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

[MisterPenguin]

So, am I reading this page with the "wait times" at the bottom correctly? A guest has to get to the park early enough to be in the park at 8am. They then jam on the app and hope they get a reasonable boarding group. Then, assuming their group is called, they stand in line for an hour to an hour and a half and hope it doesn't go down before they board or while they are riding? Hmm.

On the one hand, I get it. They are trying to make the best of the situation considering guest demand and limitations/complications of this new ride. On the other hand, that's not what I would call a "premium" experience, given the $150 per day price tag. Will the word-of-mouth "advertising" about this lead to another slow summer? (*selfishly crosses her fingers* )

So far at DHS, the overwhelming majority of people to get in by park opening are able to get a 'guaranteed' BG in the first few minutes. After that, people can pick up the back-up BG from anywhere from another 10 to 90 minutes. That's what happens when the crowds start dying down and the initial rush is over.

It may get bad again on the particularly crowded days, like Spring Break. But the local APs should have had their fill by then and avoid the crowded days.

But who knows how MMRR will affect things with crowds and whether it will be BG or not and if yes, whether in addition to or exclusive of RotR.

 

[flutas]

This is not indicative of security. It would be interesting if it's behind authentication or not.. but even that is usually done with common technologies. When your app is on a platform like android that everyone has developer access to... you don't rely on secrecy for security. You effectively have none.

So, the general request for status currently isn't. Anything further is though. I love the second part of your quote because it is 100% accurate. Security by obscurity is not security at all.

 

[BrianLo]

It makes a lot of sense that we are hearing reports that the ride is currently doing half of DHS. This sold out in a minute business shouldn't be the norm for very long.

At DHS - the system works pretty well in the sense that you can arrive to the park barely 30 minutes before official opening, snagging a viable boarding group. Really worse case scenario you'll get on by mid-afternoon at DHS, even if your phone does not behave. Then really you spend less than 60-90 minutes of dedicated time total (including a meaningful chunk of that being attraction and pre-show time). WITHOUT actually losing the ability to rope drop something else.

Flight of Passage by contrast you'll never be able to dedicate any less than 90 minutes at the best of time (whether you rope drop it or not). OR have to pay to stay on property and wake up 65 days in advance to get a FastPass.

 

[shambolicdefending]

While I'm not surprised there's issues (as any new ride would have), I'm surprised they're having this big of issues. I would've thought since it was "done" before DHS's and the extra month after DHS opened would've helped.

I think it's running slower then DHS's during it's first week.

I'm looking forward to the future day when some retired Imagineers publish their memoirs and we get more of the full story on all the issues with it.

 

[TP2000]

It makes a lot of sense that we are hearing reports that the ride is currently doing half of DHS. This sold out in a minute business shouldn't be the norm for very long.

At DHS - the system works pretty well in the sense that you can arrive to the park barely 30 minutes before official opening, snagging a viable boarding group. Really worse case scenario you'll get on by mid-afternoon at DHS, even if your phone does not behave. Then really you spend less than 60-90 minutes of dedicated time total (including a meaningful chunk of that being attraction and pre-show time). WITHOUT actually losing the ability to rope drop something else.

Flight of Passage by contrast you'll never be able to dedicate any less than 90 minutes at the best of time (whether you rope drop it or not). OR have to pay to stay on property and wake up 65 days in advance to get a FastPass.

Agreed.

And just going on an educated guess here, I'm now of the belief that each Boarding Group has 100 people in it. I see no other reason why they wouldn't pick a solid, easy number like that for each Boarding Group since they can run up to as many Boarding Groups as the ride will allow.

Can the ride process 40,000 per day like Pirates of the Caribbean? Then issue 400 Boarding Groups. Can the ride only process 12,000 per day best case scenario? Then issue 120 Boarding Groups. Did the ride only get to Boarding Group 81 yesterday? Then that was only 8,100 people that were called to ride.

100 people per Boarding Group also supports the info we've gotten from @lentesta and a few other smart folks, plus my 8th grade math skills, that the Disneyland version of Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn is currently able to handle a max of about 800 per hour, averaging about 700 per hour with some empty seats and inevitable human error.

Based on the annual/daily attendance at Disneyland versus the much lower annual/daily attendance for DHS (even with a bump for Star Wars Land), I think it's going to be quite a while before Disneyland's Boarding Group process calms down.

 

[TP2000]

And yet, today is on track to be their best day, barring any breakdowns...

View attachment 442538

Seriously, were you trying to jinx it?!?

Right as you were posting that, Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn broke down. It's now been closed for an hour and 15 minutes and is stuck at Boarding Group 42.

 

[SoCalMort]

After finishing the ride last night I noticed something that surprised me and might explain why BGs are not being called up to the very last minute of park hours.

When I entered the queue around 5:45 the entire open-air area was empty as was about 80% of the interior cave queue. I found the end of the line a room or two before the armory area. Less than a minute later the ride went down and being literally the last person in the cave I decided to stretch out on a laser-cut bench and stick it out while watching the SAG awards on my phone. I was there for well over an hour before the ride came back up and people started to trickle in behind me.

Once up and running it took about 15 mins to reach the very first pre-show where the cast member was letting about 15-18 people in at a time.

When I exited around 8:15 I was shocked to see not only every inch of the entire exterior queue was now full but the line overflowed from the laser turret nearly all the way down to the entrance via Critter Country. I can't begin to imagine how long the people at the end of that line waited to reach the first pre-show.

No wonder they stopped calling boarding groups shortly after 8:15.

 

[Ismael Flores]

you know what i find annoying?

There are thousands of people wanting to ride but are not being able to get a boarding group but we see videos of the bloggers that are there almost everyday that have ridden more then once.

case in point, the site to not be named mentions in their update that they got boarding group passes on opening day then again on Saturday-This probably doesn't count the ride they probably enjoyed on media day.

How many videos and updates of the ride do they need to post? you would think they would step aside a bit and allow others to try and get a chance of getting a boarding group since they live at the park and can come back a few weeks later

 

[flynnibus]

After finishing the ride last night I noticed something that surprised me and might explain why BGs are not being called up to the very last minute of park hours.

They don't call BGs up to the end of park hours because it doesn't give anyone the opportunity to actually get back there. They want the attraction effectively ready to be clear of guests near park closing so they can dedicate the time to turnover the attraction for the next day.

If you called BGs until park close, you'd have to give people time to get there, then time to work through the queue, and experience the attraction.

They need to ensure they have the non-guest time for the attraction - this is part of that.

 

[flynnibus]

you know what i find annoying?

There are thousands of people wanting to ride but are not being able to get a boarding group but we see videos of the bloggers that are there almost everyday that have ridden more then once.

case in point, the site to not be named mentions in their update that they got boarding group passes on opening day then again on Saturday-This probably doesn't count the ride they probably enjoyed on media day.

How many videos and updates of the ride do they need to post? you would think they would step aside a bit and allow others to try and get a chance of getting a boarding group since they live at the park and can come back a few weeks later

So a few dozen bloggers.. vs how many dedicated AP people do you think have ridden more than once?

 

[Mac Tonight]

you know what i find annoying?

There are thousands of people wanting to ride but are not being able to get a boarding group but we see videos of the bloggers that are there almost everyday that have ridden more then once.

case in point, the site to not be named mentions in their update that they got boarding group passes on opening day then again on Saturday-This probably doesn't count the ride they probably enjoyed on media day.

How many videos and updates of the ride do they need to post? you would think they would step aside a bit and allow others to try and get a chance of getting a boarding group since they live at the park and can come back a few weeks later

You'd think... but no. Riding rides and filming it is their version of "having a job".

I mean, there are people who literally make their livelihood off Patreon donations and YouTube ad revenue when all they do is sit on their butts and "discuss" Disney news like some sort of insider, or film and commentate on their every waking moment at the parks, like we care... its pretty sad.

EDIT to add: what's even worse is that a good amount of them feel like because they've dedicated their time to being a Disney fan, that Disney somehow owes them privileges like early-access and invitations to "media previews". They'll also never be caught being critical of Disney for fear of being seen as "negative" and losing said privileges.

 

[disneygeek90]

It makes a lot of sense that we are hearing reports that the ride is currently doing half of DHS. This sold out in a minute business shouldn't be the norm for very long.

At DHS - the system works pretty well in the sense that you can arrive to the park barely 30 minutes before official opening, snagging a viable boarding group. Really worse case scenario you'll get on by mid-afternoon at DHS, even if your phone does not behave. Then really you spend less than 60-90 minutes of dedicated time total (including a meaningful chunk of that being attraction and pre-show time). WITHOUT actually losing the ability to rope drop something else.

Flight of Passage by contrast you'll never be able to dedicate any less than 90 minutes at the best of time (whether you rope drop it or not). OR have to pay to stay on property and wake up 65 days in advance to get a FastPass.

If you’d like a true testimony of this, I had some app struggles on Saturday and earned BG 57, so I knew I’d have a couple hours minimum. I took a bus over to MK and rope dropped mine train for their 8am open, being one of the first 100 people into the queue. I rope dropped two different parks the same day. Thinking about it that way is still kinda mind blowing.

 

[Mickeyboof]

Agreed.

And just going on an educated guess here, I'm now of the belief that each Boarding Group has 100 people in it. I see no other reason why they wouldn't pick a solid, easy number like that for each Boarding Group since they can run up to as many Boarding Groups as the ride will allow.

Can the ride process 40,000 per day like Pirates of the Caribbean? Then issue 400 Boarding Groups. Can the ride only process 12,000 per day best case scenario? Then issue 120 Boarding Groups. Did the ride only get to Boarding Group 81 yesterday? Then that was only 8,100 people that were called to ride.

100 people per Boarding Group also supports the info we've gotten from @lentesta and a few other smart folks, plus my 8th grade math skills, that the Disneyland version of Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn is currently able to handle a max of about 800 per hour, averaging about 700 per hour with some empty seats and inevitable human error.

Based on the annual/daily attendance at Disneyland versus the much lower annual/daily attendance for DHS (even with a bump for Star Wars Land), I think it's going to be quite a while before Disneyland's Boarding Group process calms down.

I just choked on my water, Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn. Dammit that’s good.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

You'd think... but no. Riding rides and filming it is their version of "having a job".

I mean, there are people who literally make their livelihood off Patreon donations and YouTube ad revenue when all they do is sit on their butts and "discuss" Disney news like some sort of insider, or film and commentate on their every waking moment at the parks, like we care... its pretty sad.

Disney theme park fandom used to be only a handful of websites. Kinda thing that would be done during spare time when not working a real job.

 

[Mac Tonight]

Disney theme park fandom used to be only a handful of websites. Kinda thing that would be done during spare time when not working a real job.

Only our modern society and over-dependence on social media can turn "being a fan" into a (somewhat viable) full-time job.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They've ruined everything.

 

[Macro]

Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn

Where's the billion likes button?

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I'm just going to throw this out there. I'll grant you my conspiracy theory is ludicrous, but so is the literal operation of this attraction. Still, I'm putting it out there because I can't stop thinking about it no matter how hard I try and how much I tell myself I'm an idiot.

Does anyone else think that the low capacity of Rise, the "lottery" boarding group nightmare requiring you to be there at opening and no guarantee of actually seeing the attraction undoubtedly resulting in people having to come back and try again is very convenient considering that the problem since Galaxy Edge opened is that no one was even coming to DLR. Now people have to come over and over just to try to get on the new ride!

 

[Mac Tonight]

I'm just going to throw this out there. I'll grant you my conspiracy theory is ludicrous, but so is the literal operation of this attraction. Still, I'm putting it out there because I can't stop thinking about it no matter how hard I try and how much I tell myself I'm an idiot.

Does anyone else think that the low capacity of Rise, the "lottery" boarding group nightmare requiring you to be there at opening and no guarantee of actually seeing the attraction undoubtedly resulting in people having to come back and try again is very convenient considering that the problem since Galaxy Edge opened is that no one was even coming to DLR. Now people have to come over and over just to try to get on the new ride!

In total honestly, I would not be the least bit surprised to find out Disney was purposely limiting the number of riders per day which would... OOPS! increase the need for people to keep visiting SWL repeatedly just to get a shot at riding the new attraction... I mean, hey, while you wait, check out the rest of the land we just built!!!

 

[DrAlice]

I'm just going to throw this out there. I'll grant you my conspiracy theory is ludicrous, but so is the literal operation of this attraction. Still, I'm putting it out there because I can't stop thinking about it no matter how hard I try and how much I tell myself I'm an idiot.

Does anyone else think that the low capacity of Rise, the "lottery" boarding group nightmare requiring you to be there at opening and no guarantee of actually seeing the attraction undoubtedly resulting in people having to come back and try again is very convenient considering that the problem since Galaxy Edge opened is that no one was even coming to DLR. Now people have to come over and over just to try to get on the new ride!

Well, I like cynical conspiracy theories as much as the next gal, but people stopped coming last year during the summer when the APs were blocked out. It's the APs that are the people fortunate to come back and try again. So while your idea might work now, it isn't going to work later. We tourist-types have one shot at riding that ride. I'm not planning multiple Disney vacations for my family. We go, we hope for the best, we enjoy what we can, we leave. Period. See ya next year.