Queues and wait times are a large barrier that roller coasters face. While being popular is one of the most crucial elements of a coaster's success, you may recall that two of the four metrics were focused on queue speed and efficiency. Moving a queue is a very high priority for coasters, as it lets more people get on the ride.
As previously mentioned, one way to lessen the impact of a queue (and the impatience of its inhabitants) is through storytelling and theming. Queues are a necessary evil, as a ride cannot physically accommodate everyone at once.
Most rides rely on high throughput times to work through the queue at a faster pace, which has proven to be very effective. Other parks are utilizing virtual queues in their most popular rides. For example, Rise of the Resistance in Disney used a virtual queue from its opening until September 2021 due to the popularity of the ride, and impossibility of fitting all interested parties in a physical queue. This virtual queue allowed riders to come in waves or windows throughout the day, without overwhelming the queuing system.
This system does have flaws though. For one, this online queue could not hold the entire attendance of the park, so in the morning there would be what amounted to a lottery for a reservation time. For the park-goers that did not manage to acquire a "Boarding Group" (usually over half the park), they would not be able to ride this ride at all.
Disney has gone away with virtual queues, and instead added Lightning Lanes to this ride. Lightning Lanes, Genie+, FastPass, or Express Passes, are all one time use passes to skip through the majority of the standby (or main) queue for a coaster. Most coasters will have one of these express lanes, as they allow the amusement park hosting the ride to gain more profit per passenger.
These passes create another queue that is historically shorter, and has boarding preference at the loading station. While this makes the queuing process much faster for a select few, as a whole this system has proven to make queues much slower on average. This is because the main standby is put on hold for every person in the pay-to-play line. Historically, Fast Passes in Disney were given to every guest in the park (3 at a time). This evened the playing field, as riders would shoot to the front of the line on the rides they cared about, and suffer slightly longer queue times in the rides they didn't have passes for. While this still increased wait times, the time was less felt, as riders were advancing faster through other queues. Now that these are pay operated, and there are more people in queues within parks than ever, it is becoming a more significant issue.
Beyond more advanced queuing systems like virtual and line passes, there are more general ways to enhance the queueing experience. Mini-games and scavenger hunts are common ways to distract future riders from the long times, and in hotter climates like California and Florida, misting fans and air conditioned areas feel more like a break from the heat and less like a wait for a ride.
Another strategy some rides have implemented is queue breakout rooms. These rooms separate the queue into two or more parts, which not only offers more chance for storytelling and exposition, but makes the queue feel shorter and separated. An example of this is the Tower of Terror. This ride splits the queue between the exterior/lobby of the hotel, and the basement through an elevator room with exposition about the hotel's existence. By splitting these two queues, it not only allows two separate immersive areas that draw attention, but by splitting the line time with that room, also makes the wait feel shorter. This is something the Haunted Mansion has also implemented as a way to section off people from the queue.
Overall, there are many ways that queues are being optimized, and while they all have pros and cons, the queue still persists.
Virtual queues may end up being the "future" of lines for coasters, simply due to the space required for a queue, however the only way to continue optimizing queue operations is to continue to try new things, and see which promotes the most happy customers.