Disneyland tests virtual queues in ‘Indiana Jones’ ride as part of safety measures

Disneyland is testing out a virtual queueing system on their Indiana Jones Adventure ride to better manage crowd flow at the theme park. 

The amusement park has had to adapt and come up with creative ways operate and manage socially distanced queues since they reopened last month at limited capacity after a 13-month closure due to the pandemic.

This has included limiting the number of park guests at a time, requiring reservations for entry, requiring guests to wear face masks at all times, and placing plastic dividers in between rides so guests can maintain the proper social distanicng.

As reported by Cinema Blend, managing foot traffic has been a challenge with popular rides like Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion.

California’s COVID-19 health and safety mandates theme parks to eliminate all indoor queueing areas. 

The temporary virtual queue is similar to the Boarding Group system used with the popular Rise of the Resistance the attraction in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge which allows guests at specific pre-booked timeslots.

Indiana Jones Adventure is now on the Boarding Group distribution page in the Disneyland App pic.twitter.com/p5XGcoDtTI

— Disneyland News Today (@dlnt) May 11, 2021

Visitors will be able to access the Indy virtual queue through the Disneyland app. However, Disneyland anticipates using a hybrid of virtual and standby queues for Indiana Jones Adventure.

Unlike the booking for the Star Wars ride, parkgoers will already have to be inside Disneyland to access the Indiana Jones virtual queue. When the Indy virtual queue is turned on, visitors will be able to get a return group number via the Disneyland app—just like booking a timed boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.

While the virtual queuing system is still limited to specific rides during the testing phase, a system for multiple rides could potentially function similar to the FastPass system which both Disneyland and Walt Disney World have suspended for the moment.

Considering the need for social distancing during the pandemic and COVID restrictions still in place around the world, it's highly likely that reservations sytems and virtual queueing will be part of how theme parks operate in the future. Other amusement and leisure establishments could make use of a similar system to ensure the safety of guests and limit having to physically stand in line for rides.

(Images via Disney Parks Blog)