Today is the first of six (non-consecutive) days of Annual Passholder previews for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom. The Splash Mountain replacement attraction will officially open on June 28th to the general public, and Annual Passholders have a chance to preview the ride early! In this article, we’ll talk about how Annual Passholders can participate in the previews, along with an on-the-ground look at the preview process from earlier today.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Passholder Preview Dates
The Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Annual Passholder preview dates are as follows:
- June 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 20
Passholders must have a Walt Disney World Resort Annual Pass with valid admission on the preview date. Applicable pass blockout dates apply. Theme park reservations are limited and subject to availability.
How to Join Annual Passholder Preview
Annual Passholders will have to jump through a few hoops to be able to join the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure preview, but the process should be much easier than previous previews for new rides. In the past, you had to hope that you received a timely email notice of preview signups (or follow our blog posts very closely) to have a chance to preview a new ride. Now, there is no pre-registration for the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure preview, but you will need to do the following things:
1. Ensure you have a Disney Park Pass theme park reservation
While a Disney Park Pass theme park reservation for any theme park will work for the 1pm Virtual Queue drop, you will need a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation to be eligible for the 7am drop.
Each Passholder can request to join a virtual queue no more than once per day. A theme park reservation does not guarantee the ability to join a virtual queue. Boarding groups for a virtual queue are limited, subject to availability and are not guaranteed. Not all boarding groups may be called to return, based on availability of the attraction.
2a. Secure a Virtual Queue spot at 7am
If you have a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation, you will be eligible for the 7am drop. If you are successful in obtaining a Virtual Queue at 7am, you’re good to go! Head to the attraction when it’s your time to ride and have fun. If you miss the 7am drop, or you don’t have a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation, head to step 2b.
2b. Secure a Virtual Queue spot at 1pm
If you missed out on the 7am drop, either because you didn’t have a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation, or because you were too slow, you have a chance to obtain a Virtual Queue at 1pm as well!
If you don’t have a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation, grab one for any of the Walt Disney World theme parks – it doesn’t matter which one. Then, at 1pm, as long as you have a Disney Park Pass theme park reservation to any of the four Walt Disney World theme parks, you’ll be eligible to obtain a Virtual Queue.
As a special offering to Annual Passholders during the preview only, Disney World says that you don’t have to have tapped into a theme park at all to be eligible for the 1pm drop. Typically, you’d have to tap into your reserved park to be eligible for the 1pm drop, but Disney World says that’s not the case for the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure preview.
Today, the Virtual Queue was easily available to join for guests who had a Magic Kingdom Disney Park Pass theme park reservation. The 7am Virtual Queue drop was available for about two hours, which was essentially a guarantee that Passholders with a Magic Kingdom reservation who wanted to join, could join. Unfortunately, the attraction experienced downtime today, which meant that there wasn’t a substantial number of Boarding Groups distributed at the 1pm drop. Hopefully that changes.
Passholder Preview Check-In
Once your Virtual Queue Boarding Group is called, head to the front of the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction. The attraction entrance is under the Frontierland Railroad Station. Cast Members in the area will be able to direct you to the check-in area. In the photos below, we walked to the left side of the entrance sign (where the Cast Members in blue shirts are walking below).
As we mentioned, the ride was experiencing operational issues this morning, leading to more than 2.5 hours of downtime. That meant that the line was pretty long when the ride reopened. The line of Annual Passholders looking to ride stretched to the bridge overlook for the attraction. Cast Members did a good job of trying to corral Passholders, but that’s an impossible task.
At the entrance to the attraction, you will be asked to simply tap your MagicBand or park media to gain access to the preview.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Passholder Preview Crowds & Wait Times
Even though we experienced pretty much the worst-case scenario in terms of downtime, our wait from the overflow queue on the bridge was almost exactly 30 minutes. Because Disney World is utilizing the Virtual Queue, they can carefully control the number of guests that are allowed into the queue at any given point.
To that end, we were towards the back of the overflow queue, but once we tapped in, we noticed that only about half of the outdoor queue was filled.
Operationally, the ride did well when we rode a little after noon today, with only a couple pauses as we waited for the lift hills. If you’re planning on attending a preview, be prepared for the attraction to break at any point, causing extensive downtime. Unfortunately, Disney is still working through issues with the ride. More on that in a bit, perhaps.
For more coverage of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, check out our articles below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!