Boarding Groups are confusing

[ninjaprincesst]

Way too much math for me! After 50 years of math, I had hoped to get a break when I retired.

Someone tell me why this is better than FP? I just don’t see it. I very very rarely can’t get the FP that I want. And my favorite attraction is FoP, and I get to ride it 2 to 4 times each trip.

We rode ROR twice one week after opening.Other than getting up early it is better. You have a longer return window and honestly after riding it I would do whatever it takes to ride it. Do be prepared there are several elements involved and it will take you about 30 minutes from Pre show to the end of the ride.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

We used it week before Christmas. Worked well for us. No issues with our set plans.

Us too and we had fast passes , dining ADR (for Fantasmic) , Droid Depot Reservations and we had no issues at all with conflicts.

 

[bubbles1812]

I don't know, I think that Disney should realize that doing this does irritate a lot of people and turns away a lot of paying customers. There are a lot of people out there who won't get to a park at 5 AM to ride a ride. I'm an early bird myself, and I have no way of making a ropedrop that isn't blacked out for that park. So there are probably tons of people like me.

I can see how it may be a necessary evil, but I think that the breakdowns are a bigger catalyst for the boarding groups than the demand. The boarding groups are more work for the park, and **** a lot of people off. Nobody likes waiting in line, but they expect it at a park. Plus, if its all stand-by and no FP+, they tend to be move pretty fast. You can eat through the entire queue capacity of Space Mountain in less than 20 minutes with no FP+.

It doesn’t turn away anyone... it just means you don’t get on the ride. Same as if you showed up at noon, expecting to ride it, and it has an 8 hour wait.

Your right that the BGs help manage the breakdowns better. It means having to evacuate out 200 people instead of 2000+. But the demand is definitely there to judge the crowds that do show up at the early time to get BGs.

I am sorry your black out dates don’t let you get on the ride right now but I guess if you really wanted it, you could take a day off to match a non black out date? Obviously I recognize this isn’t feasible for everyone but if you reallllly want the ride...

It’s true there are some people out there who won’t get up early to line up. Those same people are probably the ones that complain about the 2 hour wait for FOP after getting to AK 2 hours after it opens. Or for the mine train.

With Disney, sometimes you have to get up early. It’s certainly not a secret. It’s on every advice site, every guide book.

And before you say families with young kids can’t... well, we saw a bunch of families with young kids when we went the week after it opened. We talked to one couple who explained to their kids that if they wanted to ride, they had to get up. All the kids agreed and did so without complaint. A teen got left in the room to sleep in because they decided it wasn’t worth it and would meet them later.

There are always going to be people who are upset but then... there are always people upset about wait times. Such is life. Having experienced the BGs, I’ll keep banging the drum that at least right now, it’s a much safer process overall. It’s been open barely a month.

 

[MissViv]

So the park opens at 9:00 a.m. If you get there at 8 - 8:30 a.m., will you get a boarding group. How do they manage the line? Where do you go when you enter the park to get the boarding group?

We are going to be there March 3rd & 4th, a Tuesday and Wednesday and will try Tues. and if not, hopefully, Wed. That is not early for me. Are you saying you need to be there at 5:00 a.m. and wait four hours for park to open? Not sure how boarding groups work.

 

[MissViv]

Googled it and found that when the park opens you go to MDE and get the boarding pass (if available). So, no need to get to the park too early. In fact, it said if you were in line when the park opened but not in the park you could still access it thru MDE.

 

[nickys]

Googled it and found that when the park opens you go to MDE and get the boarding pass (if available). So, no need to get to the park too early. In fact, it said if you were in line when the park opened but not in the park you could still access it thru MDE.

That last part is not true. It was true for Galaxy’s Edge, but not for RotR. Everyone must be scanned into the park to be able to join a boarding group.

There is an entire thread devoted to Boarding Groups if you want. If you go there now the final few pages have some summaries of strategies to use which might be useful to you. It should open at the page in question, otherwise go to the end and back three pages.

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

ride hasn’t opened for the day... got 18

forums.wdwmagic.com

Do you realise that the 4th is when MMRR opens?

 

[larryz]

Does anyone have an educated guess what the capacity is for this ride because seems to be terribly low.

Post #49

 

[larryz]

So the park opens at 9:00 a.m. If you get there at 8 - 8:30 a.m., will you get a boarding group. How do they manage the line? Where do you go when you enter the park to get the boarding group?

We are going to be there March 3rd & 4th, a Tuesday and Wednesday and will try Tues. and if not, hopefully, Wed. That is not early for me. Are you saying you need to be there at 5:00 a.m. and wait four hours for park to open? Not sure how boarding groups work.

You'll find lots of great information and trend analysis in this thread.

 

[Tom P.]

It is a bummer when one answers a question when they don't know the answer. Just winging it is all too familiar nowadays......

If people only spoke when they had actual, factual knowledge, there would literally be no Internet.

 

[MissViv]

That last part is not true. It was true for Galaxy’s Edge, but not for RotR. Everyone must be scanned into the park to be able to join a boarding group.

There is an entire thread devoted to Boarding Groups if you want. If you go there now the final few pages have some summaries of strategies to use which might be useful to you. It should open at the page in question, otherwise go to the end and back three pages.

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

ride hasn’t opened for the day... got 18

forums.wdwmagic.com

Do you realise that the 4th is when MMRR opens?

What is MMRR?

 

[nickys]

What is MMRR?

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Googled it and found that when the park opens you go to MDE and get the boarding pass (if available). So, no need to get to the park too early. In fact, it said if you were in line when the park opened but not in the park you could still access it thru MDE.
[/

Unless they're made adjustments, you and your entire party MUST have already scanned into the Park before joining a Boarding Group.

Here is how it was "operating" after the first round of tweaks:

1) You are allowed entrance to the Park BEFORE Official Park Opening
2) The Boarding Groups do not open UNTIL Official Park Opening
3) No one can join a Boarding unless they have scanned into the Park


This was when the Park was opening at 7:00 A.M......and doesn't mean they are still operating under these guidelines today......no telling what will happen when the Park begins opening at 8:00 A.M. and after

 

[nickys]

This was when the Park was opening at 7:00 A.M......and doesn't mean they are still operating under these guidelines today......no telling what will happen when the Park begins opening at 8:00 A.M. and after

Try looking at the thread quoted above for up-to-date info.

It is still operating as you stated.

The last few days have been totally crazy, with BGs gone in under three minutes, and even back-up BGs gone in under 30 minutes. But the holiday crowds should clear out now, so hopefully back to reasonable timings.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Try looking at the thread quoted above for up-to-date info.

It is still operating as you stated.

The last few days have been totally crazy, with BGs gone in under three minutes, and even back-up BGs gone in under 30 minutes. But the holiday crowds should clear out now, so hopefully back to reasonable timings.

Thanks for the update. Back in mid-December the BG were gone by 7:45, and that was when the crowds were "moderate" to "slow".......

I wonder how the EMEs are going to work? Will one be able to ride without a BG? Or will the BGs stretch through the entirety of the EME? Haven't seen an Extra-Magic Evening at the Studios in quite some time....

The EME runs to 11:00 P.M. tonight.....and according to WDW Go, GE is available, to ROTR is not

 

[Trackmaster]

It doesn’t turn away anyone... it just means you don’t get on the ride. Same as if you showed up at noon, expecting to ride it, and it has an 8 hour wait.

Your right that the BGs help manage the breakdowns better. It means having to evacuate out 200 people instead of 2000+. But the demand is definitely there to judge the crowds that do show up at the early time to get BGs.

I am sorry your black out dates don’t let you get on the ride right now but I guess if you really wanted it, you could take a day off to match a non black out date? Obviously I recognize this isn’t feasible for everyone but if you reallllly want the ride...

It’s true there are some people out there who won’t get up early to line up. Those same people are probably the ones that complain about the 2 hour wait for FOP after getting to AK 2 hours after it opens. Or for the mine train.

With Disney, sometimes you have to get up early. It’s certainly not a secret. It’s on every advice site, every guide book.

And before you say families with young kids can’t... well, we saw a bunch of families with young kids when we went the week after it opened. We talked to one couple who explained to their kids that if they wanted to ride, they had to get up. All the kids agreed and did so without complaint. A teen got left in the room to sleep in because they decided it wasn’t worth it and would meet them later.

There are always going to be people who are upset but then... there are always people upset about wait times. Such is life. Having experienced the BGs, I’ll keep banging the drum that at least right now, it’s a much safer process overall. It’s been open barely a month.

Oh, its alright. I know that WDW doesn't make their rules and policies with me in mind. I have a pretty cheap AP and I barely spend much in park. So I'm far from an ideal customer. I'm just not a FOMO kind of guy, so I'm OK with riding a ride late. If I really cared about getting on it early, I would have bought myself a Platinum AP. I'm just going to monitor how it progresses and hope that they put it on FP+ or stand-by soon. A single rider line would be amazing. If not, no biggie. I'm sure that by the time the September hurricanes roll through I'll have a way to get on it. I can't imagine them using boarding groups when the parks is pretty much empty.

And I highly value my PTO. I travel a lot. I'm a major coaster enthusiast who travels around to the different parks, and I have a lot of family to see that don't live locally. I'm not going to use PTO on a home park. Plus, I have a long Europe trip that's going to eat up a bunch of my PTO too.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Googled it and found that when the park opens you go to MDE and get the boarding pass (if available). So, no need to get to the park too early. In fact, it said if you were in line when the park opened but not in the park you could still access it thru MDE.

No, you can not join a boarding group until all members of your group have scanned into the park, and then it genrally takes 2 to five minutes for the system to recognize everyone is in.

 

[Trackmaster]

And to add on, I really think that the main motivation behind the boarding groups is the unreliability and breakdowns. The more people in line during a major breakdown,

No, you can not join a boarding group until all members of your group have scanned into the park, and then it genrally takes 2 to five minutes for the system to recognize everyone is in.

So it might just be smarter to make it every man for himself then. Just have everybody start pounding on their own once they enter. That way no risk of lag and you'll probably get earlier spots. If you really need to ride with someone else for some reason, you can pair off in groups of two.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

And to add on, I really think that the main motivation behind the boarding groups is the unreliability and breakdowns. The more people in line during a major breakdown,


So it might just be smarter to make it every man for himself then. Just have everybody start pounding on their own once they enter. That way no risk of lag and you'll probably get earlier spots. If you really need to ride with someone else for some reason, you can pair off in groups of two.

I would go as a group as it seems to me number in group has little to do with it . We got BG 15 for the 2 of us at the exact same time a single person that was right in front of us got one for group 38 and a group of 6 got group 14. It is random. Its when you hit that magic moment when it assigns you a group.

 

[nickys]

And to add on, I really think that the main motivation behind the boarding groups is the unreliability and breakdowns. The more people in line during a major breakdown,


So it might just be smarter to make it every man for himself then. Just have everybody start pounding on their own once they enter. That way no risk of lag and you'll probably get earlier spots. If you really need to ride with someone else for some reason, you can pair off in groups of two.

And what happens when only half of the group gets a BG and the rest get a back-up? Or nothing?

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I wasn't there; I wasn't anywhere near there in both time and location as I was a Californian and would have been way too young BUT....

as if I remember talk about Space Mountain in the early days seeing a lot more than 2.5 hours, perhaps 4+

Again, I have no way to verify but I'm just retelling stories I heard.

I was at MK when Space Mtn was new. That was a long time ago, but I am positive we did not wait 4 hours.
We went on a holiday week, not summer, so likely we were there on one of the more popular weeks. I could not say for certain how long the wait was (too long ago), but I'm thinking it was more in the 70-90 min range.

I distinctly recall HM had an hour mid-day wait (in that time period), and we laughed at the idea of waiting an hour for HM. HM was one of the most popular rides back then.