Credit: DisneyWe’ve all been there. Waiting in line for over an hour, impatiently waiting your turn to ride the attraction you’ve been looking forward to all day. As you get closer the excitement and anticipation outweigh the heat, sweat, and exhaustion you’ve been dealing with while inching slowly closer toward the entrance. And then suddenly you’re there!
And immediately-more disappointment when you realize you’re no longer in a line, you’re now crowded into a massive room with dozens of other people who will fight each other to be the first one out as soon as the doors open. Your place in line no longer matters. There is no law, there are no rules now. It’s every Guest for themselves. Welcome to the Disney pre-show room/dump room/”queue moshpit” as Reddit user u/Delta013 calls it in a recent thread posted to the site.
“What’s with all these new rides having dump rooms in the middle of the queue?Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railway, and Cosmic Rewind are the examples I can think of off the top of my head. I think they’re dangerous because everyone is so afraid of being cut by at most, 30 people, that they stampede in like it’s Black Friday. What are possible benefits to these queues that justify using them so much?”
Haunted Mansion, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror are just a few other examples of attractions that have “pre-show” rooms. And Disney isn’t alone. Universal has Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, just to name a few.
While they do serve a purpose in theory, helping Guests feel like they’ve made it to the the ride while breaking up the line and the crowd, it can definitely feel like a letdown when you realize you still have more to go and now you’re at the back of the line.
Flight of Passage and Soarin’ also have a form of “dump room” but they direct Guests to stand on specific numbers in an effort to maintain some sort of order and line formation. It can be hectic as dozens of Guests try to beat each other in a race to be the first out the door and into the next queue. As u/Ok_Status_8774 says, “I HATE these pre ride dump rooms. Biggest pet peeve at Disney. Just let people wait in a normal line don’t make us have to awkwardly try and merge together.”
“I really dislike GotG rooms I feel like herded cattle,” complains u/purplecow9191 while u/NakDisNut describes it as “a chaos stampede to get through the next door first.” While the rooms most likely make sense from an Imagineering angle, it’s understandable why Guests don’t like it. Next time you go to Disney or Universal, just be prepared to wait a little longer than the listed wait time.
Do you like the additional theming or hate the rush of the “queue moshpit?” Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic!