Walt Disney World will soon end the Virtual Queue systems at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom. Starting February 25th, Walt Disney World will end the Virtual Queue systems and open up a traditional standby line at both attractions. For Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, 1005 days will have elapsed since the attraction opened with a Virtual Queue and when standby will be introduced. For Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, it will have been 242 days since the Virtual Queue was introduced.
Virtual Queues End Feb. 25th at Cosmic Rewind & Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
The end of the Virtual Queue at each attraction will have a significant impact on how you plan going forward. With the end of the 6:30am wake-up calls to try for a Virtual Queue, guests will be able to work each of the attractions into their day at the parks as they see fit. The standby queue will give guests more options moving forward, and it will allow for more flexibility within your day.
Speaking of options, there will be no change to the optional skip-the-line offerings for each attraction. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will remain part of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass offering, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will remain a Lightning Lane Single Pass attraction. There are no other operational changes at this time beyond dropping the Virtual Queue and introducing a traditional standby queue.
The end of Virtual Queues at each attraction is significant, but perhaps for different reasons. Starting with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the attraction has been a smash hit since it debuted back in May 2022 at EPCOT. Initially, the Virtual Queue was somewhat of a no-brainer given just how popular the ride is and was. Back in June 2023, we noticed that Disney had installed an extended queue for Cosmic Rewind. A few days later, Disney installed umbrellas to cover the newly created extended queue, presumably for the hot summer ahead. At the time, it seemed like the switch to a standby queue was imminent. While our speculation then proved to be premature, the switchover is finally happening, and we think that the dynamics of visiting EPCOT will change significantly moving forward.
Over at Magic Kingdom, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure implemented a Virtual Queue for similar reasons, but kept the Virtual Queue longer than anticipated for seemingly different reasons. Initially, there was high demand to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom, and it still remains a popular choice today. However, Walt Disney World had previously announced that the Virtual Queue would only be in place for a limited time during the attraction’s “initial opening days”. Of course, Disney faced reliability concerns with the attraction and kept the Virtual Queue in place longer than they initially planned.
Now, with demand moderated and some time for Disney to address the reliability concerns, they seemingly feel comfortable opening up a traditional standby queue. Disneyland opened its standby queue shortly after opening its own version of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure last year. Walt Disney World has offered standby for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure during special events, but the swap over to offer standby during daily operations is significant for the attraction and Magic Kingdom as a whole.
The removal of the Virtual Queue for Cosmic Rewind and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure follows the removal of the Virtual Queue system from TRON Lightcycle Run last September.
Moving forward, we expect that the Virtual Queue system will remain crucial for Walt Disney World when opening new attractions with high guest demand. It’s a safe bet that any major attraction opening in the future will implement a Virtual Queue for at least the initial opening period. We also expect to see Virtual Queues utilized for special offerings such as limited-time character meet and greets and shopping events.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
