And just like that, WDW gets more of my money…

[MouseMamaToMany]

I, like possibly many of you, I’m a bit of a fan of Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot.

I was a master of the virtual queue, and never failed to secure a boarding group. Now that boarding groups are going away, I am afraid I’m going to have to purchase individual lightning lanes in order to ride, and that makes me sad. and possibly a little bit cranky.

My preferred on-site stay is over at Yacht and Beach, as well as Boardwalk. There is absolutely no way on Earth I am making it all the way to Guardians at rope drop to miss the early morning queue. That leaves me with riding last thing at night, or standing in hellacious lines.

I do realize that this is a first world problem, so nobody take me too seriously. But still-either I can Uber to the front of the park to rope drop the ride, or I can pay for an individual lightning lane. I don’t see any way around that, do you?

If anybody has any workaround, they’ve already thought about, I’d love to workshop it with you!

 

[mom2rtk]

Just wait until you get a load of their new dynamic pricing.

 

[Mle8308]

I, like possibly many of you, I’m a bit of a fan of Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot.

I was a master of the virtual queue, and never failed to secure a boarding group. Now that boarding groups are going away, I am afraid I’m going to have to purchase individual lightning lanes in order to ride, and that makes me sad. and possibly a little bit cranky.

My preferred on-site stay is over at Yacht and Beach, as well as Boardwalk. There is absolutely no way on Earth I am making it all the way to Guardians at rope drop to miss the early morning queue. That leaves me with riding last thing at night, or standing in hellacious lines.

I do realize that this is a first world problem, so nobody take me too seriously. But still-either I can Uber to the front of the park to rope drop the ride, or I can pay for an individual lightning lane. I don’t see any way around that, do you?

If anybody has any workaround, they’ve already thought about, I’d love to workshop it with you!

I think you have it covered. I'm going to wait and see what the real demand is. Might be crazy (especially at first), or it might not be too awful. I averaged a 45 minute wait most times I returned for my VQ. I'd pay for a LL instead of paying for a rideshare and fighting the EMH crowds in the morning. And still ending up in a potentially long line.

 

[Dave006]

I do realize that this is a first world problem, so nobody take me too seriously. But still-either I can Uber to the front of the park to rope drop the ride, or I can pay for an individual lightning lane. I don’t see any way around that, do you?

When you say Rope Drop do you actually mean Epcot Early Entry (EE) for on-site guests?

If you take advantage of EE via an Uber / Lyft from one of the Crescent lake resorts and also grab a LLSP for GotG that gets you 2 shorts per day.

Dave

 

[SL6827]

Just wait until you get a load of their new dynamic pricing.

Ya!!!!

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

Just wait until you get a load of their new dynamic pricing.

Oh yes. I’ve had a taste and don’t love it. It’s smart for shareholders and sucks for the rest of us

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

I think you have it covered. I'm going to wait and see what the real demand is. Might be crazy (especially at first), or it might not be too awful. I averaged a 45 minute wait most times I returned for my VQ. I'd pay for a LL instead of paying for a rideshare and fighting the EMH crowds in the morning. And still ending up in a potentially long line.

EXATLY. I’d pay for an ILL instead of paying for an Iber to the front gates and fighting the crowds. It’s likely within a couple of dollars cost-wise, and far more predictable. But I’m gonna need to eat a baguette from Les Halles
For lunch to average it out.

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

When you say Rope Drop do you actually mean Epcot Early Entry (EE) for on-site guests?

If you take advantage of EE via an Uber / Lyft from one of the Crescent lake resorts and also grab a LLSP for GotG that gets you 2 shorts per day.

Dave

Yes. I can uber and also buy LLSP. But the Uber is likely to cost me as much as the lightning lane.

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

And I would be remiss to add that on a most recent trip I was able to ride guardians six times over seven days, and got all six songs! That is a feat that will never be duplicated, but will forever be unmatched in my mind!

 

[tom1944]

I have been told by my daughter and granddaughter that we are required to ride Guardians 2 times. It appears I will have to purchase LLSP for Guardian on 2 separate days.

 

[Dave006]

Yes. I can uber and also buy LLSP. But the Uber is likely to cost me as much as the lightning lane.

Yes but it gets you 2 rides on GotG on the same day something you can't do just purchasing 1 LLSP.

Dave

 

[TammyC]

If staying at Yacht, Beach or Boardwalk you would be able to attend extended evening hours on Mondays. Or consider a paid after hour event.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Oh yes. I’ve had a taste and don’t love it. It’s smart for shareholders and sucks for the rest of us

I’m a shareholder and I’m losing money too. Literally no one wins with Disney! They just take all our money and we willingly hand it over. We may have a problem.

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

If staying at Yacht, Beach or Boardwalk you would be able to attend extended evening hours on Mondays. Or consider a paid after hour event.

Oh, absolutely. And I’ll take advantage of that for sure.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm in the minority since I disliked the virtual ques, I'm old school and really don't mind waiting in lines. It helps that I'm not ride centric and go at least 3 times a year, so if I don't ride something during a trip, no big deal, I'll catch it next time. Ear Scouts just did a video on how to best hit both Guardians and Tiana's now without buying ILLs. Last time I got a virtual que for Guardians it was supposed to be called around 1 pm but kept going down all day so the time kept getting pushed back. I think it rolled around finally to around 3 and when I got called I still waited a hour in the actual line. I ended up waiting at least a hour and half since I walked over there when it was down to around 5 numbers before mine (say my number was 90 I went at 85, just making those numbers up since I don't remember) thinking my group would get called soon, which it should have been.

 

[jmasgat]

But I’m gonna need to eat a baguette from Les Halles
For lunch to average it out.

You know, you can get a half baguette....save a little bit more (actually, it is one of the true bargains at Epcot--and not on Les Halles menu. They'll even give you butter to go with)

Kidding aside, I have 2 more trips planned this year (One off AP purchase) and will be interested to see how they play out. One is a short trip next month. My plan HAD been to go to Epcot first shortened day since I could still have gotten VQ, but that's obviously not happening. And I had thought of changing my resort to Dolphin. But now seems like I'm better off at ASM (since no Evening Hours)

In October, I expect things to be settled, but may be forced to pry open the digital wallet to buy LL for the first time. I am more inclined to do this since I have the AP and can justify the marginal cost.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'm in the wait and see. Crowd dynamics could surge this thing in the morning and drop as afternoon goes on or something along those lines. We'll need some time for it to settle out and see what tracking data says.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Guardians is going to behave just like any other top tier attraction that came before it.

Wildly popular in the early morning with a huge crowd rushing to be first in line. It will be exceptionally busy throughout the afternoon and early evening with wait times in the 2-3 hour range.

Then in the late evening, line stacking will go into effect and posted wait times will climb as necessary. Actual waits will continue to drop and those who don’t know how this game is played still won’t believe how short the line can get.

 

[eatatmidnight]

Guardians is going to behave just like any other top tier attraction that came before it.

Wildly popular in the early morning with a huge crowd rushing to be first in line. It will be exceptionally busy throughout the afternoon and early evening with wait times in the 2-3 hour range.

Then in the late evening, line stacking will go into effect and posted wait times will climb as necessary. Actual waits will continue to drop and those who don’t know how this game is played still won’t believe how short the line can get.

I hope you are right. We will be there next Sunday or Monday. We were there in June and could never score a VQ,

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

Guardians is going to behave just like any other top tier attraction that came before it.

Wildly popular in the early morning with a huge crowd rushing to be first in line. It will be exceptionally busy throughout the afternoon and early evening with wait times in the 2-3 hour range.

Then in the late evening, line stacking will go into effect and posted wait times will climb as necessary. Actual waits will continue to drop and those who don’t know how this game is played still won’t believe how short the line can get.

I think you are likely right. This does seem to be how all of the lines work for the top-tier attractions. I think the only exception to this was on my most recent trip. The line for Tron at Park close said 135 minutes, and based on what I know of that line and speed at which it moves, it looked like it was probably pretty close to accurate. They even had switchbacks set up on the bridge leading inside the building. Usually I’ll jump in a line even if the wait time is high, but that one scared me too much to try it. It might not have been 135, but it was easily 90. I’m hoping that won’t be the case with Guardians, because getting in line at Park close is my other favorite trick for an extra ride on fun things.