Entitled Guest at Disney World Sparks Controversy by Demanding Exclusive Ride Access

A Walt Disney World Resort guest found herself in a messy situation when a fellow rider tried to kick her out of Expedition Everest. The Disney’s Animal Kingdom roller coaster is one of the few Disney Park attractions with a single rider line, which helps reduce wait times.

Besides the Tree of Life, Expedition Everest is the icon of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Located in Asia between “Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… And Beyond” and Kali River Rapids, the roller coaster is best known for its mountainous appearance and iconic Yeti animatronic. It’s one of the only Walt Disney World Resort thrill rides that go forward and backward!

“After a steep ascent, your train picks up speed and races into the darkness,” Walt Disney World Resort writes of the ride. “Without warning, a broken and twisted track appears in front of you. Brace yourself as you plummet backward into total darkness. Inside the cavern, the mythical tale comes true as you see the shadow of a massive, growling beast! Race to escape the cursed mountain—before the Yeti claims another expedition.”

Kristy (@mickeygurutravel on TikTok) visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom in January and joined the single rider line for Expedition Everest. She was surprised when she was paired with a woman who was also alone but waited in the standby queue. Some guests do this to request the front row or because they didn’t know about the shorter line, but neither of those situations applied.

@mickeygurutravel

Disney Karen… That’s NOT how any of this works. #disneyanimalkingdom #disneypark #disneyparks #karensinthewild

♬ original sound – Kristy: Family Travel Expert

“I just had the wildest thing happen to me on Expedition Everest,” Kristy began. “I’m kind of speechless. So I’m in the single rider line, minding my business. Get up to the front. This woman gets up to the front of the regular line. The cast member says, ‘How many?’ And she said, ‘One.’”

“So she sent her to row 17, sent me to row 17,” she continued. “The lady turned around and said, ‘Oh, no. I’m riding by myself. You can’t be here.’”

“They put me here,” Kristy replied. “I’m a single rider.”

“I’m a single rider, and I got in that other line so that I could go all by myself so I wouldn’t be put with some stranger,” her seatmate responded.

“I just kind of looked at her for a second, and I was like, ‘Is this real life?” Kristy said. “And then I said, ‘Well, that’s not how this works. They put single riders with people that are either parties of three, parties of five, that kind of thing, to make it an even number.”

“She turned to me, pulled her sunglasses down like this, and said, ‘I’m riding by myself. You need to go somewhere else,’” she continued. “Please. What?”

A Disney cast member overheard the conversation and approached to diffuse the situation. She told the irate guest the same thing Kristy had: “That’s not how this works… She’s riding with you.”

But this “Disney Karen” wasn’t having it.

“The lady slammed her bag on her arm and took off,” Kristy concluded. “What even was that? …You get in a single rider, and you just get told by a Karen, ‘No, get out.’ I don’t know where she went now, but I kind of wish there were more single rider queues around here that I could try to hook up with her.”

Have you ever used the single rider line at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios? 

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