Disney to Use Virtual Queue for New Spider-Man Ride

In other words, don't spend extra for Park Hoppers.

This will also make buying the "cheat bands" even more valuable since guests will only get one shot at WEB Slingers each day.

I wonder if they’ll start charging guests for the privilege of using the virtual queue system? ??

I heard that the plot for "A Quiet Place 2" involves a bunch of Disneyland fans trying to have a conversation about the parks without giving Disney executives ideas for new money-making "opportunities."

Robert, that is both hilarious and horrific at the exact same time!

Hmm, three different virtual queues for three different rides. If only there were a single system that allowed you to advance-reserve all rides, some sort efficient, or maybe "quick" electronic ticketing method. Hmmm

@Robert, THAT is funny!

@thecolonel, bonus points for the Tim Capello profile pic. That man will never not believe!!

So it’s one or the other, huh? Well, good thing I’m not park hopping when I go in July.

Really, really, really hoping this is just a temporary implementation to manage demand while bound by CA's rules. But if this ends up becoming a permanent fixture like RotR seemingly has, then I will not be a happy camper.

Also hoping this doesn't bode poorly for expected technical downtime.

If this is a temporary measure for the first few months, that's fair. However, if virtual queues like this are going to become the norm for Disney going forward, I really don't see much Disney in my future. Either annual passes need to return or the virtual queue needs to go away before I'd consider another visit to Disneyland as the cost is just too great when you've got a fair chance of missing out. When it comes to WDW and their new rides, I would consider a virtual queue for Guardians or Tron would be a dealbreaker for any future trip for this reason. The fact that one is still deemed necessary for Rise of the Resistance is very disappointing to me as I believed it to be temporary, and I honestly feel it might be fair to consider that ride a failure if it cannot be reliably operated without the use of one.

There was a time where I considered Disney to be the undisputed champion of the theme park world. Recently, however, it has felt like they've stagnated while the competition has caught up. Based on their operation post-pandemic vs what I've experienced elsewhere, if operations don't rapidly return to normal over the coming months, they're in serious danger of falling behind not just Universal but many of the regional park chains as well.

As long as you’re really fast on the virtual queue at 7am, then people should be able to get the other attraction at the noon slot. However, downtime could
plague either and then that’ll basically cost you the other attraction.

@Postcott - That won't work, because guests are not allowed to park hop until after 2 PM (a similar policy is in effect at WDW). Since a guest needs to physically be in the park (either DCA or DL) to reserve a spot in the virtual queue, you would not be able to ride one of the rides in the morning and then hop to the other park in time to take advantage of the second virtual queue.

The second drop is purely for those guests in each of the parks that were unable to get a spot in the first virtual queue drop.

I agree with AJ and others in the hope that these virtual queues will be temporary, but I'm concerned that they won't be. As the Disney parks start inching their way back to allowing full capacities and fully loaded attractions, they will need to do something to help guests manage waits or re-initialize FP+ and MaxPass. Virtual queues like what are being used on ROTR and WEB Slingers help to control overwhelming demand on new attractions that have limited capacities and/or reliability. However, as ROTR has demonstrated (as well as Indy), some rides may never be able to meet their demand even as the attractions age and reliability increases. But does that mean Disney has to more or less lock down attractions to keep even the most determined guests from getting multiple rides on these popular rides? I someone wants to pay $150 for a day at DL and just ride ROTR a bunch of times all day (and is willing to wait on line for 5-8 hours for that privilege), what's wrong with that? Some people do the same thing right now on Space Mountain, BTMRR, and other rides, marathoning these attractions with no such restriction to the number of times they can ride in a day so long as they stand in line like everyone else (or get FPs).

I get the need to limit re-rides on a new attractions, because the last thing a park wants is for the same 1,000 guests riding the newest ride over and over, limiting the opportunities for other guests to experience the attraction for the first time. However, at what point does an attraction cease to be "new", and how long does Disney need to put rules in place to make sure new visitors have a shot to ride the newest attraction? Personally, I think that line should be drawn at a year, and if guests want to ride for the first time after the first year of the attraction's life, they should arrive early or be willing to wait in lines. After all, the virtual queues could very well be artificially inflating the popularity of ROTR since that is the only way to ride, and the simplicity of the process and lack of physically waiting in line for it makes it a reflexive action for all guests in the park whether they really want to ride it or not. What would happen if Disney eliminated the virtual queue on ROTR and forced guests to wait on line? If the wait time was posted at 4 hours, would people actually get in the line? As we've seen with other super popular attractions, lines will eventually reach an equilibrium between the amount of time guests will wait and the quality of the ride. People will wait 2+ hours for FoP or 7DMT, but lesser attractions rarely have lines that extend that long except on the busiest of days. Having virtual queue on attractions takes away that calculation from guests since it removes the wait time from the equation.

I loathe the fact that access to certain rides is coming down to how fast your smartphone is.

When (if?) fast passes return, just put all rides on the FP system. FOP is wildly popular, and has been on that system from the start.

This reminds me how stressful it is these days to get concert tickets, only trying to get in line to ride a ride instead

Being a Disney fan is like being in an abusive relationship. Only sane thing to do is walk away and find your dignity.

I definitely cannot imagine spending $65 for the upgrade toy if I cannot ride it more than once a day (and I don't have an AP to ride it multiple times as a local)!

Russell is right that virtual queues are inflating the popularity of RotR. If the lollipop sign that a cast member is holding says there is a 240 minute wait, many people will go elsewhere.

However, the less than people wait in line, the more likely they are to shop for souvenirs or eat the park food. Disney knows this, and that it why I fear virtual queues are here to stay.

The reason why Rise uses boarding groups is because of how unreliable it is. They only run half the vehicles and takes 45 minutes to reset when it breaks down. Disney originally said that Rise would be Stand By only (with a bathroom pass). The boarding groups were created for when Galaxy’s Edge hit capacity, which only happened once in opening day In California.

I just got back from Disney World and found the RotR virtual queue to be a pain in the butt to access on Monday May 24th. We tried right at 7 AM, no reservations available...
Tried again right at 1 PM, no reservations or backup groups available... for the 1 PM slot, we got an error that something was messed up with someone in our group. Turns out that my ticket never scanned into the park properly, so it errored out trying to get a virtual queue reservation. Thankfully guest services put us in the first backup group and we were able to ride, but it was a total hassle to worry with the virtual queue and have to deal with guest services to resolve our problem.

There were many guests in the park who audibly complained throughout the day that they did not get a reservation, and the people working the line at RotR seriously suggested you have to refresh at the exact second the time changes or you will likely miss out.

The stress of the virtual queue took away from my enjoyment of the attraction, and to be honest the entire area. It was a cool attraction, but the virtual queue system is a nightmare to deal with as a user when capacity is that limited compared to demand.

Conversely, I enjoyed the option of virtual queue for things at UO because it made life simpler.

If Disney has the same capacity issues for the Spider-Man attraction (and others in the future), the value of going to Disney will be lost. If I can’t reasonably expect to have a chance to ride anything/everything at least once if I get there at opening and leave at closing, that’s a huge issue to me and my family.