Cons: Ride malfunctions can badly throw off the system
While there are a lot of great positives about Disney’s virtual queues, there are two more negatives worth exploring. The biggest one can be something of a deal-breaker: ride malfunctions can jack up the whole system.
In a way, ride malfunctions are the whole reason a virtual queue is a good idea—a three hour line becoming a six hour one would be an awful experience to be stuck in. Having boarding groups instead of exact return times gives Disney some leeway to deal with breakdowns in a manner that doesn’t inconvenience guests quite as much. However, severe or extended ride malfunctions can wreak havoc on the virtual queue system and lead to desperate measures that negate its benefits.
Recently, Disney had a pretty rough day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios where Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance had an extended breakdown so long that even guaranteed boarding groups were potentially not going to get onto the ride. To solve the problem, Disney opened up the full queue area for the attraction and called dozens of extra boarding groups compared to their normal procedure. This meant that some virtual queue guests ended up waiting two and a half hours in line for the ride—normally stand-by time once a group is called is about 15-30 minutes. Disney was laudably apologetic about the situation, and they even tried to improve guest experiences by having characters roam the line and sending cast members to offer snacks, but it was still the perfect example of what can go wrong with a virtual queue.
Disney has also tried other desperate ploys to meet boarding groups when the ride is on the flux. On particularly bad days for breakdowns, guests have reported that Disney sent guests straight to the Star Destroyer portion of the attraction, skipping the pre-ride briefing and transport sequence. Without these components, the story of the ride doesn’t make much sense, which really takes away from the experience. Other breakdowns include malfunctioning animatronics that are replaced by video screens or small ride technologies quietly cut to keep boarding groups moving.
Fortunately, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance continues to regularly improve its capacity and reduce breakdowns, but the virtual queue does put a certain amount of pressure on Disney to get guests onto the attraction even if they only get a halfway experience, which is kind of a bummer.
Cons: The psychology of stand-by lines
Overall, it could be argued that the positives of Disney’s new virtual queues outweigh the negatives—eliminating excessively long waits and giving guests more time in the parks is a big enough victory in and of itself, and the system does set up much more realistic expectations than a stand-by line. However, there is one hurdle that Disney may have a difficult time overcoming.
There is a certain psychology surrounding stand-by lines. Virtual queues are new, unfamiliar, and can be messy, and many guests have been vocal that they would still pick a twelve hour queue over a seemingly unreliable virtual queue. For some, enduring an excessive line or arriving ultra-early feeds a certain sense of accomplishment. For others, a stand-by line is just more tangible than a virtual queue—it feels fairer than an arbitrary list of boarding groups hidden in cyberspace. Stand-by lines are a tried and tested tradition for Disney fans, and some guests are fine with that.
We personally think Disney made the right call in choosing a virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance—despite some of the goof-ups, guest experiences would be far worse with fourteen hour stand-by lines than they have been with the virtual queues. The question is, will Disney try this system again for future attractions like TRON Lightcycle Power Run at Magic Kingdom or Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot? With cautious optimism, I’d say they should continue to utilize the technology, and who knows what creative ways the company might find to iron out the kinks by then? Overall, we would call the virtual queue project a success, despite a few foibles.
What do you think of Disney’s new virtual queues? How do you think they could improve them?
Comments
We used the virtual queue for ROTR at Disneyland and I thought it was fabulous. I would honestly like to see virtual queues replace Fastpass. It left us free to do other things and once our group was called we waiting about 20 minutes.