VIRTUAL QUEUE'S WHAT IS THE POINT?

[Griddle]

After just returning from Disney i am not sure what the point of these are.
Firstly we planned to do The Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot, after setting my alarm for 06:45 to join the queue I was happy to get boarding group 42 with estimated boarding time of 11:45. We decided to have a relaxed morning and take our time to get to Epcot, at 09:30 while having a leisurely breakfast our estimated boarding time dropped to 10:15, chaos ensued. We finally made it to the park at 10:45 after breaking a few speed limits enroute. With no clear indication of the whole process i was sure my children were going to be left disappointed when we were going to be told we were too late. Thankfully we weren't and were allowed on the ride. However there was still a 40 minute queue once inside the ride. It would appear boarding groups and timings are estimates!
The Ride was good but could have been made a lot better.
The day we decided to do Tron, same process ensued 06:45 wake up, made it on to boarding group 8, no estimated boarding time given. Decided to try and get to The Magic Kingdom at opening time. Traffic meant that we got to the parking area at 09:00. Queues for transport in to the park were very big while boarding the ferry the App flashed up that our boarding was now closed. By the time we had run across the park the time was now 09:45 sure we wouldn't be granted access we, to our surprise we were. While queueing which took over an hour as in Guardians of the Galaxy people were walking past in The Lightning Lane i enquired why? To be informed that these people had paid $30 for the privilege per rider. Wow i was already thinking Disney had gone beyond being acceptably expensive to being a rip off this was another blatant example of this.
After the long queue we finally got on The Tron ride, the start of it is very good but it's all over in about 30 secs. When you bear in mind the early start to get in the Virtual queue, the stress of attempting to get to the ride on time and then the very lengthy queue once in the ride is it worth it? A Big NO from me don't bother.

With the length of Queuing once inside the Virtual queue rides and The Lightning lane people still walking past what is the point of a Virtual Queue? For me it made the whole experience very stressful, think i would prefer to use The Genie+ system.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Disney makes its most popular new rides available to all guests without the ‘penalty’ of having to purchase Genie+ or wait in lines hours long. I appreciate this, especially at Epcot where I don’t find it necessary to purchase Genie+.

I would much prefer knowing in moments at 7AM or 1PM if we can ride rather than waste hours of my park day waiting in an actual line.

You expressed the line after your VQ was called was lengthy, I can only imagine how long it would be without a VQ system!! Flight of Passage is over 5 years old and that line reaches 3+ hours often. No thank you!

I’ll take a VQ any day.

 

[Huskyfan860]

I’d be more onboard with the idea of a VQ if I didn’t have to wait when my boarding group is called. Back when Remy had a VQ we still had to wait 45+ minutes after ours was called - why not call the boarding group when it’s time to board?

 

[sponica]

Disney makes its most popular new rides available to all guests without the ‘penalty’ of having to purchase Genie+ or wait in lines hours long. I appreciate this, especially at Epcot where I don’t find it necessary to purchase Genie+.

I would much prefer knowing in moments at 7AM or 1PM if we can ride rather than waste hours of my park day waiting in an actual line.

You expressed the line after your VQ was called was lengthy, I can only imagine how long it would be without a VQ system!! Flight of Passage is over 5 years old and that line reaches 3+ hours often. No thank you!

I’ll take a VQ any day.

I shudder at thinking of GOTG without a VQ, even though I wasn't thrilled with my wait once I entered the building. That building can hold an extremely long SB line.

 

[LadyNia]

When Pandora opened up both Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey had hours long wait times. I remember getting a fast pass for FOP and then refusing to get in a 4 hour line for Na’vi. Virtual Queues allow you to ride new and popular rides without spending half your day in a line. If you don’t like system you can choose not to participate, but I’m sure most people would rather have an hour long wait over ridiculous queues.

 

[gharter]

Think back to when Universal opened Hagrids without a virtual queue. 8 hour waits. Without the VQ, that could be the line for GoTG and Tron. I'm also happy to have the longer wait time when your boarding group is called. I don't enjoy the wait, but the more people you have in that line means other lines are shorter.

 

[TropicalDIS]

The point is you only waited 40 minutes with the virtual queue.

Without it, your options are waiting 2 1/2 - 3 hours or more, or pay the ILL price.

Basing this off what happened with Flight of Passage, and I'd argue Cosmic Rewind is both a better ride and much more popular.

 

[PSUPreston]

After just returning from Disney i am not sure what the point of these are.
Firstly we planned to do The Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot, after setting my alarm for 06:45 to join the queue I was happy to get boarding group 42 with estimated boarding time of 11:45. We decided to have a relaxed morning and take our time to get to Epcot, at 09:30 while having a leisurely breakfast our estimated boarding time dropped to 10:15, chaos ensued. We finally made it to the park at 10:45 after breaking a few speed limits enroute. With no clear indication of the whole process i was sure my children were going to be left disappointed when we were going to be told we were too late. Thankfully we weren't and were allowed on the ride. However there was still a 40 minute queue once inside the ride. It would appear boarding groups and timings are estimates!
The Ride was good but could have been made a lot better.
The day we decided to do Tron, same process ensued 06:45 wake up, made it on to boarding group 8, no estimated boarding time given. Decided to try and get to The Magic Kingdom at opening time. Traffic meant that we got to the parking area at 09:00. Queues for transport in to the park were very big while boarding the ferry the App flashed up that our boarding was now closed. By the time we had run across the park the time was now 09:45 sure we wouldn't be granted access we, to our surprise we were. While queueing which took over an hour as in Guardians of the Galaxy people were walking past in The Lightning Lane i enquired why? To be informed that these people had paid $30 for the privilege per rider. Wow i was already thinking Disney had gone beyond being acceptably expensive to being a rip off this was another blatant example of this.
After the long queue we finally got on The Tron ride, the start of it is very good but it's all over in about 30 secs. When you bear in mind the early start to get in the Virtual queue, the stress of attempting to get to the ride on time and then the very lengthy queue once in the ride is it worth it? A Big NO from me don't bother.

With the length of Queuing once inside the Virtual queue rides and The Lightning lane people still walking past what is the point of a Virtual Queue? For me it made the whole experience very stressful, think i would prefer to use The Genie+ system.

I am sorry your experience wasn't top notch on this trip. Personally I have been on Guardian's over 30 times and would likely suspect there was a delay or momentary shut down if your wait was 45 plus minutes in the VQ line. While there is a line, I find that it moves fairly quick and think the normal wait is 30 minutes for VQ, from tap in to on the ride (which includes the preshow(s)).
As stated by others, far far better than 3+ hours of wearing down your phone battery or trying to keep the kiddos entertained. My hope is you'll have a better experience next time!!

 

[OpieDoodle]

They point of the virtual que is a few things. No one really wants to spend half their day, or longer, in a que for a ride that will last a few minutes. For people who don't live nearby this maybe their only trip for ever, for a few years, who knows. So they're not going to want to spend the 1 day they have in animal kingdom spending 5 hours in line for Flight of Passage for example.

Disney also doesn't want you in line that long either. When you're in line that means you're not buying food, drinks, and such. They make a large amount of money off people buying extra things in the parks.

The virtual que allows you to be able to do other things rather than wait in a line that will likely reach an average wait time of 3-4 hours in SB. I have only had that issue once where it was a 30+ minute wait from the virtual queue. It was on the newer star wars ride in Hollywood Studios. It broke down tho. Every other ride I've done virtual queue including guardians its maybe a 10-15 minute wait as most once your boarding group is called.

Ultimately if you're one of those people that wants to wait standby, have at it. If you're a family that likes virtual? Cool. If you want to pay the extra? That's totally fine too. Everything is different for each person. For me, if the standby line is longer than 30 minutes I won't ride it.

 

[mel&me]

I’d be more onboard with the idea of a VQ if I didn’t have to wait when my boarding group is called. Back when Remy had a VQ we still had to wait 45+ minutes after ours was called - why not call the boarding group when it’s time to board?

I don't see any way than can control it better.
You have an hour once group is called. What happens if many in the last group show up right before the end of their boarding time? Next group called and people show up to find a longer than expected line.
No way to control that. It is still way better than a 2 or 3 hour long line. Which personally I would never do.

 

[travelpantfam]

I quite enjoyed being able to guarantee a chance to ride the newest rides while using the virtual queue on my last trip, both GOTG and Tron. This was my first experience using a virtual queue system anywhere and I agree, I was kind of expecting there to be a very short line once you scanned in. In hindsight I do understand why there is a line since they want as many people to experience it as possible and I kind of expected the prioritizing of people who paid first, I certainly would want to be if I paid $30 per person to ride.

With all that being said, I wish they had an estimated wait time for after you scan in. Having this been the first time I rode either of these rides it was hard to tell when the line would stop snaking around through new rooms, or when the end was in sight.

 

[CanucksRock]

I love the Virtual Queue. If has arrived at MK before park open with an early VQ I’m sure your wait would have been much less.

I have walked right on Cosmic Rewind with an early VQ. During the day it’s hit or miss on whether your wait is 5 minutes or 60 minutes.

If there was no VQ, there would also be no Genie+ as they use Paid ILL.

 

[IndyToThere]

Sounds like Disney could do a better job of communicating that you can still enter the line if your boarding time has passed. I'm not sure what the official amount of time is to still enter, but folks on disboards have confirmed you can still enter the line without issue (and as you found out).

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I love the Virtual Queue. If has arrived at MK before park open with an early VQ I’m sure your wait would have been much less.

I have walked right on Cosmic Rewind with an early VQ. During the day it’s hit or miss on whether your wait is 5 minutes or 60 minutes.

If there was no VQ, there would also be no Genie+ as they use Paid ILL.

Yea, we've actually found the VQ to work relatively well - a controlled standby line without ridiculously long waits as others have talked about with previous attractions. It's not Lightning Lane with short waits!

 

[musicguy856]

I shudder at thinking of GOTG without a VQ, even though I wasn't thrilled with my wait once I entered the building. That building can hold an extremely long SB line.

Not really. I waited in it when it was backed up to the door and it took about 50 minutes to reach the holding room before the preshow.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ultimately if you're one of those people that wants to wait standby, have at it. If you're a family that likes virtual? Cool. If you want to pay the extra? That's totally fine too. Everything is different for each person. For me, if the standby line is longer than 30 minutes I won't ride it.

When VQ is in place there is no standby option so no they can't have at it.

Also if the standby line is longer than 30mins how would you have done with the experience the OP had where they waited 40 mins and then over an hour? You wouldn't have known just how long your wait is for the length of time you enter the line for the VQ.

 

[jimim]

I like the virtual Q’s. When we got out number 10. Parsing group for guardians in November we knew it wouldn’t be long so we grabbed Starbucks and headed over. The one night when we got in the second slot for guardians were were like 280 some I think. I have no idea how we actually got it. There was still availability at like almost 4 pm so we thought it was a plus for us that night. We didn’t change plans. Went to flying fish as planned. Had an awesome dinner as usual. Still wasn’t called. I said to my wife we aren’t even going to get called. We headed to Epcot got in a 60 min line for ratatouille. We figured let’s really try. Lol. We were waiting watching the guardian wait. We were like I think we might pull this off. Lol. Thst line stalled and we got called for guardians so we hopped out and headed to front of the park. So we picked and chooses and made do with what we had going on. All in all I like it. Cost me nothing and I almost scored 2 major rides after dinner. All I’m trying to say is you just got to take chances or try to plan ahead and hope for the best. All in all I think they work and are worth it.

 

[sponica]

Not really. I waited in it when it was backed up to the door and it took about 50 minutes to reach the holding room before the preshow.

They must have been having issues the day I rode it via VQ then, it took us 45 minutes from tap in to the holding room and the line was on one of the switchbacks before the treasures of Xandar.

 

[DavidNYC]

You waited 40 minutes rather than 4 hours. That's the point. It's listed as estimates and continually updates.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

ou expressed the line after your VQ was called was lengthy, I can only imagine how long it would be without a VQ system!! Flight of Passage is over 5 years old and that line reaches 3+ hours often. No thank you!

I’ll take a VQ any day

Agreed. It’s a shame Disney doesn’t have the ride capacity to make every e ticket a virtual queue.