Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
too rigid need a serious reality check. Yes, they are structured, but they save you
mountains of time! RELAX and use the touring plans if you are going during a busy
partoftheyear.Notonlywillitsaveyouthetimethatyouarespendingcomplaining
about the plans in the first place, but it will also save you the complaining you will
be doing when you are in line for Space Mountain for 90 minutes!
A family of six from Sacramento, California:
The
Unofficial Guide
was a godsend! I was not so sure how the touring plans would
work,buttheywentoverandbeyondmyexpectations.WewenttoDisneylandduring
spring break, a very busy time, very crowded, and we hardly spent any time at all in
lines for rides (as long as we stuck to the touring plans)! At one point we would get
off a ride and get right on another. We did six rides within a half hour. This trip was
the first time EVER that my family and I got to do everything we wanted at Disney-
land!
WHAT'S A QUEUE?
ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT COMMONLY
used in the United States, queue (pronounced “cue”)
is the universal English word for a line, such as one in which you wait to cash a check
at the bank or to board a ride at a theme park. There's a mathematical area of spe-
cialization within the field of operations research called queuing theory, which stud-
ies and models how lines work. Because the Unofficial Guide draws heavily on this
discipline, we use some of its terminology. In addition to the noun, the verb
to queue
means “to get in line,” and a queuing area is a waiting area that accommodates a line.
When guests decline to join a queue because they perceive the wait to be too long,
they are said to balk.
TOURING PLANS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY WORK
We followed your plans to the letter—which at times was troublesome to the dad in
ourparty …somewhat akin to testing the strength of your marriage by wallpapering
together!
—Unofficial Guide reader and mother of two from Milford, Connecticut
WHEN WE INTERVIEWED DISNEYLAND VISITORS
who toured the theme park(s) on slow
days, they invariably waxed eloquent about the sheer delight of their experience.
When we questioned visitors who toured on moderate or busy days, however, they
talked at length about the jostling crowds and how much time they stood in line. What
a shame, they said, that so much time and energy are spent fighting crowds in a place
as special as Disneyland.
