It might seem like a small tweak to its theme park operations, but a change at Walt Disney's (DIS 1.45%) iconic Florida resort this week could be bigger than you think. On Tuesday, Disney World eliminated virtual queues for the last two rides using the online reservation system -- Tiana's Bayou Adventure at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
Before diving into how a seemingly minor move can radically improve the media giant's bottom line, let's take a page out of the Marvel playbook by offering up an origin story.
Disney World introduced an app-based virtual queue platform when it opened Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at the resort's Disney's Hollywood Studios in late 2019. That was initially a way to allocate access to its now-defunct FastPass+ system that would allow guests a free way to secure access to expedited queues. It was also a logical way to handle limited space for waiting riders on new, bar-raising experiences.
The pandemic hit a couple of months later, and the platform would take on an entirely new meaning when the Florida resort reopened to guests again in the summer of 2020. Social distancing measures ate into the capacity of the traditional standby line. Disney also introduced a premium replacement to FastPass, allowing it to regulate demand by charging a varying premium for access to the faster-moving queueing option. Major new attractions introduced virtual queues for the standby line, but as of Tuesday morning, for the first time in years, there are no virtual queues at Disney World. Here's why that's no small thing.
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Key Data Points
1. Disney hotels just got that much more valuable
Disney's resort in Central Florida spans over 40 square miles. There are more than 37,000 rooms across various on-site hotels, and even the cheapest of the Disney-owned options charges a premium to value-priced lodging readily available outside the House of Mouse. Disney World offers several perks that outside hoteliers can't match, including convenient park transportation and resort theming. A major benefit is access to select attractions at its four theme parks a half-hour before the much larger base of folks staying outside Disney World can get on. Disney's priciest deluxe hotels offer access to Epcot or the Magic Kingdom on select nights for two hours after the rides close to everyone else.
Tuesday wasn't just the end of the virtual queue for the next-gen Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster experience. Everyone staying at any Disney hotel can now access the ride 30 minutes before day guests race to line up behind them.
Disney's timing may blur the value of why its hotels can now command an even larger markup than before. The rollout on Tuesday -- particularly for the Marvel-themed Cosmic Rewind thrill ride -- was done at the smoothest time possible to shake things up. The resort wrapped up the four-day sold-out Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend on Monday. Runners and their families were probably on their way home on Tuesday. Epcot's Festival of the Arts also wrapped up on Monday, creating a programming lull for a week before the next festival kicks off.
Tuesday should've been dead at Epcot, but the coaster's wait time ballooned up to 135 minutes a half-hour after non-resort guests were lining up following the early-entry Disney hotel guests who essentially walked on the ride earlier. The estimated wait would eventually stabilize to less than an hour, but just wait until this weekend, Spring Break, or the peak summer and holiday travel seasons, when staying at a Disney hotel can save someone hours spent in a single line.
Image source: Disney.
2. Lightning Lane strikes twice
Disney became the last major theme park company to start charging guests for access to faster-moving lines. Many enthusiasts mourn the passing of the complimentary FastPass, especially the regulars who mastered the platform, but following the lead of the country's top theme park and amusement park operators was just a matter of time. It may seem greedy that Disney's domestic theme parks are generating 40% more in per capita revenue now than they were before the pandemic, but the entertainment bellwether was simply leaving money on the table that all of its competitors were taking.
Guests can now pay as much as $19 for one-time access to Cosmic Rewind's Lightning Lane queue when a one-hour return window becomes available. The virtual queue with limited daily distributed capacity kept the wait time for the complimentary rival line reasonable, but now that the latter is available to anyone who walks through the Epcot turnstile, the standby lines should be materially longer. The perceived value of the one-time Lightning Lane just became greater, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Disney before long charge more for access to the Lightning Lane Single Pass for Cosmic Rewind or the general Lightning Multi Pass option that includes Tiana's Bayou Adventure at the Magic Kingdom.
There's also the Lightning Lane Premier Pass that Disney introduced four months ago. If you're willing to pay $189 on top of your regular park admission, you can experience each of the Lightning Lane attractions at Epcot on Thursday, one time each, at any time. It's a lot of money for the convenience, but with standby queue wait times probably growing for Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Cosmic Rewind, the value of the highest-tier Lightning Lane offering also became more valuable. Comcast's (CMCSA 1.37%) Universal Orlando offers a comparable Express Pass that will set you back $170 on this same Thursday for one time on each ride, or $200 for unlimited access, but it includes both of the resort's theme parks.
3. Disney got easier to navigate
Virtual queues were problematic for Disney in competing against rival gated attractions. Disney World guests had to wake up early for a chance to score reservations for a return time later that day. The first release would happen at 7 a.m., accessible to anyone with a dated ticket or park reservation. On busy days, the allocation would get snapped up in just a couple of seconds, if that. A second opportunity would take place at 1 p.m., but only for visitors who had already tapped into the desired park.
Enthusiasts may lament the longer standby lines with virtual queues going away, but the alternative created stress, challenges, and uncertainty. It also created a need for flexibility, because even securing a free virtual queue boarding time meant having to still be at the park when the return time window would open.
A common knock on Disney World and Disneyland lately is that the experience takes too much planning, and even then there are no guarantees that you would get onto a flagship ride with a virtual queue unless you paid up for Lightning Lane before that availability would sell out. This is no longer the case. Guests may be at the mercy of longer standby lines or Lightning Lane access that will either be pricier or more likely to sell out, but at least the visit became that much more carefree.
This was a small move by Disney, but it may have large positive financial implications.
