Hi there Kelley, it's great to have you here at planDisney!
It sounds like you're arriving during the
Annual Passholder previews for Tiana's Bayou Adventure this June, and perhaps a little wary of being swept up amidst the flurry of excitement that tends to come with the much-awaited opening of a very special attraction. As someone who has personally experienced the debuts of
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and more recently,
TRON Lightcycle / Run - here are a few of my personal experiences and observations that may help you prepare for visit next month:
- When it comes to special preview days, there are often limitations imposed and things put in place to help manage the crowds of fellow Disney fans eager to be among the first to experience these new offerings. In the past this has meant pre-registration for select dates with designated times to enter the attraction queue; this year Annual Passholders were just required to ensure that they had a Theme Park Reservation on any of the selected dates. (In this case, the current availability of Theme Park Reservations for Annual Passholders on June 18th has already been booked up so while you are likely to encounter a lot of folks and families hoping to score a spot, they'll more than likely be focused around Frontierland.)
- What's also different about the preview process for this particular attraction opening is that there is no guarantee that Annual Passholders will necessarily be able to experience it unless they're successful in securing a spot in the Virtual Queue either at 7:00 A.M. ahead of Magic Kingdom Park opening hours and again at 1:00 P.M. for anyone attempting in the afternoon. This second Virtual Queue opportunity is open to Annual Passholders who may not have been successful in securing a Theme Park Reservation to Magic Kingdom Park but will have been at another theme park instead, so you might expect quite a few to be making their way through the turnstiles in order to have a shot at riding later in the day.
A chunk of my research at planDisney has involved observing guest behaviors and experiencing new offerings and it'll be interesting to see how this different preview approach will affect the volume of guests and whether they'll still be sticking around Magic Kingdom Park if they're unable to join the Virtual Queue. Based on my past two experiences however, preview dates will still often come with a bevy of onlookers and influencers alike which could mean higher wait times for attractions as well as more limited availability at dining locations. (On the other hand, this also means that the other theme parks historically tend to be a little more easygoing with an observable relative decrease in wait times!)
If you have the
Park Hopper option included with your admission, I would personally recommend hopping over to another theme park when it gets busy - depending on your
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique reservation time - and returning to Magic Kingdom Park instead on June 19th, following the Disney Vacation Club preview hours that are currently scheduled to end by noon.
Wishing your family all the best during a very exciting time to be at Walt Disney World Resort!
Prince