Hi Maren and welcome to planDisney!
I sure hope you are enjoying your Walt Disney World vacation so far! I cannot wait to see the theme parks decorated for the holidays. There is nothing better than walking down Main Street U.S.A. under the festive wreaths and garland with Cinderella Castle in the distance. I can taste the hot cocoa now!
There are typically two times of the day you can join a
virtual queue for select attractions and that is at 7:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Joining virtual queues can be tricky because you don't have any control over what your boarding group and return time will be. We are not early morning people, so when I try for the 7:00 AM virtual queue for attractions and end up with a low boarding group number, we often miss it. Nowadays we opt to skip the 7:00 AM virtual queue and wait until the 1:00 PM virtual queue instead so we know we will be in the park at that time. If you want to split up from your friends and family who are heading to the park early, do not select them when you try to join the queue and have those guests join on their own. If you are visiting the parks during
Extended Evening Theme Park Hours (for Disney Deluxe Hotel guests only) or during
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, there is another virtual queue opportunity at 6:00 PM.
As an alternative, you can opt to purchase an
Individual Lightning Lane for your family for the attraction you are interested in. That way, you can choose the time you will be riding, based on availability.
Please stop back by and visit if you have a more specific question or if you have any additional vacation planning questions that we can help you out with.
Have a magical day!
Leslie