Beta Testers Wanted
We set out to study ride reliability. We accidentally discovered something more useful. Help us test it and get 3 years free.
How This Started
The original idea had nothing to do with walk-ons.
We'd been collecting ride status data across Disney, Universal, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, SeaWorld, and 25+ other US theme parks — every 5 minutes, since 2018. The goal was simple: are theme park rides getting more or less reliable over time? And if a ride goes down, can we predict how long it'll stay down?
The reliability study went fine, but while digging through the data, we noticed something we weren't looking for.
When a ride comes back online after a breakdown, the wait time drops — often dramatically. Riders had scattered to other attractions while it was down. The queue was empty. And it stayed that way for a window of time before the crowd caught on and refilled the line.
That pattern kept showing up. Ride after ride, park after park. Breakdowns of over 30 minutes were especially reliable, long enough to clear the queue, short enough that people hadn't left the area. We were sitting on 335,000+ breakdown events, and the signal was clear.
So we pivoted. Instead of just building a ride reliability dashboard, we added an app that watches for these moments in real time and tells you when to move.
What We Built
WalkOnAlerts is a mobile app that monitors ride breakdowns across 31 US theme parks. When a ride goes down and comes back with a good probability of having a low wait time, we send you a customizable push notification that the ride is now available. Behind every alert is a per-ride recovery model trained on that 7+ year dataset. The app knows exactly how each ride behaves after a breakdown, not just a guess based on averages.
Live breakdown feed with reopening alerts
Ride detail with recovery context
What Works Today
The beta is rough around the edges, but the core loop is functional:
- Live breakdown feed — See every ride that's currently down across your selected parks, with how long it's been out.
- Reopening alerts — Push notifications when a ride comes back online, with the current wait time and your walking distance.
- Ride detail view — Tap any ride to see today's outage history, current wait, and whether it's worth heading over.
- Park overview — Quick glance at how many rides are operating, how many are down, and the average wait across the park.
- 31 US parks — Disney (WDW + Disneyland), Universal (Orlando + Hollywood), Six Flags, Cedar Fair, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Hersheypark, Dollywood, Legoland, and more.
What's not done yet: polished onboarding, walk time field testing, and about a hundred small UI things. That's where you come in.
The Deal
Test the Beta. Get 3 Years Free.
Beta testers get a 3 year license to WalkOnAlerts — every feature, every update, no subscription for 3 years. All we ask is that you use it on a real park visit and tell us what works, what doesn't, and what's missing.
earlyaccess@walkonalerts.comJust send us an email. Include your phone type (iPhone or Android) and which parks you visit most.
What We Need From Testers
You don't need to write formal bug reports. Just tell us what you think:
- Did the alerts arrive at the right time? Were they useful?
- Was the breakdown info accurate when you checked it against reality?
- What was confusing, annoying, or missing?
- Would you actually use this on your next trip?
Quick emails, screenshots, voice memos — whatever is easiest. We read everything.
Ideal testers: People with a Disney, Universal, or major theme park trip coming up in the next few months. You don't need to be technical — we want real park guests using this in real conditions.
How to Join
Send an email to earlyaccess@walkonalerts.com. Let us know:
- Whether you're on iPhone or Android
- Which parks you visit most often
- When your next trip is (roughly)
We'll send you a TestFlight (iOS) or Play Store beta link within a few days. Spots are limited — we want to keep the group small enough that we can actually read and respond to every piece of feedback.