I have ridden dozens of times as a single rider on Exp. Everest.
My wife can only take the "backwards section" very occasionally, but I like to ride EE multiple times.
When you get to the CM who is "assigning rows" just say that you want to ride in the first row and (s)he will
tell you to stand in the special short line for doing so. Doing that virtually guarantees that you will
be paired with a stranger in the first row. I've ridden with countless other riders of all ages, male and
female, alike.
I will wait until we have boarded and turn and cheerily ask, "Is this your first trip on this ride?"
This always gets some kind of response from the other rider.
I explain that my wife is sitting this one out as she "let's me ride it again."
Then, we ride quietly for that first twisting few hundred feet and the next thing I say is,
"Notice how quiet the lift hill is.
They built it so the safety ratchet brake is 'pulled up' by the chain so the normally very loud
'clankity-clankity' of nearly all other coasters is eliminated on EE and the climb to the top
is very smooth and quiet."
If I get a stoney silence response, that's the end of that...
and we ride the duration with me keeping my mouth shut.
OTOH, if the other rider engages in convo... at the very top pause,
I'll point out the hair-ties on the ground,
the other hotels and parks on the horizon, the "bird on a stick"
(so often missed if you don't know when/where to look.)
Then backwards we all go...
When we reach the "projection yeti" pause I'll mention to look for the "real yeti"
in the last cave.
I add one quick note as we end the ride that I have seen the yeti actually MOVE as we were at DAK
when EE first opened.
So very many times I have had the luck of a fellow traveler who is an EE fan, (new or of old)
and we exit and part ways immediately at the gift shop. (I don't linger at the ride photo viewing.
Then, I pop back into the single rider line and many times I'll see the person with whom I've just ridden
discussing with their their party if they want to ride again.
Sometimes they join the SLR somewhere behind me as I'm off for another EE adventure,
this time with another fellow traveler, new or seasoned.
However, 7DMT has little opportunity for any but the most cursory of, "here we go!"
conversation at the beginning of the ride, so it is far less conducive to much
interaction with another single rider.