diff --git a/public/app/features/scenes/scenes/variablesDemo.tsx b/public/app/features/scenes/scenes/variablesDemo.tsx
index aae519e72b7..2e71cf55865 100644
--- a/public/app/features/scenes/scenes/variablesDemo.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/scenes/scenes/variablesDemo.tsx
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import { SceneFlexLayout } from '../components/layout/SceneFlexLayout';
 import { SceneTimeRange } from '../core/SceneTimeRange';
 import { VariableValueSelectors } from '../variables/components/VariableValueSelectors';
 import { SceneVariableSet } from '../variables/sets/SceneVariableSet';
-import { ConstantVariable } from '../variables/variants/ConstantVariable';
 import { CustomVariable } from '../variables/variants/CustomVariable';
 import { DataSourceVariable } from '../variables/variants/DataSourceVariable';
 import { TestVariable } from '../variables/variants/TestVariable';
@@ -45,37 +44,14 @@ export function getVariablesDemo(): Scene {
           text: '',
           options: [],
         }),
-        new ConstantVariable({
-          name: 'constant',
-          value: 'slow',
-        }),
         new CustomVariable({
-          name: 'Single Custom',
+          name: 'custom',
           query: 'A : 10,B : 20',
         }),
-        new CustomVariable({
-          name: 'Multi Custom',
-          query: 'A : 10,B : 20',
-          isMulti: true,
-        }),
         new DataSourceVariable({
-          name: 'DataSource',
+          name: 'ds',
           query: 'testdata',
         }),
-        new DataSourceVariable({
-          name: 'DataSource',
-          query: 'prometheus',
-        }),
-        new DataSourceVariable({
-          name: 'DataSource multi',
-          query: 'prometheus',
-          isMulti: true,
-        }),
-        new DataSourceVariable({
-          name: 'Datasource w/ regex and using $constant',
-          query: 'prometheus',
-          regex: '.*$constant.*',
-        }),
       ],
     }),
     layout: new SceneFlexLayout({
diff --git a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.test.tsx b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.test.tsx
index c5898267f9b..6c41b10ced9 100644
--- a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.test.tsx
@@ -134,4 +134,28 @@ describe('SceneVariableList', () => {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('When activated with variables update at the same time', () => {
+    it('Should not start variables multiple times', async () => {
+      const A = new TestVariable({ name: 'A', query: 'A.*', value: '', text: '', options: [] });
+      const B = new TestVariable({ name: 'B', query: 'B.*', value: '', text: '', options: [] });
+
+      const scene = new TestScene({
+        $variables: new SceneVariableSet({ variables: [A, B] }),
+      });
+
+      scene.activate();
+
+      // Should start variables
+      expect(A.state.loading).toBe(true);
+      expect(B.state.loading).toBe(true);
+      expect(A.getValueOptionsCount).toBe(1);
+
+      // Complete the second one
+      B.signalUpdateCompleted();
+
+      // When B complete should not start another instance of A
+      expect(A.getValueOptionsCount).toBe(1);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.ts b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.ts
index 58ad9bedf80..32388dc83c9 100644
--- a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/sets/SceneVariableSet.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ export class SceneVariableSet extends SceneObjectBase<SceneVariableSetState> imp
         throw new Error('Variable added to variablesToUpdate but does not have validateAndUpdate');
       }
 
+      // Ignore it if it's already started
+      if (this.updating.has(variable)) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
       // Wait for variables that has dependencies that also needs updates
       if (this.hasDependendencyInUpdateQueue(variable)) {
         continue;
diff --git a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/variants/TestVariable.tsx b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/variants/TestVariable.tsx
index a9ad24ec298..10601be6e9e 100644
--- a/public/app/features/scenes/variables/variants/TestVariable.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/scenes/variables/variants/TestVariable.tsx
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ export interface TestVariableState extends MultiValueVariableState {
 export class TestVariable extends MultiValueVariable<TestVariableState> {
   private completeUpdate = new Subject<number>();
   public isGettingValues = true;
+  public getValueOptionsCount = 0;
 
   protected _variableDependency = new VariableDependencyConfig(this, {
     statePaths: ['query'],
@@ -42,10 +43,12 @@ export class TestVariable extends MultiValueVariable<TestVariableState> {
   public getValueOptions(args: VariableGetOptionsArgs): Observable<VariableValueOption[]> {
     const { delayMs } = this.state;
 
+    this.getValueOptionsCount += 1;
+
     return new Observable<VariableValueOption[]>((observer) => {
       this.setState({ loading: true });
 
-      this.completeUpdate.subscribe({
+      const sub = this.completeUpdate.subscribe({
         next: () => {
           observer.next(this.issueQuery());
         },
@@ -60,6 +63,7 @@ export class TestVariable extends MultiValueVariable<TestVariableState> {
       this.isGettingValues = true;
 
       return () => {
+        sub.unsubscribe();
         clearTimeout(timeout);
         this.isGettingValues = false;
       };