The days of waking up at the crack of dawn just to stare at your phone are officially over (for now, at least)—Disney World’s Virtual Queue system is officially no more! Or, at least, for the time being.
Magic Kingdom
A Virtual Queue at Disney World is a digital reservation system that allows guests to secure a spot in line for certain popular attractions without physically waiting in a standby line. Instead, guests join the queue through the My Disney Experience app and are assigned a boarding group. When their group is called, they can return to the ride within a designated return time. But now, Virtual Queues are no longer in use for current attractions at the parks.
Starting February 25th, Virtual Queues are no longer being used for Guardians of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind over at EPCOT, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Over at EPCOT, Guardians of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind started its first day of being Virtual Queue-less with just 45 minutes. A huge shock, especially when keeping in mind that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was at 55 minutes this morning!
My Disney Experience app
But of course, things changed pretty quickly, and as wild as an actual rollercoaster, Cosmic Rewind went from 45 minutes to a whopping 170! Ouch!
My Disney Experience app
The almost 3-hour wait was mind-blowing (but not surprising given the popularity of this attraction) however the standby line has now settled to 85 minutes. Phew, what a ride huh? Cosmic Rewind is also available to ride for guests staying at a Disney World resort hotel and entering the park with Early Entry.
Guardians of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
At the Magic Kingdom, however, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure experienced a delayed opening, which was not ideal for its first day without a Virtual Queue. The lines were backed up but finally, at 9:31 am, the attraction was back up and running. Despite the delay, however, the ride was posted at just a 45-minute standby wait time.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure standby line
Currently, the wait has shifted to 20 minutes, which was surprising to us, given its late start, as well as the popularity of this attraction. However, we’re guessing the times will shift throughout the day.
My Disney Experience app
If these wait times seem less than ideal for your upcoming trip to Disney World, keep in mind that Disney offers a skip-the-line system for purchase called Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass that allows you to bypass the standard line for a shorter wait.
Guardians of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Overall, the first day without Virtual Queues at Disney World hasn’t been too bad so far. We’ll keep you posted on any major changes or impacts as the day unfolds. Stay tuned with us here at DFB for all the latest in Disney news!
NEWS: Disney Announces CHANGES to Lightning Lane Premier Pass
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What are your thoughts on Virtual Queues no longer being in use at Disney World? We’d love to read your thoughts in the comments!
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I hope you’ll. Ame a correction to the article that Guardians of the Galaxy has Single Psss, but Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is available through MultiPass and will not require a separate purpose.
I wonder if Disney just didn’t have a handle on those wait times…especially for Guardians. They really were too much of a roller coaster. I would guess that Tiana’s will have longer waits when weather is hot this summer!
Bad call on removing the virtual queue for Guardians. Unless the outcome is going to be a wait time consistently under 60 minutes, then the virtual queue makes for a much better guest experience. As for Tiana, is there a day when the attraction doesn’t experience technical problems?
Thanks for reporting on this! I was wondering how it was going. Not as bad as I thought. I think the virtual queue will be back as the new/ refurbished rides open back up.
I think getting rid of the virtual queue and app is a great thing. Does this mean it is on all rides?
The lightening pass seems a better system
Of course wait times for Guardians was going to be long. It’s one of the best rides. Disney just wants people to buy a lighting lanes so they can make more money. They don’t care about the customer. That’s the bottom line…
I do not know what the folks that are upset by the removal of the virtual queue. Maybe my experiences with it were different.
The VQ just got you the opportunity to stand in line, IF your boarding group got called. Nothing like wandering around a park keeping an eye out for that lotto ticket to be announced. Then when you were given a time you had to cross your fingers that the ride process did not slow down so that your chance to ride got bumped. Not that I know from experiencing it a few times our anything…. I am sure the folks that have to spreadsheet their trip really loved that. ?