The days of waking up at 7 a.m. to join the Disney ride lottery system are coming to an end for two major Walt Disney World attractions. Monday, February 24, 2025 marks the final day of Virtual Queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. These two major E-Ticket attractions have been stuck behind a virtual wall and are now going to a standard standby queue like you expect on most theme park attractions.
The Virtual Queue system will still exist for use on future rides, merchandise drops and for the runDisney offerings. But, as of February 25, 2025, this process won’t be in use for any rides at Walt Disney World – for now.
There is a good chance that Disney brings back this Virtual Queue system for the opening of the new version of Test Track at EPCOT. We will have to wait and see what happens with that attraction. But for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the 7 a.m. process is soon no longer needed.
Standby and Lightning Lane options
Instead of Disney guests using the Virtual Queue, guests can now choose to get in the regular Standby Queue or purchase into the Lightning Line option. The Standby Queue is what you expect for any theme park ride, there is a posted wait time, you wait in line, you get on the ride.
For those looking to skip the wait, the Lightning Lane option is also possible. This option differs for each attraction. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is part of the Lighting Lane Multi Pass option. For this, guests will purchase a single package to skip the line for multiple attractions throughout the day, but not all rides are included. For example, TRON Lightcycle / Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are both not included in the Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass – that is where select Lighting Lane Single Pass options come in.
For Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the attraction is only available as part of as Lighting Lane Single Pass. Guests wanting to utilize this function will have to buy this single pass that is only valid at a single attraction one time. Both the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and the Lightning Lane Single Pass can be purchased on the My Disney Experience App. The price for both of these offerings fluctuates daily.
If you have been thinking about getting a Walt Disney World annual pass soon, now might be the perfect time. We did a deep-dive into why early 2025 is the best opportunity for YOU to maximize your dollars at Walt Disney World.
