How to Ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot
The newest attraction at Walt Disney World is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot. This guide covers how to ride the popular attraction now that the virtual queue has been retired, strategy for successfully scoring an Individual Lightning Lane, and answers frequently asked questions about the Rat Ride in World Showcase’s France pavilion. (Updated February 7, 2022.)
For starters, some background about Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. The new attraction first debuted almost a decade ago in (real) France, and was brought to Florida for the kickoff of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, making it the newest attraction in any of the 4 parks. You can read thoughts and see photos in our Spoiler-Free Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure Ride Review.
As with every other theme park at Walt Disney World, you’ll need to start by booking a Park Pass reservation before visiting Epcot. Most days, obtaining Park Pass reservations is easy. Nevertheless, we recommend booking Disney Park Passes in advance of your visit, as it’s one less thing to worry about when attempting to beat the 50th Anniversary crowds and riding Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure!
As of Winter 2022, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure no longer uses a virtual queue. While Walt Disney World hasn’t ruled out the possibility of bringing the boarding group system back should crowds or demand dictate, we view that scenario as highly unlikely. However, it is possible–if not probable–that Epcot’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will use a virtual queue.
Instead, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure now uses a traditional standby line and is one of Epcot’s two Individual Lightning Lane attractions. For advice on the latter, consult our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World and Lightning Lane FAQ. In general, we’re not fans of paying extra for this attraction.
Instead, we recommend using the standby line. In a perfect world, you’d be eligible for Early Entry and would enter Epcot from International Gateway, making it easy to experience Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure with minimal wait.
In reality, many guests either won’t be eligible for Early Entry or won’t be entering the park via International Gateway–or both. These guests should consult our 1-Day Epcot Itinerary for other step-by-step strategy for beating the crowds.
When it comes to other “sweet spots” for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, or times when wait times dip below average, we have two specific recommendations. First, we’ve observed a relative lull in wait times about an hour after park opening until around noon.
This gap is basically between when the early arrivers have already finished up with the attraction but before the guests who prioritized the front of the park arrive to World Showcase. It’s still early, so this trend could change, but it intuitively makes sense and our expectation is that it’ll continue.
Second, in the last hour of the day. This is pretty common at all attractions, and how early you should line up really depends upon whether you want to watch Harmonious or not. If so, get in line 60-90 minutes before showtime. If not, get in line a minute or so before park closing.
As noted above, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is an Individual Lightning Lane attraction, meaning line-skipping for it is purchased a la carte–it’s not part of the Genie+ system.
Another option is assessing morning wait times and then buying the Individual Lightning Lane option for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure if the wait time is too high for your liking. That’s a good way to hedge your bets and, as of right now, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure usually is not selling out of ILLs until early afternoon most days.
With all of that said, what follows is info about the now-defunct virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, preserved for posterity–and just in case it returns…
A comprehensive ‘how to ride’ guide might seem excessive, after all, isn’t it just a matter of “sitting down and buckling up”?! However, protocol for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is going to be different from most attractions.
The procedure for getting a chance to ride is confusing even longtime Walt Disney World fans, so our goal here is to help you avoid similar frustrations. In short, don’t simply show up at park opening for Epcot and think you’re going to be able to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. To the contrary, your odds are significantly worse if you only do that.
Hence this ride guide and FAQ. Reading this will help you plan accordingly, beat the crowds, and have an incredibly efficient day in World Showcase and Future World at Epcot.
Before we dig in, one final note: Walt Disney World tends to tinker with this virtual queue process. Policies change about every other week–something we expect to be particularly true during Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure’s first year. We’re diligent in keeping this updated, so be sure to check back for the latest info—or subscribe to our free Walt Disney World email newsletter for instant updates about all of the latest news, when discounts are released, etc.
Start by hitting the hamburger button on the lower right corner of the My Disney Experience app. From there, select “Virtual Queues” and then “Join Virtual Queue.”
At this point, you’ll see the following screen:
You’ll have the option of confirming your party starting at 6 am, or an hour before the virtual queue opens.
Click the blue button to confirm your party, ensuring that everyone visiting with you is selected for the virtual queue. So long as tickets are properly linked and everyone has a Disney Park Pass reservation for Epcot, this process should be smooth sailing and self-explanatory.
Once you confirm your party, you’ll see the above screen until 7 am.
Use the “fast finger” strategy below to get the timing right, and then either hit the refresh button or pull down to refresh at 7 am on the dot. You’ll then see the “Join Queue” button. Tap that and you’re done!
You’ll then receive confirmation that you’re in the virtual queue…or it’s already full.
Alternatively, if several members of your party were all trying and someone else was successful, you’ll see a “Not So Fast! Already in Boarding Group” error message or a red banner across an otherwise all-white screen.
Fast Fingers Strategy for Joining the Virtual Queue
Disney WiFi v. Cellular Data?
It really depends on your carrier and where you’re located in the park/resort/etc.
We’d recommend doing a quick speed test with both a few minutes before it’s time to join the virtual queue. Anything at or above 50 Mbps should be sufficient, but the higher the better. If necessary, move around to get away from other people or increase your speed to that threshold.
How should we prepare for joining the virtual queue?
This might sound like overkill, but milliseconds matter.
Make sure your phone is fully updated and force close all apps, including My Disney Experience shortly before it’s time to join the virtual queue. Double-check the time on your phone or watch against time.gov, which is what Walt Disney World uses for opening the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue.
What’s the best strategic approach for joining a boarding group? Should one person try for everyone, should we each try individually, or what?
Do not try individually—you won’t be in the same boarding groups, meaning you won’t ride together.
We recommend everyone try for everyone in your party. Launch the MDX app in advance of the virtual queue opening, confirm your party, and hit the “Join Boarding Group” button when the time comes (making sure you follow the above tests for better speed). You can either wait for the button to go live, or force refresh at the right time by pulling down “hard.”
The person in your party with the fastest fingers will score the boarding group, while everyone else will receive a “Not So Fast/Already in Boarding Group” message–or a big red error banner at the bottom of your screen. Again, be sure that anyone in your party who tries for boarding passes attempts to add everyone.
What if not everyone in my party is pre-selected?
During the process of joining the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue, everyone in your party who has a Park Pass reservation for Epcot and/or has tapped into the park (as applicable) should already appear in your party. However, you have the option to hit “Change Party” before tapping the “Join Virtual Queue” button.
If this needs to be adjusted or you’re having problems, be sure to address them before it’s time to join the virtual queue. If that’s not possible for whatever reason, just join anyway with part of your party. If, for some reason, someone in your party was not included, see a Cast Member at the Guest Experience Team stands (look for the blue umbrella) in Epcot or Cast Members in World Showcase’s France pavilion. Adding one person to an existing boarding group is a problem they can fix. No one in your party getting boarding groups because you hesitated or didn’t join due to an error is not a problem they can fix.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure FAQ
How does the virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure work?
Let’s just start with the official explanation from Walt Disney World: When Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure initially opens, in order to experience the attraction, Guests will be required to join the virtual queue. A standby queue will not be available at opening. The virtual queue will be limited and subject to availability. Each guest can enter the virtual queue no more than once per day.
Guests with a valid ticket or pass and theme park reservation who will start their day at EPCOT can access the virtual queue system via the My Disney Experience app and check for an available boarding group starting at 7:00 AM on the day of their park reservation. This can be done before you arrive at the theme park. You’ll need to have park admission linked to your Disney account and applicable theme park reservations.
If you are unable to join the morning virtual queue opportunity, you may check for an available boarding group starting at 1:00 PM that day after you have entered the park.
What are boarding groups?
Boarding groups are the means of organizing guests into groups when it’s their turn to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
For example, rather than having a specified return time of 1 pm until 2 pm, you might be in boarding group 75. Your return time in minutes is estimated in advance, but you’re not given a window. Instead, you’re called back based upon how quickly the attraction cycles the guests through who are in front of you in the virtual queue.
Will guests who Park Hop to Epcot be eligible for boarding groups in the afternoon?
We don’t know yet. It is worth noting that Park Hopping doesn’t begin until 2 pm and the second entry time for the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure virtual queue is 1 pm. As a practical matter, it might seem like that provides a conclusive answer.
After all, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance afternoon boarding passes were usually gone before 1:01 pm. However, we’ve seen them last much longer in the last couple of months, including until after 2 pm on multiple occasions.
Initially, our expectation is that the virtual queue will fill well before 2 pm, so this likely won’t be a relevant question until early 2022. We’ll update accordingly if/when we find out what the policy is.
Will all new attractions at Walt Disney World use a virtual queue?
Some readers have expressed concern that “all new attractions are going to use virtual queues.” If you’re worried about virtual queues and being up at 7 am to score difficult boarding groups being “the future” of attractions, look no further than Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This is the second-newest attraction at Walt Disney World, and it does not use them. That’s because it’s a high capacity, reliable attraction.
As we’ve reiterated time and time again, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted with a virtual queue during normal operations because it was highly unreliable, inefficient, and prone to hour-plus breakdowns. It has made significant strides since then, but still has its operational woes. In other words, popularity and demand are not the sole reasons why it’s using a virtual queue.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is much more like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway than it is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. In fact, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is the oldest of the bunch, being a ride that opened at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris ~7 years ago.
It utilizes tried and true trackless technology, is not prone to breakdowns, and is incredibly efficient. There are tech and ride system differences between it and Runaway Railway, but none that are notable here. For our purposes, the two are very similar. It’s also noteworthy that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway has average wait times that are lower than a trio of other, older DHS rides. This isn’t due to lack of popularity–it’s due to efficiency.
So what gives–what is Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure using a virtual queue when Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway did not?
Let’s call it the blessing scourge of size.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is located at the dead-end of a cramped area behind the France pavilion. It’s accessible via only one narrow pathway, which guests will use to both enter and exit the Streets of Paris mini-area. It’s similar to Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure in this regard, which Disney also opted to build on a small parcel.
The only difference is that California has a shortage of space, whereas Disney owns approximately one bazillion acres of swampland in Florida. Speaking of which, expect a similar scenario when Tron Lightcycle Run opens at Magic Kingdom for the exact same reason. That walkway between the Tomorrowland Arcade and Speedway is narrow.
Will Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure still use a virtual queue in 2022?
It’s hard to say. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure should not have the same virtual queue woes as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance–at least not in the long term. This is due to its far superior ability to satisfy demand–it’s a people eater–and likely lack of problems.
It should more closely follow the pattern of the Spider-Man ride at DCA. The first couple of months that was open, boarding passes were gone in seconds due to it being the hot new thing. Now, they’re often available for hours. With that said, California and Florida have different guest demographics. The “new ride smell” usually burns off average attractions faster at Disneyland Resort, so don’t expect to score a boarding pass for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at 5 pm this December 23.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure could keep its virtual queue until sometime in 2022. Our guess would be it sticks around until the next big ride at Epcot–Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind–opens. That might be Summer 2022, it might be much later than that.
Ultimately, I’m not necessarily suggesting that demand for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will fizzle out quickly–Epcot is starved for attractions and almost everyone visiting the park will want to do this. Just that the virtual queue is more motivated by congestion constraints of where the ride was built than the problems that have plagued Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. (Even back when that opened, I predicted the virtual queue would be in use for years.)
As such, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure shouldn’t be unavailable in seconds for years or even many months. It’ll ease up much sooner. Beyond that, I don’t know how long a virtual queue will be needed for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, but I’m pretty confident in saying the time frame won’t be measured in years. In addition to all of the above, there’s the simple reality that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is not a revolutionary attraction like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It’s a good addition to Epcot, but it’s not a great attraction that locals, Annual Passholders, and DVC members are going to want to re-ride every visit. That should also “help” with virtual queue demand (or lack thereof) as compared to Rise of the Resistance.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you excited for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? Disappointed that it’ll use a virtual queue, or think this one will go much better than the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debacle? Any predictions about the ease or difficulty of scoring boarding passes for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? Think the virtual queue will be short lived as compared to Rise of the Resistance? Do you agree or disagree with any of our thoughts? 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!
I echo the concern about getting a Rise of the Resistance and Remy pass on the same day or even in the same trip. I booked multiple HS days with the intention of park hopping to Epcot after 2pm since that was the advice in terms or scoring Rise. I now guess I should add a day of Epcot instead.
I’m not upset about the virtual queue. I’m upset about the fact that you have to “start” your day in Epcot. I NEVER start my day in Epcot. It’s always the park I hop to. Now my upcoming trip in October either has to be re planned or I have to get over the fact that I won’t be able to ride this ride.
Do we think the 2 pm pass hopper will stay much longer? I’m staying at beach club and part of wanting to stay there was to be able to pop in and out if Epcot, especially if they bring back the dining plan. And I hate that you can’t opt to skip your first reservation if you chose to. This plus the new genie+ is really messing with our trip! We booked pass hopper plus but not sure if it’s even worth the extra money now.
Tom, hoping for help with this. We are going to Disney for 1 day in November and there are exactly 3 rides we are hoping to do: Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railroad, and Remy. In the article you state that Disney specifically prohibits guests who Park Hop from trying for the second Rise drop. So what makes you think the same won’t apply to Remy; do you have inside info?
Honestly the news this week has me feeling really down on Disney World in general (I always knew they were ultimately just out to make money but Genie/Lighting Lanes are just so in your face about it). Part of me wishes we hadn’t already bought our Park Hopper tickets so we could just skip the whole thing.
@Kelli
A la carte 100%
What are the odds this ride is running with a standby line during Deluxe PM hours?
I’d put that at higher than 50/50 by November.
I wonder, with all of the previews ending a few days before Oct 1, do you think they might just start this up early?
Great another virtual queue, another ride my family will not be able to enjoy. My family has been visited HS on 15 different occasions, spread out over fall, spring and summer and we have yet to ride the Star Wars ride, because we can not get through the virtual queue. It does not matter if it is the 7 am or the 1 pm queue, we can not navigate the system in the timeframe available. And “No” cast members will not assist in this endeavor, I have asked.
We have been at HS back when you had to be in the park, which meant getting up early and going through the turnstiles before dawn, couldn’t get a pass. Now that you can get a virtual pass at 7 am from your hotel room, we still can’t get a pass. As far as my family is concerned this process is a immensely unfair.
Still trying to digest all the announcements in past couple of days, it’s making my head spin. Thank u, Tom for all the great info as I sift through it. I may b the minority but I had already written Remy off bc I wasn’t going to wait in a 3 hour line. So, at least I have a chance (have 2 days of park rez to Epcot) and I’m only competing w other people who have park rez. Rather make a virtual que or no que than wait in line for hours.
Any solid guesses as to when Genie+ will be fully implemented? Also hoping Crystal Palace will be adding breakfast back before our October trip…
It just keeps going downhill….one thing after another after another. Can’t I just go to Disney and get in line for rides without all this Genie+, Lightning Lane, virtual queue garbage. I don’t want to spend my vacation on my phone worried about what rides I can get on. It’s just getting out of hand.
It seems that Disney wants us to spend all our time on our phone on vacation with virtual cues, Genie, Genie +, lightning lane etc. I don’t want to do that. Very disappointed by all the announcements this week. Have a trip planned for week after Thanksgiving this year and 90% sure we will cancel. Lots of other spots in US to spend our vacation dollars.
Lis, in all seriousness – just like most on-site guests don’t go to the parks early despite early magic hours, people won’t get up for 7 a.m. ride selections unless it’s a day with a super popular ride they REALLY want. All the off-site people – which is most of the park-goers – can’t make selections at 7. So make yours while you’re getting dressed or waiting for the bus. Don’t let it ruin the vacation.
I was actually most disappointed by this news yesterday. I know it’s a clone and other more advanced rides have recently opened, but as a non thrill ride person, Tron and Cosmic Rewind aren’t on my wishlist. This is the last new ride my fellow ride wimps and families with small children will get for a while. Plus I love Ratatouille and have been excited about this for months. I’m going the weekend of 10/1 and then for Christmas, so Epcot will be jam packed and those lottery spots will disappear instantly (especially since paid lightning lane won’t even be an option yet by the 10/1 weekend).
I’m most disappointed after the month long previews they’re doing with APs, who will of course be back for the anniversary. I had already planned to have to wait in an hours-long line on 10/2 to get to ride this, and I was ok with that because Ratatouille and Harmonious debuting were the whole point in going to EPCOT that weekend (and that appears to be true for a lot of people since reservations are sold out that weekend, a rarity for EPCOT). With a standby line, APs who just rode it during the previews might have made the calculation that 3 hours or whatever is too long and they’ll just wait for the hype to die down to come back and ride again. With boarding passes, they’ll just try with everyone everyone else for a spot and make it that much less likely for any one person. To clarify, I don’t blame the APs. They paid for their tickets and are just as entitled to a chance to ride as anyone else. I blame Disney for coming up with this system and not using the bazillion acres they have to accommodate crowds and queues appropriately.
This really makes me sad. I was so hoping we could rope drop this ride and then immediately get back in line to ride again. Now I’m just praying we will get to ride it once. I will be going in December with my 2 young children. The ONLY reason we are doing Epcot is for Remy’s new ride.
My main disappointment is that they’ve made it impossible, at least initially, to do ROTR and Remy on the same day. Completely messing with our planned schedule, especially when HS and Epcot are the easiest to hop between. Will be looking for initial results about whether anyone has luck getting on Remy after park hopping to Epcot. And why does everything have to be 7 AM?!! Ugh – trying to grab a Boarding Pass AND a Lightning Lane time simultaneously, seriously? Won’t get to sleep in on ANY park day. 🙁
With Remy debuting at about the same time that the Genie app and Genie+ and Lightning Lanes will, do you imagine Remy will be included as part of Genie+ or the a la carte LL purchases?
I think this is also on part to try and shift some reservations away from MK and DHS. The week we are going, only Epcot and AK have reservations. This, coupled with the Genie+ and LL, will def drive revenue. Because we want to ride both ROTR and Remy, we will pay for one. The ONLY reason we will pay, right now, is we plan on not visiting for a year or two after this as I don’t like the fact that entertainment is still not fully back. I do expect to see character interactions in the Genie + or Lightning Lanes. I think that’s the true reason (aside from union negotiations) they aren’t back yet. I’d rather pay ONE HIGHER Ticket price, for all the entertainment that was around in 2018 (looking at you nighttime WDW parade). It was about more than rides, it was the atmosphere. What I don’t want to do is pay for all the add insult and customizations. It’s too much work.
As always, great perspective. Thank you for breaking things down for us, and clearly laying out the logic. This could be a good system for this one, given the circumstances … hopefully an easier “lottery” to win, and a way to access the ride without a long line or paying for it.
The news has been fast and furious! I would assume every new e-ticket attraction will start with virtual queue. Then it will shift out of it as soon as it remains open till later in the day or a new ride replaces it. (Guardians) Having worked at Disney I would say they do take guest feedback into account and at WDW the level of first time and infrequent visitors is very high and things like being an expert of fast pass, new rides etc can be overwhelming. These new things like virtual que & Genie plus are part new revenue part enhancing experience for a new/once in a while visitors. We can debate the percentages of what drives these changes it is what it is. I would just caution those getting frustrated with these roll outs if you balance these changes with on site/off site I would see in the post 50th anniversary roll out these items will get rolled into vacation packages depending on peak or off peak time just like Disney dinning plan. Being a DVC member it stinks I don’t get to roll these things but the will give us discounts down the road I’m sure! Yes off site won’t get these perks but it’s the same at Unversal right now. To those that go during peak times and the triple whammy of paid magic express, parking & fast pass is all ala cart well bless you for keeping the Disney light on cause those weeks are just to much Chaos for me anyway! Nicole and dime ticks me off to although being military usually gets me other discounts so I’m not best person to ask. But when my 8 year old rides a banshee next to me and their eyes light up, well as they say you just charge it to the game!