Why I Built Standby

I was 10 when I first visited a certain theme park. They'd just launched a free online skip-the-line system. We rode everything. No stress, no strategy, no spreadsheets. We just had fun.

Then things started to change.

The free system vanished. Paid upgrades became the norm. Having a “good day” started to require months of planning, how-to videos, and waking up at 7 a.m. to secure a return time. Now you're looking at $19 per person for a pass that skips the lines you don't care about—or paying nearly that much to ride the best coaster exactly once.

The system isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed.

The longer your head is buried in an app—refreshing wait times, checking return windows, rebooking return times—the less you're actually there. And the more stressed you get, the easier it is to justify spending more to “fix” the day.

I got tired of playing by their rules, so I made something for the rest of us.

Standby watches the lines so you don't have to. Set your threshold, and it tells you when your favorite rides drop below it. It reminds you before your must-see show starts so you're actually present with your family instead of refreshing an app. And when a ride goes down and comes back up? You'll know before the crowds do.

That's it. No zooming into maps to see wait times. No 47-step touring plans. Just the waits and alerts that matter, all at a glance.

For less than a churro, you're not renting a better day. You're just having one.