Walt Disney World tells how to get on Tiana's Bayou Adventure

No surprise on the virtual queue news, but using Genie+ instead of Individual Lightning Lane makes sense the more I think about it. Ditching the ILL (another great Disney acronym) gives guests a backup option rather than issue refunds should the ride pull a 101. Splash Mountain was not exactly known for its consistent reliability and this will be the first Disney ride to use VQ that can’t operate in inclement weather.

No ILL is surprisingly good news from Disney, let's hope this signals them turning away from that most obnoxious of price-gouging. I can't imagine there's anything that breeds more ill will in the parks than forcing people to pay STILL MORE to ride a ride a single time, and effectively ensures that lots of people won't ride new rides at all (because, of course, the ILL completely screws the standby line and makes it abnormally, ridiculously long).

I keep hoping that as Disney+ gets closer to profitability, Disney will relax on the hateful policies they enacted to goose park revenues, maybe this is a sign of that?

The lack of ILL on this attraction is pretty surprising since most seemed certain it would have that (at least initially), but my best guess is that Disney figured it'd be third choice for many and few guests are likely to buy three ILLs in one day. Still, the presence of a VQ will probably significantly increase Genie+ sales from guests that miss out, which ultimately might make the park more money. Gonna be interesting to see how long it lasts, because it's going to be a lot harder to keep a very visible 2,400 rider per hour attraction full all day long (for comparison, other VQ attractions have been 1,400-1,800 rider per hour capacities).

AJ, are both Splash Moun--ah, Tiana's Adventure Salt Domes the same capacity? I seem to recall reading that WDW's has a higher capacity because people sit side by side, and not in each other's laps like Anaheim.

Thecolonel, they are indeed different, and WDW's does have a higher capacity. Florida's ride runs with eight passenger boats and dispatches three boats at a time, while California's runs six passenger boats and dispatches two boats at a time. I've heard Florida's can theoretically do 2,400 riders per hour based on interval, but I'd guess in practice 2,100 is probably the upper limit with guest aboard (disclaimer: that theoretical number may be before lapbars were installed when WDW would allow three guests to share a row if they could all be safely seated). By comparison, in California the ride only averages about 1,100 riders per hour, which is actually pretty close to the theoretical max for the ride system at present. Disneyland's version did have higher capacity in the past as it originally opened with eight passenger boats (though inline rather than side by side), but over the years they were reduced to seven and then six passengers as safety modifications were made to the attraction.

Thank you, that's fascinating. Had to imagine a ride that seems so similar is really so different.