Orlando, Tuesday, 18 November 2025.
Walt Disney World quietly introduced a virtual queue across its Orlando resort last Monday, extending time‑slotted entry from marquee rides to merchandise drops and select retail locations. For retail leaders this signals a shift: virtual queuing is being used as an operational lever for demand smoothing, timed scarcity and micro‑merchandising windows rather than solely ride access. The change affects guest flow, staffing models and transaction timing — with implications for conversion rates, average transaction value and dwell. Key considerations for implementation include mobile app integration, UI friction for frequent users, labor scheduling around timed releases, and measuring success through dwell reduction, uplift per guest and sentiment. Early adoption offers access to richer capture of behavioral and yield data but introduces trade‑offs between revenue management and guest experience. Observing how Disney tracks and reports metrics will provide benchmarks for operators weighing similar systems and retailers aiming to monetize time‑limited product releases.