Steps for How to Use the Virtual Queue in Star Wars Land at Disney World
Many Walt Disney World planners had confusions and questions in response to our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Virtual Queue post. Here, we’ll answer those and share everything you need to know about the My Disney Experience app boarding group system that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is using.
Now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is open to the general public, we’ve been able to use this virtual queue system ourselves, and have screenshots, photos from the in-park signage and entrances, and other ‘know before you go’ info that should help give you peace of mind before visiting Star Wars Land.
The first thing to know is that this virtual queue is being used instead of a physical line outside of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There was a concern/fear that the entirety of Muppet Courtyard and Grand Avenue would become the de facto waiting area and line for Star Wars Land. Fortunately, that is not the case…
Note that you can only join the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge virtual queue if you are inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios. With that said, your entire party does not need to be in the park. So long as one person in your group is in the park and your accounts are linked on My Disney Experience, that person can join the virtual queue for everyone in your party.
In other words, this system basically revives the good ole days of the FastPass “runner.” Except instead of one person in your family running to a kiosk, one will get up at the crack of dawn, take a bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, fight the crowds, and join the virtual queue…while everyone else sleeps soundly. (Feel free to omit this tidbit of planning info when telling your family about this if you would be the designated virtual queue “runner” in your group!)
Steps for Using the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Virtual Queue
Download the My Disney Experience app before arriving at Walt Disney World and be sure you’re updated to the most current version. Functionality for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge virtual queue and boarding pass system was actually added to the app code last month, so if you’ve updated in the last couple of weeks, you’re good.
If you don’t have a smart phone, see the Guest Experience Team located throughout Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and they can assign you to a boarding group.
If you already have reservations for Oga’s Cantina, Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers, or Droid Depot, you do not need a boarding pass.
Simply go to the left side of the Grand Avenue entrance area where you see the sign pictured above. No boarding pass necessary!
To join a virtual queue boarding group, launch the My Disney Experience app and click the “Find Out More” button under “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Status & Access” window.
This will show you whether the status of the land is “Open” (in which case you can walk right in) or “Access by Boarding Group Only” (in which case you’ll need to join a group).
From here, all of the steps are self-explanatory, so I’m going to share step-by-step screenshots for joining a Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge boarding group:
We highly recommend enabling push notifications on your mobile device for the My Disney Experience app so you will be notified when it is time to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
When it was our time to enter today, I received a notification on both my Apple Watch and phone.
If you don’t enable notifications, you’ll need to incessantly refresh or check the MDX app or digital signage in the park to see when you’re up.
Once your virtual queue boarding group is called, you’ll have up to two hours to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
To enter, you simply walk up to the Grand Avenue entrance (near MuppetVision 3D).
There, you’ll find a sea of Cast Members with iPads will scan your MagicBand or linked park ticket.
If you don’t know where this entrance is located, fear not, as there’s a pop-up that’ll offer walking instructions to get where you need to go.
Additionally, if you receive a feedback prompt, please take the time to rate it. My personal belief is that this system is approximately 18384% better than baking in the Florida sun while waiting in a physical line. Hopefully with enough positive reviews, Walt Disney World will embrace virtual queues like this in the future.
Ultimately, I think that should answer every question readers asked in response to our last post about the virtual queue for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World. (At least I hope–I’ve been up since 2 a.m. and am not sure how coherent all of this is!) It’s a super painless process, and intuitive once you’re inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so don’t fret or stress out if you’re still confused. Unlike a lot of Walt Disney World IT, this actually works really well.
We’d also advise you not to worry about the virtual queue too much if you’re visiting next week or even next month. Disneyland only ended up using the virtual queue for one day (so far). It’s highly likely that Walt Disney World will need it for longer than that (and again during the holidays), but if you arrive to Florida in mid-September or October, don’t be surprised if the status of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is pretty much always “open.”
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you planning on visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge now that the boarding pass system is debuting? Do you agree or disagree with our preliminary strategy for best experiencing Star Wars Land at Walt Disney World? 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!
Quick question now that this system is being used for Rise of the Resistance again…
Regarding the runner system, how early can you enter the park to join the boarding group? Your screen grabs say 6am, will they let you enter the park that early? The day we are planning to go to Hollywood Studios the park hours are listed as 9am, so does that mean I can’t get into the park to join a boarding group until 9am at the earliest? Or can I go earlier like 6am before the park technically opens?
What do you do if your boarding group overlaps with your FastPass reservations?
Adr at Oga’s is at 9:55am
How long before you enter and served? Wondering if we will make it in time to have a drink and snack and get to fp (10:50-11:50) Slinky?
Thanks for the instructions, Tom. For those of us that can’t be there now, it’s helpful info to have for my clients!
If I have reservations for Ogas at 8 pm, how early can I go? Is there a set time since I don’t have to enter through the queue?
Per the app, your 8pm reservation guarantees admission to the land any time after 7pm. HOWEVER, keep an eye on the blog. The virtual queue system was shut off for the day my mid-afternoon today, so by the time you go, it may not be in use at all.
Hello,
We are a group of 7 but only 3 have droid reservations at 10am (so 4 will go) – but can we all go into the land at that time without a boarding pass? Or do the rest of us have to wait until the 1:30 cantina reservation? (I’m prob missing where you’ve talked about this) or would the other three need boarding passes? Sub question to make this question even more annoying…3 of our party will be under 3…will they need to be a part of the boarding pass?
thanks!
Each “builder” can bring a guest, so 6 people can go in on 3 reservations.
THanks Katie!! I’m hoping the infants won’t need a boarding pass for the 7th person
Looking at the app now (2:43pm) and it says Current Land Status is Open. No boarding pass needed. And Smugglers Run wait is down to 120 minutes.
As of 7:45pm eastern, the MFSR posted wait is down to 95 minutes. No boarding passes required.
Commenting on your statement that “your entire party does not need to be in the park”, when I click Join Boarding Group, the app states, “Is Everyone in the Park? Each member of your party needs to be in the park.” Are you suggesting joining a Boarding Group individually and then adding the rest of the party to that group later? Please clarify. I’d love to be my family’s 6am runner, but I can’t tell if this will work as you said it would.
Initially (like, before 7am Thursday Aug 29) it wasn’t checking if you were in the park. Then they fixed the code and it wouldn’t let you join a boarding group unless you had entered the park (my guess is by tapping in at the Hollywood Studios entrance.) But we went that morning and then left for a non-Disney lunch, and I was still able to have my party of 4 join boarding groups even from a few miles away. The land was open by the time we got back.
I doubt boarding groups will be needed again until Rise of the Resistance opens, but I think everyone needs to have visited the park at least once but you don’t need to stay there while you wait, or even to join a boarding group later.
I was able to get an evening reservation for Oga’s Cantina on one day of our trip and a morning reservation for Oga’s Cantina on the morning of our trip hoping for easy access into the land. It looks like I will have no worries in November!
I understand why they have this inplace due to the masses hitting the area at once and being so bad you can’t see the ground. On the other hand this is the issue I have with (Lands) they are building. It is just another hurdle I have to deal with while trying to enjoy a vacation. If they continue to go down this path we could see multiple parts of a park you need a reservation just to enter if its crowded. I when I visit I don’t plan my day even food because I want flexibility to go where I want just another issue to deal with for me.
I don’t want to have to work so hard to vacation.
This virtual queue system is a very short-term thing. If your visit is more than a month or two away, Oga’s will still be very popular and the Millenium Falcon line will still be long, but restricted access to the land itself (the boarding passes) will be long gone.
On the first screen, it shows morning. Can you change that to evening?
We plan on visiting the park on Monday, 9/23. We would like to go to Batuu around noon. Any way we can make that happen?
Also would consider Sunday 9/22 in the evening if I could get our “reservation” early that morning before hitting AK.
Have tried every morning at 7AM CST for Oga reservations, but still no luck. We’re a group of 6 (4 are WDW virgins).
If you need a boarding group when you go (which I doubt), the app puts you in the next available one. There was no mechanism Thursday to get a later boarding group, but when your boarding group gets access you can cancel that and then join a new one at a hopefully later time. But again, I bet the land will be open when you’re there.
Are you able to choose your time period if you want? Or it just assigns you one? For instance if you wanted to be early afternoon as opposed to morning in your example.
Nope. You really are getting in a virtual queue; when it’s your turn, it’s your turn. You can’t make a time-specific reservation for the land (but you can for Oga’s/Savi’s/Depot).
We will be there thanksgiving week looking forward to hear more about the land!
Well, super happy I have Oga’s, Savi and Droid reservations! Hopefully it doesn’t matter in September anyway. Thanks again for the info!
You rock Tom! Thanks so much
So this post explains simply how to get into the land and not actually waiting for Smugglers Run correct? Once in the land, you just wait in line?
Yes, Smuggler’s Run is standby-only for the foreseeable future (though it does have a single rider line).
Is there a time limit of how long you can stay in the land?
Nope. Once you’re in the land, you’re free to stay as long as you’d like.
Do you get to choose morning or afternoon? What if your time comes up but you have fastpasses for events during that two hours window?
You don’t get to choose. When your time comes up you can cancel and join a new boarding group if the 2 hour entry window doesn’t work for you.
Thanks, Tom. We don’t have a trip until the end of Sept, but your explanation will help a lot.
Hi
Is there a choice of when you want to enter? I am thinking it needs to allow for fast passes or meals.
Also are you limited to how long you are in there or whether you can leave and return because if we get a day entrance we would also like to see at night.
We are visiting over Christmas and new year and on 1 day have a reservation for Oga’s. Not sure if that will allow us to stay in the land or even if we have to buy anything in oga’s..
If you leave HS and plan to return later, down it drop you out of the queue?
MIchelle, no, if you leave HS it keeps you in the queue. (I tested this on Thursday.) And you can join a new boarding group while you’re gone, having already tapped in to HS earlier.
we have a droid depot reservation next thursday (dorian not withstanding here). but that is only for one person and a guest… will our whole group be allowed to enter the land via that reservation?