For the primary time in over 2 years, Walt Disney World is dropping a digital queue as an alternative of including one! TRON Lightcycle Run will discontinue its boarding group system and change to standby quickly. This submit shares official announcement particulars, plus our commentary about Magic Kingdom lastly dropping one in every of its two VQs.
The final time Walt Disney World dropped a digital queue for a experience was a number of months after the opening of Remy’s Ratatouille Journey. (Sure, it’s been that lengthy.) That change got here just a few months after Disney’s Hollywood Studios “paused” the digital queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That pause, fortunately, turned out to be everlasting.
Given how promptly the digital queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Journey was ended, we have been optimistic about Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind doing likewise. In any case, that digital queue wasn’t strictly essential to handle crowds by late Summer time 2022. And but, right here we’re over two years later, and it’s nonetheless in use. However that’s one other story for an additional day…
For now, Walt Disney World has introduced that beginning September 9, 2024, a standby queue will probably be accessible at TRON Lightcycle / Run introduced by Enterprise. A digital queue will probably be in place for TRON Lightcycle Run from now by way of September 8, 2024.
Throughout this time, friends can request to enter the digital queue not more than as soon as per day throughout common park hours. Notably, each TRON Lightcycle Run and Tiana’s Bayou Journey at the moment use digital queues, and also you can’t be in each concurrently. That means that you simply doubtlessly must make a tough alternative about which to select.
There are 2 each day alternatives to request to hitch the digital queues for TRON Lightcycle / Run or Tiana’s Bayou Journey:
- 7:00 AM (Visitors don’t have to be in Magic Kingdom to hitch the digital queue presently)
- 1:00 PM (Visitors should have entered Magic Kingdom to hitch the digital queue presently)
Please remember that as of September 9, 2024, the digital queue will now not be accessible for TRON Lightcycle Run.
Prolonged Night Theme Park Hours
A possibility to request to hitch the digital queue will probably be accessible at 6:00 PM for TRON Lightcycle Run on choose dates by way of September 8, 2024, throughout prolonged night theme park hours—a profit for registered Visitors staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, Disney Deluxe Villa Resort or different choose motels.
After this, TRON Lightcycle Run will use a standby line throughout Extending Night Hours, too.
As famous above, Tiana’s Bayou Journey is nonetheless utilizing a digital queue for its “preliminary opening interval.” Whereas a standby queue is not going to be accessible through the attraction’s preliminary opening days, Walt Disney World expects to open a standby line quickly after the attraction’s opening.
That’s what Walt Disney World stated when first asserting the opening date and particulars for Tiana’s Bayou Journey again in Could. Disney’s language on the time strongly recommended Tiana’s Bayou Journey wouldn’t have a digital queue for almost so long as some other experience at Walt Disney World. In truth, we predicted it will be dropped by July 8. That was nearly two months in the past.
What we didn’t predict–and what nobody may’ve predicted–was that the reimagined experience would have so many reliability and downtime woes. It’s someway a lot, a lot worse than Splash Mountain. Don’t even get me began on Tiana’s Bayou Journey’s points. After encountering repeated complications with that through the course of subject testing final week, I’m at my wits’ finish with that attraction. One other story for an additional day, although.
Suffice to say, Tiana’s Bayou Journey completely must proceed utilizing a digital queue at this level. It’s not the identical as TRON or Cosmic Rewind, and I believe followers underestimate simply how far more irritating it will be with a standard standby line throughout each day ops. Which is basically saying one thing as a result of, once more, it’s very irritating proper now!
As for why TRON Lightcycle Run is dropping its digital queue earlier than Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which opened nearly a full yr earlier, my intestine is that it comes down to 2 digital queues in Magic Kingdom and ensuing complaints and visitor satisfaction.
Proper now, it’s very troublesome to attain boarding passes for each sights because of the downtime at Tiana’s Bayou Journey. Even when you’ve got quick fingers and are glorious at scoring low boarding teams (thus enabling you, in concept, to be accomplished with one earlier than 1 pm), you’re on the mercy of TBA downtime. (Ask me how I do know!!!)
Compounding issues is that Lightning Lane Single Cross is Promoting Out Quicker and that Tiana’s Bayou Journey is the agency #1 decide on our checklist of the High 10 Hardest Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World. Because of this many/most friends are left with no same-day choice for doing each Tiana’s Bayou Journey and TRON Lightcycle Run. It’s ridiculous, and an issue EPCOT doesn’t have proper now.
To be clear, that is completely not a protection of the digital queue at Cosmic Rewind–please don’t learn it that method. Slightly, it’s an indictment of the abysmal system that’s been in use at Magic Kingdom for the final couple months. Dropping the digital queue at TRON Lightcycle Run is thus a giant step in the correct course.
As is well-documented in our many posts, our perspective on digital queues has developed over time. Largely, this was motivated by Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance enhancing its reliability and uptime, that means friends within the standby queue have been much less more likely to endure a breakdown. (Tiana’s Bayou Journey is rather like RotR was in 2019-2021.)
The shift to a standby line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was largely vindicated. Though it nonetheless has an excessive amount of downtime, it’s roughly on the outer bounds of what’s acceptable. Identical goes for Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, which isn’t even above common by way of experience breakdowns. (They do occur, simply not as usually as RotR or TBA.)
Suffice to say, it’s arduous to see any motive why TRON Lightcycle Run nonetheless “wants” a digital queue so lengthy after its preliminary launch season. The attraction has loads of queue house, and it’s not just like the digital queue is getting used to maintain wait occasions down–due to how aggressive they’re in calling boarding teams, there line remains to be routinely over an hour lengthy.
Cosmic Rewind is a little bit of a special beast since there’s much less bodily queue house, however they put in overflow outdoors (full with umbrellas!) final summer time, and it’s simply been sitting there since. As talked about above, it stopped “needing” a digital queue just a few months after it debuted, so again round late Summer time 2022.
In our view, digital queues are visitor unfriendly and will solely be used when completely vital. At any time when they are often dropped, they need to be dropped. It’s patently apparent to me that the VQ could be dropped at not simply TRON Lightcycle Run, but in addition Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Once more, Tiana’s Bayou Journey is a special story for now–its VQ is required at the very least till the reliability issues are mounted or the winter low season arrives.
As Walt Disney World has undertaken initiatives to simplify and enhance the visitor expertise, eliminating the remaining digital queues looks as if an apparent next-step. And I say all of this as somebody who selfishly likes digital queues as a result of they offer me (and different educated, frequent friends) a bonus over the common guests. However I additionally acknowledge that what’s good for me is just not all the time good for the park-going public.
The factor is that experience capability is a zero-sum recreation. If the digital queue is filling up with a bunch of APs and locals who would skip a triple-digit standby wait, these spots are coming on the expense of another person. The losers on this state of affairs are probably disproportionately first-timers and different low-knowledge or technology-averse friends.
Whereas these folks usually are oblivious to digital queues or are unsuccessful at becoming a member of, a lot of them are in a position or extra inclined to attend in a protracted standby line. The balking level is increased for them–they’ve by no means accomplished the experience, so their tolerance for strains or threshold for ready is increased than the common AP who skips any standby line that’s over half-hour.
First-timers or rare guests are the very demographics that, for my part at the same time as a biased and self-interested AP, Walt Disney World needs to be favoring. It’s higher for the sake of visitor satisfaction and creating new followers to make issues simpler for these folks, and eradicating one layer of friction.
That is doubly true on the subject of newer sights which are the main target of promoting campaigns. There are individuals who have booked journeys after seeing adverts for Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle Run…who haven’t been capable of experience as a result of they failed on the digital queue, or didn’t perceive the right way to ‘play’ within the first place. Or possibly these are simply the rides they actually, actually need to expertise time and again–during which case, they need to find a way to take action in the event that they’re prepared to endure a number of 100+ minute waits. That needs to be their alternative!
As most of us have complained in regards to the quantity of display screen time and overreliance on expertise in visiting Walt Disney World, we must always likewise proceed to help the retirement of digital queues. They might profit us on a person stage, however are dangerous on a holistic stage.
Total and in mixture, digital queues are a destructive for the visitor expertise–and one which results in extra complaints and alternatives for disappointment that has no potential decision. Digital queues add one more pointless layer of friction and make issues overwhelming and intimidating for inexperienced and older friends.
As such, we applaud the tip of the digital queue at TRON Lightcycle Run in Magic Kingdom. It ought to’ve occurred a full yr in the past, however higher late than by no means. Subsequent up, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. I don’t care what the operational excuse is for conserving that 2 years longer than vital–it’s a foul one and in addition must go.
When Walt Disney World has eliminated digital queues up to now, a subset of followers has complained that they’ve accomplished so out of “greed” and as a technique to push Lightning Lane gross sales. Satirically, one other subset has complained that that is what digital queues do. There actually isn’t any pleasing everybody.
For our half, we’re skeptical that Lightning Lane gross sales have any bearing on digital queues. In the event that they did, extra sights would add or take away them, because the case could also be. With the good thing about hindsight from the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance change, it’s secure to say that was/is just not the driving motivation. Lightning Lanes promote out for many sights every day, regardless–it doesn’t seem that the digital queue modifications the calculus for potential patrons in some way.
As for the motivations of shifting it from a digital queue to standby, my guess is that that is as soon as once more a matter of visitor satisfaction. Digital queues are exceedingly unpopular with friends, who discover them counterintuitive and are stunned to reach and discover they don’t have the choice of standing in line.
Not all the pieces is a conspiracy or accomplished by Disney with ulterior motives to make much more cash. That’s not only a cynical perspective, however one which makes our collective voice as followers simpler to disregard. If we complain about all the pieces, there’s no level within the firm listening to us.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider this information that Walt Disney World will finish of the TRON Lightcycle Run digital queue? Do you agree or disagree with this variation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
