Haunted Mansion and the Virtual Queue

[DontSpamMe]

I understand what you are saying and how upset a child might be but honestly that would be on the parent for ignoring the return time and assuming they will be okay to go late. Unless one has a dining reservation that was during the window, I don't see any reason that they SHOULD be allowing late arrivals. If you have a return window you have an hour to make sure you get over to that area of the park. If you know you won't be in the parks until the afternoon, don't sign up for the 7am VQ. The reason the VQ line can be so much longer at certain of the day is because people are ignoring the VQ return window and going whenever they feel like it.

While I agree with a lot of this, disneyland did this to themselves. They didn't have to open to a VQ system, but they chose to do it in a messy manner. If I'm going to the park after 10am and plan to leave by 5pm. Is the expectation that I wait until the 12pm drop and hope it's before 5pm?

I'll take my chances. If they say no then so be it. Then again I also wait until the VQ line is minimal for the likelihood they will let us go through.

 

[disneychrista]

While I agree with a lot of this, disneyland did this to themselves. They didn't have to open to a VQ system, but they chose to do it in a messy manner. If I'm going to the park after 10am and plan to leave by 5pm. Is the expectation that I wait until the 12pm drop and hope it's before 5pm?

I'll take my chances. If they say no then so be it. Then again I also wait until the VQ line is minimal for the likelihood they will let us go through.

How would you have suggested they deal with the fact that they do not have a queue space for HM/HMH? Just keep it closed until they are completely done with it?

 

[RainyDayPixie]

Prepping for my visit Saturday (woohoo!) and finding the VQ in the app was a little confusing. Sharing in case others have the same issue, apologies if this is already up thread somewhere.

When I clicked the Virtual Queue button in the app from the attraction page, it took me to the tip board, but I could not find HM! It was because I had “show only lightning lane experiences” toggled on from a previous trip. Toggled it off and there it was!


I do have a Q still, though. We will be arriving to the park right around 12/12:30. If I try to join the VQ midmorning (if it’s still available), will I be able to estimate when it will be called? For example- can you see which group you are before you’re assigned and can you see which group they’re on?

It’s probably safer to try and join the afternoon queue right when we scan in. How quickly has that one been running out?

We just have 1 day at DL, so would be a bummer if we miss out!

 

[JerrodDragon89]

If your going at noon then get the VQ ASAP. Per Freshbaked videos even then it can take 3-4 hours before those groups who get in at noon are called

 

[LKing]

Prepping for my visit Saturday (woohoo!) and finding the VQ in the app was a little confusing. Sharing in case others have the same issue, apologies if this is already up thread somewhere.

When I clicked the Virtual Queue button in the app from the attraction page, it took me to the tip board, but I could not find HM! It was because I had “show only lightning lane experiences” toggled on from a previous trip. Toggled it off and there it was!


I do have a Q still, though. We will be arriving to the park right around 12/12:30. If I try to join the VQ midmorning (if it’s still available), will I be able to estimate when it will be called? For example- can you see which group you are before you’re assigned and can you see which group they’re on?

It’s probably safer to try and join the afternoon queue right when we scan in. How quickly has that one been running out?

We just have 1 day at DL, so would be a bummer if we miss out!

For me, it is on my home page. I just need to scroll down a bit.

If you are starting at Disneyland, I would do the VQ at 7 am. You will not be able to see what boarding group you are in until they assign it. In my experience 100 is called back anywhere from noon to 2 pm.

 

[brightlined]

VQ is on the hamburger tab, too - under My Visit.

 

[brentm77]

Why don't they just treat VQ's like a lightening lane? Have an assigned time so people know what they are selecting or can wait and try to get a later time if they want? Why the whole number thing when they have a better system on other rides? I can see it for a brand new ride that has a tendency to break down and an uncertain capacity just after opening, but for the HM?

 

[JerrodDragon89]

While the VQ system can be improved

Compared to the normal this ride takes 60-120 mins to get on.....this system to me is better

Basically its 10 mins of waiting int he line vs what used to be a 1-2 hour wait. Sucks about the timing but going in the morning at least, never had an issue even when the ride was closed for the first two hours once the ride was open I was on before 11 AM

 

[joseph821]

I also think the VQ system should be used for a short time only for an attraction. I know HM would not have opened without VQ because of the ongoing construction. But we are doing to have almost 5 months of VQ for HM and that is too long.

 

[LKing]

I also think the VQ system should be used for a short time only for an attraction. I know HM would not have opened without VQ because of the ongoing construction. But we are doing to have almost 5 months of VQ for HM and that is too long.

There is still quite a bit of construction in the queue area, in the plaza between Tiana's and HM, as well as along the train tracks behind the mansion.

 

[brightlined]

Why don't they just treat VQ's like a lightening lane? Have an assigned time so people know what they are selecting or can wait and try to get a later time if they want? Why the whole number thing when they have a better system on other rides? I can see it for a brand new ride that has a tendency to break down and an uncertain capacity just after opening, but for the HM?

It would be worse for a lot of people if you did it that way.

If people have one ride per day, a lot of folks in the morning would pick an evening time. Those morning folks then wouldn't ride it, so there'd be gaps in the morning and early afternoon with few/no riders. At some point in the afternoon, the rest of the day would be sold out - which would be bad for anyone arriving in the mid-to-late afternoon who would've gotten a spot under the current system. In short, you'd upset a lot more people.

The point of the VQ is to (as much as possible) guarantee a constant flow of riders from open to close. There's plenty of room for everyone to get one ride, but you need the morning people to ride it early.

 

[joseph821]

There is still quite a bit of construction in the queue area, in the plaza between Tiana's and HM, as well as along the train tracks behind the mansion.

Yes I know but Disneyland should have finished this by now. It has been almost 10 months. The whole park was built in 12 months!!

 

[Bruno33]

It would be worse for a lot of people if you did it that way.

If people have one ride per day, a lot of folks in the morning would pick an evening time. Those morning folks then wouldn't ride it, so there'd be gaps in the morning and early afternoon with few/no riders. At some point in the afternoon, the rest of the day would be sold out - which would be bad for anyone arriving in the mid-to-late afternoon who would've gotten a spot under the current system. In short, you'd upset a lot more people.

The point of the VQ is to (as much as possible) guarantee a constant flow of riders from open to close. There's plenty of room for everyone to get one ride, but you need the morning people to ride it early.

DL LLs don’t let you choose a time, though… they just start at the beginning of the day and move forward. So there wouldn’t be any “picking” an evening time.

I think they’re doing it this way because they already had the VQ mechanism in place on the app. It’s a free way to limit access to what their nonexistent queue can handle. They don’t have a mechanism that works like LL for just one attention, for free…

So they’re using VQ, but also they don’t *really* care when you get there most of the time. Most people are coming in their window because that’s how we’re trained to behave… the handful of latecomers aren’t causing too much stress to the system at this point.

The way it’s currently going seems like a generally fair way of handling it IMO.

 

[brightlined]

DL LLs don’t let you choose a time, though… they just start at the beginning of the day and move forward. So there wouldn’t be any “picking” an evening time.

True, but people would still wait for a guaranteed time later in the day. The problem with anything other than what they're doing now: there are a lot of people who don't want to ride HM at 8am (or in the morning in general).

Back when HM reopened, the VQ showed you an expected wait time before you joined (which is part of the VQ functionality) - that's close to what you're suggesting with the LL idea. They removed it, though - and I assume it was for that reason: people were waiting to join the VQ until it hit a more palatable time. Now, it's fully a guess.

Honestly, for the park, it's more of an operational benefit than a guest experience benefit - though I gently appreciate the idea of nudging people to ride it early so that more people can ride it later.


The real problem with allowing people to choose a time is what happens, for example, if the ride goes down. Normally, LLs are only part of an hour's capacity. If everyone gets an LL, and the times are explicitly doled out, they're locked to a certain hourly capacity - there's no way to flex in case of a problem or if things are moving well.

Under normal circumstances, if the ride goes down, people get an MEP and have the option of coming back later. CMs can then ramp up the number of LLs being taken (lengthening the standby line) in order to get everything back on track. But if every spot is taken with an LL, there's nowhere for those downtime people to go - the next hour is already booked to 100%. Either they cancel the downtime people out or push the later folks back, neither of which people would be especially happy about.

The current system basically accomplishes the major goals - keeping up capacity so that as many people as possible can ride in one day, and keep things fluid based on how the ride is running.

That they're not enforcing return times is kind of the happy medium answer - encourage people to get to the park early, use the excess capacity to absorb the late arrivals. Most of the time, they've got enough capacity - so long as it's not everyone. I think if people ignored the return times en masse, I think you'd start seeing enforcement.

 

[RainyDayPixie]

We got to the park today at 12:25 and joined the queue. Got group 269. 9p and currently boarding group 246. Seems the timing will work perfect to ride it after the fireworks!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

The most heartbreaking part of this is I'm usually a 2-3x HMH rider when I visit. So to be limited to once per day...

 

[mom2rtk]

The most heartbreaking part of this is I'm usually a 2-3x HMH rider when I visit. So to be limited to once per day...

Us as well.

 

[B3rlingirl]

The most heartbreaking part of this is I'm usually a 2-3x HMH rider when I visit. So to be limited to once per day...

Yep… same for us…
The only positive thing is that we (mom and I) aren’t huge fans of the Halloween/Christmas overlay so the loss isn’t that big…

 

[mom2rtk]

Yep… same for us…
The only positive thing is that we (mom and I) aren’t huge fans of the Halloween/Christmas overlay so the loss isn’t that big…

It’s my daughter’s favorite part of Disneyland. The ride with the overlay. We rode it six times in four days last year. Very disappointing with what the virtual queue will do to that. I’m not even sure we’ll get to ride it on the first day because we will be in the air during the first drop and might not get into the park until after the second drop.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

Once again normal HM, you might be hitting it a good deal

But HMH by 11 AM is normally 60-90 mins or more.

I walked onto this ride the other day, the system is not perfect but also not bad for HMH. Unless you like paying 25 bucks to wait longer to ride this

the New Q will be in next year and people can see first hand next year, how fun HMH is without this system because the ride just gets lines alllll day