Your Virtual Queue Strategy Is About to CHANGE in Disney World

Are you ready for your upcoming trip to Disney World?

Is your suitcase packed and all your reservations booked? Speaking of reservations have you thought about your strategy when it comes to snagging a Virtual Queue? Well, before you go about exercising your plans, you have to know that it’s time to forget everything you knew about Virtual Queues at Disney World! Let’s talk about it!

As you know, right now in Disney World, in order to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or Tron Lightcycle / Run in Magic Kingdom, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT, you need to obtain a boarding pass via Virtual Queue or snag a Lightning Lane return time through Genie+ (which will soon change to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, but more on that in a minute). 

Before we get too far into all this, a quick primer on Virtual Queue. Virtual Queue is basically your way to reserve a spot in line while you’re enjoying other park amenities until your return window for your boarding group is called.

There are two opportunities to grab a Virtual Queue through the My Disney Experience app, one at 7AM and the other at 1PM. At 7AM, you do not need to be in the park to obtain a Virtual Queue, but at 1PM, you have to be in the park where the attraction you are trying to join the Virtual Queue for is. For example, if you are trying to join the Virtual Queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at 1PM, you must be in EPCOT before then. 

If you do get into a Virtual Queue, you’ll have to wait for your boarding group to be called. Once it is called, you will have an hour to return to the attraction. 

A Step-By-Step Guide to Using Virtual Queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Now, the “backup” strategy has been to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane if you don’t make it into a Virtual Queue. If you’re quick enough, chances are pretty good that you can snag one.

All of this is well and good, but you’re going to have to change your strategy once the new system drops on July 24th. (Virtual Queue isn’t going away — FYI, just Individual Lightning Lane.)

Here’s a quick refresher about what you’ll be able to do with the new system:

• Make your Lightning Lane plans BEFORE you get to Disney World
  • If you’re staying in a Disney World hotel, you’ll be able to book your first three Lightning Lane reservations seven days before your trip.
  • If you’re NOT staying in a Disney World hotel, you’ll be able to book your first three Lightning Lane reservations three days before your trip.
• In a single day, you’ll be able to book Lightning Lane reservations for multiple vacation days.

Now when it comes to booking those Lightning Lanes, Disney has divided up most of the rides and attractions in Disney World into separate tiers for the Lightning Lane system.

When it comes to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios have a group of attractions of which you can only pick one when booking your early Lightning Lanes:

• Magic Kingdom: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
• EPCOT: Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Soarin’ Around the World
• Hollywood Studios: Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, and Slinky Dog Dash

In the next tier of rides and attractions at those three Disney World parks, you can choose 2 (or all 3 if you’d prefer) to fill out your three Multi Pass Lightning Lanes.

• Magic Kingdom: The Barnstormer, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Haunted Mansion, “it’s a small world”, Mad Tea Party, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
• EPCOT: Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival, Journey into Imagination with Figment, Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Spaceship Earth, and Turtle Talk with Crush
• Hollywood Studios: Alien Swirling Saucers, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, Disney Junior Play & Dance!, For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Muppet*Vision 3D, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Toy Story Mania!

Over at Animal Kingdom the rides and attractions at this park are organized into one tier of rides for Lightning Lane Multi Pass:

• Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Feathered Friends in Flight!, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!, It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Naʻvi River Journey.

The last tier of rides and attractions are grouped together as Lightning Lane Single Passes, which means they can’t be selected as Lightning Lane Multi Passes:

• Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and TRON Lightcycle / Run
• EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Rise of the Resistance
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Avatar Flight of Passage

Now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way, how does it affect our VQ strategy? Glad you asked. So, first up, if you don’t secure a VQ, you may not be able to fall back on buying an ILL (Lightning Lane Single Pass) and that is because those passes could sell out for the ride you’re trying to get on (say TRON) well ahead of time since people will be able to book those out as early as seven days prior!

If we say it another way, currently it’s a pretty even playing field where everywhere has the same access starting on the same day. With the new system, people will be buying out those Lightning Lane Single Passes days ahead of time. So if you fail to get into a Virtual Queue, you might not be able to ride.

Also, the only way you’ll be able to book Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is if you get a Lightning Lane Multi Pass as it is part of that first tier of attractions, which is a whole other can of worms.

Well, it sounds a bit complicated, and to be sure, there are going to be even more changes, tips, and hacks to sort through when this all starts on July 24th.

So, in the meantime, as you make your plans, make sure to implement them with quickness, and stay tuned to AllEars for all the updates. We’ve got your back!

Late to Your Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Virtual Queue? Here’s What You Need To Know.

How are you feeling about how this new Lightning Lane system affects your Virtual Queue strategy? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

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