The parks may be closed “until further notice,” but we are already thinking of Disney days ahead.
Magic Kingdom
Once we step into the A.C. (after closure) era of Disney Parks, we suspect many things will likely be different to accommodate health and safety concerns. We certainly don’t want to miss out on any of our favorite attractions; but we expect some elements of attractions may have to change, possibly including how we queue up for those rides.
And we think there’s a pretty solid option out there for how we can ride all our favorite rides AND still keep a healthy, safe distance.
We know theme parks, by nature, are packed with crowds, shared surfaces, and therefore: GERMS. So we aren’t expecting a sterile park where everyone is exactly six feet apart at all times once Disney reopens. But, we ARE dreaming big for things (well at least one BIG thing) that Disney could do to help guests keep their distance when possible.
Rise of the Resistance Standby Line
We’re talking VIRTUAL QUEUES, baby! And before you start having horrific flashbacks to waking up at 4 AM to not even get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance, that’s not what we are proposing. So take a deep breath as we present our evidence.
Exhibit A: Attraction Lines ≠ Safe Distances
You heard it here first, folks! JK, we know your minds aren’t blown, but it’s still important! If the CDC is recommending keeping a 6-foot space around individuals now, it sure won’t hurt to consider continuing — at least temporarily — once the situation calms down.
Haunted Mansion May have Modifications When Disney World Reopens
But we imagine “filling in all the dead space” and “kindly stepping into the dead center of the room” all at once isn’t quite what the CDC has in mind for when things start to get better. And it’s not just open spaces like Haunted Mansion — anyone who has ever waited in a queue at Disney World or Disneyland can tell you there is a LOT of humanity crammed in tight in those lines!
While we may see certain parts of attractions modified temporarily (maybe bypassing pre-shows?), Disney can’t quite skip the line altogether. Or can they….?
Exhibit B: FastPasses Work…For the Most Part
As it works now, FastPass return windows work to space out the timing of guests entering the FastPass queue fairly efficiently throughout the day. The hour-long return window allows guests more flexibility for when they choose to ride, but this can also lead to fluxes of guests filing in right at the beginning or end of windows.
Ever walked up to Space Mountain and seen a LONG line out the building and across Tomorrowland and thought it was the regular queue? Nope, we’d bet it was the FastPass line backed up due to a surge in guests. No bueno.
Space Mountain line is l-o-n-g.
The system is far from perfect, but what it DOES do exceptionally well is regulate guests entering the FastPass line for a ride on a given day. A specific number of FastPasses are given out per ride, per return window.
Tomorrowland Speedway Reopening Soon!
Could the same process be implemented for both the standby AND FastPass queues of rides? What if you couldn’t walk up and just get in line for a ride, rather, you’d need to have a FastPass to get in the regular line.
Since Disney knows an average of how many guests can ride an attraction in a given hour or day, they could regulate the flow of guests to maximize the number of safe riders and minimize the wait time.
Fastpass Entrance for Splash Mountain
This could be taken a couple steps further by potentially spacing guests out in lines (since there would be more space for fewer people in line), and if rides are chosen to be run at a lower capacity out of health concerns, the number of guests permitted to get a FastPass could account for this.
Shorter return windows could possibly make the flow of guests even more efficient.
The potential issue here is how would it work? If there were no standby lines, would guests still book their FastPasses like normal, 60 days out for resort guests or 30 days out from their trip for everyone else? Would they still be limited to just 3 initially? FastPasses are tough enough to snag as it works now, so imagine if your ONLY way to get on attractions was dictated by the current system!
Click here to learn some of our best FastPass tips
But there’s still another option that we think is even more conducive to spacing out guests AND giving everyone a fair shot at getting on their sought-after rides.
Exhibit C: Virtual Queues Worked for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Remember when we were prepping for the opening of Galaxy’s Edge and Disney was tasked with having to regulate crazy crowd levels? Enter: the virtual queue system.
Boarding Group Screen Shot
The boarding group system allowed guests to file into Galaxy’s Edge in the morning, but after a certain capacity was reached, the virtual queue system kicked in. Guests would grab a boarding group and tour the rest of the park until their group was called. This worked very well in the early days of Galaxy’s Edge and accomplished the main goal: crowd control.
Boarding Group Status
Where things went a little wonky was when Rise of the Resistance opened. The virtual queue system was utilized again to eliminate the incredibly long lines seen in the past when popular rides first opened. But because demand was SO high, guests were getting to the park hours before opening time to try and secure a boarding group as soon as they passed through the turnstiles.
Rise of the Resistance Boarding Groups Sign
In an effort to delay the massive crowds forming in the morning, Disney switched to a system where the virtual queue opened at the scheduled park opening time (instead of when guests started scanning in), but this ultimately became a lottery for which guests would, of the thousands of guests present, receive the coveted boarding groups.
Boarding Groups Now Closed Sign
As we’ve seen, boarding groups are not a perfect system either. With a ride this popular, there are far more people looking to ride than can go through the attraction in a day, so the virtual queue does its job at regulating the number of guests allowed into the line at a time. But guests arriving later in the day or unaware of the current system may never get a chance to ride.
But the idea of the virtual queue is still solid: rather than wait in a long line, guests can reserve a spot in line and come back later when they can be accommodated.
Click here to learn more about the Rise of the Resistance boarding group procedure
So if the idea of pre-booking your FastPasses is a functional one, and the ability to reserve a spot in line and maximize the capacity of a ride through virtual queue works well, is there a happy medium? We think so.
Exhibit D: A Synergy Between FastPasses and Virtual Queues
Pre-snagging your FastPasses is pretty great. The virtual queue’s crowd control is pretty great. But neither is perfect. So could the combination of the two be the answer to our stay-away-from-others-and-don’t-spead-germs woes for when the parks first reopen? You could take the crowd control of a virtual queue and add the functionality of FastPasses!
FastPasses
Those who remember the old paper Fastpass system (that’s still in place at Disneyland) likely have some OPINIONS. Many seemed to prefer this more open method of snagging Fastpasses. It was same day, first come, first served, but you were limited to just one at a time, or one every 2 hours, whichever came first.
Many remember and loved this system, as it seemed to result in many families riding MANY more rides via Fastpass than the current system, and it left the day open and not so pre-planned. This is more the Fastpass system we’re thinking of in this application.
Fastpass Distribution Area for Tower of Terror
Imagine a Disney World with NO standby lines. You’d never walk up to Big Thunder Mountain and go “Ugh, a 90 minute wait!” and skip it. You also wouldn’t be glued to a computer 60 or 30 days out frantically trying to get FastPasses. What if you did it all through virtual queues but NOT the “cram in the park right at open” system from Rise of the Resistance?
My Disney Experience
On the day you were visiting a park, you could open My Disney Experience once inside the park and join virtual queues for attractions one at a time, similar to how Disneyland’s MaxPass system now works but with the added functionality of boarding groups. Old Fastpass rules could apply — use the first one, grab another one. Rinse and repeat. When it’s time to get in line, your phone could alert you to make your way to the ride within a return window, just like the current boarding group system. As you wait, you could check what boarding groups are currently loading to gauge how long you have.
Yes, this would be a MASSIVE change, but that may be just what we need right now to ease into the parks’ reopening.
Exhibit E: There Would Still Be Kinks to Iron Out
In a perfect world, a virtual queue would be just like a friend holding your place in line, letting you enjoy the park while you wait, then hopping back in line when it’s your turn to ride. We know, we know — it’s not that simple. With any new major operations overhaul, there would be some challenges for Disney to work through.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Wouldn’t all the virtual queue slots for mega-popular rides like Slinky Dog Dash or Rise of the Resistance get scooped up in an instant? Possibly. But if you’re familiar with the paper/Disneyland Fastpass system, the machines dispense tickets continually until they’re gone for the day. If a return window was all distributed, it would move on to the next chunk of time, then the next, and so on. So if you REALLY wanted to ride that ride, you could…but you might be waiting for a while.
Slinky Dog Dash!
If you happen to recall Disneyland when Radiator Springs Racers first opened or Disney World when Toy Story Mania debuted in Hollywood Studios, paper Fastpasses for the DAY would be distributed in less than an hour initially.
But if you chose to get that sought after Fastpass first thing in the morning and the return time you got wasn’t until 9 PM, you’d have to wait 2 hours until you could grab another Fastpass. Same rules could apply here. Popular rides would likely be gone sooner in the day, but those people who chose to get them would still have to wait 2 hours for their window to try and get in another virtual queue, balancing things out a bit more.
If rides run at a lower capacity than prior to the closures, there is a potential for guests to be stuck waiting a fair bit in the parks for their boarding groups, meaning guests may not ride as much as they could before the closures. BUT, if this is a viable alternative to rides either being closed altogether or guests’ health at risk waiting in line, it may be worth it.
Haunted Mansion
There are still hurdles to overcome, but we think modified virtual queues could be a start! They could accomplish the crowd control that Disney will desperately need in light of the recent events but with the added ease of booking a FastPass.
The name of the game is safety and we’re already bracing for how the parks could be much different when they reopen. There is no perfect solution because, as we mentioned in Exhibit A, the parks are not designed to keep people apart. We trust that Disney will do its best to keep their guests and Cast Members safe once the parks reopen and we would welcome virtual queues with open arms, er, phones!
Click here for more info on what crowds could be like once the parks reopen!
More Disney Park Closure Details and Info
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What do YOU think? What changes do you hope to see once the parks reopen? Let us know in the comments below!
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Great article and the endless lines issue continues. I loved paper fp tickets as you could dictate your own day by working hard. Unfortunately doing things with our fingers instead of our legs in this day and age takes precedent. Having all the fp tickets be gone by 11am for Soarin always made it difficult to plan your day or experience certain things based on the your plans say for dinner. Go to Space Man and fp being dispensed are for times you will be at Cinderella’s Royal Table for dinner, now what? Do you chance waiting for another time slot or risk having the fp being all out? There are so many pros/cons of ea and of course like most Disney fanatics, the longer you have been coming here, the less you want things to change. Nostalgia is a big part of Disney, which is why simply mentioning of a possible closure of an old ride or eatery brings out so much passion. The virtual queue is the big game changer, and adding it for unlimited rides may be the answer. Will/should all rides be metered to allow proper spacing going forward? Or will a vaccine for Covid make it a relic like not worrying about getting Polio anymore? I think the answer should be anything that can prevent/minimize any communicable disease(Flu) from being spread AND lower the wait times while allowing access to all rides should be a goal to strive for.
I agree with what another individual said of the paper fast passes. Having all the fast passes for certain rides gone within an hour of park opening or by 11 made it difficult. I prefer the paper fast pass method yet there were room for improvements. I don’t like the virtual boarding queue system. Getting a boarding pass with a large number, you might and might not be able to get on the ride by end of the day. As for the parks deciding how to keep crowd control down or the “6 feet between” idea in line for rides is going to be a bit ridiculous in a form. Currently, Disney is more concerned of crowd control at rides than eating places or in general once they open back up. Disney has one of the cleanest and most sanitary parks throughout the world.
An optional vaccine (as most the other vaccines) would most likely be best method to ease the majority of people who have become highly fearful of this virus due to its type of spreading and effecting certain people.
Also an issue, queues are used to some degree as crowd control. When volcano bay opened there were issues with guests just wandering around waiting for their ride time because there wasn’t enough to do in lieu of waiting in line. If no one is waiting in lines then everyone is just wandering around the park which i would guess makes staying 6 ft away from people effectively impossible (as it already is on busy days when large amounts of people are in lines).
Personally, I’m more concerned about the current security bag checks. It’s important for safety, but there is *no way* having 10-20 people dig through and touch everyone’s bag contents is sanitary. Disney should move to x ray machines like universal.
Interesting proposals and thoughts but I do not support or think it will ultimately be implemented. If a guest is staying off property and doesn’t want to “rope drop” a park, would they be stuck riding only the less popular rides? At least now if I show up at noon and have no good fast passes I can wait 3 hours for Flights of Passage or Space Mountain. I doubt this kind of system will be implemented because it will keep too many guests away from their favorite rides. As a parent with a little kid if the only time I got a fast pass or virtual queue admission was during nap time or late evening it would be useless to me. And even on fast pass lines you will still end up fairly close to each other and touching the same ride surfaces. I do think they will temporarily check temperatures and close features and certain attractions (budgets will be the reasons for many of these) but if they limit access too much, cut down on too many features and guests can only go on a very limited number of rides attendance and spending will plummet.
I thought the virtual queue for ROTR went perfectly, but I also realize I had a great experience with it. So many did not. But it was still in the beginning stages, combined with the insane amount of people trying to get on the ride. (Not everyone wants to ride every ride at every park.) I’m not opposed to trying the idea combined with FastPasses; I’m also all for more Single Rider lines. I usually go to Disney on my own or with my boyfriend … while Disney is of course a family place and there are a lot of larger groups, there are plenty of us singles and couples who would be happy to just fill in when there’s an odd seat left unfilled!
I would have to agree with Tina. If there is no one waiting in lines that leads to stores, restaurants, shows, and street areas being flooded with people waiting for their time.
I think that would be less helpful than them painting the line queue with distances to stand between groups.
I agree with what Dave says. I am not against adding more virtual queues and/or fast passes. But I am against using them as the sole means of getting on a particular ride or attraction, like what they did for ROTR, and especially for issuing all of them at park opening. Forcing guests to have to rope drop the park and then not even being guaranteed to get on the ride is just wrong. Many guests are not able to get there that early for various reasons. I saw many international visitors with limited English proficiency who were completely lost as to what to do. Also, many of us on vacation simply don’t want to wake up at 5:30. If ROTR was a guest’s main reason for coming to the park and they don’t get a boarding group or their boarding group is never called, they are simply out of luck. I understand that ROTR is a special case because of all the breakdowns, and that Disney has a strong financial incentive to want guests in the park as long as possible, but it still seems shortsighted and unfair in my view for even just that one ride. Trying to expand it seems bizarre.
In any event, what the DFB case doesn’t really address is the actual number of guests in the park. The proposal doesn’t call for an actual reduction in the number of guests being allowed in the park. If Disney cancels parades, eliminates many of the performances and meets and greets, take smore rides out of standby access, forces virtual queues on everything, etc. what exactly will guests do between when their fastpasses and when their virtual queues are called? To Tina’s point, guests will get bored. Snacking and shopping are fun, help Disney make money, etc., but going on rides and waiting in lines is how most guests spend most of their days at Disney parks.
What does surprise me is that Disney doesn’t just create a special ticket, like they have at Universal Hollywood, that gives you the equivalent of a fast pass to every ride. This would be something that only wealthier guests could do but I’m sure that there would be a market for it and it would help to address both financial and crowd control problems.
Again, I like out of the box thoughts, even ones I disagree strongly with, so I do genuinely appreciate DFB for making this case. I think a lot of the problem will be at least temporarily solved with fewer guests coming due to a mix of economics (so many Americans and people around the world will be taking a huge financial hit this year) and fear (it will take some time before many are willing to get on a monorail or file through the Flights of Passage lines).
As someone who stays in a timeshare, I am not a fan of the 60 day fastpass for Disney hotel guests and 30 days for everyone else. I am paying the same price for admission (probably more as someone who does not get package deals by staying at disney) so why should I have a less chance of getting on rides? The couple of virtual queues at Universal work pretty well. You can’t join it unless you are in the park and it gives everyone an equal shot at getting on the ride. Their hotel guests get express pass included, but off site guests can opt to purchase one, or use single rider lines to reduce wait time.
Cece, I hear what you’re saying, but I think there’s always some level of unfairness to this. I understand the strong financial incentives for Disney to have guests stay on property, and many guests do stay there solely for the extra 30 days advanced FastPass, so it does work. I usually stay off property like you do, because in my opinion the cost savings outweigh the additional time I may have to spend in lines compared to the 30 days earlier FastPass selection. Also consider how someone who buys a ticket the day they arrive at the park will pay the same as someone who gets it in advance. My wife got her ticket the day of arrival last year and the available FastPass selections were all horrible. Another example of unfairness in terms of the amount paid per ticket versus what she could choose from, but I guess no system is perfect.
I did the Universal Express in Hollywood and I experienced what Tina was talking about above. I was all by myself so I was able to go on every ride and see every show in about 5 hours. I ended up leaving early afternoon because I had seen everything already.
We’ll see what happens but if they force people to use only virtual queues or Fastpasses for rides they will end up with a lot of frustrated and disappointed guests. I also don’t know how that will solve any problem when we will still have to ride on the same monorails, stand next to each other on the FastPass lines, touch the same railings and ride surfaces, etc.
Virtual queues are horrific on exceptionally crowded days! I’ve never been a fan! I do understand why they want to do it for the virus, but it’s unfair especially if you haven’t been on certain rides yet!
Virtual passes don’t work for groups. Cancels arriving at different times. I think I will be fighting to get my $4200 back for my tickets (May trip that was cancelled). Just not at all what we are paid for when we bought them in November. They are just this week, trying to say you will get on more rides quicker. But a while ago they explained that things would run slower because of running seats empty, cleaning between rides… we must pre plan and schedule due to size of group and issues some in group have. Need real food, not junk food and at regulated times, sit downs to give us a break. Not being able to pre book fast passes, nor use DAS for some rides… we are no longer willing to drop $20,000 to run here and there and fly by the seat of our pants and hope to get moneys worth.
Will have to see if it will work better in a couple years, will be a long stretch without going (4years) but it won’t work for us.
It will work for some. Enjoy your trips. We will miss it, grand kids didn’t know we were going. We tell them when they get off the school bus the day we go. Oldest (9) has been asking if we are going soon, as we take them every two years, she even said she has over $200 saved to help pay for it.
This is only a vacation spot that we will miss, so far we are lucky we have not lost someone to Corona virus.