Checklist & Tips for joining a Virtual Queue

Am I the only one who thinks of Waiting for Guffman when I read this?

(Maybe?)

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Apparently it is likely the BGs will only now be used as an exception.

I think they want people to pay to skip the line, rather than using that as the “last resort” if they don’t get a BG.

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That is the worst if true.

So we go from free and a very short wait (VQ Boarding Group) for anyone on or off-site
to:
You need to pay more $ to stay on-site and rope drop with a short standby wait or wait in a 2 hour line or pay $100 for a family of 4.

:roll_eyes:

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I wonder how long the line will get. In reality will it get to 2 hours? I know it’s new but isn’t it quite fast loading?

But yes, they really are trying to get that revenue in. Until GOTG opens of course.

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My guess is that the average actual wait when they open the standby queue next week (no LL+) will be about 60 min actual, with the posted wait being about 30 min higher. It will be longer in the morning - maybe 2-2.5hrs - but will get shorter in the afternoon and evening.

Once LL+ opens, add 30 min to those times.

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Sure hope so, it’s the last week of CL1 for the year!!

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So I did not read everything but if it is just standby I assume some people are going to opt for at least riding it twice. If that is the case then the line is going to be substantial for most of the day. I am guessing 90-120 minutes for the whole morning with Disney saying 150-180 to deter people from going there or going for a second ride.

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And then when the Lightning Lane option starts, the standby wait will be longer yet.

I think the line will grow again in the evenings, as people with park hoppers get in line.

I also think those estimates are on the low side. I know crowds are low but all the people who currently get a BG will be arriving at the park and getting in line first thing. It’ll then die down a bit before growing again later on.

And as crowds increase again for the 50th and beyond, those 3-4 hour lines that FoP had may well become the norm for some of the day.

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Good points. I think FoP is the closest parallel and I think the wait for RotR will get similarly very long on busy days. But on CL 1 days with no LL (ie, presumably this week) I’m hoping it will be similarly reasonable (ie, about an hour at most times of day). There’s no longer a huge number of people in the park each day that have never ridden.

But we’ll see I guess.

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Think of all the ppl who’ve not be able to secure a BG… they will surely get inline and wait too. :woman_shrugging:

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Just to give a bit of background on what I’m basing my estimate on, I think FoP is the closest comparison. It’s a very popular attraction that has about the same capacity. AK doesn’t have many rides and few of them are headliners. HS has about the same number of rides, but almost all of them are headliners. So even if RotR is more popular (debatable) there are other rides in the same park that will have a similar draw to syphon people away.

Also, most people will want to ride it once in a day, same as FoP. Will some want to ride again? Probably. But at higher rates than FoP? I don’t know but probably not. RotR is no longer brand new. I see no reason its line should be significantly longer than FoP due to popularity.

The only difference will be reliability. RotR has been very reliable lately, but it does have bad days from time to time. When that happens, there’s no “alternate theater” to send ride vehicles down - the whole ride shuts down. But I’m basing my estimate on a normal operating day.

Lately, FoP has been averaging about 60-70 min posted wait throughout the day. The actual wait as submitted by TP users is generally at or ~10% below posted wait.

Here are yesterday’s wait times:

I do expect the wait times at FoP and RotR to get longer after next week with the 50th approaching. But I’m thinking maybe 2 hours instead of 1, rather than 3-4 hours. I sincerely hope that is the case, anyway.

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We have not ridden ROTR yet. Our trip is in a couple of months. We plan on getting in line before closing and I’m only looking at riding it once. I have ridden FOP and we will rope drop that one. But one ride will be sufficient.

I can’t imagine a lot of occasional or first time park goers wanting to stand in a couple hour line for the same attraction more than once in a day. There is too much to see and that is a big chunk of time to use standing in line.

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I am totally at a loss as to how to go about planning for our day at DHS on 10/3.

Dd and I last visited in 2018 and have yet to experience Galaxy’s Edge …and we are Star Wars fans so skipping it isn’t an option. DHS is dd’s favorite park and we will have to somehow fit in Slinky Dog, Rocking Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror among other favorites.

As much as I don’t want to experience the first days of Genie+, I am not sure how else we can actually fit everything in, even if we are there from Early Entry through closing the park.

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FWIW, when I go in two weeks, we will likely be using Genie+ for our HS day. It’s so hard to fit in all the headliners there without encountering at least some hour-long waits.

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But we don’t know if Genie+ will be up and running yet.

Part of me doesn’t want it to avoid the IT headaches, and the other part knows that DHS (at least) will be next to impossible without it.

I am fine with leveraging Genie+ if it’s available, but the uncertainty is driving me crazy! :crazy_face:

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The plan was for Genie+ to debut the first week in October but not on Oct 1st.

Whether that is still on schedule isn’t clear. I gather there are issues around the Genie part (ya know, the bit TP does so much better).

So yes, it makes the planning hard.

My gut tells me to get in line for Rise first, then knock out the other rides whilst most people are lining up for Rise. And then explor Galaxy’s Edge.

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The thing that concerns me about wasting a rope drop on Rise is that it goes down so much… But still, I’d rope drop rise, then do the Smugglers Run (if you rope drop early enough, you should be able to stay ahead of the crowd like is typical at Animal Kingdom). I would wait to do slinky until it’s night. It’s such a better ride/experience at night. That line in the sun is brutal. After leaving the GE area, I’d be looking at the touring plans lines app to get a feel for the “real” wait times, and go from there. If Midway Mania is under 40 min, I’d hit that and work towards the Minnie/Mickey/Runaway, stopping off for One Man’s World for AC.

One good thing is that the queue for Rise is really cool. We were there on a day where it broke down a lot, so we had a 55 min wait even using the boarding group system. The queue is easily capable of holding at least a 90 min wait, I would think. And in the cool, themed shade, with some interactive games (using QR codes) that we never quite got to work.

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I’ll be tweaking the instructions to reflect the current status, removing the specific ROTR attraction because Remy will be added. General Virtual Queue instructions.

Heads up on how this looks in MDE. 2 parks are now listed. When ROTR opens up the VQ again, it will display under “How to Experience”.

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