Okay, if you’re looking to ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle / Run in Disney World, we’ve got something we need to make you aware of.
If you manage to nab a virtual queue for one of these rides, you might end up facing a few timing issues. This problem could end up affecting your ENTIRE day, too. So let’s talk about it.
We have two instances to tell you about. One of our reporters managed to get a boarding group for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT. When you get a boarding group, you’re also given an estimated wait time. However, that boarding group got called THREE hours earlier than the estimated time.
Why is this a problem? Well, if you are still at your hotel (or if you’re a local still at home), or even if you’re somewhere else in Disney World, you might end up not having enough time to get to the ride before the end of that boarding group window. We’ve even seen instances where the boarding groups get called before the parks open for everyone and only those with early entry are actually IN the parks.
You MAY be able to still get in line if you miss your boarding group time, but we had a similar experience with another ride where the rules were stricter. We had a boarding group called much earlier than our estimated wait time for TRON Lightcycle / Run, too.
We arrived late and were turned away, but we noticed another issue you could face. The line to scan in for the virtual queue was so long that you could miss your boarding group window. A Cast Member said if you try to scan in and it turns blue, they cannot allow you to ride. They also told us that if you miss that boarding group window (which is an hour), that’s it.
Basically, it doesn’t matter if you’re at your hotel or on the other side of the park. That estimated time is JUST an estimate and all guests assigned a boarding group should be ready to be called at any time.
Cast Members have also expressed that the TRON ride could be stricter because Disney wants to avoid encouraging guests who might be trying to ride the attraction at night (when the ride is different — and possibly even better).
So it might be a good idea not to have any other set plans on days you plan on trying for a virtual queue for these rides. It could interfere with other plans that you have, whether those be advance dining reservations, plans for other rides and entertainment, or even park hopping. You’ll need to be flexible that day so you can get on that ride when your group is called.
Another solution is to just buy the Individual Lightning Lane option — then you’ll know upfront what the set time is to ride the attraction, without having to change your other plans.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on any other issues you might encounter with virtual queues in Disney World, so stay tuned for more!
Disney Fans Are Confused About Virtual Queues – Let’s Straighten It Out
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Have you come across any similar issues with virtual queues in Disney World? Let us know in the comments!
I would guess that Tron was more strict with the board group time windows because it is still under soft opening stress tests. Once it fully opens (or shortly thereafter) I would expect it to be a little more lenient.