2. STAR WARS: Rise of the Resistance

Location: Disneyland Park and Disney's Hollywood Studios

Though Disney's immersive, storytelling queues have been around for decades, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is probably the first Disney Parks attraction where it's genuinely hard to determine where the line stops and the attraction begins. It's true that from beginning to end, the headlining attraction utilizes no less than three physical ride systems (as well as portions that we'd rate as a "walkthrough") which is part of why we suggest that Rise is something more than an E-Ticket. (We invented the term, "U-Ticket," as in, Ultra-E-Ticket.)

It begins amid the rocky hoodoos of Batuu on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost, where rusted artillery marks the entrance to a secret, mobile Resistance encampment. Once guests are recruited by Rey and BB-8, they're invited aboard a transport shuttle that will carry them to the Resistance Base set up on Pacara, under the control of General Leia Organa. But en route, the nefarious First Order captures the vessel, unloading guests aboard a Star Destroyer and sending them for interrogation.

From beginning to end, Rise of the Resistance is huge, but there's nothing there are very few "big reveals" at Disney Parks that leave as many jaws on the floor as guests' emerging into the ship bay of a Star Destroyer. Only a portion of the ship is explored on foot (with most happening once guests climb aboard Prisoner Transport vehicles with a stealthfully-reprogrammed R-5 Droid at the helm), but from the moment guests pass through Batuu's wilderness to the second they're finally seated, Rise of the Resistance is one of the most breathtaking "queues" on Earth. 

1. Avatar Flight of Passage

Location: Disney's Animal Kingdom

Brilliantly (and by design), you don't have to know much about 2009's Avatar to make sense of Pandora at Animal Kingdom or its anchor attraction. Rather than recreating a place (or even the time) seen on screen, Pandora invites guests to The Valley of Mo'ara – an ecological preserve somewhere on the moon of Pandora – as eco-tourists, visiting to gaze in awe at the moon's flora and fauna, and to learn from the ways of the indigeonous Na'vi (you know, the "big blue cat people" seen in the film).

Given that it's easily the most popular ride at Animal Kingdom (and probably among Disney's best attractions ever), the wait for Flight of Passage can be long. But frankly, it's almost needed. After all, the queue for the ride is an emotional and physical trek, with guests literally hiking mountainous paths up and into Pandora's craggily peaks and mountainscapes. The journey continues through caverns, where Na'vi paintings depict their reverence for the flying Ikran (or Banshee) that calls the floating mountains home – and the treacherous rite of passage that all young Na'vi embrace, riding on the back of the dragons in a commune with the planet's spirit.

The line then continues through long-abandoned military bases, set up by our own foolish human ancestors who so stupidly sought to pillage this planet for minerals. Now, their concrete and steel are being reclaimed by bioluminscent plant and animal life; their laboratories overtaken by the Pandora Conservation Initiative, studying how the Ikran serves as a keystone species whose protection can restore the moon's natural ecology.

Reaching the summit and finally loading into a link chamber, it can feel like your path to Flight of Passage wasn't an easy one... but really, it shouldn't be. Like a real rite of passage, the journey matters. So even if it's frustrating to see guests who forked over $15 a person whizzing past in the Lightning Lane, there's something to be said about the build-up to such an emotional and extraordinary experience... and Disney Imagineers have sure made the wait worth it through an incredible queue and a one-of-a-kind ride.