Extended deluxe hours & virtual boarding group

Today I attempted to grab the 6pm drop virtual boarding group for Guardians on Epcot deluxe extended hours, using BG1, and failed. Said I needed park reservation? My group had hopper tickets and we were in HS all day. Is the consensus now that you need to be in Epcot before trying to get BG at 6pm?

3 Likes

Yes, policy was changed recently that you have to have entered Epcot sometime during the day (not necessarily APR) to get a 6pm BG. Sorry!

4 Likes

You don’t have to be in the park, but you do have to have tapped into the park at some point earlier in the day. We were told this at guest services at the end of January. Recent change.

5 Likes

This is good to know … but how did WDW expect that guests would learn of this change. The new rule doesn’t make much sense.

5 Likes

Wow, when did that change?

3 Likes

This change impacted my January trip too! This diminishes the benefit of the Deluxe Hours - just because I’m going to use deluxe hours, doesn’t mean I’m going to be in the park earlier that day. It’s more likely I won’t be! Just don’t understand the logic.

8 Likes

The GS cms were very frustrated that they hadn’t updated the language on the site regarding the change. Apparently there were a lot of people complaining about it.

My guess is mid January bc we were there 1/23, but people had complained about it the prior week too. Janet got the confirmation from GS once we got to Epcot.

5 Likes

Do we have official word on that being “policy”? It has acted as a glitch in the past with some saying they didn’t need it and others saying they did (within the same relative time frame). If it’s official I’d love to know that so I can inform folks thusly.

2 Likes

100%

It’s pretty absurd and completely not logical

3 Likes

Only the word of GS CMs, but I thought I might have read that it was formally updated after our trip. I’ll do some digging to see if I can find it.

1 Like

No mention of it on the website.

5 Likes

The only guidelines on the site that I can find that might be interpreted this way are here:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/virtual-queue/

Please Be Aware That:

  • Joining the virtual queue does not guarantee the ability to participate in the experience.
  • Boarding groups for a virtual queue are limited, subject to availability, and are not guaranteed. Not all boarding groups may be called to return, based on availability of the experience.
  • Guests may hold boarding groups for an attraction virtual queue and a virtual queue for other applicable experiences, like runDisney merchandise shop access.
  • Guests visiting from another theme park using an Annual Pass or the Park Hopper option may not be able to join the virtual queue in a park where they do not have a Disney Park Pass reservation. In order to request access to a virtual queue during Park Hopper hours, a Guest must be inside the theme park where the virtual queue will be used.

This isn’t even true. You actually just need to have tapped in to that park. And this language is not specific for evening VQ, and in fact until recently, it didn’t seem to be applicable for 6pm. :man_shrugging:t2: I don’t think this was a change to the language — I think it’s always said this. So they are just changing the way they are applying it.

3 Likes

I thought we were tracking if it was an issue with certain ticket types and had ruled out park entry as the issue?

2 Likes

I think @LTinNC82’s situation didn’t fall into those parameters but maybe she can elaborate. The CM specifically said it was the new policy, written or not. Others have recently reported the same thing.

1 Like

This is in direct opposition to the screenshot that missoverexicted posted.

2 Likes

I’m in a mood today and I just want to say get it together Disney

3 Likes

If I were going to evening hours and wasn’t able to tap in before 6pm, I would bring this screenshot / link to the CM and demand a BG.

4 Likes

There. That sounds more like you.

7 Likes

LOL took me a minute.

1 Like

Yeah but sometimes they make up stuff if they don’t know the right answer so I wouldn’t trust an individual answer.

If it has been changed they need to change what they have posted. I understand this really doesn’t matter because this VQ will be ending soon.

The Tron rules for day guests seem to be different?

2 Likes