Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will debut at Magic Kingdom on June 28, 2024 with a bit of an unexpected twist. The ride will utilize a virtual queue while also being a part of Genie+. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time we’ve seen such a combination. In this post, I’m going to discuss what this means for getting on Tiana’s in the near term, including the fact that you might just not get on it when you visit the park.
Virtual Queues and Lightning Lanes
I should remind you that no ride is ever a guarantee when you go to a theme park. It’s a point we emphasize a lot, but rides close for many reasons, and there are rare days where a ride will just not open up at all, even though it wasn’t publicly scheduled for maintenance. That said, in a world of virtual queues and Lightning Lanes, there’s a new layer of challenges to content with.
Historically, when a ride has had a virtual queue at Disney World it has also had an individual Lightning Lane. In almost all circumstances, this made for a pretty easy choice. You could either try for the free virtual queue or you could fork over some money for the individual Lightning Lane.
One of the perks of staying at a Disney hotel is that you get to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM. While these could sometimes go quickly, the virtual queue has almost always been a tougher get. And on all but the rarest days, attempting to purchase an individual Lightning Lane at 7:00:00AM would guarantee you the opportunity to complete that purchase and get on a ride.
But Tiana’s Bayou Adventure won’t have an individual Lightning Lane. Instead, it will debut on Genie+. This comes with pros and cons, but there is one undeniable truth…
Rope Drop Won’t Help You Here!
You Might Just Not Get to Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Disney has said they hope to transition Tiana’s to a traditional standby queue “soon,” specifically, after the “initial opening days.” We can’t really worry about what that means. All we know is that on June 28 the ride will use a virtual queue instead of a standby queue.
The virtual queue is, essentially, a lottery. Can you stack the odds in your favor a bit with proper planning and fast fingers? Sure. But if your internet signal drops by just a smidge for any reason, or you app just…does things Disney apps do…you might just not get into the virtual queue. You’ll have two chances—at 7AM and 1PM—but both are still crapshoots. (We’re professionals at this, and in several dozen virtual queue attempts we have only one or two failures, but we’ve also had plenty of later afternoon time slots.)
The alternative way of getting on Tiana’s is Genie+. Genie+ is, at least, less of a lottery than the virtual queue. For starters, Genie+ at least has a purchase price, so fewer people will have the opportunity to try and ride via Genie+ than via the virtual queue.
Moreover, we know Disney exerts some backend control of Genie+ availability. This plays out in different, entirely inconsistent ways, but there are days where patterns emerge—of new Lightning Lane availability popping up at the same time for a few consecutive days, for example.
Finally, Genie+ is an all-day affair. You can sit there refreshing Genie+ availability all day long, and you’ll see things come and go. You can’t do that with the virtual queue. Once the 7AM allotment of the virtual queue runs out, it closes until 1PM. Once the 1PM allotment runs out, it closes for the day.
But I’d be lying if I said you can always get your Genie+ pick if you “try hard enough.” That’s just not the case. We’ve seen Slinky Dog Dash run out of availability almost instantaneously at 7AM. We’ve had days when no matter how much we refreshed, we couldn’t get a ride we wanted. It happens.
We can’t say what demand for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will look like. Certainly it will be high on June 28. Even I’ll be there, and I’ve avoided ride debuts since Rise of the Resistance! But by July 8…will a virtual queue even be warranted? I’m not so sure.
It’s reasonable to conclude that Disney wouldn’t put it on Genie+ (as opposed to an individual Lightning Lane) if they were expected record-setting demand. The ride is not a brand new design (it’s a very significant reimagining of Splash Mountain), and it’s debuting during a summer where Disney expects low demand.
From a strategic perspective, this is a clearcut case of “hope for the best, plan for the worst.” And the worst case scenario is simply that if you’re visiting Magic Kingdom on June 28 or shortly thereafter, you might miss out on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
You might not get on via the virtual queue, that’s a given for any ride that uses a virtual queue. Your chances will be better on Genie+, but it’s definitely no lock.
For what it’s worth, my assumption is that guests will spread across these two fronts—virtual queue and Genie+—enough that people who are prepared at 6:59:59AM and 12:59:59PM will have an excellent chance at riding, even on June 28. This brings us to me, on June 28…
My Plan for Riding Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
I’m taking a one-night trip for my chance to ride Tiana’s. I’ll be coming in early on the 27th and leaving late on the 28th. If I don’t ride it on June 28, I won’t get to until my next trip in August. That makes me relatively risk averse, and my only priority for the day is to get on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
To that end, I’ll be skipping the 7AM virtual queue and instead trying to get on the ride via Genie+ at 7AM. I think this maximizes my chances of locking in a spot at 7AM. As a simple matter of probability, I’m expecting to end up with a time later in the day, which means I’ll be waiting until 2 hours after park open to make my second Genie+ pick. That’s not ideal, but my priority is Tiana’s.
If I don’t get a Genie+ reservation at 7AM, I’ll probably stay in the app until around 7:30AM trying, and keep trying intermittently throughout the day. Then there’s the 1PM virtual queue to try, too.
Conclusions
Hopefully, Disney’s “initial days” language bears out and the virtual queue doesn’t last. Once it’s gone, you’ll be able to at least hop in a standby line if you must get on the ride. But until then, you just have to understand that there’s a chance you won’t get on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, even if you’re prepared to try your best.
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