Waiting in a Virtual Queue

Today tickets went on sale for Disneyland's Star Wars Nite in April and May. Last year I had the pleasure of attending with my wife and daughter. We had a great time and planned on doing the event again this year. We hope to correct the mistake we made last year and not try to spend the morning and afternoon in the park. The event starts at 6pm and runs until 1am. They limit ticket sales and that allows you to walk onto almost any ride. Furthermore they have special events, unique food offerings, and themed swag.

I knew that tickets would go on sale this morning at 10am MST and so I started watching the clock as I did my morning exercise at Snowbird. I also knew they would start adding people to a virtual queue at 9:45. I happened to be on the Little Cloud chairlift at the time and so I pulled my phone out and joined the queue. I got to the top of the lift and saw that I had 20 minutes before I could make my purchase. I skied down to the mid-mountain lodge and checked my time. I had 15 minutes to wait. I skied to the bottom, walked to my car, took off my ski boots, and jumped into the car as my turn to buy tickets arrived. I quickly made the purchase and then put my phone away so I could drive home.

Last night I worried that I needed to be on the Disneyland website right at 9:45. Annual pass holders could purchase the special-event tickets a few days before the general public and some of the nights sold out. My worries turned out to be unfounded as tickets for all 4 nights are still available at 4:30pm today. However I thought it neat that I could log into the website on my phone while riding a chairlift and be placed in a virtual queue. That allowed me to stow my phone in a pocket and ski down the mountain without having to have my attention riveted to my phone. I wasn't sure turning off my screen would still allow my place to be held. It did and worked very well.

I always prefer to visit websites using my computer instead of my phone. This allows me to use a large display that is easy to read. I also don't worry about someone hacking my connection and getting my credit-card information. Fortunately my smartphone turned out to be the right tool for the job today. Any time I need to be in a virtual queue, I will use my phone in the future.