Not every theme and amusement park has the equivalent of Imagineers on-site 365 days a year – instead many “competitors” of the Disney resorts rely on outside support and creatives. In many cases this may help reduce initial costs, however, any later adjustments must either be executed by the operational staff of the park or require another hiring of outside forces. On the other hand the Imagineers at the Disney resorts are available all the time and certainly also monitor the operations of the parks (to some degree), receive feedback of cast members and guests and thereby can incorporate small improvements on the fly to improve the experience for everyone involved.

One example of this can be found in the load station of Crush’s Coaster in the Walt Disney Studios. Late last year an additional barrier was installed at the top end of the queue. Originally it was wide open, allowing a whole group of guests to move ahead. This made it difficult for a cast member to block the queue. In addition, guests tended to walk straight ahead to the next turtle that was approaching them head on, when in fact they had to turn sharp right and walk directly to the track, respectively (if prior guests were slow to exit their turtle) even double back on the queue direction. Now with the new barrier there is only an opening for one guest which a cast member can easily block (as is actually the case in the photo above). In addition the opening faces directly toward the track so that guests can approach their turtle by walking straight through it, easing the whole process.