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Disney Confirms Expedition Everest's Single Rider Line Ends for Good After September 20, Because the Standby Line Got Faster
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Disney Confirms Expedition Everest's Single Rider Line Ends for Good After September 20, Because the Standby Line Got Faster

Michael Travels
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Solo riders, you have one weekend left. The Single Rider line at Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is being retired for good, Disney World has confirmed, and the reason is a little unusual: the regular standby line got efficient enough that Single Rider no longer delivered what solo riders expect from it.

According to WDW News Today and BlogMickey, both reporting Friday morning, Single Rider will no longer be offered at the Animal Kingdom coaster starting Monday, September 21. BlogMickey puts it plainly: Sunday, September 20 is the last day the option runs.

Expedition Everest's snowcapped rockwork mountain at Disney's Animal Kingdom under a cloudy sky, with a train on the elevated track and the ride's track disappearing into a tunnel in the mountain

Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Photo: WDW News Today

Why Disney is pulling it

As WDW News Today relays it, Disney says a new loading process was tested successfully earlier this year and resulted in lower average wait times. Once the standby line started moving more efficiently, Disney says, "the single rider line no longer provided the experience guests have come to expect from single rider lines." (That line is WDW News Today's wording of Disney's explanation; neither outlet published a Disney statement word for word.)

BlogMickey ties that to a change it had already been tracking. Earlier this summer it reported that Everest's standby queue had switched to odds and evens boarding, with guests split into two groups ahead of the load platform. That leaves Cast Members with pairs already lined up to plug empty seats, which is the job Single Rider used to do. "The operational need for a Single Rider backfill line nearly disappeared as a result," the outlet wrote. BlogMickey also observed back then that the Single Rider line, when it ran at all, opened for just a few minutes in any given hour.

What changes on Monday

  • WDW News Today reports that the Single Rider signs at Everest come down for good on September 21.
  • BlogMickey says Everest will also be dropped from the Single Rider listings in the My Disney Experience app and on Disney's website.

The sign in question hangs on an outside corner of the Serka Zong Bazaar shop, per WDW News Today. It has had an eventful summer: it was first removed in late July, then came back a few days later, and WDW News Today photographed it with a placard saying the line was "not available." When the sign first came down, Cast Members told WDW News Today that the dedicated queue would be shut down before long. We covered that back-and-forth in our July 27 story, when the sign reappeared midday and BlogMickey briefly read it as a repair rather than a farewell. Friday's confirmation settles it.

A weathered Single Rider Entrance sign with a small Not Available placard and a left-pointing arrow beneath it, mounted on a red and gray rock wall below a Souvenirs, Film, Postcards, Sweets sign, with prayer flags and a guest walking past at left

The Single Rider Entrance sign with its Not Available placard, photographed in July 2026. Photo: WDW News Today

Is Single Rider going away elsewhere?

No, at least not for now. Disney added that Single Rider is still useful at certain attractions, letting Cast Members fill seats that standby and Lightning Lane guests leave empty. "There are no plans to remove the single rider offer from any other attraction at Walt Disney World at this time," WDW News Today reports.

These Walt Disney World attractions still have Single Rider, per WDW News Today:

None of those are at Animal Kingdom, so from Monday the park has no Single Rider line at all. As BlogMickey put it, the change "isn't a broader retreat from Single Rider as a concept."

If you are riding solo this weekend: Between now and Sunday, September 20, you can still use the Single Rider entrance at Everest, assuming it is open when you walk up. If the entrance looks closed, ask a nearby Cast Member. From Monday, solo guests use the standby line (or a Lightning Lane, if they buy one) like everyone else, and Disney says standby waits are now lower on average.

Sources

Image credits: Both photos by WDW News Today.

Mentioned in this story

Check out our guides for more on each place in this story:

Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Test Track Serka Zong Bazaar

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