We’re not-so-patiently counting down the days until the official opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom!

Now that we know when it will open — June 28th — we’ve also learned quite a few details about just how the ride will work when it comes to opening day itself. And, if you’re planning on riding Tiana’s as soon as it opens, these are the six critical updates you might need to know!

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will officially open to Magic Kingdom visitors on June 28th! Disney dropped a ton of details about what we can expect from the opening day — so let’s get into the most critically important updates.

Virtual Queue

Disney announced that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will have a virtual queue when it opens in Magic Kingdom. This has become Disney’s go-to strategy for managing demand for popular rides. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will NOT have a standby line when it first opens. Your only two options to ride will be to get into the virtual queue or use Disney Genie+ (but more on that in a bit!)

The virtual queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is accessible via the My Disney Experience app. The queue will open at 7AM each morning and again at 1PM each afternoon. You do NOT have to be in Magic Kingdom to join the 7AM one, but you DO have to be inside Magic Kingdom to join the 1PM one when the park opens.

Disney shared, “While a standby queue will not be available during the attraction’s initial opening days, we expect to open a standby queue soon after the attraction’s opening,” which sounds like the virtual queue isn’t expected to stick around for long.

Learn More About the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Virtual Queue Here

Genie+

Disney World has announced that when Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens, it will be available as part of Disney Genie+. That means this ride will NOT have an individual (or a la carte) Lightning Lane. To ride, you can purchase Genie+ for Magic Kingdom (or get the multi-park Genie+ option) and reserve a Lightning Lane for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

To book the Lightning Lane for this attraction, you’ll need to have the My Disney Experience app downloaded on your phone, be logged into your account, and have your park tickets linked. For the full details, make sure to check out our guide to Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes.

The ride will probably be quite popular for the first few months that it’s open, but it sounds like Disney doesn’t expect the virtual queue to stick around forever. Once demand starts to go down, they’ll change it to a standby line.

Read More Genie+ Details for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Park Pass Reservations

While Park Passes are not required for those with date-based tickets anymore, if you are an Annual Passholder or have tickets that still require Park Passes, you should make your Park Pass reservations for Magic Kingdom A.S.A.P. if you want to be there on the ride’s opening day! Chances are they’ll be filling up quickly — but if they do, keep checking because Disney could always release more passes.

As of now, though, Park Passes are showing full availability for ticket holders and hotel guests, however — Magic Kingdom passes are completely sold out for Annual Passholders. It’s possible that Disney could release more reservations for passholders, and we’ll let you know if we see that happen. Passes have also filled up for Annual Passholder previews which will be taking place before the official opening date.

Click Here for More Info on Park Pass Reservations

Merchandise

Disney has announced that new merchandise for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be in Magic Kingdom starting on June 28th (the ride’s opening day). That’s not much of a surprise, but what IS a little bit unusual is that the new merchandise will NOT initially be located at the two new themed stores opening with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

Instead, ride merch and other Princess and the Frog-inspired souvenirs will be available at the Emporium — Magic Kingdom’s big store on Main Street, U.S.A. Their announcement stated, “Shortly after the attraction debuts, the merchandise will hop over to Critter Co-Op in Frontierland.” The announcement did not mention Tiana’s Bayou General — the other themed souvenir shop.

Disney hasn’t announced whether or not there will be a virtual queue used for merchandise on opening day like we’ve seen in the past, but we’re expecting that to be the case in this situation. Typically, you can join the virtual queue once you’re in the park and when it’s your time to be called, you’ll just head back to the store! Keep an eye out for more updates from us.

See More Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Souvenir News!

Wait Times and Crowds

Of course, we can’t predict the future, but this ain’t our first opening-day rodeo ride, which means we’re expecting some pretty intense crowds and wait times — and not just at Tiana’s. If you’re planning on being at Magic Kingdom and trying to ride on opening day, keep in mind that it won’t just be the new ride with long wait times (even with the virtual queue) and crowds!

Since Tiana’s will be using a virtual queue, that means folks will be able to spend their time waiting in lines for other rides while they’re waiting for their boarding groups to be called. You might want to consider rope-dropping Magic Kingdom to get there before the crowds (though you don’t need to be there to snag the 7AM virtual queue drop) and we definitely recommend packing your patience.

With just Annual Passholder availability sold out for now, it’s possible we could be surprised, but since most date-based ticketholders don’t need reservations we could see an influx of those folks who weren’t originally accounted for!

What Will Wait Times Be Like on Opening Day?

BEIGNETS

Tiana’s Famous Beignets will be available in Magic Kingdom starting on the opening day of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure!!! The beignets will be served at Golden Oak Outpost and The Friar’s Nook. 

Based on the picture, it looks like these will be big, fluffy beignets coated in powdered sugar! Disney said these are “light, sweet and fluffy beignets drizzled with honey and powdered sugar.” They look a bit different from the other beignets that have been available in Magic Kingdom recently which weren’t our favorite — so we have high hopes for these!

Click Here for More Beignet Goodness

We can’t wait to go down the bayou with Tiana and her friends. If you’re excited, too, make sure to check out our Tiana’s Bayou Adventure tee in our online DFB store!

We’ve also got a Splash Mountain Farewell Tour t-shirt.

In fact, we have a whole collection of Disney shirts — be sure to check them out before your next Disney World trip!

Shop our DFB Disney tees here!

Stay tuned to DFB as we bring you even more updates on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and the latest news from Disney World!

Here’s EVERYTHING we know so far about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure