Hi there, Rachel!
Welcome to planDisney where every
great big beautiful tomorrow is filled with Disney magic!
Happily, Rachel, every Walt Disney World Resort theme park ticket includes access to the queue of each attraction available. You can helpfully find a list of current attractions and standby wait times in each theme park in the My Disney Experience app. To access this list you'll select the location icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the icon is selected a map will populate, and you can filter by location and category (attraction, wait times, dining, etc.) at the top of the screen.
While your theme park ticket does include walk-up access to all queues, if you are hoping to bypass the standby queue or enjoy an attraction operating with a Virtual Queue, you will need to take a few additional steps in the My Disney Experience app.
- Currently, a few select popular attractions (Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and TRON Lightcycle / Run) are welcoming Guests exclusively through a Virtual Queue. Virtual Queues allow Guests to enter a virtual waiting room for an attraction they will enjoy later in the day. The best part? You can experience other attractions while you wait! Guests have two opportunities to join a virtual queue each day - 7 AM and 1 PM. While Guests are able to join a 7 AM virtual queue from any location, you must be inside the theme park of the attraction to join its 1 PM virtual queue. It's important to keep in mind that the popularity of these attractions causes the virtual queues to quickly reach their capacity, so you'll want to join the queue as soon as it opens! Guests who are able to join an attraction's virtual queue will receive a Boarding Group assignment and will have 1 hour to return to the attraction once their Boarding Group is called through the My Disney Experience app. While virtual queues greatly decrease the time you will wait in a physical queue to enjoy an attraction, you will still be expected to join a queue once your Boarding Group is called.
- If you'd like to bypass standby queues during your vacation, you will have the opportunity to purchase Lightning Lane passes before your vacation begins. These will allow you to enjoy attractions via a designated entrance which results in much shorter wait times. Under the new Lightning Lane system, Guests can purchase both Lightning Lane Multi Pass (valid for multiple select attractions) and Lightning Lane Single Pass (valid on one select attraction). When purchasing Multi Pass, you will be able to select 3 attractions (in the same theme park) and designated entry windows from the list of those available at the time of purchase. Once you redeem your first pass of the day, you will be eligible to make another reservation in any theme park and at any tier. Happily, this policy continues for the rest of the day (or for as long as there is availability). Each time you redeem a pass you will be able to reserve another from the available list. Please keep in mind that Lightning Lane passes are not required to experience Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, but are a great tool for maximizing magic while minimizing waits. Because they are an added cost, my family typically only purchases Lighting Lane passes on days we are planning to focus solely on attractions rather than entertainment and table-service restaurants.
I hope this information was helpful, Rachel, and that you're encouraged to come visit us again with any future questions that arise as you continue to plan!
Cheers,
Lizzie