Everything Virtual Queue - Please Read Post 1

[MIChessGuy]

I will be doing the GotG version of the queue lottery later this month. As stated above, it is important NOT to wait until exactly 7:00 before doing a refresh because that is too late. When the in-person ROTR queue lottery was going on, I had success by waiting until exactly 6:59:59 and then doing a refresh to get at the Join button. (I can't remember exactly how the refresh worked under that system; it might have been "pull down" only.)

Even doing all the prep you can do, sometimes you are at the mercy of a misbehaving device or some kind of data transmission problem that costs you maybe 2 seconds, which unfortunately can be a deal-breaker. I remember a lot of groaning on Sunset Blvd. from ROTR queue hopefuls who had not succeeded.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

I accidentally lost my boarding group. I cancelled thinking I could get another time. Can I try again at 1:00 pm. Thanks

 

[Rush]

I accidentally lost my boarding group. I cancelled thinking I could get another time. Can I try again at 1:00 pm. Thanks

My initial thought would be that it would already have shown you as being awarded a boarding group and would prevent you from being eligible at 1pm. But I’d be interested to hear what happened. I was always afraid I’d accidentally cancel it while checking on the BG status. We were late for our boarding group a couple of times, one even said it had expired, and it still let us in. So in the future I wouldn’t cancel if it’s because you want a later time, still go with the earlier boarding group. As far as I know no one has reported having been denied after their BG has been called.

 

[jkw4afh]

Here now...looking to join the Virtual Queue at 6pm for Extended Hours.

I've noticed in the app it's not letting me select my party and confirm guests. Will that part of the app open up closer to 6:00pm? Has anyone had experience with this??

 

[Rush]

Here now...looking to join the Virtual Queue at 6pm for Extended Hours.

I've noticed in the app it's not letting me select my party and confirm guests. Will that part of the app open up closer to 6:00pm? Has anyone had experience with this??

Yes, we were there two weeks ago. As long as you have an Epcot reservation, or a park hopper eligible pass and visited your first park with a reservation today, and are staying in a deluxe resort or villas you will be able to confirm your party at 5 pm. We got one and the boarding group was actually called before the end of regular park hours, before EEH. Good luck!

 

[jkw4afh]

Yes, we were there two weeks ago. As long as you have an Epcot reservation, or a park hopper eligible pass and visited your first park with a reservation today, and are staying in a deluxe resort or villas you will be able to confirm your party at 5 pm. We got one and the boarding group was actually called before the end of regular park hours, before EEH. Good luck!

Thank you SO MUCH for the reply! I couldn’t figure out what was going on LOL!

 

[disneylover102]

Trying to decide on my upcoming trip in December if I want to start at Epcot every day or not. I’d ideally like to buy a LL and get a BG for Guardians every day but I’d rather not start in Epcot every day. I had heard that BGs weren’t running out from the 1 PM drop as fast anymore so you could even get one if you’re park hopping but today I checked and they were gone earlier than that. I’m going December 8-15. Anyone think it’ll be more or less likely they’ll run out slower then? Like is it extra busy this week than it’ll probably be then?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Trying to decide on my upcoming trip in December if I want to start at Epcot every day or not. I’d ideally like to buy a LL and get a BG for Guardians every day but I’d rather not start in Epcot every day. I had heard that BGs weren’t running out from the 1 PM drop as fast anymore so you could even get one if you’re park hopping but today I checked and they were gone earlier than that. I’m going December 8-15. Anyone think it’ll be more or less likely they’ll run out slower then? Like is it extra busy this week than it’ll probably be then?

This is Fall Break in a lot of school districts in the south so yeah, I do think this week is busier than the first couple of weeks in December will be.
Still, if you are staying at a Epcot area Resort I would lean to starting each day at Epcot, even though you can't hop till 2. Especially if it's a short trip. If it's a long trip and/or you are not at an Epcot resort then I would not start each day at Epcot.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Trying to decide on my upcoming trip in December if I want to start at Epcot every day or not. I’d ideally like to buy a LL and get a BG for Guardians every day but I’d rather not start in Epcot every day. I had heard that BGs weren’t running out from the 1 PM drop as fast anymore so you could even get one if you’re park hopping but today I checked and they were gone earlier than that. I’m going December 8-15. Anyone think it’ll be more or less likely they’ll run out slower then? Like is it extra busy this week than it’ll probably be then?

The excellent BG availability was during the late August / September slow down, when all of the parks had extremely low wait times. The last time it was open long enough for the 2pm hop was 10/4, per thrill data. It could be that this is just a busy week, or this could be the new norm for fall/winter crowds.
https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/epcot/guardiansofthegalaxycosmicrewind/

If double rides every day is your priority, I would keep watching the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Boarding Group Availability chart at the above link and see if the 1pm keeps getting snapped up quickly throughout the month.

For what it's worth, I was lucky enough to travel in that sweet spot for Aug/Sept where we were grabbing late-in-the-day BGs after hopping. The ride is incredible, I had an absolute blast rocking out to various songs while getting whipped around on a coaster, and it's *not* worth losing your morning time in all of the other 3 parks. Buy the LL every day, make a couple of EP reservations to get the BG for double rides, too, but don't completely upend your trip to ride this twice a day every day.

 

[Disturbia]

I haven’t read through the entirety of this thread, so apologies if this has already been covered.

We are staying at a deluxe hotel and have park hopper tickets. Yesterday (Monday) we had reservations at Animal Kingdom. Our plan was to hop to EPCOT for dinner and then stay for Extended Evening Hours. My understanding was that, so long as you have park hoppers (and a deluxe hotel stay) you don’t actually need to have tapped into EPCOT yet in order to join the 6:00 virtual queue.

But at 5:30, I went to the virtual queue page on the MDE app to confirm my party and it said that we were not eligible since we did not have park reservations for EPCOT that day. We raced over to EPCOT ASAP, and tapped in just before 6:00. As soon as we did so, the system recognized us as eligible for the virtual queue.

(I joined at precisely 6:00:00 and was given a boarding group with an expected call back time of 10:57. The boarding groups must have sold out in less than 2 seconds!)

Just wanted to let people know about my experience, since everything I had read had led me to believe that I didn’t need to be in EPCOT in order to join the queue.

What resort were you staying at?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

What resort were you staying at?

Not who you quoted, but I was in BWV on a DVC reservation and wasn't able to make my group until I was tapped in.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Not who you quoted, but I was in BWV on a DVC reservation and wasn't able to make my group until I was tapped in.

Yours and the quoted PP above (which was from in August) were more of an anomaly/MDE glitch than SOP.
Which is to say that it can't happen but it's not the way it's supposed to happen.
The design is no, you are not required to have tapped in.
If for whatever reason MDE doesn't pick up on your resort reservation eligibility, then it doesn't let you book till tapped in.
Not sure if any one has picked up on a pattern re: which resorts it consistently won't recognize or not
It's a good question.
Could it be
DVC
DVC on points
Swan/Dolphin + DVC
Swan/Dolphin + DVC on Points
Some other combo
No idea
Just tossing a theory out there to discuss
It may be 100% random

 

[Disturbia]

Just to be clear, from what I understand if VQ had availability after 2 pm, you still need to have tapped in to Epcot to be eligible for any remaining VQs even if I had tapped into MK?

What if I had plans to be in MK but flights got delayed. Do I have to switch park passes to Epcot now AND tap in ? (can’t go to Mk and tap in) to get access to that 2 pm VQ (planning on being in park at say 3 pm).

You have to be tapped into A park?

 

[Disturbia]

Not who you quoted, but I was in BWV on a DVC reservation and wasn't able to make my group until I was tapped in.

This should be fixed. What if you’re running late from an ADR.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

This should be fixed. What if you’re running late from an ADR.

MDE is full of glitches. I don't think they are intentional. I have a feeling, like most companies, they'd love if there were never any glitches.
Unfortunately, they have more than their fair share.
Will it be fixed? Maybe. Probably. Eventually. Will it still have glitches? Most certainly.
You can always approach a blue umbrella, explain the issue and seek their help for a resolution.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Just to be clear, from what I understand if VQ had availability after 2 pm, you still need to have tapped in to Epcot to be eligible for any remaining VQs even if I had tapped into MK?

What if I had plans to be in MK but flights got delayed. Do I have to switch park passes to Epcot now AND tap in ? (can’t go to Mk and tap in) to get access to that 2 pm VQ (planning on being in park at say 3 pm).

You have to be tapped into A park?

Struggling to follow your question but I think I got it finally. First, it's a 1PM drop, not a 2PM drop. I think that's the part of your question that confused me. You can hop at 2 but the drop is at 1

From the first page

At 1pm, you would have had to tap into Epcot beforehand. But you don't have to physically be in Epcot at 1pm as long as you tapped into the park earlier.

If there are still VQ left when you hop to Epcot, or enter Epcot after you land in your scenario, yes you can get one.

 

[Disturbia]

MDE is full of glitches. I don't think they are intentional. I have a feeling, like most companies, they'd love if there were never any glitches.
Unfortunately, they have more than their fair share.
Will it be fixed? Maybe. Probably. Eventually. Will it still have glitches? Most certainly.
You can always approach a blue umbrella, explain the issue and seek their help for a resolution.

Blue umbrella was 15-30 min wait each time. At HS there was a lot of time between passes so we had time to kill in the am. Pm we just left money on the table .

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Blue umbrella was 30 min wait each time

ok

 

[Disturbia]

Struggling to follow your question but I think I got it finally. First, it's a 1PM drop, not a 2PM drop. I think that's the part of your question that confused me. You can hop at 2 but the drop is at 1

From the first page

At 1pm, you would have had to tap into Epcot beforehand. But you don't have to physically be in Epcot at 1pm as long as you tapped into the park earlier.

If there are still VQ left when you hop to Epcot, or enter Epcot after you land in your scenario, yes you can get one.

Yes you answered it. So you do have to scan in to Epcot.

But if MK was your first park and you didn’t scan in to Mk you would have to go to Guest relations and change the park pass I assume. With flight delays/cancellations/park passes selling out I’m sure people will encounter this.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

This should be fixed. What if you’re running late from an ADR.

So, totally agreed that it should be fixed but, on the list of things that Disney IT needs to handle, I doubt this even makes top 20. There are so many unfortunate glitches that then force people to miss out on ILL/ G+/VQ. It sucks absolutely sucks but it's what we have right now.