Disney testing Virtual Queues at its Walt Disney World water parks

Mar 28, 2017 in "Typhoon Lagoon"

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Posted: Tuesday March 28, 2017 10:08am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is now testing Virtual Queues at its Walt Disney World Water Parks - Typhoon lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

Similar in concept to FastPass+, virtual queues allow guests to reserve a place in line without actually standing in a line.

The notable difference between a Virtual Queue and FastPass+ is that a ride cannot be reserved ahead of arrival at the park, and it is not digital. Think of the experience more like pagers at a restaurant. Disney has offered a similar experience for the standby line playground at the Magic Kingdom's Dumbo, and for Santa meet and greets at Disney Springs.

The Virtual Queue test will take place until April 7 2017 at Blizzard Beach's Downhill Double Dipper, Slush Gusher and Summit Plummet. At Typhoon Lagoon, the test will be at the new Miss Adventure Falls.

The soon-to-open Volcano Bay at Universal Orlando will make extensive use of virtual queues, and it appears Disney is keen to squash any advantage that may bering to the new park. Universal is offering Virtual Queues through a TapuTapu wearable, that will alert a guest when it is time to ride a selected attraction.

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Thanks phoeniciansMar 30, 2017

Was just on miss fortune falls today and didn't notice the virtual queues being used. Waited about 15 mins

Tom P.Mar 30, 2017

My family and I have worn our MagicBands multiple times in pools without any issues.

matt9112Mar 30, 2017

Second place is for the lesser.

xdan0920Mar 30, 2017

JoeCamelMar 29, 2017

Don't know about the 2.0 but the originals are to a point. I would not dive to 33 meters with one but 3 meters would be fine. People ride water rides and sweat so they don't stop working when they get wet.

MisterPenguinMar 29, 2017

Quick, someone trademark "Virtual Line Up" before the Canadians get any ideas!

No NameMar 29, 2017

I think it makes more sense to use paper for an early test run, because the risk of a technology breakdown is eliminated. Imagine if, not only did the whole reserving thing struggle to work well, but the MyMagic+ system went down. That would be a double disaster! With a paper test, Disney is only risking a single disaster. Once they avoid the first disaster (the logistics of reservations) they can move on and face the second (technology). I would guess the eventual goal is to move to technology of some sort, but they have to go one step at a time. Also, with a paper test, they don't need to have any readers. All they need is those two little readers above the nose. Oh, and lastly, are magicbands waterproof?

Satans HockeyMar 29, 2017

I was actually at both parks today. Only saw it being used on the taller body slide at typhoon lagoon, I forget the name of the slide. I didn't bother doing it because the standby line was maybe 5 mins or so. They gave people what looked like a wristband to me and they would come back at whatever time it said. They used green tape to make a separate line for it so that those people using it would just come to the front of the line at bottom of the stairs before heading up to the big slide. The workers asking people if they were interested in trying it were at the very bottom of the long staircase leading up to the rides.

rushtest4echoMar 29, 2017

Shhhhh...... "innovation" :D

Coaster LoverMar 29, 2017

Well, if you want to get technical, both were launched publicly after Accesso's (formerly Lo-Q's) Q-band and/or Q-bot.

ravenMar 29, 2017

They can also alert guests to weather issues and slide closures immediately with this technology.

ford91exploderMar 29, 2017

Exactly and it can even reschedule appointments if a brief storm triggers a shutdown without guest needing to dig out their smartphones as Disney requires one to.