The Jimmy Fallon show in USF has had a VQ for quite a while, off and on. I think it was for Universal to work on ensuring the technology was working for future needs. I also believe they have tried to use the VQ in a few other circumstances for short periods of time.
So, definitely not the first time.
As soon as I saw it was an ITM article I knew it was click bait! 
There is a VQ right now during previews. The reason there is nothing before Noon is that it’s not reliably operating at park opening.
Will there be a VQ at official park opening???
Probably.
This isn’t the first time a new ride has used a VQ at UOR on recent years. I’d wager on seeing it go away faster than feared per usual.
Yeah I used it for Hagrid’s back in 2021. It was in use for at least a year or two IIRC. I don’t think they used it for Velocicoaster. 
At least not while I was there . . . which was right when it opened. Lines were long but not intolerable. That ride is a people eater. LOL. 
VC has been very reliable from the start. It didn’t need a VQ…
(I adored the joke! 
)
I’m still sad about not going to the preview, but there’s not been a day when everything is working. I’ve justified not going by saying that by September the rides should be running consistently.
No.
ITM is still absolute garbage. At least The National Enquirer will print a decent article about once every 6 months.
Yeah I was literally there during soft previews when I waited four hours and couldn’t ride cuz of lightning and then came the next weekend after it officially opened. No VQ for VeliciCoaster. I was there during VQ for Hagrids and it was a nightmare. The app kept glitching and kicking me out, it’d say I’d got one and then glitch, over and over. So I sure hope if there is ONLY VQ for Battle that it works much better than Hagrid’s did.
Agreed.
The nice thing about UOR VQ (assuming it is the same as back then) is that it is not linked to your ticket. So each member of your party can independently try for a VQ slot for your whole party. That way you hedge your bets if one of you gets a bad return time that doesn’t work with your plans (what plans would preempt Battle though, honestly? 
) Also you can theoretically go twice if two party members succeed.
Anyone know if they have changed this? (i.e., linked VQ to your ticket so they can enforce once per guest?)
Just snagged my preview tickets for the 21st! They are sold out through the 19th right now. I am staying at cabana Bay until the 19th, then I movedto Portofino Bay, and they still let me get them here at cabana Bay. I just needed an active room ticket for everybody getting a ticket.
as of right now you just have to have an active room ticket when you are purchasing. I could’ve purchased for any day moving forward right here right now.
Express passes were not available. They said I would need to get them at the park.
Congrats! Hope you have a blast!
If you are going during these tech rehearsal / “previews” Epic has changed the drop time for BatM to “throughout the day” now instead at scheduled times…
You will have to keep checking to see if it’s running and if you can get a VQ.
I did have a friend just get done riding it about an hour ago. He is a Universal die-hard fan and said it’s the most advanced ride anywhere and his #1 attraction at any park. I made him keep it spoiler free. (Although he sent a pic from inside the ride vehicle as he was boarding!! I was so jealous!!)
Amazing!
Any word on what the crowds are like? Is an Express Pass worth it during these previews?
From all the people I know that have gone say that it is busy, but not packed. However, I’ve seen multiple vloggers and other say that they have been and multiple rides were down. In those cases they’ve been allowed to walk the queues - Monsters / BatM
I can’t remember 100%, but I “think” they did. I do remember how excited I was thinking we could ride Hagrid’s multiple times in the early days if everyone got a VQ for everyone else. I have a vague memory of a RixFlix where he announces they’d finally closed that loophole.
So probably not worth pursuing Express Passes if the rides are that unreliable?
Sorry! I got distracted…
That’s what I was going to say. I was SUPER excited about trying to go to the previews. I admit if I’d gotten through in time to buy a ticket I’d be hyped to go. However, every single day I see people saying they didn’t get to ride BatM or Monsters - the two biggest “must-do” for me. On top of that I know people that waited 90 minutes for food when doing TS.
Going to the preview is cool, but you are taking a gamble for that early access…
You can look in the app and see wait times. Right now they all look reasonable:
Battle at the Ministry just says “Virtual Queue” so there is no indication of how long you wait once you report.
Wow! That looks incredibly reasonable!
I wonder how full the park is compared to how many tickets they are actually selling once the park opens officially? I suspect they are severely limiting crowds right now in previews, not just to help them work out the kinks…but also so that wait times look nice ahead of park opening. What I am REALLY anxious to see are wait times in, say, mid June and beyond.
Yeah for sure - the wait times now are only relevant for those going to previews. That said, it does give you a sense of relative popularity / capacity.
As expected, Mario Kart and Mine Cart Madness are two of the longer waits due to lower capacity + popularity. Dragon Racer’s Rally is a longer wait solely due to capacity, IMO.
Everything else seems to be relatively smooth compared to popularity.
