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

[virk4]

Trackless ride systems have reached their peak with ROTR (imo). Everything about it is just genius and (arguably) perfect. It’s also not really all about said trackless system, it’s the combination of other ride systems like simulators and elevators. It’s one grand package like no other.

16 people max per dispatch, at a rate of about every 31 seconds. Now that’s severely reduced because of the one party per vehicle limit currently, but that’s looking to be increased to 2 parties per vehicle as Disney installs plexiglass dividers soon on the ride vehicles.

Trackless systems can be people eaters. A good example is MMRR. For the two or so weeks it was open before the closure it was eating a lot of guests and the line way always moving. (Or maybe I’m just mixing up things due to lack of FP+ maybe?, but there were plenty of reports saying that it was eating a lot of people and wait times were really quick)

Now with that, hopefully Disney can reinvent the wheel again like they did with ROTR and invest in some new ride system, or go back to older ride systems and reinvent those in new ways!

Now that attendance is increasing, how about opening more shows, attractions, parades, and extend park hours? Instead of squeezing us in an attempt to get more [$] out of less----just start to open up things? Think of all the entertainment that is closed. I understand why but it's time to loosen up. They look always at us for the solution to the problem, but wait times can be made more manageable if we all have more to do-----right now, essentially all we have are the major attractions themselves.
I am staying at Bay Lake Tower next Spring with small grandchildren. While I have lots of experience with WDW, I already am not looking forward to planning/reserving parks and attractions, and whatever it will look like in April '21.

 

[Jon81uk]

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.

Why would the queue slow? Rides that choose to replace their queue with a virtual one should only have a virtual queue. Yes you could hold a virtual space and be in line for something else, there is no way to stop that. But for a tiny number of attractions where they are having issues with the physical line getting too long, replacing it will a virtual line for the majority of the wait.
Now I don't know if they will implement it perfectly so a lot could go wrong but if it was up to me the system would be:
only used on one or two attractions that really need it.
turn up at the ride entrance and be told as the wait is longer than X so you collect a return time by checking in on the app (scan or input code). You would have to be present to check in same as old paper fast pass.
only hold one virtual queue space at a time
return within a one hour return window and wait in line for up to 30 minutes to ride.

It would pretty much be like the old FP system but without standby lines.

 

[UNCgolf]

Now that attendance is increasing, how about opening more shows, attractions, parades, and extend park hours? Instead of squeezing us in an attempt to get more [$] out of less----just start to open up things? Think of all the entertainment that is closed. I understand why but it's time to loosen up. They look always at us for the solution to the problem, but wait times can be made more manageable if we all have more to do-----right now, essentially all we have are the major attractions themselves.
I am staying at Bay Lake Tower next Spring with small grandchildren. While I have lots of experience with WDW, I already am not looking forward to planning/reserving parks and attractions, and whatever it will look like in April '21.

Considering they just fired huge numbers of entertainment employees, I'm not sure they could open all the shows etc. even if they wanted to.

 

[thegoofyguy]

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

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.

A true lottery is an interesting idea. considering the boarding groups are filled within 2 minutes of them opening up, It's a crap shoot anyway. A lottery wouldn't be a whole lot different.

 

[lazyboy97o]

A true lottery is an interesting idea. considering the boarding groups are filled within 2 minutes of them opening up, It's a crap shoot anyway. A lottery wouldn't be a whole lot different.

2 minutes would be an eternity. They're going in about 10 seconds or even less.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

A true lottery is an interesting idea. considering the boarding groups are filled within 2 minutes of them opening up, It's a crap shoot anyway. A lottery wouldn't be a whole lot different.

No matter what it’s really rough now with no park hopping. It was enough pressure to not waste an early morning but the idea that you could try again tomorrow was the only thing that kept me sane when I didn’t get it.

To spend that kind of money and have 1 chance that could go down completely because of a minor tech. Glitch is totally unfair.

 

[DisneyCane]

No matter what it’s really rough now with no park hopping. It was enough pressure to not waste an early morning but the idea that you could try again tomorrow was the only thing that kept me sane when I didn’t get it.

To spend that kind of money and have 1 chance that could go down completely because of a minor tech. Glitch is totally unfair.

Personally, I think it is terrible design to design an attraction (pre-COVID) that is rideable by pretty much everybody but doesn't have the capacity for everybody in the park on a typical summer day to be able to ride if they want to with something like a 120 minute wait or a virtual queue. As a passholder, it isn't a huge issue if I can't ride every time I make a trip but for somebody that has one day at DHS, it is really terrible that they can't ride the signature attraction.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Personally, I think it is terrible design to design an attraction (pre-COVID) that is rideable by pretty much everybody but doesn't have the capacity for everybody in the park on a typical summer day to be able to ride if they want to with something like a 120 minute wait or a virtual queue. As a passholder, it isn't a huge issue if I can't ride every time I make a trip but for somebody that has one day at DHS, it is really terrible that they can't ride the signature attraction.

Oh for sure. Especially when it’s in a billion+ dollar land and the only other attraction is a simulator that is comparable with a 20+ year old simulator across the park.

 

[mk1971]

I think it's outreageous to create a ride without the option to wait in a regular line to ride it. I would be ok with virtual queue IF we also had the option to wait in line.

The virtual queue lottery is so unfair. I have a friend who is traumatized because she flew over seas to WDW, spent thousands of thousands of dollars on a trip and RoR was the top priority. Woke up at 4 am to be at the gates by 6 am (in February) and couldn't get in the virtual queue for RoR, so couldn't ride.

She was willing to spent 6 hours in line for RoR, but she didn't have the option. She is so frustrated at Disney.

 

[Jon81uk]

Oh for sure. Especially when it’s in a billion+ dollar land and the only other attraction is a simulator that is comparable with a 20+ year old simulator across the park.

The Falcon attraction is probably more comparable to a computer game as it does in real-time react to the pilots actions.

 

[Jrb1979]

@GrandCanyonConcourse what's so funny? What he's saying is true. Outside of MK, the other 3 parks are lacking in attractions for the attendance they get.

 

[UNCgolf]

@GrandCanyonConcourse what's so funny? What he's saying is true. Outside of MK, the other 3 parks are lacking in attractions for the attendance they get.

I wouldn't worry about him; he laughs at most posts that are critical of anything at Disney.

 

[Miss Bella]

@GrandCanyonConcourse what's so funny? What he's saying is true. Outside of MK, the other 3 parks are lacking in attractions for the attendance they get.

You the person that laughs and mocks every post you disagree with really just asked that. Hypocritical some?

 

[icc2515]

I think it's outreageous to create a ride without the option to wait in a regular line to ride it. I would be ok with virtual queue IF we also had the option to wait in line.

The virtual queue lottery is so unfair. I have a friend who is traumatized because she flew over seas to WDW, spent thousands of thousands of dollars on a trip and RoR was the top priority. Woke up at 4 am to be at the gates by 6 am (in February) and couldn't get in the virtual queue for RoR, so couldn't ride.

She was willing to spent 6 hours in line for RoR, but she didn't have the option. She is so frustrated at Disney.

ROR opened 12/5, so she had 2 months to prepare herself for the very real posibility that she might not get on this ride. It was very well documented that the ride had huge technical difficulties and many days was only operating a fraction of the time the park was open. We were there in Dec and did ride it. We made fast passes for other parks late in the evening and showed up at HS at 5am 4 days in a row trying to get a boarding group. On day 4 we were one of the lucky ones. I told my kids before we went, don't expect to get on this ride, but expect to still have a great vacation.

Its OK for your friend to be frustrated at Disney. But to spend thousands and thousands on an overseas trip with the top priority of riding a ride that breaks down all the time and has a known capacity issues and only dedicating 1 try to accomplishing this goal with no backup plan is not Disney's fault.

Let me save your traumatized friend thousands and thousands of dollars in the future. Have her read the wdwmagic forums before her next trip. She would have known ahead of time that there was no standby line to wait 6 hours in.

I read my post a couple of times and thought man you're being pretty harsh there . And also thought that the sentence in paragraph 2 really runs on and on. Then I remembered why I wrote this in the first place. It irks me when people are so dramatic. I can see somebody being traumatized over the loss of a child or being in a horrific accident. But to be traumatized over not being able to get on a theme park ride, maybe use the word frustrated next time.

 

[UNCgolf]

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.

I bet the Little Mermaid ride has enough physical space. That queue goes on forever and it's always empty.

 

[Purduevian]

Moving to a fully virtual line system for ALL rides in DHS would be an interesting move and I think would be quite simple to utilize a lot of the FP+ infrastructure. Imagine walking into DHS at noon pulling up your smart phone and seeing the following Line options:

Attraction	Estimated wait time in virtual Line
Alien Swirling Saucers	10 minutes
Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy	Experience NOW!
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway	120 minutes
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run	90 minutes
Muppet Vision 3D	Experience NOW!
Rock 'n' Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith	55 minutes
Slinky Dog Dash	70 minutes
Star Tours- The Adventures Continue	25 minutes
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror	50 minutes
Toy Story Mania	45 minutes
Vacation Fun	Experience NOW!
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance	210 minutes

Allow people to get in a VQ for 1 attraction at a time and use the fastpass line to return customers. Allow people to constantly see an estimated wait time and alert them if the attraction has gone down. Guests can leave a line at any time and join another one. Experience Now attractions might have a short line, but you can experience them without giving up your spot in line.

This system has a few major flaws:
1) Where the heck do all the people go? Everyone waiting for an attraction will swamp the 3 experience now attractions, dinning, and retail
2) Need far more experience now attractions. Bringing back mermaid, Indy, BATB, Citizens of Hollywood would help, but still wouldn't be enough.

I am curious what line out of these people would get in. Personally I would be eying TOT and TSMM.

 

[UNCgolf]

1) Where the heck do all the people go? Everyone waiting for an attraction will swamp the 3 experience now attractions, dinning, and retail

This is why it can't work. Especially not in Hollywood Studios, which is tiny, although it would be a serious problem in any of the parks.

They're not designed to have everyone wandering around the common areas. If they don't have huge portions of the day's attendance locked up in queues, you'd be quickly looking at a nightmare scenario where every pathway is packed and it's nearly impossible to even move around the park.

 

[Purduevian]

This is why it can't work. Especially not in Hollywood Studios, which is tiny, although it would be a serious problem in any of the parks.

They're not designed to have everyone wandering around the common areas. If they don't have huge portions of the day's attendance locked up in queues, you'd be quickly looking at a nightmare scenario where every pathway is packed and it's nearly impossible to even move around the park.

I think EPCOT would have a chance... There are a TON of things to do in that park and it is enormous. Kidcot Fun Stops, Galleries, Museums, The What If Labs, SeaBase, Advanced Training Lab, Bruce's Shark World, another playground, Project Tomorrow, and Epcot Experience are all exploring, no set time attractions. Add to that all of the shows that rarely meet capacity in Awesome Planet, Canada Far and Wide, Short Film Fest, Impressions, Reflections, AA, and BatB singalong. Finally all the street entertainment they used to have around World showcase (Won't bother to list it all but most countries at least had 1). Epcot maybe could go full VQ if they were back to pre-covid entertainment levels.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think EPCOT would have a chance... There are a TON of things to do in that park and it is enormous. Kidcot Fun Stops, Galleries, Museums, The What If Labs, SeaBase, Advanced Training Lab, Bruce's Shark World, another playground, Project Tomorrow, and Epcot Experience are all exploring, no set time attractions. Add to that all of the shows that rarely meet capacity in Awesome Planet, Canada Far and Wide, Short Film Fest, Impressions, Reflections, AA, and BatB singalong. Finally all the street entertainment they used to have around World showcase (Won't bother to list it all but most countries at least had 1). Epcot maybe could go full VQ if they were back to pre-covid entertainment levels.

Yeah, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom could both potentially do it because they're so large. I think it would be bad at Animal Kingdom, though.

EPCOT probably wouldn't be bad right now, but that's mostly because they already don't have many rides people are waiting for. If EPCOT ever gets back up to the attraction capacity it had originally (and with the pursuant increase in attendance), I think it would be really bad at EPCOT too. World Showcase already gets overly packed at times even with people waiting in long lines for FEA.

 

[Bocabear]

Yeah it could work at EPCOT because of the space, unfortunately EPCOT does not have enough attractions left to even make this a thing.
Currently it is next to impossible to get a boarding group for rise of the resistance...certainly a casual park goer could never experience this attraction without strictly constructing your day to be able to sign up for Boarding groups...When we were there yesterday, MMRR , Sinky Dog Dash, Midway Mania and RNRC were all 80 minutes, MIllenium Falcon was 90 minutes, Alien Swirling Saucers was at 50 minutes... This is during the "Pandemic not so crowded" time of year too. It is clear there are still not enough attractions to balance the crowds out.
If one of the parks went to all Virtual Queue like ROTR, after our experience trying and failing to get in boarding groups this weekend, I would be concerned with ever being able to get on another attraction in the park after paying the $100 admission fee. We had 5 people in our group all furiously trying top nab a spot... Sort of takes the fun out of the whole thing...