How Does Virtual Queue Work?

5thGenTexan

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
During our last trip I was able to get Guardians at 7:00 am on a Tuesday with a 9:42 boarding time. I tried again on a Friday, was there at 6:55 and kept refreshing, so I was there right at 7:00 am, but it was immediately sold out.

Is it REALLY first come first serve or does the system look to see if you have already had a reservation even during the same week and put new requests to the top of the list? Guess I am asking if being there first to get a reservation is just an illusion of control?
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
5thGenTexan said:
During our last trip I was able to get Guardians at 7:00 am on a Tuesday with a 9:42 boarding time. I tried again on a Friday, was there at 6:55 and kept refreshing, so I was there right at 7:00 am, but it was immediately sold out.

Is it REALLY first come first serve or does the system look to see if you have already had a reservation even during the same week and put new requests to the top of the list? Guess I am asking if being there first to get a reservation is just an illusion of control?
Click to expand...
What I discovered is that it helps to have an app called Atomic clock. Before that, I tried using the NIST official clock, but I've had better luck using the app.

Phone clocks can sometimes be off by a second or two, and that can make a difference in getting a BG.
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
What I discovered is that it helps to have an app called Atomic clock. Before that, I tried using the NIST official clock, but I've had better luck using the app.

Phone clocks can sometimes be off by a second or two, and that can make a difference in getting a BG.
Click to expand...
I’ve used many different methods. At first, I’d just use my Apple Watch. Then, I got more comfortable with the queues and just looked at the clock app (which the icon shows the analog time with a seconds hand) and counted down once it hits 6:59:50 in my head. I usually do that, but I also sometimes just use my reflexes (they aren’t that good though) and press refresh right when my clock hits 7:00. I’ve never not gotten the 7am drop, but I do think the watch method or an app like atomic clock would be easiest.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
5thGenTexan said:
During our last trip I was able to get Guardians at 7:00 am on a Tuesday with a 9:42 boarding time. I tried again on a Friday, was there at 6:55 and kept refreshing, so I was there right at 7:00 am, but it was immediately sold out.

Is it REALLY first come first serve or does the system look to see if you have already had a reservation even during the same week and put new requests to the top of the list? Guess I am asking if being there first to get a reservation is just an illusion of control?
Click to expand...

You think you were there at 7:00 AM. But maybe you were there at 7:00:05 AM and that is enough to not get a spot.

There are a whole bunch of delays that come into play - phone screen to eye, brain to hand, internal phone pathways, cellular or WiFi routing, packet routing across the network, order that the server receives the packets, etc etc.

The availability moves so fast that all of these factors come into play.

For the record, we had Guardians twice in one week at 7:00 AM when I was there two weeks ago. I want to say Tuesday and Saturday.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
I’ve used many different methods. At first, I’d just use my Apple Watch. Then, I got more comfortable with the queues and just looked at the clock app (which the icon shows the analog time with a seconds hand) and counted down once it hits 6:59:50 in my head. I usually do that, but I also sometimes just use my reflexes (they aren’t that good though) and press refresh right when my clock hits 7:00. I’ve never not gotten the 7am drop, but I do think the watch method or an app like atomic clock would be easiest.
Click to expand...
Since using the app, not only did we get the 7am drop, we even got a pretty low BG number every time, even during busy weeks. Before that, we often missed out. MDE has also gotten slightly better over time.

We try to run the clock on one phone and use another to get the BG. I think the trick is also to hit refresh...just a hair before 7am. We set the chime to toll the last 5 seconds, and aim to press refresh just a half-second before 7am. If it doesn't work, immediately refresh again.

Supposedly, it also helps if you do NOT use WDW wi-fi those few minutes.
 
DiSnEyF@n

DiSnEyF@n

Well-Known Member
This thread was truly helpful. For confirmation, you do not pay extra for virtual queue? Also, can you do the 7am and then 1pm for the same ride on the same day, successfully? Thanks for your help!
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
DiSnEyF@n said:
This thread was truly helpful. For confirmation, you do not pay extra for virtual queue? Also, can you do the 7am and then 1pm for the same ride on the same day, successfully? Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
You can only do the rides once a day with the virtual queue. It is free.

BUT, you can get a Tron queue at 7am and possibly get GoG after the 2pm park hopping opens, for example.
 
DiSnEyF@n

DiSnEyF@n

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
You can only do the rides once a day with the virtual queue. It is free.

BUT, you can get a Tron queue at 7am and possibly get GoG after the 2pm park hopping opens, for example.
Click to expand...
Good to know for sure…. Can I virtual queue a ride annnnnd buy the lightening lane pass and ride it twice? I appreciate your help!
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
DiSnEyF@n said:
Good to know for sure…. Can I virtual queue a ride annnnnd buy the lightening lane pass and ride it twice? I appreciate your help!
Click to expand...
Yes! But both go fast so you’d have to use two phones for the 7am drop.

Another tip is to book the virtual queue for EVERYONE you can. Tron is STRICT for their boarding times, but on GoG I’ve gone 4 times in a row. You can use anyone’s pass to go on the ride with a virtual queue. So even if a few members of your party know they’ll get sick and don’t want to ride, you can still book them a pass if a few of you wants to go more than once. (Do note you’ll have to scan their pass, either a physical ticket or Magic mobile)
 
Last edited:
DiSnEyF@n

DiSnEyF@n

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
Yes! But both go fast so you’d have to use two phones for the 7am drop.

Another tip is to book the virtual queue for EVERYONE you can. Tron is STRICT for their boarding times, but on GoG I’ve gone 4 times in a row. You can use anyone’s pass to go on the ride with a virtual queue. So even if a few members of your party know they’ll get sick and don’t want to ride, you can still book them a pass if a few of you wants to go more than once. (Do note you’ll have to scan their pass, either a physical ticket or Magic mobile)
Click to expand...
Good to know. Thanks again for the info!
 
Coaster Lover

Coaster Lover

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
DiSnEyF@n said:
Also, can you do the 7am and then 1pm for the same ride on the same day, successfully? Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Someone already answered this correctly (the simple answer is "no"), BUT if you are staying at a deluxe resort and have the two evening extra magic hours, you can get both the 7 am OR 1 pm virtual queue AND the 6 pm virtual queue (only available for deluxe resort guests on the nights with extra magic hours). We were able to do that for both Tron and Guardians on our recent trip (get two rides through VQ in one day). Further, you can get the (free) virtual queue and buy an Individual Lightning Lane as another way to get multiple rides in a day.

DisneyFanatic12 said:
BUT, you can get a Tron queue at 7am and possibly get GoG after the 2pm park hopping opens, for example.
Click to expand...

Also correct, but I believe you cannot have two unused VQs at the same time (i.e. if you get a VQ for Tron that isn't estimated to be called until 3 pm, you cannot hop over to EPCOT to get the Guardians VQ at 2 pm). We were fortunate to get an early VQ for Tron (called before 10 am) and then had no issues getting a VQ for Guardians when we hopped over to EPCOT after 2 pm the same day (granted that VQ had a call back estimate within the last hour or so of when the park was open). The afternoon Guardians VQs are pretty easy to get when park hopping. On one of our days, we didn't check into EPCOT until ~4 pm and were still able to get a Guardians VQ... it was called like 5 mins before the park closed, but still, we got on!
 
Last edited:
DisDadWoz

DisDadWoz

Well-Known Member
So can someone explain this to me. Sorry I've never done it but if I want to book the VQ for GoG for 1:00 with 3 guests how do I do that?
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
DisDadWoz said:
So can someone explain this to me. Sorry I've never done it but if I want to book the VQ for GoG for 1:00 with 3 guests how do I do that?
Click to expand...
I assume you are all linked on MDE? When you go in to MDE and look at Family & friends, can you see them all? That’s step 1.

Go into the MDE app, scroll down a fraction to the Virtual Queues banner.
Tap “join queue”

Then select GotG, select who’s riding and confirm.
 
RoadiJeff

RoadiJeff

Well-Known Member
Also, I believe that everyone in your Family & Friends list must either be in the park or have scanned into it earlier in the day if you want to get a 1:00pm VQ for the entire group, not just you.
 
NelleBelle

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
Just wanting to clarify that if you scanned into Epcot (for example) in the morning and then left to return to resort or hopped to another park, do you have to still be physically in Epcot or has this changed to where you just have to have tapped into Epcot earlier?
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom