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

[BubbaQuest]

How do these kinds of limited operating hours compare to past E ticket openings at Disneyland?

I know Indy suffered from frequent breakdowns, but how often was it opening hours late and closing hours early?

How reliable was Radiator Springs Racers?

I remember previously they would even keep a new attraction open past closing hours or they would extend hours if demand was there.

If I remember correctly, you could pretty much get in the queue at park closing for Indy and the ride would stay open until everyone boarded. I waited 3 hours for Indy the summer it opened. I think the queue started around Jolly Holiday. I don't remember any downtime while I was there, but I know it had been a problem.

With RSR they wouldn't let anyone in the queue once it reached the entrance sign (at least for the first few months). I'm not sure how late you could enter the queue, but DCA was a little strange since the park "officially" closed before the last WoC so they kinda had an extra hour to clear the ride before kicking people out of the park.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It does seem kind of weird that they havent extended hours with such a major attraction open. I remember previously they would even keep a new attraction open past closing hours or they would extend hours if demand was there. The rest of the park must be pretty quiet for them not to consider that.

RotR is too unstable to be kept open late into the night. The engineers need that night time downtime to fix stuff in hopes that it will run the next day.

 

[CastAStone]

It does seem kind of weird that they havent extended hours with such a major attraction open. I remember previously they would even keep a new attraction open past closing hours or they would extend hours if demand was there. The rest of the park must be pretty quiet for them not to consider that.

What I find odd is that they have extended hours at DHS but not at DL.

Then again, at DHS they are opening it 1.5-2 hours earlier than they normally would and then shutting down the ride 1.5-2 hours before closing. Which is like, why?

 

[el_super]

Some ideas for making the Rise system better:

They are all good ideas honestly, but they don't really change the biggest factor: not enough capacity versus demand. That will change over time, but whatever system they choose will just shuffle around who gets on and who doesn't. It doesn't really solve the problem.

How do these kinds of limited operating hours compare to past E ticket openings at Disneyland?

I know Indy suffered from frequent breakdowns, but how often was it opening hours late and closing hours early?

How reliable was Radiator Springs Racers?

There were days/nights where Indy would just go down and never come back up. Amd the next day they would just keep the ride closed and hand out fliers at the parking lot/ticket booths before people bought admission.

Racers was down for two hours last week and hardly anyone noticed. They've also done this thing where they stop dispatching for 10 to 20 minutes, and the ride isnt technically down, but its not really up either. That's why the line keeps ballooning past 100 minutes.

 

[MisterPenguin]

shutting down the ride 1.5-2 hours before closing. Which is like, why?

They're shutting down calling BGs two hours early. But before they do, they call 1 - 2 hours worth of BGs to fill the queue.

The ride is operational long after the last BG is called.

Also, they give people two hours to show up after a BG is called. If they called all the way up to closing, they'd have to keep the ride open two more hours past closing.

 

[Professortango1]

You're incorrectly lumping 'locals with APs' and 'tourists with APs' tho. Many many APs are simply people who visit more than once a year.. not necessarily people who can visit on a whim.

I assume tourists with APs still visit more than a few times a year or else their AP wouldn't be worth the price. The guest paying $150 to visit for the one day should hold more value than the guest paying $30-$80 a day. I visit about 3-4 times a year with a regular ticket because I don't go enough for APs to have value. But, with their botched handling of ROTR, I'm likely to just not go as I don't want to pay full price and not be allowed to queue up for the attraction I want to visit. As long as people can essentially snag a Fastpass with a cell phone app at opening, the ride will unavailable to your average guest. Once they start actually having people queue up, I'm betting a lot of APers won't be standing in a 4-6 hour line for their 6th ride.

 

[flynnibus]

I assume tourists with APs still visit more than a few times a year or else their AP wouldn't be worth the price.

The typical breakeven target for a 'season pass' or upsell is 2.5x

A 3 day parkhopper is $355... a deluxe ap is $800. Make 2 trips in a year you start considering if APs are right for you...

Point is still the same... don't damn guests simply because they have an AP or assume AP means chill anytime they want at the parks. On both coasts, a huge population of loyal customers are AP holders even if they aren't 'around the block' regulars.

 

[Professortango1]

The typical breakeven target for a 'season pass' or upsell is 2.5x

A 3 day parkhopper is $355... a deluxe ap is $800. Make 2 trips in a year you start considering if APs are right for you...

Point is still the same... don't damn guests simply because they have an AP or assume AP means chill anytime they want at the parks. On both coasts, a huge population of loyal customers are AP holders even if they aren't 'around the block' regulars.

Its business. Much smarter to allow the person spending $150 at your park (or more if they have booked a room) to have the edge on riding a key attraction rather than pandering to the folks who come 10-15 times per month with a monthly fee of $50 bucks. If you let people queue up, it also helps promote multiple day visits as your guest would be paying a full day to spend a good portion in a queue for one attraction. To see the rest of the resort, they'd need another day or two. But instead, APs show up 1-2 people per car, grab the boarding passes, ride for the 5th time and go home. That's just bad business. Why on earth would I book a Disney vacation with hotel accommodations if it is likely we wouldn't get boarding passes? There's a reason WDW lets hotel guests book FP reservations months in advance. DLR needs to stop giving away the park to college kids and people who need hobbies.

 

[Mickeyboof]

I don't get why people have such an issue with vloggers. They aren't hurting anyone or forcing anyone to watch. They are selling a product that a segment of the public want, which they couldn't do if people weren't willing to buy it (in the form of views for ad revenue).

Yeah! They aren't forcing anyone to watch... except for the few hundred people who have the misfortune of being near them at any given moment.

 

[TP2000]

Yeah! They aren't forcing anyone to watch... except for the few hundred people who have the misfortune of being near them at any given moment.

Oh my God. This type of person makes me not want to leave the house.

Meanwhile, in Star Wars Land, they are chugging along after only a slight delay this morning. Now at Boarding Group 68.

But we are heading towards afternoon High Tea in the hangar bay, so it should be closing shortly.

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It's sunny and much warmer today, 74 degrees now in Anaheim, and Millennium Falcon: Target Run is only 25 minutes. Splash Mt., Space Mt. and Indiana Jones are 35 minutes, Radiator Springs Racers is 45. Forecast for this weekend is for sunny skies and temps in the mid 70's, so it will be interesting to see what the crowds do this weekend. Or don't do.

 

[Parker in NYC]

And Pirates at 10, Star Tours 15, Matterhorn and Space 30......

All of SWGE is open now right? Just checking....

You’re not paying attention....this week/month/year and past week/month/year have always had historically low attendance.... SWGE never promised to bring more guests to DLR. People are having a darn good time...you just aren’t reading closely.

Spoiler

Sarcasm.

 

[flynnibus]

Its business. Much smarter to allow the person spending $150 at your park (or more if they have booked a room) to have the edge on riding a key attraction rather than pandering to the folks who come 10-15 times per month with a monthly fee of $50 bucks

Because it's not isolated down to just A vs B. Otherwise, you'd never want to sell APs and you'd argue why did you bother selling them in the first place if I could just replace them with a full admission priced customer.

For the vast majority of passholders.. it was an UPSELL for Disney... and why they do it. They have to keep those customers buying as well.

If you let people queue up, it also helps promote multiple day visits as your guest would be paying a full day to spend a good portion in a queue for one attraction.

No, it just es people off and they are upset with you in what they got for their money. Disney has to maintain a balance of waits but also things people accomplish so they feel satisfied with their day.

No one goes 'thank god I wasted half my day in this line so I had a good reason to pay almost double to visit the park!'.

Disney wants waits to ensure people don't do everything to quickly.. but that doesn't make excessive waits enjoyable to guests, and so its not going to be enjoyable to Disney in the customer sat category.

Why on earth would I book a Disney vacation with hotel accommodations if it is likely we wouldn't get boarding passes?

Because no one is booking hotels purely for the idea of getting a BG? The same 'will I get to...' applies across the board. This is not blood sport to get a BG... just show up at park opening and you'll be fine. Oh wait, you're a hotel guest that means you don't have to get up nearly as early.. and you'll likely have multiple mornings to do it.

There's a reason WDW lets hotel guests book FP reservations months in advance

Yes, creating false value and other schemes to promote their resort bookings. Look, I understand the theory of using it as bait to drive higher revenue and higher margin customers... and that's certainly a valid case to evaluate... but that doesn't mean you munge things up or put on blinders to other business needs too.

Disneyland respects (and fears) their AP base... both local and remote. And they know that's because it drives that reliable revenue they love so much.

 

[flynnibus]

SWGE never promised to bring more guests to DLR

Huh? You think Disney did SWGE out of just normal upkeep and rotation needs?

 

[Parker in NYC]

Huh? You think Disney did SWGE out of just normal upkeep and rotation needs?

Sarcasm for a thousand, Alex.

 

[ProjectXBlog]

Yeah! They aren't forcing anyone to watch... except for the few hundred people who have the misfortune of being near them at any given moment.

they’re worse than theater kids

 

[TP2000]

Friend is at park today with five other persons. They are staying at the Disneyland hotel and were in park for magic morning hours. They all tried to get boarding passes and ended up with a back up boarding pass #104.
He texted that people just stopped what they were doing right before 9am and focused on the challenge. The amount of cheers and roars from people that got boarding groups was quite intense.

Oh and they are really hoping the ride stays operational so that they get to ride. Five out of the six people have never been to Disneyland and they are celebrating a birthday and an anniversary.

This is gonna be close, but we'll all keep a good thought. Yesterday they only got to Boarding Group 90 before they shut it down for the night at 8:10pm. On Tuesday they did get to Boarding Group 111 before shutting it down at 8:05pm.

We still haven't started today's afternoon High Tea downtime though.

At least it's a beautiful day today and the wait times seem very low in both parks! Come on Boarding Group 104!!!

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[Ismael Flores]

about 20 or so boarding groups to go before 104

 

[flutas]

They're shutting down calling BGs two hours early. But before they do, they call 1 - 2 hours worth of BGs to fill the queue.

I have to disagree with you there. There is absolutely no increase in the rate at which they call boarding groups before they shut down the VQ. If there was you would see the graph jumping faster than any other time of the day, but you don't. They might give them 2 hours to come back, but they aren't calling "1-2 hours worth of BGs."

 

[shambolicdefending]

Hahahahha what? The boarding passes are a fiasco because too many people want to ride, so they need to declare the land a failure because no one is going to come ride it? How does that make sense.

I suppose there is still a possibility that this doesnt drive long term growth, but I would think opening the same exact ride at WDW... Where there is a LOT more to do and a LOT more value, would be more a factor than anything else. But we will have to wait 30 years to see if thats true.

What the boarding group system is doing is discouraging prospective paid guests from even planning a trip, because the current ride capacity is abominably low, and it's basically a lottery whether or not your time and money will even get you into the queue.

If you're an AP, sure, why not show up until you get on? But is that why Disneyland built this? For the saturated AP market?

If they were getting 15-20k people a day on it, and and offering a reliable standby option for those whose phones took 10 seconds too long to refresh, this might be a fun time for non-locals to visit. But, rumor is they're not even getting half that much, and nobody in their right mind is going to spend travel, lodging, food, and admission with those odds

 

[trainplane3]

Yeah! They aren't forcing anyone to watch... except for the few hundred people who have the misfortune of being near them at any given moment.

I'm an extremely calm person but having someone narrate what I'm looking at sitting behind me would make me totally lose it by the end of the ride. There's a big difference between a reaction and reading back to me what Beck literally just said.