big picture, everyone waiting in the standby line for Everest has their wait cut down by a minute or two and that tradeoff came at the expense of a very low percentage of guests. We don’t mind that but will miss the fun Everest’s single rider line allowed us! What’s good for the majority is good for all? I’m not sure Melissa would agree in this case but it probably does make Animal Kingdom more efficient in the long run.

What do you think of Animal Kingdom getting rid of Expedition Everest’s single rider line? Let us know your thoughts or any questions you might have in the comments below. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guidet o help you out. For those looking for discount Disney World tickets, this site has you covered. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!