Disney World Ending Virtual Queues for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure & Guardians of Galaxy Cosmic Rewind!

Walt Disney World is ending all virtual queues, and will be without any for the first time in years! Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will both discontinue their boarding group systems and switch to standby soon. This post shares official announcement details, plus our commentary about Magic Kingdom and EPCOT finally dropping the last remaining VQs.

The last time Walt Disney World dropped a virtual queue for a ride wasn’t that long ago. It was back on September 9, 2024 when TRON Lightcycle Run switched to standby. We’ve done comprehensive field testing then, and despite TRON still not participating in Early Entry, it’s going pretty well without a virtual queue.

Prior to that, it had been a long time since Walt Disney World dropped a virtual queue–a few months after the opening of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. That change came only a few months after Disney’s Hollywood Studios “paused” the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That pause, thankfully, turned out to be permanent.

Technically, there was about 1-week of no virtual queues at all in Walt Disney World between the time in late September 2021 when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance dropped its virtual queue and when Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opened one week later. Given that was one of the lowest crowd stretches at Walt Disney World in the last 5+ years, we’re guessing not many of you experienced it.

For the last meaningful stretch when Walt Disney World was without a virtual queue, you’d have to go back even further–all the way to the halcyon days of December 2019, before the closure and phased reopening, prior to the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Back when free FastPass, evening Extra Magic Hours, etc. were all still alive and well.

Fast forward to today and Walt Disney World has announced that starting February 25, 2025, standby queues will be available at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom. Virtual queues will be in place for both from now through February 24, 2025.

Currently, there are 2 daily opportunities during regular operations to request to join the virtual queues for Cosmic Rewind or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure:

  • 7:00 AM (Guests do not need to be in Magic Kingdom to join the virtual queue at this time)
  • 1:00 PM (Guests must have entered Magic Kingdom to join the virtual queue at this time)

Please be aware that as of February 25, 2025, these virtual queues will no longer be available. This will included Extended Evening Hours at EPCOT.

These changes are long overdue. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still using a virtual queue for its “initial opening period.” While a standby queue will not be available during the attraction’s initial opening days, Walt Disney World expects to open a standby line soon after the attraction’s opening.

The italicized above is what Walt Disney World said when first announcing the opening date and details for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure back in last May. Disney’s language at the time strongly suggested Tiana’s Bayou Adventure wouldn’t have a virtual queue for nearly as long as any other ride at Walt Disney World. In fact, we predicted it would be dropped by July 8. That was over 7 months ago!

What we didn’t predict–and what no one could’ve predicted–was that the reimagined ride would have so many reliability and downtime woes. It is somehow much, much worse than Splash Mountain. Don’t even get me started on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure’s issues. After encountering repeated headaches with that during the course of field testing last week, I’m at my wits’ end with that attraction. Another story for another day, though.

The good news (unless you’ve been visiting recently) is that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has been closing early on certain dates throughout Winter 2025, which we’ve assumed was due to conditions (low crowds and temperatures) conducive to extended overnight maintenance. Based on the development that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is ending its virtual queue on February 25, that’s seemingly confirmed.

Then there’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which has become the longest running virtual queue at Walt Disney World by a wide margin.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opened 2 years, 8 months and 21 days ago. For the math whizzes out there, it’ll “celebrate” its thousandth day of having a virtual queue later this week. I’m honestly shocked Cosmic Rewind’s virtual queue has lasted so long–we first predicted it’d be retired in August 2022 based on demand and smooth operations.

Obviously, that was very wrong. One potential complicating factor with Cosmic Rewind is less physical queue space, but they installed overflow outside (complete with umbrellas!) over a year ago, and it’s just been sitting there since. It’ll be interesting to see the extent to which this is needed once Spring Break crowds arrive in full force.

As is well-documented in our many posts, our perspective on virtual queues has evolved over time. In large part, this was motivated by Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance improving its reliability and uptime, meaning guests in the standby queue were less likely to endure a breakdown.

The shift to a standby line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was largely vindicated. Although it still has too much downtime, it’s more or less on the outer bounds of what’s acceptable. Same goes for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and TRON Lightcycle Run, both of which are below average in terms of ride breakdowns. (They do happen, just not as often as RotR or TBA.)

Suffice to say, it’s hard to see any reason why these rides still “needs” virtual queues so long after their initial launch season–especially if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has fixed what was making it so unreliable.

In our view, virtual queues are guest unfriendly and should only be used when absolutely necessary. Whenever they can be dropped, they should be dropped. It is patently obvious to me that the VQ can be dropped at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure might be a different story given its history of reliability problems, but if Disney is moving forward with this decision I assume it’s because they’re confident they’ve found a fix.

As Walt Disney World has undertaken initiatives to simplify and improve the guest experience, eliminating the remaining virtual queues seems like an obvious next-step. And I say all of this as someone who selfishly likes virtual queues because they give me (and other knowledgeable, frequent guests) an advantage over the average visitors. But I also recognize that what’s good for me is not always good for the park-going public.

The thing is that ride capacity is a zero-sum game. If the virtual queue is filling up with a bunch of APs and locals who would skip a triple-digit standby wait, those spots are coming at the expense of someone else. The losers in this scenario are likely disproportionately first-timers and other low-knowledge or technology-averse guests.

Whereas these people often are oblivious to virtual queues or are unsuccessful at joining, many of them are able or more inclined to wait in a long standby line. The balking point is higher for them–they’ve never done the ride, so their tolerance for lines or threshold for waiting is higher than the average AP who skips any standby line that’s over 30 minutes.

First-timers or infrequent visitors are the very demographics that, in my opinion even as a biased and self-interested AP, Walt Disney World should be favoring. It’s better for the sake of guest satisfaction and creating new fans to make things easier for these people, and removing one layer of friction.

This is doubly true when it comes to newer attractions that are the focus of marketing campaigns. There are people who have booked trips after seeing ads for Cosmic Rewind or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure…who haven’t been able to ride because they failed at the virtual queue, or didn’t understand how to ‘play’ in the first place. Or maybe those are just the rides they really, really want to experience over and over again–in which case, they should be able to do so if they’re willing to endure multiple 100+ minute waits. That should be their choice!

As most of us have complained about the amount of screen time and overreliance on technology in visiting Walt Disney World, we should likewise continue to support the retirement of virtual queues. They may benefit us on an individual level, but are bad on a holistic level.

Overall and in aggregate, virtual queues are a negative for the guest experience–and one that leads to more complaints and opportunities for disappointment that has no potential resolution. Virtual queues add yet another unnecessary layer of friction and make things overwhelming and intimidating for inexperienced and older guests.

As such, we applaud the end of the virtual queue at TRON Lightcycle Run in Magic Kingdom. It should’ve happened a full year ago, but better late than never. Next up, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. I don’t care what the operational excuse is for keeping that 2 years longer than necessary–it’s a bad one and also needs to go.

Given that this is the first time that Walt Disney World has ever retired two virtual queues simultaneously, and is effectively ending boarding groups for the foreseeable future (the next “chance” at them returning for rides isn’t until 2027 when Tropical Americas opens), it’s natural to question the “why” of this move.

As covered in Walt Disney World is Worried About Its High Prices, the company has internal concerns about Disney alienating the middle class, with growing fears about how price increases and unpopular decisions are angering fans and losing guest goodwill. This is not just price increases. It’s those coupled with corresponding cuts, nickel and diming, and other ways the guest experience has been diminished. Price isn’t the only concern. It’s the value proposition, which has taken hits in both directions.

That has been a hot topic making major headlines for the last week-plus thanks to a report in the Wall Street Journal, and it even necessitated a ham-fisted response from Disney. As we predicted in Disney Responds to Rising Costs Criticism, we fully expect substantive action as a “we’re listening” response from the company.

The last time something like this occurred, a little over a month later Walt Disney World made 3 big changes to restore value and improve flexibility, including the return of free overnight parking at the hotels. Mere months after that, the company announced 5 major improvements to make your visit easier. More recently, there was the switch from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass along with other queueing changes aimed at better balancing the interests of all guests.

Otherwise, not a whole lot has happened to improve the guest experience in the last 365+ days. This could be the opening salvo in Walt Disney World’s attempt to improve guest satisfaction and reduce the amount of friction in visiting its parks. Or it could be entirely coincidental.

It’s possible that the explanation here is simply that maintenance teams found a fix to the problems plaguing Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, to the point that park operations is satisfied that it can run reliably and doesn’t need a virtual queue. From there, management might’ve thought it’s a good idea to eliminated both remaining virtual queues in one fell swoop, as the one at Cosmic Rewind has likewise outlived its usefulness. Personally, I’d prefer to believe that this is Act One in a “we’re listening” campaign. But I guess we shall see.

As for changes to Lightning Lanes, there are no changes to Lightning Lanes. 

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure continues to be part of the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ride roster, whereas Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind sells the a la carte Lightning Lane Single Pass. See our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for everything you need to know.

For whatever it’s worth, Lightning Lane Single Pass is Selling Out Faster than it used to, and Cosmic Rewind is the most popular LLSP. It’s often gone several days in advance. For its part, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is the firm #1 pick on our list of the Top 10 Toughest Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.

To that point, whenever Walt Disney World has removed virtual queues in the past, a subset of fans has complained that they’ve done so out of “greed” and as a way to push Lightning Lane sales. Ironically, another subset has complained that this is what virtual queues do. There really is no pleasing everyone.

We are highly skeptical that Lightning Lane sales have any bearing on virtual queues. If they did, more attractions would add or remove them, as the case may be. With the benefit of hindsight from the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance change, it’s safe to say that was/is not the driving motivation.

Lightning Lanes sell out for most attractions on a daily basis, regardless–it doesn’t appear that the virtual queue changes the calculus for prospective buyers one way or the other. This is doubly true for these two attractions because, as discussed above, they are both the #1 most popular rides on LLMP and LLSP. You cannot sell more of that which is already sold out. (Well, they could by increasing supply…but that’s already an option.)

As for the motivations of moving it from a virtual queue to standby, my guess is that this is once again a matter of guest satisfaction. Virtual queues are exceedingly unpopular with guests, who find them counterintuitive and are surprised to arrive and find they do not have the option of standing in line.

Not everything is a conspiracy or done by Disney with ulterior motives to make even more money. That’s not just a cynical perspective, but one that makes our collective voice as fans easier to ignore. If we complain about everything, there’s no point in the company listening to us.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of this news that Walt Disney World will end the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind virtual queues on February 25, 2025? Do you agree or disagree with this change? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

You might also like...

63 Comments

  1. It’s only logical that LLSP demand will drop slightly, because the virtual queues will have caused FOMO among semi-knowledgable visitors, which no longer exists. While some passholders and illustrious bloggers may now buy LLSP when they didn’t previously, such demographics are infamously tight-fisted and will surely not offset the loss of the FOMO-purchase demographic.

    So although I agree (as it happens) that the conspiracy theories are wrong (I think WDW rates overall guest satisfaction higher than LL revenue alone), I don’t agree with your rationale. A ride ultimately selling out of LL tells us almost nothing, since we don’t know the capacity allocated to LL, and we don’t know how much less they have to charge to ensure it sells out (if Avatar cost $20 instead of $16 on a given day, it’s safe to say it would never sell out at its allocated capacity).

    1. The first paragraph is an excellent point. It appears that people in this demo are thinking, “this makes me more likely to buy LLSP since I won’t do any line over X minutes, therefore it increase LLSP sales” without considering the counterfactual: “it makes planners less likely to buy LLSP since it removes the FOMO/FUD factor.” Of the two demos, the latter is very obviously the one more likely to purchase LLSP.

      With regard to the second, my point–perhaps clumsily made–is that Walt Disney World doesn’t need an “excuse” to sell more LLSP for Cosmic Rewind, as it’s already selling out multiple days in advance. If they so desired, they could simply allocate more capacity to LLSP and sell more. We know that isn’t happening, because it wouldn’t be selling out multiple days in advance if so.

      It probably won’t sell out as early going forward (TRON doesn’t), but that won’t be evidence of an increase (because see first point).

  2. I’m very curious how this will affect the queue wait times of other rides, especially during rope drop. The VQ basically allowed people to wait for the ride without being in a physical ride so they could wait for other rides at the same time (in your words, be in two places at once I believe).
    I anticipate Cosmic Rewind to be by far the most popular ride in Epcot. So will it by consequence, reduce the wait times for Remy, Frozen and Test Track (when it reopens)?

  3. Hi Tom!

    As Always, great article. Thank you!

    You hit the nail here: >> (Well, they could by increasing supply…but that’s already an option.)

    It’s an option to be sure, but why do it? Why increase LL capacity AND leave VQs running when you a) don’t have to, and b) could capture just the increased LL capacity by eliminating VQs?

    Over the years, you have taught (maybe even drilled into us!) that any queing strategy is a zero sum game in absence of more ride/attraction capacity.

    Disney’s elimination of the VQs is ***precisely*** done so they can shift that otherwise free VQ capacity to paying LL – which will still sell out. Now, it will just sell out in greater volume. More $$$ for The Mouse. Sure, there are some other tangential benefits to be had in terms of guest experience… But none of those were the primary reason. For example, you noted how information disadvantaged guests were exactly the most likely to have to wait in 100+ minutes lines for the headliners. Let’s presume for a moment that WDW does NOT shift VQ capacity to LL capacity and instead releases 100% of it to Standby. In that case, how many of those 100+ minutes will be reduced for that guest thanks to the (presumed) standby capacity increase? Would an 80 or 90 minute wait for GotG make it a spectacular experience for that guest while 100 minutes would have made it awful?
    Using Occam’s razor, might THAT be more likely, or is it instead more likely that Disney was leaving too much $$$ on the table by making VQs free for the AP holders and MDE power users, who – as you noted – won’t wait even 30 minutes in a Standby?
    Disney has a ton of LL data now. They well know that LLs will continue to sell out, and at which price points on which dates. The reclaimed VQ capacity will go straight to LL capacity, not standby.

  4. well, I guess our days of riding Guardians for a long while are over. I could pretty much count on if I got up early enough, logged into the app and started pressing refresh over and over, we would be able to ride. Now, if you can’t the fork over te extragant money people are willing to pay to skip lines, those lines will now likely rival those if Hagrid’s Magical Motorbike
    Adventure in Islands of Adventure, another attraction we love, but have very rarely ridden, of course, Island’s of Adventure made it fair. No one gets to bypass the line…
    there are no express passes, virtual queses or anything else and it has been open well over 5 years. at least with the virtual line system, it was fair to anyone of any income who could download an app and tap their finger on a phone.

  5. I am very glad to see this go, and I hope it never returns. I remember one trip when Rise was still in VQ mode, of course, your blog again, was very instrumental in how I was able to obtain the VQ, followed it to the letter and I scored the VQ, I was happy I jumped like I had just won the lotto, however I kind of felt bad afterwards for those who may not of gotten one, and that it might be the only time they could or ever would go. I thought maybe I should not have shown my gleefulness. I have said before, I do follow your blog, and take your advice, as well as two or three other youtuber’s I enjoy. I do agree with your last statement, about always complaining, however, I have been there before, when I paid less for what felt like more, so sometimes, and being one of your doomshine type of follower’s, it is hard to feel good or not complain when you see things just disappear without any real good reason. This year we are taking my daughter, and three granddaughters with, and I am not rich at all, so this one feels like a win, something to help me feel a little better for what I now feel is like making a poor financial decision.

    1. “I do agree with your last statement, about always complaining, however, I have been there before, when I paid less for what felt like more, so sometimes, and being one of your doomshine type of follower’s, it is hard to feel good or not complain when you see things just disappear without any real good reason.”

      I don’t know if “doomshine” was a typo, a term you’ve coined or heard elsewhere, but I kind of like it!

      To be clear, I’m not suggesting fans withhold their complaints. Doing so would be foolish, and also a “those in glass houses…” kind of scenario. Just look at our recent posts!

      What I think is important is trying to think about decisions from multiple perspectives, not just your own, before getting vocal about changes or policies, etc. (That’s clearly what you did in the past with the VQ at RotR.) Sometimes what may seem like a negative–because it is for us, personally–may actually be a net positive or made for guests who are not powerusers like us.

    2. lo, no Doomshine is a phrase given to me by someone who used it to describe my personality, I felt it fit, so I stick with it. As far as complaining, people are going to complain no matter what, you cannot have a public enterprise, and not make people upset about something, you once said people would complain about free dining, and they do, because you have to book a non-discounted trip etc. You also once said that most of us complain, because we do so out of love, and I believe that as well, We all save money to go, some of us read and watch stuff to prepare, for me preparing is part of the fun, Some adults can go any place in the world, and yet they go to Disney, Some of us adults go with our children and grandchildren, because of childhood memories or other memories that we had, or maybe we lost some of our childhood, and this place lets us just be, food is not always going to be cheap or good, lines are going to happen, rides may be shut down, or some other weird thing may happen, however we all should be able to enjoy Walts dream of a place for all families, and it just seems, that for many, that is going away, or that they take us all for granted and assume because its Disney, we will always just deal with it, and that bothers me more than anything. Well, there is a new park getting ready to open, and it sure does seem to have some shiny new toys, so we shall see how the future plays out.

  6. I see a lot of people talking about the VQ saving them time and I get that in theory and I’m probably just an unlucky guy but I still stood in line for an hour for Guardians with the VQ/it was pretty consistently one of the longest lines I stood in on each WDW trip. Glad it saved time for someone else?

    1. Wait times upon return for Cosmic Rewind are all over the place. They used to be consistently short, but that hasn’t been the case in the last year-plus.

      I’d say the average I waited in 2024 was 60 minutes, with a range of 20-90 minutes.

      Also, the notion that VQs decrease overall wait times is erroneous. People aren’t sitting on park benches while they’re waiting for callback times–they’re largely doing other attractions, increasing the standby waits at those.

      Switching to standby rearranges the deck chairs; it might mean a longer wait here, but that should be offset by a shorter one somewhere else. I’d also add that standby should improve efficiency first thing in the morning and at the end of the night, making it a net positive for park operations on balance.

    2. “People aren’t sitting on park benches while they’re waiting for callback times–they’re largely doing other attractions, increasing the standby waits at those. Switching to standby rearranges the deck chairs; it might mean a longer wait here, but that should be offset by a shorter one somewhere else.”

      To me, a VQ was like a LL but chosen by lottery. If the typical wait in line was about an hour to get on Guardians, that’s about the average for rides at EPCOT. Given that the capacity of the ride will remain unchanged, the same number of people will be able to ride it in a day with the VQ setup as with a standby queue.

      But what I think you’re saying is that the longer wait times on Guardians would move the need a little. Assuming the average wait on Guardians will double to two hours, that would mean 2,000 or so more people waiting in line there instead of at other rides, which would be a 6% reduction with an average daily number of visitors of 32,000. Note: 2,000 is just a wild guess for the sake of illustration.

    3. This is more or less correct.

      The one thing I’d push back on slightly is that capacity will be unchanged. I get what you’re saying in a theoretical sense, but operationally, it’s not at all uncommon for rides with VQs to operate inefficiently first thing in the morning. They often dispatch with empty vehicles because guests being called back first thing can’t or don’t arrive quickly. There’s also abandonment at the end of the evening, or scenarios where the ride calls everyone in the VQ before the end of the night.

      Beyond that, Cosmic Rewind will be open 30 minutes longer per day thanks to Early Entry, thereby increasing its daily capacity.

    4. “I see a lot of people talking about the VQ saving them time and I get that in theory and I’m probably just an unlucky guy but I still stood in line for an hour for Guardians with the VQ/it was pretty consistently one of the longest lines I stood in on each WDW trip.”

      Just wait until you see the lines for the standby line on Guardians :-). Its probably going to easily be in the 120 minute+ range like Rise of the Resistance when its VQ was ended.

  7. Extremely disapointed vq are gone. I refuse to stand in standby lanes that are longer then 15 mins. The great thing about wdw is the smart traveller who planned could bypass the standby queues. Now it makes it a little bit harder as wdw.

    Bring back the vq!

    1. Not gonna happen.
      Disney is increasingly moving towards a UOR model – standby for the masses, and premier pass for the wealthy. Simple and easily understood. I expect LLMP/LLSP to go away at some point too for the same reason.

  8. This might be insane but what if they offered all THREE??

    A small VQ for those who find that option to be most convenient, lightning lanes for those who prefer the paid option, and finally the stand by lanes for everyone else? When I used the VQ on Guardians and Tron it was nice to know I had my “reservation” in line and could return within an hour of when my group was called, this not having to stand on line too long or having to pay extra for the lightning lanes. Would this be too complicated, too crazy even for Disney??

  9. I’ll get to experience both the VQ & the standby on my next trip, as this change happens halfway through our visit. It’ll be interesting to see the difference. I plan to do a lot of Epcot at the start of my holiday, so hopefully will be able to maximize VQ those days and get quite a few GoG rides in, and then if I can standby at the end of the week there as well, so be it. If the queue is too long, then I’ll skip it. As for Tiana’s, it’ll be nice to have both options, as I’ve been wondering if all the down time would preclude us from experiencing it this trip. Hopefully this is a good sign of that changing, as you suggest.

  10. Good! IMO, there should be no virtual queues at all. Next they should do the impossible and scrap the paid lighting lane programs. Let everyone wait equally.

  11. Not going to lie, I’m bummed about this news. I had finally conquered the virtual queue! Although I hate doing it, I will purchase the individual lightening lane for Cosmic Rewind when we visit in March. I really don’t want to wait in a 2+ hour line to ride it a second time though. Any thoughts on standby line strategies? Rope drop vs end of night?

    1. Hi Amy,

      I too am bummed for pretty much the exact same reason as you. You and me (sometimes) are exactly Disney’s target for this change – won’t wait 100+ minutes of our precious vacation time for just one attraction, *used* to ride for free via VQ, and now will pay for LL

      (I write ‘sometimes’ because we love GotG SO much that we would sometimes do VQ and paid LL to ride twice in the same day). Will be kind of a bummer that we won’t ever be able to do that again, and will now always have to pay for the LL.

  12. While we benefitted from VQ’s, especially for Guardians, I do agree that simplifying things by eliminating VQ’s all together is best for all. There is finally no need to do anything at 7:00am. And it was a lot explaining to others the differences between VQ rides, Multi-Pass, Single-Pass, etc.

    Now the next step I would like to see is eliminating Single-Pass and just including ALL rides (including Guardians, Rise, Avatar, Tron, and Mine Train) in the Multi-Pass…even if that raises the price of Multi-Pass. This would make things so much easier to understand – standby lines and multi-pass lightning lanes. That’s it! It would give more value to Multi-Pass while also opening up inventory for more lightning lanes overall in each park which I think is much needed everywhere but maybe MK but maybe MK now as well since Thunder Mountain is offline.

  13. If you want better guest satisfaction make it fair and end line skipping all together…it stinks to watch groups of people skip you all day long!

  14. I’m so happy about this change.

    The idea that there are folks experiencing these attractions dozens and dozens of times, and complaining about these changes — when thousands and thousands of visitors, after saving for years, come from all across the country/world for their “trip of lifetime” and get shut out from experiencing these attractions even ONCE in their entire lives/childhoods — really sickens me. This has been true for awhile (and across all facets of society, not just Disney) but I continue to sour on the assumed privilege of fan communities who feel whatever thing they’re into or have invested in BELONGS to them.

    To me the only good reason for a VQ is downtime/reliability – if there’s anything worse than not being able to experience an attraction on your once-in-a-lifetime trip, it’s waiting 2 hours in a physical line, getting kicked from that attraction’s queue, and still not getting to ride. And that’s still not a very good reason, as consistent unreliability should be unacceptable.

    1. Totally agree.

      Some fans could really stand to have a little more self-awareness and realize that: 1) not everyone is like them; 2) capacity is finite.

      My perspective on this has more or less been: “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Which is to say that I took advantage of the VQ while it lasted, while also being cognizant of the fact that my gain was someone else’s loss. Now the reverse is true, and I’m not mad about it.

  15. I previously liked the VQs okay but last trip had a bad experience! Missed the 7:00 one so had my alarm set for 12:58 – went on literally as we were about to step on the Frozen ride. Didn’t want to be a jerk on my phone in the ride so I got out and let me kids ride without me…super disappointed. All to start the refresh game…and not get in anyway. I could see why this would be pretty upsetting if this was like a once in a lifetime trip!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *