When theme park fans complain about lines being too long at the park they just visited, they’re usually referring to the amount of time they had to wait in line. And there are many tips on how to avoid waiting in long lines out there. But time is not always the most aggravating aspect of theme park queues. Often it’s the length in feet or meters from the entrance of the attraction to actually boarding the ride vehicle, not the duration, that annoys us most. Here are some examples of attractions with the longest, most aggravating walks just to get from the main midway to the loading platform.
Disney Rides
The obvious answer is to name almost any Disney attraction. Flight of Passage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is famously known for having a queue being able to hold FIVE HOURS worth of wait. Or capable of holding (1,440×5) =7,200 guests. If you don’t have a FastPass you’ll probably need to get to the park early, in which case your wait and walk to get to the attraction could look like ours did in November 2018:
But the difference is most Disney queues are highly themed environments with storytelling elements and little details to observe. For example, Space Mountain is a long walk but you can play games for portions of the wait.
Looking at aerial pictures from Bioreconstruct on Twitter, it seems the walk to get to the entrance of the Tron coaster under construction at the Magic Kingdom is going to be quite long, even longer than Space Mountain, as the station is quite a good distance from the midway. Farther than the entire Space Mountain building.
Grand Openings
You could also say the worst walks are during grand opening day events. Just recently, the opening day line for Hagrid’s at Universal’s Islands of Adventure exceeded eight hours and the line stretched all over the park.
Long Walks From the Entrance to the Station
Here’s a list of rides with some of the longest, most obnoxious walks just to go from the queue entrance to actually climbing aboard a ride vehicle.
The Bat – Kings Island
We all love Kings Island but the location of The Bat (formerly Top Gun and Flight Deck) has always had us scratching our heads. They cloned Vortex from Canada’s Wonderland (which opened two years earlier) instead of creating a mirror image that would have put the station closer to the main midway. Still, it’s only one of five remaining suspended coasters in operation so it’s worth the long walk. Plus there is rarely a lengthy wait after all that walking.
American Eagle – Six Flags Great America
The long walk to get to the station of American Eagle racing wood roller coaster at Six Flags Great America feels like going on a backstage history tour of the park. You go over old rides, onto the Dare Devil Dive platform, around Kidzopolis, over a service road and railroad tracks, up ramps, down ramps, and finally up stairs and into the station. Whew.
The Boss – Six Flags St. Louis
Another wooden roller coaster at a Six Flags park, St. Louis’ The Boss is located behind a go kart track and on the other side of railroad tracks as well.
Update 2023: the go kart tracks have been removed but it’s still a long walk to ride the Boss. Watch this if you don’t believe me.
Mind Eraser at Darien Lake
Mind Eraser at Darien Lake is isolated on it’s own on the other side of Willow Lake, though it does make for good pictures.
Dueling Dragons – Islands of Adventure
The former B&M inverted coasters were famous for having a massive and fully detailed queue, although most of the time it seems as though it wasn’t fully utilized due to the large capacity of the attraction.
Sky Screamer – Marineland
What makes the walk to get on the Sky Screamer tower at Marineland isn’t necessarily the length of the walk (although you do have to walk a long ways past nothing to get there). It’s the ride’s location: on top of a 100 foot tall man-made hill. The elevation change makes it a pain to get to the ride. At the least couldn’t they add a slide or an alpine coaster to ride to the bottom of the hill once you got off Sky Screamer?
Update: Reader Suggestions
We’ve received a lot of nominations of attractions with long walks from our readers. Here are a few rides and coasters that definitely need to be on this list:
While not a coaster, Thunder River Rapids at Lake Compounce might be the most isolated ride in the world. It’s a good 1/4-1/2 mile walk, where you have to walk the entire length of Boulder Dash and then some, just to get to the ride, where there’s no other attractions beside it! pic.twitter.com/J0sD3Te73k
— Coaster 365 ? (@Coaster365) April 24, 2020
Let’s not forget river rafting rides!White Water Canyon at Canada’s Wonderland, for example, has a five minute walk from the entrance sign to the load platform! (Yes, I’ve timed it.) pic.twitter.com/r5hQpFPDQf
— Tyler (@ty_morning_nap) April 24, 2020
International Parks
Zadra – Energylandia
Flying Dinosaur – Universal Studios Japan
These are just a couple of examples of attractions with long walks or aggregating paths to get from the midway to the load area. I’m sure there are many more prime examples. Are there any others that we missed? Let us know in the comments below.
Longest walks to ride coasters:
1. Thunderbird @Holidayworld. Uphill half mile walk to get to the queue.
2. Batman or Mr. Freeze @SF St. Louis. You wind back and forth thru empty queues that are now unnecessary.
3. Judge Roy Scream @ SF over Texas. Good luck finding the entrance to the path that leads to the queue.
Flying Dinosaur’s queue at Universal Studios Japan was said to have held a full 750 minute wait in standby on opening day, which alone is close to 16,500 people in the queue, plus express pass holders and the reported 250 min in single riders. Also said to be the longest wait for a single attraction in history. You ought to check out Flying Dino’s queue on Google Earth, those are cattle pens on steroids, and all over the place. Any queue that can hold at least 7 hours, like that queue did, is big.
-Batwing at Six Flags America is tucked pretty far back with nothing else really nearby it, you go past Superman then it’s just a long walk out to Batwing
-Twister at Knoebels is also a bit of a journey, you go straight back and then there’s a narrow bridge you go out on to get to the little area by the ride, but the queue is pretty short so it makes up for it
Six Flags St. Louis has 2 other rides with long walks from the entrance to the station. Mr Freeze and Batman the Ride. Mr Freeze you got to go across a bridge and through several zig zag to get to ride. Batman is also the same way there.
Another one I remember but has since been shortern is Roadrunner Express at SFFT. You used to have to go through several buildings below the rode to get to the station.
Not technically a coaster- but the walk to Indiana Jones attraction at Disneyland is he longest I’ve ever walked to a ride. Ever.
when Batman the ride opened at six flags great america the que area which is rather large itself was extended back behind where the old lobster renamed the east river crawler was at the time over the bridge (before both were moved recently for Joker) thru what is now Mardi Gras area and under the tracks into Orleans Place to where the bumper cars are. took half the day to get on it. haven’t seen a non disney line that bad since except for when goliath opened but that is whole other set of issues
While it’s not a coaster, Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom at Great Adventure is another attraction that takes forever to get to.
They’ve shortened it now but Screamin’ Eagle at St. Louis seemed just as long as Boss.