Disney’s Hollywood Studios is Piloting a New Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance

Since it’s debut in Disney’s Hollywood Studios about a year ago, it has been clear that Rise of the Resistance, the “main attraction” of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, is worthy of it’s popularity. This hot ticketed ride has been a hot ticket that has been difficult to obtain. When the attraction first opened, we saw theme park guests arriving to the main gates at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as early as 3 o’clock in the morning in the hopes of being able to get a coveted spot in the ride’s virtual queue. Guests were required to be through the theme park turnstiles and every member of the party who wanted to ride had to be admitted into the park already before you were allowed to try to join the queue. With the reopening of the parks in July and Disney having to revamp their admittance measures to allow for social distancing, they knew that crowds gathering at the entrance to gain access to the virtual queue was not in line with their health and safety protocols. So, they revamped the virtual queue system and opened the queue twice per day- once at 10am (park opening) and once again at 2pm for those guests who were unable to secure their spot in the morning.  Today, Disney has announced a change to protocol once again. The biggest difference that we are now seeing is that guests will now be able to join the queue from outside of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as long as you had a valid theme park ticket and a park reservation for that park on that day. Guests who fit this criteria will now be able to use the My Disney Experience app to join the virtual queue as early as 7am on that day. The second opportunity (at 2pm) to join the virtual queue will still apply for those guests who are unable to join at 7, but guests opting for the 2pm queue must join from inside the theme park.

This change of procedure is Disney’s attempt to try to maximize the number of boarding groups they’re able to accommodate while adhering to current health and safety guidelines. Further, they have recently added a clear barrier between the two rows of seats on each First Order Fleet Transport vehicle inside the attraction. This also enables them to invite more guests to board Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance each day.  

To maximize your opportunity to secure a boarding group, here are some tips we recommend you check off your list prior to your day at the park: 

• Register an account in My Disney Experience
• Download the My Disney Experience mobile app on your smart device or ensure you’re using the most updated version of the app before you arrive at the park. 
• Link and assign all park tickets in your party to a My Disney Experience account
• Have a valid Disney Park Pass reservation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the day you’re visiting
• Select one member of your party to access the virtual queue for everyone in your group; if multiple people in your party try to join the virtual queue simultaneously, that may complicate your ability to secure a boarding group
• Remember, virtual queue boarding groups are limited and subject to availability  

I’m hoping that the success of the virtual queues will lead to the return of the FastPass or to the replacement of the FastPass with options for virtual queues on more of the similarly popular attractions throughout the four theme parks.  Read our article Getting a Boarding Group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance for more information, tips and tricks.