Walt Disney World Holiday Season 2024

[DisneyFanatic12]

I think virtual que "lottery" is a scam. I can't tell you how many times I woke up at 6:45 to hit refresh at 6:59 and get denied at 7:00:03 because they were all distributed 3 seconds after 7:00am.

How may "lottery" seats did they allow for that day? 10? 30? 50?

How do you distribute "all" of the virtual que possibilities for an entire day in 3 seconds? Because you only offered,..I dunno 25? LOL The 7:00am lottery is a joke. They want you to pay and they only use the 7:00am lottery as an excuse to stand next to LL as token "alternative".

When you walk past a VQ ride like TBA, everyone in the VQ line got a VQ for the day. They give out a TON of VQs in a day, to the point that I’ve never failed to get a virtual queue. Now, the value of a VQ is up for debate for sure. For me, it’s incredibly easy to secure a VQ and the VQ line is generally manageable. It allows me to experience high-demand rides without having to wait insane amounts of time. Once the VQ rides go to standby, I won’t ride them really anymore.

But I think VQ support overall is probably close to 50/50, tilting towards the standby side.

 

[peter11435]

I think virtual que "lottery" is a scam. I can't tell you how many times I woke up at 6:45 to hit refresh at 6:59 and get denied at 7:00:03 because they were all distributed 3 seconds after 7:00am.

How may "lottery" seats did they allow for that day? 10? 30? 50?

How do you distribute "all" of the virtual que possibilities for an entire day in 3 seconds? Because you only offered,..I dunno 25? LOL The 7:00am lottery is a joke. They want you to pay and they only use the 7:00am lottery as an excuse to stand next to LL as token "alternative".

I’ve never had a problem getting a VQ for any virtual queue attraction. They give out thousands.

 

[Cliff]

When you walk past a VQ ride like TBA, everyone in the VQ line got a VQ for the day. They give out a TON of VQs in a day, to the point that I’ve never failed to get a virtual queue. Now, the value of a VQ is up for debate for sure. For me, it’s incredibly easy to secure a VQ and the VQ line is generally manageable. It allows me to experience high-demand rides without having to wait insane amounts of time. Once the VQ rides go to standby, I won’t ride them really anymore.

But I think VQ support overall is probably close to 50/50, tilting towards the standby side.

I don't know the metrics but I think they vary by ride and by park attendance (or expected attendance). In the past, I have tried to get Tron maybe 7 or 8 times and I hit it once in the morning. I have tried Guardians maybe 15 times and I have gotten a total of 2 morning lottery hits and 1 afternoon hit. Of all the virtual que's I have ever tried,...I dunno, 90% were failures only 3 seconds of availability.

Granted, I stopped going to WDW as of Feb of 2024. So I can't speak for almost all of 2024. Maybe Virtual Que was MUCH better in 2024 then before that time. My entire 2024 WDW budget went to Tokyo Disneyland & Disney Seas this year. (I flew there specifically to ride "Splash Mountain" again) My entire 2025 WDW annual pass and hotel/food budget has now moved to Universal for the first time ever.

So,..no WDW for me in 2025. (No reservations, no lightning lane, no virtual ques, no more headache) and I think I'm back to Tokyo in 2026 because I had so much fun in "their" Disney! (I think it's cheaper too! Single day park ticket is $65 dollars and those parks are stunning)

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

I don't know the metrics but I think they vary by ride and by park attendance (or expected attendance). In the past, I have tried to get Tron maybe 7 or 8 times and I hit it once in the morning. I have tried Guardians maybe 15 times and I have gotten a total of 2 morning lottery hits and 1 afternoon hit. Of all the virtual que's I have ever tried,...I dunno, 90% were failures only 3 seconds of availability.

Granted, I stopped going to WDW as of Feb of 2024. So I can't speak for almost all of 2024. Maybe Virtual Que was MUCH better in 2024 then before that time. My entire 2024 WDW budget went to Tokyo Disneyland & Disney Seas this year. (I flew there specifically to ride "Splash Mountain" again) My entire 2025 WDW annual pass and hotel/food budget has now moved to Universal for the first time ever.

So,..no WDW for me in 2025. (No reservations, no lightning lane, no virtual ques, no more headache) and I think I'm back to Tokyo in 2026 because I had so much fun in "their" Disney! (I think it's cheaper too! Single day park ticket is $65 dollars and those parks are stunning)

I need to get out to Tokyo Disneyland! I’ll make it there someday, heard so many good things about it and they got Splash which is awesome.

As for VQs in 2024, they went up and down in terms of availability, but I even snagged a few GotG VQs at 7/8pm (from the 1pm drop)! I refuse to buy Genie+, so VQs are the closest I’ll get to “skipping the line” nowadays

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

I think virtual que "lottery" is a scam. I can't tell you how many times I woke up at 6:45 to hit refresh at 6:59 and get denied at 7:00:03 because they were all distributed 3 seconds after 7:00am.

How may "lottery" seats did they allow for that day? 10? 30? 50?

How do you distribute "all" of the virtual que possibilities for an entire day in 3 seconds? Because you only offered,..I dunno 25? LOL The 7:00am lottery is a joke. They want you to pay and they only use the 7:00am lottery as an excuse to stand next to LL as token "alternative".

How stupid do you have to be to not be able to click a button on an app?

10-20 VQ seats? You realize with every VQ going back to Rise, each day there are usually at least 80 boarding group, with each boarding group being full of people that managed to work their phone and get into the VQ. I mean your either just talking out your butt, or purposefully being stupid as to how VQ works

 

[Cliff]

How stupid do you have to be to not be able to click a button on an app?

10-20 VQ seats? You realize with every VQ going back to Rise, each day there are usually at least 80 boarding group, with each boarding group being full of people that managed to work their phone and get into the VQ. I mean your either just talking out your butt, or purposefully being stupid as to how VQ works

Does VQ capture your GPS location and weight your lottery shot based on if you are staying inside the park or not? I never stay in the parks, I'm always out on International Drive. When refreshing, does the app favor certain hotels inside the property? How can 80 boarding groups be filled instantly on a constant basis at 7:00 & 3 seconds? It only takes less 3 seconds to fill 80 groups?

Question for others: When staying "outside" the parks, are your VQ attempts also immediately rejected at the stroke of 7:00am? (on a regular basis)

 

[bmr1591]

Does VQ capture your GPS location and weight your lottery shot based on if you are staying inside the park or not? I never stay in the parks, I'm always out on International Drive. When refreshing, does the app favor certain hotels inside the property? How can 80 boarding groups be filled instantly on a constant basis at 7:00 & 3 seconds? It only takes less 3 seconds to fill 80 groups?

Question for others: When staying "outside" the parks, are your VQ attempts also immediately rejected at the stroke of 7:00am? (on a regular basis)

Nope. I consistently get them sitting on an airplane in New Orleans about to fly down.

 

[networkpro]

Does VQ capture your GPS location and weight your lottery shot based on if you are staying inside the park or not? I never stay in the parks, I'm always out on International Drive. When refreshing, does the app favor certain hotels inside the property? How can 80 boarding groups be filled instantly on a constant basis at 7:00 & 3 seconds? It only takes less 3 seconds to fill 80 groups?

Question for others: When staying "outside" the parks, are your VQ attempts also immediately rejected at the stroke of 7:00am? (on a regular basis)

They use to be geo location and turnstile locked, but now it's just limited to park reservation .

 

[brideck]

Does VQ capture your GPS location and weight your lottery shot based on if you are staying inside the park or not? I never stay in the parks, I'm always out on International Drive. When refreshing, does the app favor certain hotels inside the property? How can 80 boarding groups be filled instantly on a constant basis at 7:00 & 3 seconds? It only takes less 3 seconds to fill 80 groups?

Question for others: When staying "outside" the parks, are your VQ attempts also immediately rejected at the stroke of 7:00am? (on a regular basis)

I will say that it's pretty dependent on the responsiveness of your phone. On my old phone, the VQ refresh button came back promptly, so I was my group's designated VQ getter -- I would routinely get single-digit boarding party numbers at the 7 AM drop. My new phone is actually a little less responsive, so I can't reliably get through the refresh sequence in a timely manner, but other people in my group can, so we use their phones now instead.

Try different phones ahead of time, see which one is the quickest to refresh, and stick with that.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

Sounds like the usual ROE NYE Tag to me. The early 90's NYE Tag after 1988 IllumiNations sang slower.

As for DHS. A New place for DHS' High Pyro should be TDO's next Project after Starlight Opens!! Also, keeping ROA or not, any MK Expansion should NOT be close to MK's Main Fireworks Site!!!!

It would be a disaster or the shell size would have to be compromised, I’m used to here on Long Island they’ll launch large fireworks 100 feet from the crowd

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I think virtual que "lottery" is a scam. I can't tell you how many times I woke up at 6:45 to hit refresh at 6:59 and get denied at 7:00:03 because they were all distributed 3 seconds after 7:00am.

How may "lottery" seats did they allow for that day? 10? 30? 50?

How do you distribute "all" of the virtual que possibilities for an entire day in 3 seconds? Because you only offered,..I dunno 25? LOL The 7:00am lottery is a joke. They want you to pay and they only use the 7:00am lottery as an excuse to stand next to LL as token "alternative".

Just because you didn’t get a boarding group doesn’t make it a scam. It’s you vs. on average 45,000 other people. Not to mention the phones and wifi connections and all that play a part in it. Those odds aren’t always going to be in your favor. It’s just the way it is.

I personally rather enjoy VQ. I wouldn’t be gutted if it went away, but it’s an easy system to make use of when you’ve taken the time to understand the quirks and particulars.

 

[Cliff]

I will say that it's pretty dependent on the responsiveness of your phone. On my old phone, the VQ refresh button came back promptly, so I was my group's designated VQ getter -- I would routinely get single-digit boarding party numbers at the 7 AM drop. My new phone is actually a little less responsive, so I can't reliably get through the refresh sequence in a timely manner, but other people in my group can, so we use their phones now instead.

Try different phones ahead of time, see which one is the quickest to refresh, and stick with that.

Wow,...for me, when I do get denied, it's usually really fast...no joke 3-5 seconds tops. I have two phones and I use the app on Version and AT&T (iPhone and S23 Ultra) Seems to be no difference. Strange. Again, my last try was Feb 2024 and it goes backwards from there (2023 all the way to first app roll-out) I'm always on International Drive and always on Saturday and Sunday mornings (never on week days) and I have maybe had a 1 out of 5 success rate over the years?

I dunno, maybe my hit rate is an unlucky statistical outlier number that is not normal? There were many days when I was at Epcot and tried to ride Guardians but struck out on the 7am lottery but was determined to NOT pay extra to ride it.

Fascinating...

 

[Starship824]

Wow,...for me, when I do get denied, it's usually really fast...no joke 3-5 seconds tops. I have two phones and I use the app on Version and AT&T (iPhone and S23 Ultra) Seems to be no difference. Strange. Again, my last try was Feb 2024 and it goes backwards from there (2023 all the way to first app roll-out) I'm always on International Drive and always on Saturday and Sunday mornings (never on week days) and I have maybe had a 1 out of 5 success rate over the years?

I dunno, maybe my hit rate is an unlucky statistical outlier number that is not normal? There were many days when I was at Epcot and tried to ride Guardians but struck out on the 7am lottery but was determined to NOT pay extra to ride it.

Fascinating...

You can always try the 1 PM drop, it's almost always easier to get.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

They weren’t

Yeah, I guarantee he didnt have a VQ at all. Even if they were “enforcing” they probably would have backed down if he had a VQ and missed it for whatever reason.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

When you walk past a VQ ride like TBA, everyone in the VQ line got a VQ for the day. They give out a TON of VQs in a day, to the point that I’ve never failed to get a virtual queue. Now, the value of a VQ is up for debate for sure. For me, it’s incredibly easy to secure a VQ and the VQ line is generally manageable. It allows me to experience high-demand rides without having to wait insane amounts of time. Once the VQ rides go to standby, I won’t ride them really anymore.

But I think VQ support overall is probably close to 50/50, tilting towards the standby side.

As long as it is a near certainty you get one as long as you are even remotely aware of it/the system I am fine with it and in some ways prefer it - which is how it is for things like Guardians now

When Rise first opened and the VQ was done at 6am and you had to be in the park and it did feel like a true lottery and lots of people didn't get one, then I was not a fan

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow,...for me, when I do get denied, it's usually really fast...no joke 3-5 seconds tops. I have two phones and I use the app on Version and AT&T (iPhone and S23 Ultra) Seems to be no difference. Strange. Again, my last try was Feb 2024 and it goes backwards from there (2023 all the way to first app roll-out) I'm always on International Drive and always on Saturday and Sunday mornings (never on week days) and I have maybe had a 1 out of 5 success rate over the years?

I dunno, maybe my hit rate is an unlucky statistical outlier number that is not normal? There were many days when I was at Epcot and tried to ride Guardians but struck out on the 7am lottery but was determined to NOT pay extra to ride it.

Fascinating...

The 7am can still go really fast and definitely not guaranteed but the 1pm one usually is open for quite a while

Other then when they forget to do it I rarely hear of anyone shut out of the 1pm nowadays for Guardians, etc