Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening reports and using Boarding Groups at Disneyland

[Stevek]

FINALLY!

Wife and I went to Disneyland yesterday (9/15) for her first visit back using the Magic Key. We got group 35 which initially said a 225 minute wait given the ride is supposed to open at 9am. Well, 6 hours later the ride finally opened up after a morning full of technical problems. We pretty much walked through the entire queue. Overall, completely blown away by the entire attraction. Really just top notch and far more immersive than I expected. The preshow really set up the attraction well and it was just a blast from that point on.

The one downside was that because I still had an active boarding pass (even though the ride was not operating), I was not able to request a boarding pass for Spidey. This is a big miss by Disney as far as I'm concerned. Why penalize a guest because you can't have your attraction up and running?

As for our day, we took it pretty easy...didn't really plan on riding a ton and wanted to just not rush too much. Got in to Oga's using the standby line (30 minutes on standby, pretty much walked right in to a bartop when we got the return text). The bar itself is cool though I'm not sure I have any great desire to return. Food offerings were pretty week, we got the charcuterie platter which was enough of a snack to tide us over until lunch. Had lunch at Jolly Holiday...have missed the grilled cheese and tomato basil soup. Also tried the villains dessert (Brownie with white and black mousse topping) and it was very so so. Nothing I would really recommend.

Parks were great in the morning, walked on HMH and JC, got much busier during the day though wait times weren't terrible...just felt very busy based on the amount of people in the parks.

One tip, as much as it pains me to recommend rat chat, you can print the attached voucher and park at the Anaheim Hotel for $15 (Monday-Thursday) and walk in. Very close, we breezed through security and were in Disneyland quickly. Speaking of the Anaheim Hotel, we tried Pizza Press for dinner and were pretty underwhelmed. Blaze, Mod...far better build your own pizza places. I would have rather have gone to Oggi's on the corner of Harbor and Chapman...much, much better option.

 

[Stevek]

So according to allears.net, WDW will stop using boarding groups as of 9/23 and move to a traditional standby line. I wonder if this is in prep for Genie plus and the only way for different access will now be the upcharge.

BREAKING: Rise of the Resistance Will STOP Using Boarding Groups Soon in Disney World

Disney World's most popular ride is switching to a standby line for the first time since its opening!

allears.net

 

[waltography]

So according to allears.net, WDW will stop using boarding groups as of 9/23 and move to a traditional standby line. I wonder if this is in prep for Genie plus and the only way for different access will now be the upcharge.

BREAKING: Rise of the Resistance Will STOP Using Boarding Groups Soon in Disney World

Disney World's most popular ride is switching to a standby line for the first time since its opening!

allears.net

Definitely in prep for the pay-to-ride upcharge.

If Disneyland ever moves to standby, I won't be riding RotR for a while, and honestly I'm okay with that - I've already extracted the utility of the BG system many times over, so the people who'll wait the hours to ride will more often than not be the folks who've never ridden it before.

 

[truecoat]

Definitely in prep for the pay-to-ride upcharge.

If Disneyland ever moves to standby, I won't be riding RotR for a while, and honestly I'm okay with that - I've already extracted the utility of the BG system many times over, so the people who'll wait the hours to ride will more often than not be the folks who've never ridden it before.

I think they will move away from the BG pretty quickly. Then if the ride line gets long enough and it will, they'll close the stand by line down and pay to ride on the Diaper Genie will be your only way on.

 

[waltography]

I think they will move away from the BG pretty quickly. Then if the ride line gets long enough and it will, they'll close the stand by line down and pay to ride on the Diaper Genie will be your only way on.

Makes sense. I'm sure DL will be in lockstep with DHS soon enough after they roll out Genie to WDW.

Personally I don't think they'll close the standby line unless it hits double digit hours; I could absolutely be underestimating the demand for RotR for new riders, but I don't think it'll hit that when VQs are paused.

 

[smooch]

I truly hope they move to normal queues for RotR in DL somewhat soon, but like others have said I am sure that it will be so Disney can upcharge with their Genie+ system and not because they just want people to be able to just wait and ride if they want to and not make people enter a lottery to ride a damn ride. I think for people who have never ridden the ride before it's a good thing because it will guarantee they can ride the ride is they are willing to wait, which is what I would do. I and I know many others would race to RotR at rope drop to get it out of the way before the line is 4 hours long like FoP normally was at Pandora before the pandemic and everything. I guess we'll just have to wait and see but hopefully this is a good sign, boarding groups are so genuinely dumb and I wish Disney stopped using them, but I have a feeling from now on we won't see a new ride open without using a boarding group. Boarding groups severely punish vacationers, a local who doesn't get a boarding group can simply come back another day and try again. If I take a vacation to DLR with 2 park days and don't get a boarding group either day then it will be at least a year but most likely 2-3 years until I would have another chance to ride the ride. I'm curious to see how much they will charge for RotR on Genie+, I forget if they stated a max price they would charge but I know I would not pay $30 per person in a group as the entire group would have to agree to each spend that money to ride the ride.

 

[Sailor310]

We went the 14th. Do you have to be scanned into the parks before trying to get in a queue? We were in security at what I thought was 11:58. Tried to get on ROTR and it said no groups available.

 

[Stevek]

We went the 14th. Do you have to be scanned into the parks before trying to get in a queue? We were in security at what I thought was 11:58. Tried to get on ROTR and it said no groups available.

No, you need to access the virtual queue and try to reserve at 7am. We did it from home, then drove to the park. Most likely, they had booked up for the day.

 

[DrAlice]

I'm watching this Genie thing closely. If it becomes common for lines like ROTR to become "too long", that Disney closes standby and makes it pay to play only, that will be my breaking point.

 

[mickEblu]

Definitely in prep for the pay-to-ride upcharge.

If Disneyland ever moves to standby, I won't be riding RotR for a while, and honestly I'm okay with that - I've already extracted the utility of the BG system many times over, so the people who'll wait the hours to ride will more often than not be the folks who've never ridden it before.

Glad I got a few first time riders/ family members on the ride this past Wednesday. Everyone really enjoyed it Including my 3 year old nephew and my mom. It’s definitely a family friendly ride and one of the highlights of our day. Mostly because 7 of our party of 11 rode together and it just stuck out from a very slow paced day with multiple youngsters and a great grandma. Not one of them is a Star Wars fan but I think they appreciated the grandness of it all and of course it’s always fun to ride something new, especially on this level. With all of that said, if they go to standby or make me pay $30 to ride I may not be riding for a very long time.

 

[waltography]

Glad I got a few first time riders/ family members on the ride this past Wednesday. Everyone really enjoyed it Including my 3 year old nephew and my mom. It’s definitely a family friendly ride and one of the highlights of our day. Mostly because 7 of our party of 11 rode together and it just stuck out from a very slow paced day with multiple youngsters and a great grandma. Not one of them is a Star Wars fan but I think they appreciated the grandness of it all and of course it’s always fun to ride something new, especially on this level. With all of that said, if they go to standby or make me pay $30 to ride I may not be riding for a very long time.

That's great to hear. I've also taken a few friends to Disney over the past few months who haven't been since 2018 or earlier, and I knew I had to get a Rise BG for them because it really is a great attraction to share with folks.

But yeah, I agree with your last point: it's good, but not THAT good.

 

[mistyj]

No, you need to access the virtual queue and try to reserve at 7am. We did it from home, then drove to the park. Most likely, they had booked up for the day.

For the 7 AM virtual queue, you do not need to be in the Park. For the 12:00 noon virtual queue, you must be scanned into one of the Parks and not be holding a boarding pass for any other attraction

 

[Stevek]

For the 7 AM virtual queue, you do not need to be in the Park. For the 12:00 noon virtual queue, you must be scanned into one of the Parks and not be holding a boarding pass for any other attraction

Yep, pretty much what I said re: 7AM

 

[truecoat]

Makes sense. I'm sure DL will be in lockstep with DHS soon enough after they roll out Genie to WDW.

Personally I don't think they'll close the standby line unless it hits double digit hours; I could absolutely be underestimating the demand for RotR for new riders, but I don't think it'll hit that when VQs are paused.

Closing the line does 2 things, keeps the line out of the normal traffic areas and makes the Diaper Genie access more attractive.

 

[Stevek]

Glad I got a few first time riders/ family members on the ride this past Wednesday. Everyone really enjoyed it Including my 3 year old nephew and my mom. It’s definitely a family friendly ride and one of the highlights of our day. Mostly because 7 of our party of 11 rode together and it just stuck out from a very slow paced day with multiple youngsters and a great grandma. Not one of them is a Star Wars fan but I think they appreciated the grandness of it all and of course it’s always fun to ride something new, especially on this level. With all of that said, if they go to standby or make me pay $30 to ride I may not be riding for a very long time.

We were there same day. What a cluster waiting all day for it to open.

 

[mickEblu]

We were there same day. What a cluster waiting all day for it to open.

We always have end up going the same days. Swear I’m not stalking you. Yeah figured it was down. We showed up very late to our ROTR return time as always and the it took about an hour to get on. The last few times before it took anywhere from 5-15 minutes

 

[Stevek]

We always have end up going the same days. Swear I’m not stalking you. Yeah figured it was down. We showed up very late to our ROTR return time as always and the it took about an hour to get on. The last few times before it took anywhere from 5-15 minutes

Lol...we were feeling great because we got group 35, should have gotten us on around 10-11am but NOOOOO. Thankfully we pretty much walked right in to the briefing room before boarding the shuttle. Didn't really even have a chance to soak in any of the queue or props. Great attraction though.

 

[mickEblu]

Lol...we were feeling great because we got group 35, should have gotten us on around 10-11am but NOOOOO. Thankfully we pretty much walked right in to the briefing room before boarding the shuttle. Didn't really even have a chance to soak in any of the queue or props. Great attraction though.

Nice good for you! I had group 30 but went an hour and 30 or so late.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Lol...we were feeling great because we got group 35, should have gotten us on around 10-11am but NOOOOO. Thankfully we pretty much walked right in to the briefing room before boarding the shuttle. Didn't really even have a chance to soak in any of the queue or props. Great attraction though.

Apparently when a shuttle room goes down, the only 2 choices are keep running pre-shows at 2/3 capacity and not work on the issue (pre-show is synched to shuttle) or shut down the 2 shows and work on the issue. Most of the time, they are reluctant to cut capacity because it would throw off the VQ.

 

[Dapale]

Rode today with group 12 around 9am. Everything was working except canons still in B mode (1/3 canons). I was excited / hoping it be a A mode because on the other coast they were talking about canons in A mode yesterday