How Will Virtual Queues Work in Disney World When Park Pass Reservations Go Away?

Disney4me · December 12, 2023

2024 is shaping up to be a pretty big year for Disney World!

Cinderella Castle

The Disney Dining Plan is coming back, new restaurants, rides, and more are opening soon, and park pass reservations are going away for most people. But, there are still some questions left unanswered when it comes to what exactly the parks will look like next year — and we’re going to try to answer one of them right now!

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As of January 9th, 2024, Park Pass Reservations will NOT be needed AT ALL for those who have date-based tickets! In other words, people who buy theme park tickets that are tied to a specific date or set of dates won’t need park passes to get into the parks at all. This is excellent news! But, what does it mean for Virtual Queues (VQ) in the parks? Allow us to speculate wildly.

What Could Happen

The short answer is, we really don’t know. The way the rules and restrictions are set up right now have those park passes in mind. For example, right now there are two Virtual Queue drops each day for the rides that use them — at 7AM and 1PM.

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TRON Virtual Queue board

For the 7AM drop, you don’t need to be in the park where the ride is located, but you do need to have a park pass for that park. It’s possible Disney could change this so that no park pass is needed at all, and anyone can try to snag a VQ from anywhere.

On the flip side, for the 1PM drop, you’re required to be physically inside the park where you’re trying to get a VQ — which makes it pretty much impossible to obtain if you’re hopping to that park after the 2PM rule.

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Cosmic Rewind Virtual Queue

With park passes and the 2PM park hopping rule going away, we could see both park restrictions and time restrictions change. Disney could choose to swap the 7AM and 1PM times based on these updates as well.

©Disney

Another scenario we might run into is that Annual Passholders and certain non-date-based ticketholders will still need to have the proper park pass in order to join a VQ, since reservations will be required in certain situations in 2024 — or they could choose to drop the requirement for just one of the VQ drops.

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Disney World Annual Pass

Of course, we don’t know that anything at all will change — Disney could choose to keep the rules and restrictions exactly as they are. But, there may be some people who have an even better idea of what might happen than we do.

What Cast Members Have Said

In our speculation, we spoke with some Cast Members who work at attractions with virtual queues to see if they had any information or ideas about what might happen once park passes are no longer required. And, while none of them knew for sure, here’s what they said.

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TRON virtual queue and Lightning Lane signs

According to a guest relations Cast Member, you will be able to wake up on the day of your visit and book a virtual queue in any park you want to. Since reservations won’t be needed anymore for date-based tickets, any virtual queue from any park will be available.

However, they advised that the 1PM drop will still require you to be in the park that you wish to join a virtual queue.

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TRON virtual queue crowds

While we can’t be totally certain what might happen with virtual queues when park pass reservations go away, we can be prepared for any of the possibilities. Disney could make some updates to the system, overhaul it completely, or just leave it as it is. It’s likely that the first day park passes are no longer required may be a bit chaotic when it comes to virtual queues, so keep that in mind if you’re planning on being in the parks on January 9th!

Either way, we’ll be bringing you the answers as soon as we find out — so stay tuned to DFB for more!