Order amongst chaos.




Spring break for the kids this year corresponded with my wife's annual medical conference in Orlando.

The setting of this particular photo is the Disney Animal Kingdom Park right outside the Mount Everest roller coaster. Huge crowds are everywhere at peak times in the Disney parks complex. But for really popular rides, there's the "fastpass" system. This allows you to book a ride for a one-hour time period hours, days, or even weeks in advance. But in the midst of the crowds, how do you even find the end of the fastpass line? The answer is, when crowds are truly massive, an actual human being stands with a sign at the end of the line, advancing and retreating as needed -- in this case, it's the man in the scarlet tunic who provides the order in the chaos.

BTW, the same sign-holder system is used on particularly busy pedestrian thoroughfares to urge guests to walk on the right when traversing an area in the parks. (Visitors come from all over the world, after all.) I would have liked to get a picture of the "walk right" sign but, you know, it was too chaotic. Seriously.

BTW[2], the man in the orange Nike "vapor" baseball cap seems to be using the reservation system on his phone as the photo was shot. I didn't notice that at the time.

Edit 3: OnePlus X, SFOS, stock camera.