Star Wars Land ‘Boarding Pass’ Virtual Queue
As we reported in our Star Wars Land Info & Galaxy’s Edge Guide, Disney plans to use a timed entry “boarding pass” system that guests can book via the app on their smart phones after the initial reservation period ends rather than waiting in a physical line. In this post, we’ll cover how that will work and offer analysis on what to expect.
This boarding pass system is currently being planned for Disneyland, and this in-app feature will debut on June 24, 2019. While Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will open in California on May 31, 2019, the first wave of guests from opening day until June 23 will gain entry only via free reservations made online. Those opened last week and “sold out” within 2 hours.
Presumably, many Disneyland locals and tourists who want to visit Star Wars Land were shut out of that online lottery. As such, Disney is bracing the park for a second wave of visitors descending upon Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge beginning on June 24, 2019. This also roughly coincides with the start of more aggressive Annual Passholder blockouts and the beginning of peak summer tourist season.
Disneyland indicated a while ago that this “boarding pass” system would be utilized post-reservations, but the specifics of the mechanism have not been articulated until an interview of Disneyland VP Kris Theiler by Brady MacDonald in the OCRegister.
Per that interview, beginning on June 24, early morning “rope drop” visitors will be able to head directly into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge without securing a boarding pass via the virtual queuing system. Once Star Wars Land reaches capacity, admission will be restricted via boarding passes.
A status bar in the Disneyland app will show guests whether Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is full and boarding passes are required. Guests will then wait in this virtual queue while enjoying the rest of Disneyland, and push notifications will be sent via the Disneyland app when it’s time for their boarding group to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Additionally, kiosks throughout the park will issue paper boarding passes to visitors not using the Disneyland smartphone app. These two systems are expected to be akin to MaxPass and paper FastPasses, respectively. You must be inside the park to select a Galaxy’s Edge boarding group using the Disneyland app or via the paper kiosks, which means valid admission is required in both cases. (Unlike the reservations system, which simply required a Disney account.)
Once their boarding group is able to enter, guests will have two hours to arrive for their Galaxy’s Edge boarding pass. Again, this is just like FastPass/MaxPass, except with a 2-hour return window instead of a single hour. Via this system, there will be no time limit on how long visitors may spend in Galaxy’s Edge.
Per the interview, late night visitors may also find that boarding passes are not required to enter Star Wars Land. While this addition is 14 acres, we’re incredulous of this statement. Even with only one attraction, people are going to linger in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Disneyland’s hardcore local audience is nothing if not obsessive, and we think the park is underestimating this.
Also per that article, Disneyland plans to stop using the virtual queuing system as soon as crowds dissipate. This open-ended timeframe is smart; “as soon as crowds dissipate” could be September 2019, it could be January 2020, or it could be sometime in February 2022.
When discussing Star Wars Land on this blog, we’ve frequently cited the timed entry system for Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Japan as the model that Disney should use. Well, this is one-upping that, with both physical kiosks and an in-app option instead of just kiosks and paper return slips a la USJ.
It’s worth noting that Universal Studios Japan is one of the busiest theme parks on earth, but has annual attendance significantly below Disneyland. Even almost 5 years after the opening of Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that park still uses its timed entry system on busy days.
It works excellently, but when the first year that system first began, there was a rope drop race to the kiosks, as return times to Wizarding World often ‘sold out’ for the entire day within the first hour (or less) the park was open. Thankfully, it’s now much easier to enter, but we’d expect similar demand for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
If anything, we’d expect more demand at Disneyland. Just as paper FastPass return times for Radiator Springs Racers would often be gone within an hour of park opening that ride’s first few years, we’d expect Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as a whole to deplete its daily supply of boarding passes by 10 a.m. throughout at least this summer. Even with so much physical space in the land, demand is sufficiently high to make those return times a hot ticket.
At present, nothing has been announced for how Walt Disney World will handle admission to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge once that version of the land is at capacity. Disney announced Extra, Extra Magic Hours that would open the park at 6 a.m. to resort guests, so that’s a start for helping address crowds…but there’s a good chance that means Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be at capacity by the time day guests are admitted into the park at 9 a.m.
The big difference between Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is that Disneyland has attraction capacity around the park to soak up crowds waiting to enter Star Wars Land, but not the space for a physical line. By contrast, DHS has the space for a physical line in Grand Avenue (and beyond), but not the attractions necessary to soak up crowds.
We still think some type of virtual queue would be a good idea for Walt Disney World, or perhaps a hybrid approach with both a physical standby line and a priority entry virtual queue. This is hardly an unprecedented idea–it’s exactly how FastPass+ works. This approach would allow Walt Disney World to do something of a balancing act, creating a physical queue to absorb some of the crowd, but keeping that line in check and preventing it from stretching all the way to Crescent Lake.
Disneyland will certainly be the testing ground for whatever plans Walt Disney World might implement, but the parks are so radically different that it’s tough to say to what degree the wisdom gleaned from Disneyland’s debut might be applied to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the ‘boarding pass’ virtual queue for Star Wars Land? Do you like this, or would you prefer a physical queue? What approach do you hope Walt Disney World will utilize? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
will the boarding passes be used forever or is it just temporary? i’m supposed to go in april
They no longer require boarding passes to enter Galaxy’s Edge! However, boarding passes are required to ride the newest ride “Rise of the Resistance”. There is no ETA to remove the boarding pass requirement as it is dependent on the demand for the ride.
Thank you for the article. I feel relieved that such a system will be in place in Disneyland as i imagined i would spend a whole day in line for our first upcoming trip in October.
As for HS not having attraction capacity to soak up guests waiting – I would suspect this will lead to huge crowds taking the boats to Epcot. Seriously – hit HS at rope drop, get a boarding pass for 6 p.m., spend the rest of the day at Epcot…I am sure everyone is going to do this.
But you couldn’t be able to enter the park at 6pm if it reaches its capacity, unless the boarding pass guarantees that you can enter anyway.
This assumes boarding passes will be used at DHS. I think the main question is “when will Galaxy’s Edge hit capacity that day?” Per Tom’s notes above, for Disneyland it doesn’t sound like you’ll be able to get a boarding pass until the land hits capacity, which — depending on the day of your visit — might happen at or before “day guest rope drop”, or might happen only at sporadic times throughout the day. If the same system is in place at WDW, this means hypothetically you might have to wait until 10am to grab a boarding pass that allows a 2pm-4pm return window (not a terrible outcome, but doesn’t help with your Epcot plan).
I guess it’s all just a wait-and-see. If DHS handles it differently and allows a FastPass+ style virtual queue for GE, who’s to say you will even need to show up at DHS before 6pm to claim your pass? You’ll need to be inside the Disneyland to claim your boarding pass there, but maybe that won’t be required at DHS for those with WDW tickets. There are so many variables!
You both make really good points.
If the “park capacity” rule is enforced – which it probably would be – then my Epcot plan is doomed.
On the other hand, if people with boarding passes are allowed into HS when it’s time, that would relieve pressure on HS and allow us all to enjoy other offerings.
I am assuming it would be in-park-only signups, similar to the signup now for Jedi Training. I can only assume that Disney knows a lot of people who are not in the park will not show up for the time slot they choose. Otherwise, it would be like all the other FPs.
I would far prefer a FastPass for SW, and I don’t understand why they have to reinvent the wheel – except that they wouldn’t do it unless they had to, so we have to assume they have data showing the number of no-shows is huge. Inconceivable, but…
i doubt it. the people coming for GE are coming specifically for GE. kids have to go back to school by labor day in most parts of the country, so likely the number of families taking a wdw vacation specific for GE opening are low. the people coming for GE are bloggers, instagrammers, and SW diehard fans who are probably going to the opening at disneyland too. i honestly doubt they are planning to do anything but stand in line to get into GE and ride the falcon ride. they are probably not spending the money on park hoppers because they are there for one reason. you might see some slight uptick in the other parks but nothing super dramatic, at least right in the beginning in september. i keep having to believe this because we will be there labor day week as well. and keep in mind, epcot is the bottom of the totem right now, they are getting no extra hours because they are in the beginning stages of their own major overhaul. i doubt that many people are wanting to head over there. the people that will be there that week are the foodies wanting the first few days of F/W, not the SW geeks.
An awful lot of us SW geeks as you put it are also huge Disney fans!! I am a huge fan of both and so are many of my friends, co-workers and family members. I’ve taken family vacations to Disney California & WDW many many times. We love all of the Disney parks. We always buy park hopper tickets and make good use of them. I think, since they have so much room/land at WDW, they should have put in a large capacity movie theater near the entrance of Galaxys Edge at Hollywood Studios and just played a rotation of all the Star Wars movies day & night. Would be a great place for people to go rest & cool off while they wait for a turn to enter GE or while waiting to use their fastpasses. They could allow free admission but still make money off of it by selling overpriced popcorn, drinks & other snacks!!
My main concern is that August 29th is my last full day in Disneyworld and I would love to be able to get into Galaxy’s Edge with some kind of assistance from Disney as a paying resort guest. The extra Extra magic hours will not start until Sept 1 long after I have returned home. I for one would be willing to pay for a Maxipass if they offered such a thing to resort guests for opening day. I am anxiously awaiting to hear what they decide to do in Disney World after they see what happens in Disneyland ( which is what I am assuming the power that be are doing.) If I am not offered any kind of edge for opening day I will likely juggle my parks and totally avoid Hollywood Studios that final day.
I am getting nervous though as my fast pass window inches closer.
We’re in the same boat! We’ve had our vacation booked for a while, ending 8/30. We even have dinner reservations at Hollywood Studios that night because we had planned on doing that park on our last day. When the announcement came out about Star Wars opening on 8/29, my kids were beside themselves. Now I’m nervous about even getting in. I have three teenage boys who would be devastated if we missed it and a two year-old who won’t be too keen on hopping on the shuttle at 4:30am! Just hoping it’s not a total nightmare experience. I would be thrilled if they decided to offer something for resort guests.
“some kind of assistance from disney”.
i’m not laughing at you, i promise. i’m laughing because disney has all forgotten about this sort of thing in it’s guest relations department. i sent them a 6 page email after the opening announcement for GE citing their original plan of “late fall 2019” and how it was set to ruin my trip because i didn’t want to be there opening week, and how could they compensate my family in some fashion so that i didn’t cancel our trip. i got acknowledgement of my email and a “there’s nothing we will do for you because we’d have to do it for everyone.”
the days of disney going above and beyond are unfortunately all but gone unless you get the exact right CM fielding your concern. otherwise, they know there’s a hundred other people to fill your spot. i do wish you good luck. i’ve juggled our days around three or four times for that week already and have a feeling more is coming after they hopefully announce the crowd control measures for GE. i hope it’s not going to be the EEMH and nothing more.
Hey Tom!
Big fan and thank you for all the info, first time question here. Do you know if making the boarding pass reservation includes Smuggler’s Run or just access to the land?
OK, Mr. Stinky Pants here and all. But does any of this planning (currently for one whole ride) sound the least bit insane? I know you are young, Tom. But surely, and I will call you Shirley, you do recall visiting WDW in the 1990s (I realize your DLR experience only goes back to 2010), right? Have you ever weighed a column on all the insane planning Disney now requires for a very pricey vacation (no, not talking about all your existing blog posts on doing insane planning)? And how that is the antithesis of what most people want from a vacation (no stress, no hyper planning, no dealing with far from perfect technology, no being glued to a screen when in theme parks etc.)?
I wonder if you went back to a relatively recent, but far more simpler era, like say 1999 and asked visitors if they could imagine scenarios that you blog about almost daily, I wonder how many would have said you were crazy and that Disney would never make a vacation so much work.
I dunno. I suppose I am supposed to just be psyched by the presence of the Gamora, BB-8 and Scrooge McDuck on that innovative and cutting edge gondola system.
BTW, did you see the new bizarre AP with flexible dates (mostly for Disney) being offered in Anaheim?
We actually have several articles that discuss the tendency to over-plan, most recently:
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/spontaneous-disney-world-tips/
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/skip-advance-dining-reservations/
The planning that bothers me the most is when Walt Disney World expects you to plan (namely ADRs) at times when they haven’t even planned vis-Á-vis final park hours and EMH. Beyond that, planning is a component of traveling nearly anywhere, whether it be permits for popular NPS hikes, booking prime times for the Eiffel Tower elevators, or restaurant reservations in major cities.
On a personal level, a lot of it beyond that doesn’t really bother me because I seldom am interested in the ‘hot ticket’ ADRs or FastPass+ (most of which have superior, underrated counterparts), and would just as soon do a minimal amount of more last-minute planning.
I’m considering doing a post on the Flex AP for Disneyland. I have mixed thoughts on it and the motivations, but I do like the idea of limiting attendance via APs. Too many locals turn the parks into an evening hangout spot and take the experience for granted. If you want to chill at an outdoor mall, Irvine Spectrum or the Grove aren’t too far away.
I didn’t mind the planning – honestly, for my first trip, I simply downloaded one of those “avoid the lines” attraction lists. It worked perfectly.
On another trip, I went with friends who insisted on doing no planning beyond simply rope-dropping to the biggest attraction. That went fine too and we had a lovely time.
I really think heavy-duty planning is only necessary if you want to do ALL the big attractions, the big restaurants, etc. The typical visitor probably doesn’t even know what all the attractions and restaurants are, much less deeply desires getting to them all.
But I agree with Tom that planning an ADR when you don’t know when the park will open is REALLY annoying.
“The planning that bothers me the most is when Walt Disney World expects you to plan (namely ADRs) at times when they haven’t even planned vis-Á-vis final park hours and EMH. ”
this. it’s annoying enough to not have the park hours on ADR day and have to guess, but then with this whole SWGE mess, they’ve made me juggle my days around twice already and i fully expect a third time coming once they announce hopeful crowd control measures for HS opening week.
Do you see Disneyland eventually adding EMH for hotel guests to enter Star Wars Land?
Eventually, yes. Probably not anytime soon.
Perfect! This was exactly what I needed to know for planning my December trip.
This sounds like a good system for Disneyland. There really isn’t much space for a physical line. Hoping they do this at Disney World starting at 9am so people aren’t just lined up in the sun all day. But what do they all do when waiting with so few rides in HS?
Walk over to Epcot and eat/drink around the World Showcase. (I’m only half-kidding.)
guessing and hoping a lot of the SW diehards that will be there for GE opening aren’t spending the money on park hoppers to do that. they really are there for literally one thing.
but didn’t people wanting to do pandora in the early days just stand in one line all day?
Tom,
Is there anyway to put a publish date at the top of your articles? I see a little calendar but no date. I love going through your older posts, but cant tell when they were originally from until I scroll down to the comments. I was reading a restaurant review the other day and didn’t realize it was from 2017! With so much changing at the parks it would be really helpful.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
I’ve thought the same for years but just always assumed there was a reason for not having that up there. I’ve been too chicken to bring it up myself, but I’ll gladly chime in with a “Yes, please” here.
I don’t mind the lack of dates. If it’s an older article, it always says updated on x date. I’ve noticed he updates old posts with info that has changed. Thanks for your hard work!!
I think there must be a reason for not putting publish date on this blog (there are dates on Tom’s other great blog Travel Caffeine). But I’d also appreciate a date somewhere on the page, even if just a little parenthetical note at the bottom of each post that says something like: “(Originally published April 14, 2017. Last updated May 9, 2019)”.
Back when I disabled the date feature in this WordPress theme, it had something to do with the way post dates were displaying via Google (inaccurately). I’m not totally sure, as that was several years ago, but I tried a few fixes to no avail. I try to mess with WordPress as little as possible because I don’t really know what I’m doing and don’t want to break anything.
At this point, I think the ‘Last updated’ date on pertinent posts should be sufficient. If there’s no such date, looking at the comments should give you a rough idea.
“Early morning “rope drop” visitors will be able to head directly into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge without securing a boarding pass via the virtual queuing system” – any thoughts about what time people will start lining up to be among the rope drop crowd? 3 am? Midnight? 9 pm the night before?
I’m really excited about Galaxy’s Edge but not planning to visit for a while. I really appreciate you keeping us up to date on all the information and explaining it clearly!
Right? I’m hoping to do the DW version summer 2020, so hopefully the system will be smooth by then and it the demand will have come down at least 10 or 20%. 😉
“any thoughts about what time people will start lining up to be among the rope drop crowd? 3 am? Midnight? 9 pm the night before?”
However early Disneyland and the City of Anaheim let them. Seriously–Disneyland fans are a crazed bunch. I’m guessing the first night of the boarding system, people will line-up overnight. After the first few days of that, I’d expect people to start showing up around 7 a.m.
I love this idea and I’m excited to see it implemented. I’ll be heading down the first week of December and will certainly take advantage of the virtual queue. Ideally, this would allow me to rope drop existing attractions and then be able to access Galaxy’s Edge with relative ease, not withstanding navigating the crowds.
Has anything been said about the opening of Rise of the Resistance on either coast? Keep up the great work, you two!
“I’ll be heading down the first week of December and will certainly take advantage of the virtual queue.”
If it’s still running then. I certainly think it *should* be, but that doesn’t mean it will be. Disneyland could very well phase this out by the end of the summer.
I like the virtual queue idea. If it’s successful, hopefully WDW will do the same. Our trip is early Oct. and something like this sounds like it would ease the pain of super long lines!