Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge virtual queue questions

[Melbelg]

Hello everyone!

In less than a month I'll be travelling to Orlando to visit the parks and I've got a few questions about Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge virtual queue.
I've read on the internet (Disney Food Blog specifically) that now you got to be "nearby" Hollywood Studios to join a boarding group to enter Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and that the boarding group can be reserved at 7 am through the My Disney Experience app.
I have a few questions about this, which are the following:

1. If the park opens at 10 am when I'm visiting, do I still got to wake up at 7 am to join a boarding group through the app?
2. How far or nearby Hollywood Studios do I have to be to make join a boarding group?
3. Where in the My Disney Experience app do I join a boarding group? I'm assuming the day I have the Hollywood Studios reservation a pop-up will trigger informing me to join the boarding group but if not, where exactly do I have to go on the app?
4. If I join a boarding group, that means I can go to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at the time they tell me and will I able to join the rides or after that do I have to join another virtual queue for the rides?
5. How long can I stay at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge once I enter?
6. What happens if I miss joining a boarding group in the morning and in the afternoon?
7. Do other rides around Disney parks have virtual queues or just Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge?

Thank you in advance for those who know and answer these questions!

 

[nickys]

Some of the information you have is out of date. Boarding Groups are only necessary for one ride, Rise of the Resistance. You do not need one to enter Galaxy’s Edge or to ride the Millenium Falcon ride.
Before you go, make sure everyone in your party is linked to you as family and friends in MDE and has both a valid ticket / AP and a park reservation for DHS.


1. Yes if you want to try and get a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance.
2. You don’t have to be nearby. As long as you have a park reservation for DHS and a valid ticket / AP it is possible to get one even from another state at 7am.
You do have to be DHS in order to try again at 1pm but this is only for those who a) were unsuccessful at 7am and b) have a park reservation - so you cannot park hop to DHS and try at 1pm.
3. From the home page of the app, scroll down to the “Star Wars RotR Request Access”
4. You can go to Galaxy’s Edge any time you like. Your Boarding Group is only for Rise of the Resistance and you will be called via the app when it’s time to ride. You have around an hour to get to the ride entrance.
5. As long as you want. You don’t need to wait for your BG to be called to enter the Land.
6. If you’re unsuccessful at getting a BG then you can try again another day if you have a park eservation for another day.
7. Only Rise of the Resistance has BGs at the moment.

 

[Melbelg]

Some of the information you have is out of date. Boarding Groups are only necessary for one ride, Rise of the Resistance. You do not need one to enter Galaxy’s Edge or to ride the Millenium Falcon ride.
Before you go, make sure everyone in your party is linked to you as family and friends in MDE and has both a valid ticket / AP and a park reservation for DHS.


1. Yes if you want to try and get a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance.
2. You don’t have to be nearby. As long as you have a park reservation for DHS and a valid ticket / AP it is possible to get one even from another state at 7am.
You do have to be DHS in order to try again at 1pm but this is only for those who a) were unsuccessful at 7am and b) have a park reservation - so you cannot park hop to DHS and try at 1pm.
3. From the home page of the app, scroll down to the “Star Wars RotR Request Access”
4. You can go to Galaxy’s Edge any time you like. Your Boarding Group is only for Rise of the Resistance and you will be called via the app when it’s time to ride. You have around an hour to get to the ride entrance.
5. As long as you want. You don’t need to wait for your BG to be called to enter the Land.
6. If you’re unsuccessful at getting a BG then you can try again another day if you have a park eservation for another day.
7. Only Rise of the Resistance has BGs at the moment.

Thank you so much Nickys, that's super detailed!
Now it makes sense why the app only shows the virtual queue for the Rise of the Resistance ride only.
Again, thank you very much!

 

[aliceismad]

If you don't get a BG at 7 am, they were doing another chance to get a boarding group at 1 pm, I believe. But only for people in the park. You'll want to keep tracking the details because I know they've changed the boarding group procedure before.

Also, if you're not aware, you need reservations to go to Oga's cantina or to build your own lightsaber or droid.

 

[Rob562]

Thank you so much Nickys, that's super detailed!
Now it makes sense why the app only shows the virtual queue for the Rise of the Resistance ride only.
Again, thank you very much!

I'll chime in with a nugget of history that likely led to your confusion...

The Virtual Queue was originally designed for entry to the entire Galaxy's Edge land. Management was concerned they'd be overwhelmed by crowds when the land opened and that they'd need a way to control access. So they had the My Disney Experience folks create the Boarding Pass system. That ended up not being needed at all. (I think Disneyland may have used it during the month of previews before official opening, and WDW used it for half a day the very first day)

Then when Rise of the Resistance was unreliable heading into its grand opening, they needed a way to handle crowds without hours-long Standby lines so they didn't replicate the 10-hour long opening day line for Hagrid's motorbikes down the road. So they repurposed the already existing Boarding Pass framework to be just for Rise.

So depending on how old the info about Galaxy's Edge is you're working off of, it may have referenced the early plans for land access via BP, thereby leading to confusion.

-Rob

 

[JohnD]

Hello everyone!

In less than a month I'll be travelling to Orlando to visit the parks and I've got a few questions about Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge virtual queue.
I've read on the internet (Disney Food Blog specifically) that now you got to be "nearby" Hollywood Studios to join a boarding group to enter Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and that the boarding group can be reserved at 7 am through the My Disney Experience app.
I have a few questions about this, which are the following:

1. If the park opens at 10 am when I'm visiting, do I still got to wake up at 7 am to join a boarding group through the app?
2. How far or nearby Hollywood Studios do I have to be to make join a boarding group?
3. Where in the My Disney Experience app do I join a boarding group? I'm assuming the day I have the Hollywood Studios reservation a pop-up will trigger informing me to join the boarding group but if not, where exactly do I have to go on the app?
4. If I join a boarding group, that means I can go to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at the time they tell me and will I able to join the rides or after that do I have to join another virtual queue for the rides?
5. How long can I stay at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge once I enter?
6. What happens if I miss joining a boarding group in the morning and in the afternoon?
7. Do other rides around Disney parks have virtual queues or just Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge?

Thank you in advance for those who know and answer these questions!

All the questions were definitely sufficiently answered by @nickys . However, another question that is often asked is "If I ride from the 7am virtual queue, can I join the afternoon queue?" No. You can only ride once per day where you have a park reservation for HS.

 

[TTLUTS]

I have a Boarding Group question.........I have 9 people in my group but I am the only one with an MDE account. All 9 guests are the only ones listed on my friends and family group............Can the other 8 guests all log onto my MDE account and try and get a BG at 7am so all 9 of us will be trying from one MDE account or should i have each one of my kids sign up for their own MDE account and try from their own?

 

[nickys]

I have a Boarding Group question.........I have 9 people in my group but I am the only one with an MDE account. All 9 guests are the only ones listed on my friends and family group............Can the other 8 guests all log onto my MDE account and try and get a BG at 7am so all 9 of us will be trying from one MDE account or should i have each one of my kids sign up for their own MDE account and try from their own?

Have them use your account.
Trying to switch someone from a “managed” profile to their own account can sometimes need technical support to help. Probably not worth the stress for an already- booked trip.

 

[EngineerMom]

Have them use your account.
Trying to switch someone from a “managed” profile to their own account can sometimes need technical support to help. Probably not worth the stress for an already- booked trip.

This was my question as well. MDE account was set up years ago for the family. DH was happy to have me do everything. Now kids are older with their own cell phones, etc. SO would like multiple people to log into my account and try for RoR right at 7am.
So we can do that - that's great!

 

[Rob562]

This was my question as well. MDE account was set up years ago for the family. DH was happy to have me do everything. Now kids are older with their own cell phones, etc. SO would like multiple people to log into my account and try for RoR right at 7am.
So we can do that - that's great!

It actually isn't that difficult to spin off old "managed by you" accounts to be controlled by those people. The trouble comes when you're trying to move someone from being a "managed by Person 1" to still being managed but "managed by Person 2". Or if people get ahead of themselves and accidentally start creating multiple copies of people across multiple accounts. *THAT* can take forever to sort out and usually requires professional help.

But if it's simply a matter of having some people take over control of their account, that's fairly straightforward.
-First, have everyone create their own MDE account. (Note, they should *not* try to list other people in their accounts or try to connect to others as friends yet)
-Then, under each person in your account, fill in their email address and send them an invite to connect.
-Once they accept the friend request, anything that's linked to their profile like tickets, MagicBands, etc will move over to their account.
-After everyone has accepted the invites, then they can interconnect with others as friends. The easiest way is to use the "people you may know" or friends-of-friends functionality. (Not sure what it's called now) Since you'd be friends with everyone, they can find the other family members through you. That way they can be assured of linking to the proper people and not creating "Ghost" listings of people.

One of the benefits of someone having their own account is that they're no longer tied to you, both on this trip and on future trips. They can book their own trip in the future, link it to their account, and all of their old MagicBands will work on those future trips, even if you're not there or involved in that reservation.

-Rob

 

[EngineerMom]

It actually isn't that difficult to spin off old "managed by you" accounts to be controlled by those people. The trouble comes when you're trying to move someone from being a "managed by Person 1" to still being managed but "managed by Person 2". Or if people get ahead of themselves and accidentally start creating multiple copies of people across multiple accounts. *THAT* can take forever to sort out and usually requires professional help.

But if it's simply a matter of having some people take over control of their account, that's fairly straightforward.
-First, have everyone create their own MDE account. (Note, they should *not* try to list other people in their accounts or try to connect to others as friends yet)
-Then, under each person in your account, fill in their email address and send them an invite to connect.
-Once they accept the friend request, anything that's linked to their profile like tickets, MagicBands, etc will move over to their account.
-After everyone has accepted the invites, then they can interconnect with others as friends. The easiest way is to use the "people you may know" or friends-of-friends functionality. (Not sure what it's called now) Since you'd be friends with everyone, they can find the other family members through you. That way they can be assured of linking to the proper people and not creating "Ghost" listings of people.

One of the benefits of someone having their own account is that they're no longer tied to you, both on this trip and on future trips. They can book their own trip in the future, link it to their account, and all of their old MagicBands will work on those future trips, even if you're not there or involved in that reservation.

-Rob

Thanks for the advice on how to do this.
I don't think I am READY to have my kids have their own accounts just yet but they are old enough to be trying to get RoR. Hey teens even seem to do better at that stuff!
DH had NO interest in having his own account and I don't really want to manage 2 accounts. BUT if he could be trying to get RoR at the same time that would be helpful.

 

[aliceismad]

So if two people get in and try to book a boarding pass at the same time for the same group of people, does the system ever get messed up? Like would it see that as a conflict because you can only get one boarding group per day? Disney's booking systems aren't the greatest.

 

[nickys]

So if two people get in and try to book a boarding pass at the same time for the same group of people, does the system ever get messed up? Like would it see that as a conflict because you can only get one boarding group per day? Disney's booking systems aren't the greatest.

No. The first person to get it blocks the others from being successful.

 

[TheMouseFan]

So if two people get in and try to book a boarding pass at the same time for the same group of people, does the system ever get messed up? Like would it see that as a conflict because you can only get one boarding group per day? Disney's booking systems aren't the greatest.

I have read lately that it does actually cause problems. It used to be that the CMs would tell you to have everyone in your party trying for a boarding group, but as of late, they say only one person or it won't work properly. I don't have any personal experience, but have heard several times that it has changed.

 

[EngineerMom]

I get that the 1st person to get the boarding passes then others get the message that they cannot. (You can only get 1 boarding pass). The only reason I would want more than 1 person trying is that I keep hearing that the 7am passes got in seconds. I tried doing it at home and that seemed to be the case.

 

[nickys]

I have read lately that it does actually cause problems. It used to be that the CMs would tell you to have everyone in your party trying for a boarding group, but as of late, they say only one person or it won't work properly. I don't have any personal experience, but have heard several times that it has changed.

I don’t know what problems it could cause. There have been many, many reports where the strategy worked. It might have worked anyway with just one person, of course, but why put all the pressure on one person?

 

[aliceismad]

I don’t know what problems it could cause. There have been many, many reports where the strategy worked. It might have worked anyway with just one person, of course, but why put all the pressure on one person?

From Disney (which is why I was curious). https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/star-wars-galaxys-edge/boarding-groups-daily/ I have no experience with it, so I don't know anything but was interested for future planning. Maybe Disney is just trying to discourage mulitple people from trying because it bogs down the system?

 

[nickys]

From Disney (which is why I was curious). https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/star-wars-galaxys-edge/boarding-groups-daily/ I have no experience with it, so I don't know anything but was interested for future planning. Maybe Disney is just trying to discourage mulitple people from trying because it bogs down the system?

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Yeah, I don’t think there is any actual reason. So many groups have multiple people trying, and it’s often the younger faster fingers who succeed, teens for example.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We were there a few weeks ago, my dad and I tried at the same time, and we had no issues securing a boarding group. I got a text from him at 7am, seconds after I got my group confirmation, that he got the message indicating our party was already in a boarding group. Is that to say someone else won't run into issues...no, but it's Disney and I know better than to expect anything tied to their IT based systems to run flawlessly 100% of the time. I still like the idea of multiple people trying in case you have a device that's slower to connect than others. My husband tried doing this in tandem with me earlier in the trip and we noticed significant lag with his Galaxy over my iPhone, so you just never know.

 

[Weather_Lady]

No. The first person to get it blocks the others from being successful.

Forgive me, but every time I read about this, my mind goes back to my high school health class! I literally used this example in explaining to my (teenage) kids how MDE magically blocks subsequent attempts to get boarding groups for the same people, because it was the best one I could think of. Perhaps I should start a GoFundMe for their future therapy bills now...