Star Wars: Rise of Resistance “Pausing” Virtual Queue at Disney World
Over the last few weeks, Disney has quietly been making changes to the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. These have made the process smoother, which has been further aided by a lack of off-season demand on both coasts.
Today, the company has dropped some bombshell news that should come as a welcome change to many of you who: Disney’s Hollywood Studios will pause the use of the virtual queue for the flagship Galaxy’s Edge attraction.
Here’s the full announcement via Disney Parks Blog:
From bright suns to rising moons, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge continues to call travelers to the magic of Batuu, especially with the excitement of Walt Disney World Resort’s 18-month anniversary celebration getting closer and closer. As we ramp up to “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” honoring our 50th anniversary, we’re continuing to enhance experiences thanks to the feedback from our guests.
We know our guests love choice and flexibility when planning their time in a theme park–which is why, starting Sept. 23, we will pause the use of virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios may experience this incredible attraction using a traditional standby queue for the first time since it opened in 2019.
Virtual queues continue to be helpful with attraction access, merchandise launches, grand openings and more, and guests should continue to check the My Disney Experience app for the latest on how we’re using virtual queues across Walt Disney World Resort including its potential use at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at a later date, or from time to time.
In addition to virtual queues, we’ve been investing a lot into the guest experience in other ways, including exciting new attractions on the horizon like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opening soon at EPCOT, and coming this fall, the new Disney Genie complimentary and convenient digital planning service designed to create your best Disney Day.
While we’ve been defenders of the virtual queue system for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, we’re tepidly on board with this change. Seeing so many first-time visitors and others who don’t understand the ins and outs of scoring spots in the virtual queue lose is undeniably sad.
It shouldn’t take reading our thousand-plus word Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to “successfully” ride the attraction. Some readers who have been shut out of the virtual queue have indicated that they would’ve preferred the opportunity to wait in the standby line for a few hours to be able to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
As we’ve noted previously, Walt Disney World did not start using a virtual queue with the Galaxy’s Edge headliner due to its popularity. That’s a misconception. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted with a virtual queue during normal operations because it was (and still is) unreliable and prone to prolonged breakdowns.
At that time, the normal FastPass system was thus not viable because it was not sufficiently dynamic to handle the aforementioned downtime without a backlog of guests in the hours after the ride returned.
Beyond that, the switch to the 7 am virtual queue last summer offered another benefit–it discouraged some guests from arriving at or before park opening. With several shows still on “temporary hiatus,” Disney’s Hollywood Studios is again a half-day park.
With this move to a standby line, the bulk of guests will once again arrive for rope drop. This changes the crowd dynamic at DHS, and means more people will leave early after being frustrating by long lines early in the morning. (The silver lining is that Park Hopping to DHS for the last two hours of the day should once again be a great option if you don’t mind not having a real nighttime spectacular.)
The downside to having a standby line is that it entails guests waiting for several hours, potentially enduring one or more ride breakdowns and resets. In the past, our perspective has thus been that the virtual queue and boarding pass system is imperfect, but the best option under the circumstances.
When it comes to a standby line, the grass is arguably greener on the other side. With an unreliable attraction like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, a virtual queue is the ‘lemonade out of lemons’ approach that causes the fewest headaches for guests.
However, we do wonder whether that’s still the case–and there’s definitely cause for some degree of (cautious) optimism around this announcement that the virtual queue is being “paused.”
(Note: Walt Disney World did not indicate the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue is being retired, as would normally be the case in an announcement like this. Instead, they’re leaving the door open for its return “from time to time” if this experiment doesn’t go well.)
As we’ve shared previously, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’s reliability improved pretty significantly in mid-December of last year. The attraction has been processing more boarding groups per day on average, so we’re confident it’s an actual upgrade/fix for problems plaguing the attraction. (See above, via Thrill-Data.com.)
Further corroborating that is data showing shorter and fewer breakdowns per day for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That coupled with the “new ride smell” starting to wear off might mean that experiencing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance becomes slightly less competitive going forward.
Moreover, the virtual queue entry at 1 pm has gotten considerably easier over the last couple of months. On some days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, boarding groups being available well into the afternoon has become an increasingly common occurrence. We’ve seen the virtual queue open after 5 pm on several occasions, and it usually takes minutes or hours to fill.
While that has been a positive development, that trend probably wouldn’t last much longer even if the virtual queue stuck around. There’s pent-up demand among new Annual Passholders and crowds are expected to start arriving for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary by late September 2021.
However, there is also the reality that many Annual Passholders and other repeat visitors may have honed their skills at joining the virtual queue, but would not even consider waiting 90 to 120 minutes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Those guests thus will become less likely to attempt doing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, leaving more hourly ride capacity to first timers and infrequent guests.
I think this is a likely scenario, because it’s our personal perspective. We have zero issues successfully joining the virtual queue every time we visit the parks, but wouldn’t wait more than 45 minutes for it (the wait time will definitely be higher than that, even during the off-season).
As some readers have cynically pointed out, it’s also possible that this move could be motivated by the launch of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World in mid-October 2021 (tentatively). The company has already announced that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be an individual attraction purchase (what we’re calling Magic Carpet Access) via that system.
This means that some portion of the current free ride capacity will be reallocated to that pay-to-play system. With the second virtual queue drop at 1 pm, many guests might’ve been inclined to wait and roll the dice on that second distribution time rather than buying their way to the front of the line at 7 am if they were shut out on the first try.
That’s entirely possible. Seeing a 180 minute posted wait shortly after Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens for the day might “incentivize” many guests to drop $24 per person (or whatever the amount) so they don’t miss out on Walt Disney World’s flagship attraction.
However, my strong suspicion is that if the goal were simply to nudge guests towards buying Magic Carpet Access for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the company would simply drop the 1 pm virtual queue time. That’s an easier and cleaner solution that pushes even more guests towards Magic Carpet Access since it encourages purchases starting even earlier (7 am v. shortly after park opening when the line gets long).
I’m pretty cynical, but my gut says this change is actually about guest satisfaction. Enough Walt Disney World visitors are already upset about the virtual queue for this, another virtual queue coming to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (for totally different reasons), and Lightning Lanes & Genie+ on top of that. The systems were getting too complex and convoluted, especially for first-timers and infrequent visitors. This is one way to scale back on that. But I could be completely wrong–it wouldn’t be the first time.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Walt Disney World. Even though we’re on board with the shift to standby (or at least taking a “wait and see” approach), it is surprising to see this happen right before the World’s Most Magical Celebration kicks off and crowds surge. Testing this out back at the end of August or even early this month would’ve been a much more pragmatic approach. Suffice to say, we’ll be watching closely to see how all of this shakes out. Hopefully it goes well!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of this news that Walt Disney World will pause use of the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance 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!
We are active old kids in our mid 60’s and we would love to ride ROTR, however, there is no way that we’d be able to painlessly stand in line for more than an hour, so I’m going to plan on and hope that we’ll be able to snag & pay for LL. Having said that, I’m afraid doing so will be just as bad as trying to snag a VQ at 7:00 sharp.
It’s going to be Toy Story Midway Mania all over again. Lines will be all the way to Skyliner drop-off one hour before rope drop. It will free up the other rides with everyone standing in the 5 hour ROR line, just like before. I guess if I was a first timer or infrequent guest I would probably hold out for a few hours in line. I, however, will take your route, Tom- 45 min. is my max to stand in line. There’s only so much time in the day.
Is this going to lead to rope drop insanity and bring back the people arriving at 3AM to be at the front of the masses? I would think this would lead to a lot more anxiety for the CMs that have to try to control it outside the gates. As stressful as the virtual queue was at least you knew by 7:01 how to plan out the rest of the day. The only positive I see is that if everyone is scrambling to get to ROR everything else should be a walk on for the first hour or so.
I’m actually really happy about this! I recognize this may have some drawbacks, but I’m ok with waiting in line for the ROTR. We’re going the end of this month and with increased crowds due to the anniversary, I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to ride. This gives me that chance! Maybe I’ll discover the virtual queue was the best move â€â™€ï¸ But I feel more hopeful now than I did.
Continuing to have the virtual queue would greatly impact the paid lightning lane option. They would not be able to accommodate both the queue guests plus the LL guests. The queue is pretty much the same as the free fast pass system. Now with LL, they can’t have 2 options that are supposed to decrease wait times so of course they will go with the paid option and get rid of the free virtual queue. My original plan was to get in the virtue queue at 7am, and then if I was shut out I would buy the LL. I go to Disney every 2 or 3 years and never rode Rise, so my one day at HS will be my only opportunity for the next few years. The new plan will be to see what wait times look like. Maybe go just before the park closes or when everyone else is at dinner. If wait times are crazy long all day, then Disney will win and I will pay for LL. Although it will be interesting to see if I can even get a LL pass. My feeling is that they will all be sold out by 7:01am the way the queue gets filled. We shall see… I am not going to kid myself and believe this change is about improving guest experience. It’s about money and putting this paid LL system in place while making sure they have the ability to provide fast access with low wait times for those guests who pay extra to ride.
Also with the 30 minutes early entry you should be able to do 2 headliners before the park opens if you avoid Rise. I haven’t solve these problems for guests by suggesting 2 mornings at HS or 1.5 days (1 morning/afternoon and 1 afternoon evening). This way you get the morning advantage to use on different headliners. I’m interested to see how Genie+ factors in since I’m predicting they use that as a crowd control measure. Very interesting times at Disney!
It’s going to be hard to know for sure but I think Slinky and Runaway Railway just became more do-able for most guests. One of the drawbacks with virtual queue is that you don’t put bodies in line. You put bodies that are “waiting” to ride Rise in other lines until their group is called. The park also gets clogged with people that may otherwise head out, hanging from 12-1 waiting to see if they get a group. The drawback is obviously twofold; the actual waiting in long lines; or showing up early and dealing with a rush to RotR (the old TSM dash coming to mind). I Completely concur with the nod to prepping for lightning lanes (and I love the term Magic Carpet). Also as a TA, trying to explain how to get a boarding pass for rise to first time guests was basically a nightmare. I prefer telling guests they can arrive early, wait in a long line, or pay. It’s just easier to understand. I certainly will mostly avoid the devastated reactions of guests who went to HS solely to do Star Wars and weren’t even allowed to wait for the flagship ride. I do wonder if they will implement VQ on busy afternoons like they do with Hagrids at Universal. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. They don’t want the line to fill up all the way back to Indiana Jones… or do they? New use for the stadium? Just kidding… I hope.
@Nancy Scrivano it’s all about perspective. If you’re ready to have a good time no matter what, you will. Yes, many changes suck, suck, suck. But it’s still the magical place you remember. Just go with the flow and enjoy it and remember, you could be at work with a bunch of non-Disnerd ingrates.
We haven’t been to WDW in three years. Am trying to get back the excitement of going to the most magical place on earth but Disney is really making it difficult. It’s been enough to try to convince ourselves that it will be safe as long as we maintain CDC guidelines. Too many rules and regulations and not pertaining to COVID. having to make park reservations so far in advance. No fast pass but pay for something that took its place. On site advantages disappearing and we are DVC MEMBERS. My anxiety level is soaring. Starting to feel like it might not be worth it. Thanks for this blog because no matter what…can’t get enough Disney. Ugh! We’re all captives.
Amy – I think this will make rope drop only crazy if you’re going straight to Rise. I actually think the move is to do other things and try for Rise later at night. Zag when they zig. The crowds will 100% head that way clog it up in the AM. I’m headed there on the 24th and am pretty stressed too tbh. I genuinely don’t know what to expect now.
I REALLY hope they bring out Genie+ soon. Going to the parks on October 10th. I can’t hardly remember what it was like to go without Fastpass of some kind.