Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure Virtual Queue Ending
With school winter breaks concluding, Walt Disney World’s holiday crowds are starting to die down. Accordingly, the virtual queue will be ending at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure once Marathon Weekend is over. This post shares official announcement details, plus our commentary.
It was only a few months ago that Disney’s Hollywood Studios “paused” the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That change occurred approximately 2 weeks before Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opened and one month before the rollout of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Accordingly, many fans speculated that those were the real reasons for Walt Disney World doing away with the boarding pass system for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge headliner. We’ll circle back to that subject later in the post. For now, here’s Walt Disney World’s official announcement ending the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue…
The newest attraction at EPCOT, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, had its delicious debut just in time for The World’s Most Magical Celebration honoring the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort! Since the attraction opened on Oct. 1, 2021, scores of EPCOT guests have joined Remy in a visit to Gusteau’s bustling kitchen using the virtual queue, which we introduced as part of the exciting launch.
Now, guests may experience this incredible attraction using a standby queue instead of a virtual queue beginning Jan. 10, 2022. With this change, we will end the use of virtual queue for now for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Guests also have the opportunity to purchase access to a Lightning Lane queue at this attraction.
Virtual queues continue to be helpful with the launch of popular attractions and the debut of new experiences and offerings, so we may use it again from time to time for select attractions in the future.
Be sure to take advantage of the complimentary Disney Genie service, helping guests create their best Disney day. Built right into the My Disney Experience app, Disney Genie does the planning for our guests–with a personalized itinerary feature and all of their favorites displayed instantly with real-time tips and predictions. Guests may also purchase next available Lightning Lane entry at select attractions with Disney Genie + service or by purchasing access to Lightning Lane entry at select individual attractions for added flexibility.*
*Attractions with Lightning Lane entrances that are Disney Genie+ and individual purchases are limited in availability, subject to change or closure, may vary by date, are not guaranteed and may not be available at all on the date of visit or at the time you make a selection.
As is well-documented in our many posts about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, our perspective on virtual queues has evolved over time. In large part, that change with Rise of the Resistance was motivated by the attraction improving its reliability and uptime, meaning guests in the standby queue were less likely to endure a breakdown.
For most of the first few months that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance used a standby line, that change was largely vindicated. We had many great experiences breezing through the queue, waiting a fraction of the posted wait time. During September and October, we did the attraction several times with actual waits under 30 minutes.
However, I’m not so sure that could be said about peak weeks, when posted wait times sometimes exceeded 200 minutes. In such scenarios, the odds of a breakdown spiked. The longer you’re in line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the more likely you are to encounter downtime. And that’s not the only issue when lines get longer.
After Rise of the Resistance comes back online, there is be a backlog of Lightning Lane guests to process, meaning the standby line crawled. This could happen at any attraction experiencing downtime, but Rise of the Resistance has higher odds of issues. Accordingly, my perspective is that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is fine with standby ~48 weeks of the year, but would benefit from a virtual queue the other ~4 weeks.
On a related point, it’s worth noting that Walt Disney World isn’t calling this a “pause” of the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue. Given that they never brought back the VC for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance during peak holiday crowds, it’s a near-certainty there’s no intention of ever bringing it back. Same almost certainly applies here, hence no longer hedging the language.
Of course, this post isn’t about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but I thought that was worth mentioning while on the topic of virtual queues since we’re not really doing Rise of the Resistance ride reports anymore. When it comes to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, we’ve never done ride reports.
The reason for that is simple: no one cares. Sorry to the 7 of you who are diehard Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure fans, but it’s true. This isn’t to say people are skipping Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, it’s a flop, or anything of the sort–to the contrary, it’s a solid “warts and all” addition to Epcot that has been reasonably well-received by regular guests. It’s just no Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which is a blockbuster, once-in-a-generation attraction.
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. (As someone who is excellent scoring spots in virtual queues, I love them–but I can recognize not everyone is me.)
This is the same assessment I offered for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance change, and many of you disagreed, contending it was done to push sales of Individual Lightning Lanes. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s safe to say that was/is not the driving motivation. Individual Lightning Lanes sell out for both attractions on a daily basis–it doesn’t appear that the virtual queue changes the calculus for prospective buyers one way or the other.
Ultimately, I’m guessing the end of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure’s virtual queue will not be as “big of a deal” for most fans as the change to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance for the reasons identified above.
I’m also guessing that virtual queues aren’t totally dead at Walt Disney World, especially with the high-demand Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind debuting this year and the space-constrained TRON Lightcycle Run debuting sometime this decade.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens next with virtual queues at Walt Disney World. With regard to Epcot, a couple of things about which I’ll be curious are whether Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure averages the longest wait in the park for now (my guess is yes) and how crowded that area of France gets on busy days.
There’s also the question of how Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure having a standby queue will impact itineraries and arrival strategy. Our preliminary thinking is that it’ll be our rope drop recommendation, and make arriving via International Gateway incredibly advantageous. We’ll head out to the park next week to check that out, test approaches, and provide an update on how things go with the change, so stay tuned!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of this news that Walt Disney World will end of the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue? 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!
Is Remy open during the extended evening hours at Epcot on Monday nights?
I know how the system works and have used it many times. Don’t like it and won’t get up early just to reserve a ride. I also won’t pay after paying to get into the park. Every week, I let Disney know how many of us are disappointed in how things are going with all of the cuts. On the other hand, as I walk into the park(s) I forget all of that and am thrilled to be here despite everything negative. Yup, I’ll just keep coming!
Sorry, I should clarify that my last comment is only for the virtual queue. The Genie+ and ILL reservations do require you to go during the reserved time slot/grace period.
Not just the restaurants, but the CMs at the ride are flexible. Really they let anyone board as long as your boarding group number has been called that day. They don’t care as long as the scanner turns green when you tap it. I’ve even seen accounts of people who got their boarding group at the airport on their arrival day and scanned in after getting to the park hours after their boarding group was called.
@David and @Jen, I’ve found restaurants to be extremely flexible when we’ve arrived late due to virtual queues. Not sure whether Tom knows if there is an official policy on this, but I don’t think you’ll lose your ADR.
We did the virtual cue on 1/6. Originally had a 1 pm arrival. Kept getting pushed back. We had a 6:15 dinner reservation that was in danger. Finally, at 5:15 our group was called. Not knowing when our group would be called is frustrating for planning purposes. I would use paid lightning lane to avoid it. Good riddance.
The worst thing about virtual queues is that you still have to wait once your group arrives and usually for quite a long time. That being said I did not use virtual queues when I was there. I bought my ticket for Remy and I bought my ticket for Rise of the Resistance. I would like to talk about the old-fashioned Fast Pass + when we used to be able to reserve 3 tier one rides before we even got there. That way reservations at restaurants could be honored. Now you run the risk of not being able to get into your ride that you want when you’re trying to manage Genie Plus and these special rides that you have to pay for if you already have a reservation at a restaurant. Then by the time you get to the point where you might have to cancel your restaurant reservation they will charge you $10 because it’s less than 24 hours. Whoever thought of this whole scheme is a “genius”. Not.
I like Remy but I don’t know what age it’s really for. Scared the heck out of my kid. I do see her point a giant hand coming to grab you? An oven turned on while you are in it? My spouse doesn’t like it either because it’s 3D and jerky which is a bad combo.
So it’s just me. The restaurant at the end in Paris is super cute and the second best meal we had at DLP (the restaurant in Pirates is just amazing). Without the restaurant the ride is a little meh.
How’s the reliability of Remy these days? When I was there for the preview in September, the ride was breaking down regularly, including when I was waiting to ride. Yes, it was the preview so this was expected, but I’ve seen anecdotal reports during the holiday time of this still happening.
As a family who has had pretty good luck with the virtual ques I wish it would at least stay for the morning session. We rode Remy’s on the 28th. One kid loved it and wanted to loop it and the other wished it had pulled more story from the movie. I think France as a whole will stay about like it is now, busy, but not Mexico crowded. Just wish the opening to the street flowed better. Feel like it can be a bad pinch point.
“Virtual queues are like a sport, and I want to “win” at them even if the prize is nothing that I want. While I’ll admit to being a bit crazy and odd, I cannot possibly be the only one.”
This (the competitive sport of attraction bagging) does explain a lot of what perplexes me about veteran Disney fans loyal to this site who endure such draconian procedures to get into a ride they have already experienced numerous times before,..
It goes without saying I am not a fan of Virtual Queues. I am not even certain if they are a necessary evil, especially with the ever-changing landscape of rules that surround them. Without virtual queues, people are allowed to make the decisions on their vacation.
Whether to wait their turn or enjoy their time elsewhere, rather than having it swiped away from them in 30 seconds possibly twice in a day. I am extremely hopefully and hoping for a miracle. Could this be a signal that Guardians’ Comic Rewind could be opening? With Disney VP posting that he rode the finished project on December 13, I am hopeful. I maybe a child dreaming, but Dreams do come true. The adult in me believes it for the Return of Fantasmic! Which might not be a bad way of sitting people rather than a huge line of people gathering in the early evening. I just hope it does not return to Rise of the Resistance. I just think virtual queue takes the ride away from those willing to wait.
The majority of people do not want to reserve more than they have to. Flights and hotel plus ground transportation are plenty. Let’s get rid of the park reservations, and ride reservations please.