Stop Looking at Your Phone and Pay Attention Here!

Before his death, Jimmy Buffett lamented in a song that “everybody’s on the phone.”

That’s especially true at Walt Disney World, as your phone handles most of your needs.

You can validate admission, order food, and pay for merchandise via a smartphone.

Most usefully, you can monitor the wait times for other attractions and book Lightning Lane reservations, if that’s your preference.

In short, you’ll be on your phone constantly, which causes an issue.

Imagineers spend countless hours perfecting the attraction line queues for all your favorites.

You’re missing a lot of that Imagineering excellence when you’re staring at your phone. So, where should you look up?

Here’s a list of nine places where you should stop looking at your phone and pay attention.

Avatar Flight of Passage

You’ll have plenty of time to admire the view as you explore this line queue.

Even on a good day, Avatar Flight of Passage typically requires an hour-long wait, something Disney knew ahead of time.

So, Imagineers have populated the line to tell a story about the history of Pandora.

You’re entering a giant facility that has been many things over the years.

First, you’ll enter the vast cavern society native to Pandora’s underground.

Later, the scientists from the Resources Development Administration (RDA) had mined these fertile caverns.

Concrete walls eventually give way to overgrown flora, as this is the abandoned area once the RDA left.

Finally, you’ll reach the new science labs that Alpha Centauri Expeditions has reactivated to host tours of Pandora.

Along the way, you’ll also witness one of the remarkable Pandoran avatars in all its eight feet of splendor.

This line queue is arguably the best detailed and unquestionably the one with the best story in Disney history.

Put down your phone and admire each new area! You’ll have plenty of time to glance back at your phone once you’re done.

Frozen Ever After

I wrote this article early in the pandemic right after I’d visited Disney.

With virtually nobody at EPCOT on that day, I had plenty of time to explore this Imagineering adventure, and it’s spectacular.

Disney tells a story here. The setting is the first-ever Summer Snow Day Celebration in honor of Queen Elsa.

You’ll encounter several of the most famous sites from Frozen, including Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post.

In fact, when you aren’t staring at your phone, you may notice Oaken peeking through the sauna to say hello!

Since you’re in a kind of survivalist store, you’ll find plenty of pickaxes and snow shoes for hiking and foraging.

Later, you’ll enter Arendelle, a village Imagineers have created as the backdrop for your mountain view.

You’ll enjoy the same perspective Elsa did as she belted out her classic anthem, “Let It Go.”

Then, once you’re on the ride, you’ll watch the queen perform a live show.

However, if you didn’t pay attention to the line theming, it won’t have quite the same impact. The queue accentuates the story.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

That statement applies to Cosmic Rewind as well. Disney built an entire pavilion for this particular attraction.

According to the theming, you’re visiting the Wonders of Xandar pavilion, a tourist exchange program wherein you learn about the planet’s culture.

For Marvel fans, this entire experience is tantamount to a comic book springing to life.

You’ll learn about the history of Xandar as well as its significant players. And yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy play a key role, too.

The displays and projections available here imbue Xandar with its own distinct backdrop, and the planetarium section is magical.

In fact, my criticism of the Lightning Lane option is that you miss too much of the queue that way!

Haunted Mansion

You should know this one by now, but I’m here to remind you of the obvious.

Disney has created one of the most innovative attraction queues ever at Haunted Mansion.

Everyone focuses on the musical instruments you can play while you’re standing in line, but there’s much more than that.

For example, did you realize there’s a murder mystery puzzle awaiting your solution?

Yes, that’s but one of many delightfully menacing touches you’ll find when you pay attention while standing in line.

Sure, you probably read the funny tombstones, but that’s just the cherry on top of everything that comes before it.

Oh, and I could argue that The Stretching Room is part of the line queue as well. Nothing else we discuss today could ever top that!

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Some mad genius at Disney had the ultimate idea for a theme park wiener.

That’s the industry term for a visual landmark so distinctive that people use it as a directional map.

I mean examples like “Turn left at Cinderella Castle” or “Go straight past Spaceship Earth.”

At Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney built a complete life-sized replica of the actual Millennium Falcon, thereby fulfilling multi-generational fanboy fantasies.

As you walk through the Millennium Falcon, you cannot do much as it’s largely a “Look, don’t touch” queue until the final room.

That’s probably the smart approach with Star Wars fans, but it still gives them insights into the inner workings of a beloved starcraft.

Eventually, you’ll reach the crown jewel of the line queue, the hangout area of the Millennium Falcon, complete with game board and comfy sofa.

And I just glossed over the Hondo Ohnaka part because I view it as part of the attraction, not the queue.

So, you can see how much there is to notice while you’re standing in line waiting for your turn in the cockpit.

Peter Pan’s Flight

The very idea of Peter Pan fixates on Tinker Bell and his magical abilities, which they share with the Darling children.

Imagineers took that idea and turned it into something literal when Peter Pan’s Flight added interactive elements a few years ago.

Now, Tinker Bell playfully visits the kids at their home and performs all kinds of interactive tricks.

She’ll flit from spot to spot in the room, performing mercurial magic while she travels.

So, globes and lights shimmer with light, and a chest opens sans human touch.

You can also wave your arms and trigger visual effects like ringing bells or playing with butterflies.

This line queue represents Imagineering at its most whimsical.

I love it so much that I hate booking a Lightning Lane here. It causes me to miss all the fun!

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue!

Here’s a line queue that doesn’t receive enough praise nowadays.

That tends to happen with older attractions, as fans start to take them for granted.

However, in its own way, Star Tours provides more detail than Millennium Falcon, and I can prove it. Here, watch this video:

When’s the last time you thought about the Starspeeder hiding in plain sight in this line queue?

Well, you know it, and you should have recalled its presence because of this toy.

Yes, the Starspeeder 3000 toy that has sold for more than $1,000 on eBay is visible at the three-minute mark of the above video.

When you pause that same video (or screenshot it), you’ll notice R2-D2 and C-3PO visible in your line of sight.

That sort of attention to detail defines Imagineering, so while I realize you’ve seen this one many times before, it’s worth a second look.

TRON Lightcycle / Run

Let’s acknowledge three things. 1) Jeff Bridges is among the world’s greatest living actors. 2) David Warner was a terrific villain. 3) Tron is a bad movie.

Now, we can enjoy bad movies. In fact, I’ve made a career out of it. But let’s still be honest that Tron wasn’t great in the 1980s and REALLY doesn’t hold up.

People love the film because it’s so shiny and stylish, and that’s why fans supported the franchise enough to justify a sequel, Tron: Legacy.

This seems like a good time to burn all bridges and emphatically state that Tron: Legacy is a bad movie, too.

I want to love it, and I’ve shown off many a new HDTV by playing the film. It’s just lacking in story.

Why I use Tron: Legacy to test televisions is the splashy 4K look of it. And that’s the selling point of the TRON line queue.

You may not realize this, but many of TRON’s distinctive visuals are stylized silicon chips, cementing the theme that you’re a program inside the system.

As with the films, I’d argue that the story here barely even matters, even though there is one.

Instead, you should grab your phone and snap as many pictures as possible of the visually unique backdrop.

TRON’s strength is also its primary selling point. It’s absolutely breathtaking to behold.

As a human being, you’re naturally attracted to anything shiny.

This place is theme park nirvana for shiny, pretty things. Embrace it!

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