forget about the queues atthe gondola. Get in a Bansko cab and drive to Chalin Valog. At the most this cab will cost you £8 for up to 5 people. then get the button lift up half way then ski down to the 4 man chair and up to the gondola mid station you go. get in partially filled pods and up to the top.
OK it's £48 a week at the worst to avoid the queue but surely that is better than queueing for up to an hour.
Incidently I didn't queue for more than 5 mins at the gondola last week.