DHS Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Standby Line and Boarding Groups at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Orange is the new Red]

I don't agree, it's not unreasonable to take Disney's word that the park opens at 8:00 and therefore arriving at 7:15 should be enough time. The average guest doesn't follow the theme park social media sphere and they shouldn't have to to not get screwed over.

This isn't the 80's. People have social media, and plan their vacations using these resources and if they are not aware of this opening then they didn't do their homework. Kind of their fault? right?

 

[Epcot_Imagineer]

@marni1971 how much is ops wishing they also had MMRR open now? It was the initial goal to have both open around the same time correct? Hell, I thought MMRR was supposed to be opened first.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Basically if you are not a resort guest you are in tough to get a pass.. can’t wait to exploit this next week

How do you reason that? They're opening the parking lot early for day guests.

 

[Tom Morrow]

This isn't the 80's. People have social media, and plan their vacations using these resources and if they are not aware of this opening then they didn't do their homework. Kind of their fault? right?

Doing your homework for Disney, for non die-hards like us, is things like, “oh, Magic Kingdom closes at 6:00 today. Let’s save it for another day because I want to see the fireworks.”

Not: “oh, so get this, Disney is actually lying about when the park opens so a select few guests can benefit at the expense of everyone else.

 

[marni1971]

@marni1971 how much is ops wishing they also had MMRR open now? It was the initial goal to have both open around the same time correct? Hell, I thought MMRR was supposed to be opened first.

MMRR was meant to be the pressure relief for a two attraction SWL. It was meant to open within a month before SWL. Two weeks beforehand for softs at the minimum.

Then it all went south.

 

[lentesta]

@marni1971 how much is ops wishing they also had MMRR open now? It was the initial goal to have both open around the same time correct? Hell, I thought MMRR was supposed to be opened first.

Your lips to God's ears.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

I waited 30 min at the bus stop before downloading lyft, buses were cycling through MK bus stops (I’m at the contemporary) but one never came in before 5:30 when I called.

If you can tolerate pages and pages of arguments, this is exactly what I was afraid of. Resort guests can't get bus transportation before the scheduled time, totally at Disney's mercy, while day guests are getting to park and swarm the gate hours early. Needing Uber or Lyft to compete with day guests simply puts resort guests at a disadvantage.

I'm not going to argue it anymore, but thank you for posting your experience.

 

[Elizabeth Swann]

And those are only open to resort guests to the best of my knowledge with passes opening up around 6:30 ?

EMH is only on Sunday not every day

 

[mergatroid]

I don't agree, it's not unreasonable to take Disney's word that the park opens at 8:00 and therefore arriving at 7:15 should be enough time. The average guest doesn't follow the theme park social media sphere and they shouldn't have to to not get screwed over.

Yes I completely see your point. I suppose the problem Disney has is that right now using the virtual queue (which I believe is fairer than 60/30 days advance FP+s) will still disappoint many. The ride only has the capacity to take so many guests per day, especially now as it's bedding in. The balancing act is to make the system as fair as possible whilst acknowledging many will be disappointed.

I get saying "We open at 8am" when in reality they open at 6am will mislead those who otherwise would be there an hour before 6am. Maybe their thinking is that they will only open at 8am unless there's thousands at the gate at 6am, but every morning at 6am there's crowds there so they let them in. I suppose the ones who've done their 'research' and arrive at silly o'clock (like me in September) think it's great that they're getting in earlier than officially announced, whilst I appreciate that those who would have got there earlier but didn't aren't quite as impressed. If however Disney announced a 6am opening then the domino effect would be more people arriving even earlier and earlier which would possibly decrease the fun factor for even more people than the current system does?

It's a tough call but I do see both sides to the argument.

 

[Disorbust]

It’s my understanding that they let EMH guests in around 6 but boarding groups were not released until around 7:45. Non EMH were let in approx 7:25

I really don't understand how this works. So if your not onsite. They "let" you in at 7:25. But then everyone how is in the park can get on the ap at 7:45 to get a boarding pass? So basically once your in the park its an even playing field. It must be a huge back uo with everyone stoping once thru the turnstiles and looking at the ap. I am surprised we haven't heard report of the ap crashing.

 

[Tom Morrow]

So your friend's anecdote doesn't support or detract from your argument. Your friend's whole "I had to wait 12 hours" complaint really has no impact either way and was just thrown out here for no reason.

It does. If they had been 5 minutes later, they would not have rode at all. This is going off Disney’s official word and using Disney’s transportation and it’s official schedule. Your Flight of Passage comparison is irrelevant.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

It does. If they had been 5 minutes later, they would not have rode at all. This is going off Disney’s official word and using Disney’s transportation and it’s official schedule. Your Flight of Passage comparison is irrelevant.

Pooh, this is not me on another account. I just wanted to make sure you knew.

There are legions of us lazy guests who feel as though Disney shouldn't be so deceptive, especially when resort guests rely on your transportation.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

My two cents on the whole "due diligence" thing.

Many people who are new to planning a Disney trip will rely on Disney's own website because they make it appear as if all the information you need is there - when it most certainly IS NOT. In order to learn all the little tricks you need to join Disney FB groups or forums, and utilize other websites as well. (Thank goodness for @lentesta and his crew - I've been using their books and website for years! ETA: Since 2000...my honeymoon.)

Combine the above with the (in my mind) deceptive commercials that show things that never happen in the parks/resorts, that they are now opening DHS at seemingly random times, that the boarding groups are full often before the park even officially opens, and you're setting up people who didn't know they needed to spend so much time on non-Disney-owned websites in order to achieve their goals for failure. That is NOT the fault of the guests.

 

[DisneyJoe]

They should put up signs on the highways too. “All Rise of the Resistance Boarding Groups claimed. Slinky Dog 145-minute wait. Nothing else worthwhile. It’s a Small World open at Magic Kingdom”

All of that should show in the app

 

[disneygeek90]

I really don't understand how this works. So if your not onsite. They "let" you in at 7:25. But then everyone how is in the park can get on the ap at 7:25 to get a boarding pass? So basically once your in the park its an even playing field. It must be a huge back uo with everyone stoping once thru the turnstiles and looking at the ap. I am surprised we haven't heard report of the ap crashing.

It has only been one day so far on Sunday. And like everything else, they "said" 8am the groups would unlock, but people that were checking earlier were able to get in, which likely staggered the traffic on the app. I think they actually opened the groups around 7:40/7:45.

The EMH mornings are a bit more unpredictable right now.

 

[ToTBellHop]

All of that should show in the app

Can’t check the app while driving.

 

[disneygeek90]

So in other words the example you gave of your friends anecdote did not support your position at all. You are now resorting to what if's but the fact of the matter is your friends were able to ride ROTR, and there complain that they had to "wait" 12 hours is meaningless.

It's better than 12 hours in standby.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

So in other words the example you gave of your friends anecdote did not support your position at all. You are now resorting to what if's but the fact of the matter is your friends were able to ride ROTR, and there complain that they had to "wait" 12 hours is meaningless.

You putting the blame on guests not doing their "due diligence" isn't right. Disney themselves make it appear as if using their website alone is enough to be successful in achieving your Disney vacation goals, but those of us who spend any time here know that isn't the case.

 

[VaderTron]

It's been explained why, if you all won't accept why Disney and many other operations behave this way.. clearly nothing is going to open your mind at this point. Enjoy the bewilderment... I'm done trying to help.

I already said I know why.

They have the room to accept the rush of vehicles. The issue is Disney doesn't want to pay to properly staff for that scenario.

If people want to stand around for hours by Boardwalk that's their business. Disney just doesn't want to deal with people peeing in cups because they don't want to leave a line and other idiotic things people do in those situations. I get it. But to say they have no options is wrong. They just would rather take the course of least resistance which also happens to conveniently be the course of greatest profits.

I was combating the notion that nothing could be done. There is plenty that can be done. It just doesn't make sense for Disney to do anything other than what they did. They can get away with lying because no one really cares they lied except the few people that went on opening weekend that didn't understand what they were getting themselves into. The die-hards who got there stupid early are happy with the arrangement. They are the ones who will spend tons of money on ridiculously priced merch, food, and extras. They are the ones Disney wants to please most. The ones who were naive enough to believe they could come whenever they felt like it and trusted the posted opening times also are probably willing to put the full blame on themselves. These are the same ones who are also likely naive enough to believe the prices on Disney goods, food, and drinks are "worth it" and will spend the time they were going to ride RotR "making up for it" to their family with lightsaber building purchases, droid building purchases, and $50 drinks at a cantina. Win-win for Disney.

 

[marni1971]

A local friend in the industry got to the park this morning at 0620. They got boarding group 31. No more groups signs came out at 0750. Got called to the line at 0930.