Rumor Disney may be about to expand the use of virtual queue boarding groups at Walt Disney World

[matt9112]

Nonsense. This isn't a subjective question of which has more international popularity. It's an objective calculation of the actual number of people in the park, the actual number of people who want to ride a given ride.
You really think the demand for Jungle Cruise is "on another planet" from the demand for Universal Rides?

Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure have roughly the same historical annual attendance as Disney Hollywood Studios and slightly higher attendance than Disney California Adventure.

The MK...is the moon compared to them. And yes i do believe JC has the demand because the park as it stands is amazingly underbuilt for annual attendance. Long before covid the MK is a cluster of stagnation.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The MK...is the moon compared to them. And yes i do believe JC has the demand because the park as it stands is amazingly underbuilt for annual attendance. Long before covid the MK is a cluster of stagnation.

JC at Disneyland doesn’t have fastpass and is usually 20-30 minutes even when it’s busy. Why? Cause there’s an actual E ticket right next door!!!

WDW Parks are so underbuilt it’s comical, and MK is the best of the group.

 

[UNCgolf]

JC at Disneyland doesn’t have fastpass and is usually 20-30 minutes even when it’s busy. Why? Cause there’s an actual E ticket right next door!!!

WDW Parks are so underbuilt it’s comical, and MK is the best of the group.

What's especially bad is that EPCOT in the 90s had a much higher capacity than EPCOT does right now, and that will still be true even when GotG and Rat are open. They've actually decreased capacity as attendance increased.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

What's especially bad is that the EPCOT in the 90s had a much higher capacity than EPCOT does right now, and that will still be true even when GotG and Rat are opened. They've actually decreased capacity as attendance increased.

Oh I know. Such a huge park. There’s no reason test track couldn’t have been built NEXT to world of motion, horizons next to missions space, frozen next to Norway, etc.

I mean there is a reason... $$$.

 

[KikoKea]

Well, even at 25% capacity.. if people are spaced out 6 ft in all the queues, then those queue spaces are DEFINITELY not being utilized to their full capacity/availability. So people spill out literally everywhere else in the park making it seem more crowded.

That’s my theory.

That's what we saw the week we were there recently, just after they upped the attendance. HM line was down to the steamboat loading platform, snaked around and down to the walkway by the water, and then filled up the regular snaking line under the fabric covering and cemetery. IASW line was to the Tangle bathrooms, then snaked around outside before going inside. Ride capacity did not rise, but attendance did, so longer lines outside.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What's especially bad is that the EPCOT in the 90s had a much higher capacity than EPCOT does right now, and that will still be true even when GotG and Rat are open. They've actually decreased capacity as attendance increased.

I’ve said it before, but it’s such a damning statistic. Pre-pandemic, the Magic Kingdom had less dining capacity than 30 years ago. Less! For something that directly generates revenue!

 

[havoc315]

The MK...is the moon compared to them. And yes i do believe JC has the demand because the park as it stands is amazingly underbuilt for annual attendance. Long before covid the MK is a cluster of stagnation.

Magic Kingdom gets twice the attendance of the other parks, but also has about 4 times as many attractions.

Jungle Cruise, operating at full capacity -- Can accommodate 1800 people per hour
The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal accommodates 1920 people per hour.

Probably about the same number of people ride Jungle Cruise as ride the Incredible Hulk coaster in any given pre-covid day.

 

[DMMDMM]

I HATE the virtual queues. As some one that suffers from a disability, I can never get my fingers to work fast enough to ever get on RofR virtual queue rides. With the old fast pass system, I would book 14 days onsite, I always could get some of the coveted fast passes towards the end of my stay. I have 4 days planned at Hollywood studios in November, hoping some how I get lucky. Been practicing in advance for the virtual queues. God help me if more rides go virtual.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I HATE the virtual queues. As some one that suffers from a disability, I can never get my fingers to work fast enough to ever get on RofR virtual queue rides. With the old fast pass system, I would book 14 days onsite, I always could get some of the coveted fast passes towards the end of my stay. I have 4 days planned at Hollywood studios in November, hoping some how I get lucky. Been practicing in advance for the virtual queues. God help me if more rides go virtual.

It’s a pretty unfair system. Owning a smart phone and having an app pre-loaded shouldn’t put you at an advantage when you pay $100 to get in the gate. But here we are.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I really hope if they do need to add more virtual queues they add this rule. It should be a replacement for the physical line, therefore you can only hold one at a time. Maybe make RotR the exception, but for everything else you should only have one at a time. So at most you could have a RotR reservation, a Falcon return time and be in the physical line for something else.

Is it not the rule? I have to ask if both my wife and I try to get in the virtual line can we both get separate boarding groups for the whole family assigned or does it just let the first person who booked it have it?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I HATE the virtual queues. As some one that suffers from a disability, I can never get my fingers to work fast enough to ever get on RofR virtual queue rides. With the old fast pass system, I would book 14 days onsite, I always could get some of the coveted fast passes towards the end of my stay. I have 4 days planned at Hollywood studios in November, hoping some how I get lucky. Been practicing in advance for the virtual queues. God help me if more rides go virtual.

That is an interesting point and one I think that could successfully challenge the current system.

It’s a pretty unfair system. Owning a smart phone and having an app pre-loaded shouldn’t put you at an advantage when you pay $100 to get in the gate. But here we are.

It’s not just having to having a good smartphone but also having the right network connection at that right moment. It should just be a true lottery. Let groups sign up during a specified period and then randomly award the slots.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

JC at Disneyland doesn’t have fastpass and is usually 20-30 minutes even when it’s busy. Why? Cause there’s an actual E ticket right next door!!!

WDW Parks are so underbuilt it’s comical, and MK is the best of the group.

JC at Tokyo Disneyland is a mirror image of the Florida version, and it never gets super long waits. No FP and the park has lots of other rides. Line moves pretty quickly too.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It’s not just having to having a good smartphone but also having the right network connection at that right moment. It should just be a true lottery. Let groups sign up during a specified period and then randomly award the slots.

Re-pitching my idea: Let all those with a park reservation sign up for the RotR lottery. Then at 8 PM the night before, a true electronic lottery takes place and pushes notification of BG number to all the winners and a "better Force be with you next time" to the losers.

Then, the is no rope drop rush (except for MMRR).

 

[UNCgolf]

Re-pitching my idea: Let all those with a park reservation sign up for the RotR lottery. Then at 8 PM the night before, a true electronic lottery takes place and pushes notification of BG number to all the winners and a "better Force be with you next time" to the losers.

Then, the is no rope drop rush (except for MMRR).

And it's not that big of a deal for MMRR because you can still ride it as long as you're willing to wait in line, unlike RotR.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Re-pitching my idea: Let all those with a park reservation sign up for the RotR lottery. Then at 8 PM the night before, a true electronic lottery takes place and pushes notification of BG number to all the winners and a "better Force be with you next time" to the losers.

Then, the is no rope drop rush (except for MMRR).

I think I prefer the idea of someone at least being in the park so that you don’t have people flooding the system who are not committed to going. I can’t recall if the current reservations punish repeat no shows. My thought would be to open Rise of the Resistance an hour late and let people sign up during that hour. Signs up could be done the day before but you have to be in the park to be included in the drawing. That first hour could either be additional work or surprising winnings at the turnstiles based on reliability that day hour.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think I prefer the idea of someone at least being in the park so that you don’t have people flooding the system who are not committed to going. I can’t recall if the current reservations punish repeat no shows. My thought would be to open Rise of the Resistance an hour late and let people sign up during that hour. Signs up could be done the day before but you have to be in the park to be included in the drawing. That first hour could either be additional work or surprising winnings at the turnstiles based on reliability that day hour.

I think they could get around that by removing the boarding group for anyone who hasn't tapped in to the park by a certain time -- say 2-3 hours after park opening . And then any newly opened spots could be redistributed via a second lottery to anyone who entered the lottery for that day, didn't get a spot, and is currently in the park. It would be a nice surprise for some people.

It's not ideal to force people to be at the park within an hour of opening for various reasons.

 

[Magic Feather]

JC at Tokyo Disneyland is a mirror image of the Florida version, and it never gets super long waits. No FP and the park has lots of other rides. Line moves pretty quickly too.

While it can be largely attributed to the later sentence, it should be noted that TDL's JUngle also has an insanely mechnic load/unload process. I think it's set up to simultaneously load two or three boats, similar to how Pirates loads.

 

[MisterPenguin]

While it can be largely attributed to the later sentence, it should be noted that TDL's JUngle also has an insanely mechnic load/unload process. I think it's set up to simultaneously load two or three boats, similar to how Pirates loads.

Indeed, it's very mechnical!!

 

[Jon81uk]

I HATE the virtual queues. As some one that suffers from a disability, I can never get my fingers to work fast enough to ever get on RofR virtual queue rides. With the old fast pass system, I would book 14 days onsite, I always could get some of the coveted fast passes towards the end of my stay. I have 4 days planned at Hollywood studios in November, hoping some how I get lucky. Been practicing in advance for the virtual queues. God help me if more rides go virtual.

Ignore RotR as the outlier due to its breakdown and other capacity issues.

In theory a good virtual queue system should just "save your place" in line while you do something else. Its like getting a pager at a restaurant. If they only use it on rides that really don't have the physical queue space, and limit to one at a time it should be fine.

Don't forget FP+ has only been around for about seven years. Paper Fast Pass existed for the 14 years or so before that where you did just go to the ride and get a time to return later.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ignore RotR as the outlier due to its breakdown and other capacity issues.

In theory a good virtual queue system should just "save your place" in line while you do something else. Its like getting a pager at a restaurant. If they only use it on rides that really don't have the physical queue space, and limit to one at a time it should be fine.

Don't forget FP+ has only been around for about seven years. Paper Fast Pass existed for the 14 years or so before that where you did just go to the ride and get a time to return later.

No queue really has the physical space unless it was massively overbuilt like some of the queues at Islands of Adventure. Queues were designed to provide about 2 linear feet per person. Jumping to six is already a big problem before you deal with the tight switchbacks being avoided as well. That is not made better by allowing people to effective occupy two spaces at once. The people holding a virtual pass are still physically somewhere, but just uncontrolled. You’ve also slowed the queue where people are closer together.