Disney has introduced that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the massive new attraction opening at Disneyland on January 27, 2023, will use a digital queue and promote Individual Lightning Lane entry. This trip information covers how you can expertise it since there can be no standby line when it debuts–technique for efficiently scoring spots within the VQ and shopping for an ILL for the Toontown trip.
After Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure each stopped their digital queues, there are at the moment no rides at Disneyland using this much-maligned system. With that mentioned, World of Color – ONE can even use a digital queue, identical to all different variations of that nighttime spectacular at Disney California Adventure. Disneyland Resort additionally makes use of digital queues for sure procuring and restricted merchandise releases, so it’s not like VQs have been vanquished utterly.
In case you’re new to the digital queue “conversation,” Disney’s rationales for utilizing them primarily contain crowds, however reliability/downtime and bodily queue house have been different points. With Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in its first few months, there was additionally the problem with visitors arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier and earlier, which resulted in refinements to its digital queue when the identical trip debuted at Disneyland.
Before we get into the small print of the digital queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and its seemingly motivations, we’ll begin with the information that the trip can be an Individual Lightning Lane attraction. This truly comes as a slight shock.
Even although Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had Individual Lightning Lane standing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it was one of many much less widespread secondary choices, above Expedition Everest and Space Mountain, however behind Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. As you would possibly recall, Walt Disney World shifted all of its secondary Individual Lightning Lanes to Genie+ rather less than a 12 months in the past on a brief foundation, which was made everlasting final fall.
The variations at Disneyland are two-fold. First, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is brand-new in California, whereas it opened at Walt Disney World in March 2020. The trip briefly provided FastPass+ pre-closure and was standby-only for slightly over a full 12 months after that.
By the time it obtained Individual Lightning Lane standing in Fall 2021, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was barely one of many prime 5 wait occasions in DHS. In different phrases, lots of the demand from locals and Walt Disney World regulars–who in any other case would possibly’ve purchased ILLs–was exhausted in the course of the FastPass+ and standby window.
Second, Disneyland is extremely ride-dense and gives all kinds of points of interest–arguably essentially the most well-rounded trip roster of any Disney theme park on the planet. Disneyland is basically the reverse of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is extremely top-heavy, with quite a few headliners, however not sufficient “supporting players” to assist take in crowds.
This is critical as a result of Disneyland has the capability for Genie+ to work properly with out Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway being added to the lineup. As we’ve identified beforehand, our comparative lack of protection about Genie+ at Disneyland is just not because of neglect or lack of curiosity (we’ve used it many occasions over the past year-plus), however as a result of the system works pretty properly more often than not. Continued protection could be overkill, whereas that may be very a lot not the case at DHS. (To make sure, it’s getting higher at Walt Disney World…however nonetheless has issues.)
From these views, it is smart that Disneyland would promote Individual Lightning Lane entry for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Fans can be upset, nevertheless it’s a great way to seize extra income and the a la carte line-skipping received’t negatively impression Genie+ customers.
It’s actually a query of how a lot Individual Lightning Lanes will value for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the way rapidly they’ll promote out every day. My guess is that it’ll be very corresponding to Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure each in pricing and recognition. Despite being latest, that was the least-popular of the ILL choices, behind each Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers. I like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, nevertheless it’s inferior to both of these fashionable classics.
That Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will use a digital queue is the extra attention-grabbing information, so let’s flip to that…
Here’s the information immediately from Disneyland’s web page on digital queues:
When Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens on January 27, 2023 a digital queue can be in place. Guests might want to use the Disneyland app to enter the attraction. A standby queue is not going to be accessible. Each visitor can enter the digital queue not more than as soon as per day.
Follow these essential pointers to affix the digital queue and expertise this wild and wacky attraction:
- Guests with a sound ticket and theme park reservation for a similar day might have 2 alternatives to affix the digital queue through the Disneyland app, topic to availability:
- To entry the digital queue within the morning, Guests will need to have a sound ticket and theme park reservation for Disneyland Park. Guests can affirm their designated social gathering beginning at 6:00 AM after which verify for an accessible boarding group beginning at 7:00 AM.
- To entry the digital queue later within the day, Guests will need to have entered Disneyland Park with a one-park ticket or Park Hopper ticket, or Disney California Adventure Park with a Park Hopper ticket. Guests can affirm their designated social gathering beginning at midday after which verify for an accessible boarding group beginning at 1:00 PM.
- If the Guest’s boarding group is named, they may obtain a notification via the Disneyland app to move over to the doorway of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway inside a chosen return window.
Get Ready to Join the Virtual Queue! – On the day of your go to, you might have the chance to affix the digital queue at day by day distribution occasions, that are topic to vary or cancellation as availability permits. Distribution schedules can be accessible within the Disneyland app. Follow these steps to affix the digital queue:
- Step 1 – Check Availability: Log in to the Disneyland app at one of many distribution occasions. Select “Virtual Queues” on the house display screen to view the present standing and subsequent steps for becoming a member of a digital queue. The app will point out when there isn’t a availability for a selected distribution time, or if a backup group is out there.
- Step 2 – Enroll Your Group: As lengthy as your Disney account is linked to your group’s park tickets, and everybody has legitimate admission and park reservations for the park you’ll go to, you possibly can enroll everybody within the digital queue on the similar time (topic to availability).
- Step 3 – Enjoy the Experience: If your boarding group is named to return, you’ll obtain a notification through the Disneyland app. Then, head over to the doorway of the expertise inside your designated return window.
If you beforehand used the digital queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Web Slingers – A Spider-Man Adventure, you’re undoubtedly accustomed to this course of–and to a higher diploma than what Disney describes. If you haven’t, that most likely didn’t do sufficient to familiarize you with the digital queue course of.
In phrases of technique, our recommendation right here is much like we’ve lined in previous posts. However, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway hasn’t opened but, so some specifics might differ. (We’ll complement this as soon as the trip debuts.)
In the meantime, it’s essential to optimize to make sure your timing is correct and your cellphone and web connection are as quick as doable to affix the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway digital queue. This would possibly sound like overkill, however milliseconds matter. We’d suggest doing a fast velocity check a couple of minutes earlier than it’s time to enter the VQ.
Anything at or above 50 Mbps needs to be ample, however the increased the higher. If crucial, transfer round to get away from different individuals or improve your velocity to that threshold. Additionally, check on each WiFi and mobile to see which is quicker and use that.
Second, ensure that your cellphone is totally up to date and power shut all apps, together with the Disneyland app shortly earlier than it’s time to affix the digital queue. This will velocity up your cellphone so there’s no lag in your finish.
Finally, double-check the time in your cellphone or watch in opposition to time.gov, which is what Disneyland makes use of for opening the digital queue. Attempt to affix the digital queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway the second the clock on time.gov hits 7 am or midday. These three easy steps can typically be the distinction between success and failure!
In phrases of commentary, the massive query amongst readers is probably going going to be why Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway provided that it’s counterpoint at Walt Disney World by no means used one–regardless of opening only some months after Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
As a reminder, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted with a digital queue throughout regular operations as a result of it was (and nonetheless is) extremely unreliable, inefficient, and susceptible to hour-plus breakdowns. It’s doable that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway has a digital queue as a result of, like Rise of the Resistance, it’s unreliable and breaks down rather a lot. I extremely doubt that. That wasn’t the case with the primary model of the attraction, so it’s unlikely to be true with the cloned copy.
Instead, let’s look to variations between the 2 incarnations. The apparent one for me is the “blessing of size” loved by the Disney’s Hollywood Studios model. Not within the conventional sense that’s typically touted by Walt Disney World followers, however particularly, for this one attraction.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is situated on the finish of Hollywood Boulevard in DHS, in an enormous open courtyard. There is a ton of house for an prolonged queue, and on opening day approach again in March 2020, that line stretched again down the doorway avenue. (Since then, it has merely crammed the ample courtyard house.)
By distinction, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is opening at Disneyland whereas the remainder of Toontown remains to be being reimagined. No one is aware of what meaning at this level–it might imply a hall of development partitions resulting in the attraction entrance. It might imply that there are Cast Members stationed on the Disneyland Railroad underpass and solely permitting visitors with digital queue or Individual Lightning Lane reservations again into Toontown given the shortage of house.
Neither state of affairs would shock me. No matter what the scenario, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway could have considerably much less accessible house for an prolonged queue at Disneyland. The trip’s recognition might want to die down a bit earlier than it may well use a standby line.
The excellent news is that the remainder of Mickey’s Toontown reopens on March 8, 2023. At that time, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway could have been open for over one month, so the preliminary surge of locals needs to be beginning to die down and the land ought to have extra accessible house.
I wouldn’t count on the digital queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway to be retired on or across the time Mickey’s Toontown reopens, because it’ll see a second-wind of recognition then. However, after the Spring Break crowds subside (so round April 17, 2023) the tip of the digital queue appears extremely seemingly. Who is aware of, although. I additionally don’t suppose Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind has “needed” a digital queue since about final August, and but it nonetheless has one.
It’ll be extra attention-grabbing to see how lengthy Individual Lightning Lane entry sticks round at Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. It’s already gone at Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, which doesn’t have a clone within the United States.
However, the doubtless key distinction is that Disney California Adventure has a lot much less Genie+ Lightning Lane capability than Disneyland. So that change is perhaps much less about ILL demand, and extra about Genie+ provide. As such, I’m not ready to make any bets or guesses about when Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will drop the ILL. It might final only some months, or a number of years.
Ultimately, we’re barely disillusioned by this information. Not that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway can be an Individual Lightning Lane attraction–that truly doesn’t hassle me all that a lot regardless that we by no means purchase ILLs. More in order that it’ll use a digital queue. While we’ve gotten good at gaming the boarding group course of (and have “speed strategy” recommendation so you possibly can obtain related success), my private hope was for a standby queue.
Having a standby line is the extra guest-friendly method that ranges the taking part in area, is much less traumatic, and leads to fewer complaints. Then once more, if it finally ends up being something like Cosmic Rewind, the afternoon drop will change into very simple more often than not. That’s equally a high-capacity and environment friendly attraction, and the VQ there has mainly change into a “free” trip reservation. So maybe the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway digital queue can be a web optimistic for many visitors as soon as the preliminary rush subsides!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you trying ahead to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway? What are your ideas on the digital queue? Worried that that is going to be widespread for future points of interest, or agree that it’s seemingly a brief factor ensuing from development partitions in Toontown? Are you planning a go to to Disneyland Resort for the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and kick-off of the Disney100 Celebration, or will you wait till later? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? Hearing your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!