How To Get A Virtual Queue Every. Single. Time.

With each new ride Disney World Park produces, there is a flood of people who rush to Florida to be one of the firsts to board. This time honored tradition has evolved in the past few years in order to streamline the process and make it easier for park guests to ride the hottest, new attractions. A few years ago, Disney World began implementing “virtual queues” for all new rides. Basically, any guest who has a theme park reservation for that day can try their – hopefully quick- hands at obtaining a virtual queue for the attraction. This process can be very stressful since the passes are all distributed within seconds. But don’t you worry – our method for obtaining a virtual queue is foolproof.

For those of you who may be somewhat unfamiliar with the virtual queue process; at 7:00 am on the dot every morning, a virtual queue is opened for various rides, typically the newest attractions that would otherwise have hours of wait time. The virtual queue is a substitute for the regular standby line. This option goes very quickly, however, do not fear because there is a second opportunity to get the virtual queue from inside the park later in the day. Keep reading to become an expert on all things Virtual Queues at Disney! While the virtual queue process can be stressful, and unfortunately there is no guarantee you will get it, this article will go into extensive detail of how we enter the virtual queue every single time.

I have been going to Disney for years, and when they first started the virtual queues, it was for Rise of the Resistance in Hollywood Studios. We unfortunately didn’t get the morning pass but we did get the afternoon one while we were in the park! Ever since, we have developed a foolproof method to ensure we get the virtual queue every. single. time. And we are going to share it with you!

We have gotten this process down to an exact science!

STEP 1: THE NIGHT BEFORE

The night before you are going to try for the virtual queue, you want to make sure that everyone in your party is confirmed in your My Disney App, this will make the process go smoother and faster, and ensure everyone has a boarding pass. To check if your family is all connected in your app, go to the three horizontal bars on the far right corner on the bottom bar of the app. Scroll down to the section that reads “My Profile.” There is a tab on top that says “Family and Friends List.” From that list, you want to ensure all members of your family are included on there or if not you can add your family members in that section. Now that they are linked and confirmed you are all set for the next morning!

STEP 2: SET YOUR ALARM

You are going to set your alarm for 6:30 the latest. While you may want to sleep in with a park day ahead of you, there is no time for that! We recommend getting up at least half an hour early so you can be more alert when 7:00 comes around. When we got our virtual queue for Tron, we were staying at Saratoga Springs and decided to get up at 6:00 am. If you are unfamiliar with this resort, it is more of a motel set up, so my mom and I decided to leave around 6:30 to walk to the main house, leaving plenty of time to spare if we needed to find a place to set up. If you are staying in a resort like Saratoga Springs, such as Old Key West or certain parts of the Beach Club, you may want to move over to the main house or the main lobby before attempting to get the virtual queue.

STEP 3: SHUT OFF YOUR WIFI

While yes you are in the Main House, that could arguably have better wifi, we still use our cellular data. Call it superstition, but we feel that there is less interception when you are in the Main House, but also you don’t want to use the slow Disney World wifi everyone and their mothers is using! So go into your settings and just disable your wifi for the time being.

STEP 4: HOUSEKEEPING

Now, you are set up in your own spot in the Main House, your wifi is off, and there are only a few minutes left before it’s time to get your boarding pass. There are a few extra tidbits we like to do to ensure that everything can go as smoothly as possible. If you are on an iPhone, swipe out of all your apps. I know everyone says not to do this, but I feel having certain high energy apps like Instagram or TikTok slows down your cellular if they are running in the background. Next, have your MyDisney App open and click on the Virtual Queue tab in the app. To find this spot, you can go to the main homepage, and scroll down until you see the Virtual Queue part of the page, and hit the button “Join Virtual Queue.” You shouldn’t have to scroll too far down! Once you get to the page, JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. You may be tempted to refresh or click some more buttons, but just leave it be, and wait for the agonizing minutes to pass by.

STEP 5: THE TIMER → THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!

We feel this may very well be the most crucial step in the entire process, and what has been the holy grail for us getting all our Virtual Queues this past trips. I feel many people leave this part out and that is why they don’t get the virtual queue. You need to have a world clock open that even has seconds. We typically use timeanddate.com which is just the first one that popped up for us when you searched “world clock with seconds.” (lol) We find that it works very well, and I believe it’s very accurate. We always open this website on a separate device, and make sure the website is up and going no later than 6:55.

STEP 6: ITS TIME!

It has come down to this final moment. Here is the final checklist: be in the main house/lobby, have your wifi off and tabs swiped out, have your My Disney App open to the Virtual Queue page, and have the world clock (with seconds!) open on another phone. If you have followed all these aforementioned steps, you are in good shape to get the virtual queue! When 6:59:59 hits, be ready to pull down and refresh the page, AT EXACTLY 7:00:00 pull down quickly and refresh! There are going to be a few buttons such as select party, and confirm, etc. etc. It doesn’t matter what they say, what matters is that you just keep clicking away on all the buttons – DO NOT HESITATE – until you are clicked out of the tab. It may seem like you didn’t get it, but swipe down on the homepage of the My Disney App and see if anything pops up either on the homepage or the virtual queue tab regarding a boarding group. This boarding group will be the number group you are in line for for the ride. The higher your number is, the later you will be getting on the ride. If there is anything in your virtual queue tab regarding a boarding group – Congrats! I applaud you! You did it!

YOU GOT THE VIRTUAL QUEUE – NOW WHAT?

The hard part is over, but there are a few things to understand about your virtual queue as you get ready for your park day. As the park begins to open, the My Disney App will have a progress bar on how close it is getting to your time to head to the ride. They “call” several dozen groups at a time, and throughout the day they move along a few groups at a time. When your boarding group is called, you have a one hour window to head to the ride and check in. This part can be frustrating because you may be on line for a ride, or be waiting around a lot longer than you think before your boarding group is called. Personally, we were boarding group 37, so we rushed to get ready and head to the park because the first section they called to board at park opening was 1-25. We got to Magic Kingdom around opening time, and didn’t get on Tron until almost 3:00 pm! So I would say if you are not within the margin of five groups past what they initially call for rope drop, you are in the clear to take some more time getting ready. Please also account for transportation time, security waits, as well as drop off areas for parks. Places like Magic Kingdom as well as Animal Kingdom have longer transportation times into the park as you have to either walk long parking lots or go through the Transportation Center!

If you didn’t get it, don’t worry – keep scrolling for more ways to get on the newest rides!

ALTERNATE METHODS FOR THE VIRTUAL QUEUE:

To anyone who didn’t get the Virtual Queue, do not fret there are still more options! I know it can be frustrating, but the Virtual Queue game is a difficult one and requires quick fingers and precision. But, fortunately for you there are a few more options to get on the new rides!

The soonest route from here will cost you around $30.00 per person in your party. This very expensive fallback is part of the newer Genie+ fastpass program at Disney. They have Individual Lightning Lanes for the new rides, but this is separate from the Genie+ pass for the day, as you will only get access to the one ride, not fast passes for all of the rides. The ILL will also have a call time. This is typically the next step if you do not get the boarding pass, so decide ahead of time if this will be your fallback approach. IF you are going to go this route (you can even skip attempting the virtual queue all together and just go straight to lightning lane) be ready either at 7:00 am when it opens, or head right over to that tab as soon as you finish trying to get to the lightning lane. This also opens at 7:00 am, but they don’t run out as fast as the virtual queue so you should be able to grab a lightning lane for whatever ride you desire.

If all else fails, or you do not want to pay for Genie+, THEN be ready at 1:00 pm to try again for the virtual queue. The way to be eligible for the boarding pass is to be inside the park the ride is located in. Try to find a low-key area to get the virtual queue, for example, when we tried for it in EPCOT, we were at the beginning of the World Pavillion, and in Hollywood Studios we were in the Disney Junior Plaza. As 1:00 approaches, repeat the aforementioned steps above to try and get the virtual queue.

We hope our method can get you to the Disney attraction of your dreams!