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

[flynnibus]

I just realized there was a WAY easier way to calculate this number... 12,700 were called to ride. At 1,100 people per hour, it would take (12,700/1,100) 11.55 hours of operation to get through everyone...

These are at best ballparks... the math doesn't account for FP returners or people who were called, but denied boarding after they were called. The estimates given are 'best case' given every BG called returns and there are zero FP returners. But we don't have a good estimate for how many returners really are in line. For the thin information we have on how many people get return passes, it seems like the number is significant.

But frankly I find the whole need to justify the closing time quite boorish honestly. It's not like they are doing it because they feel they need to go hit the bars. The line closure is being driven by 1) how many BGs were out 2) how many returners are still floatiing and the amount of time it will take to crank through them 3) the need to have the attraction cleared for after-hours work because the ride needs extra time vs normal operations still

All of those needs are customer serving in the big picture. Trying to harp on the last BG time is just petty.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

spends thousands of dollars... can't be bothered to get up at 6am...

the struggle is real y0...

I mean at Thousands of Dollars spent you expect to get by with at least some luxuries, so waking up at 6 stinks

 

[flynnibus]

For those who get in, a moment of amplified exhilaration follows. But for those who don’t get a boarding group assignment, what was supposed to be a self-care day now starts with a dose of the anxiety and disappointment that many fans come to Disneyland to escape.

Yeah, I'm still waiting to see this mass of angry and disappointed guests everyone keeps trying to elevate to martyr status as the the ones who get sacrificed for the privileged few.

So there is a 10min period of the day this all happens.. and what, it's a dark cloud over the resort for the rest of the day? Doesn't add up.

 

[flynnibus]

I mean at Thousands of Dollars spent you expect to get by with at least some luxuries, so waking up at 6 stinks

By that logic.. what if luxury means I should be able to sleep in till 11?

Or why shouldn't the park hours just follow my whims?

Sorry, the endless woes people are trying to make about getting up at 5:45 or something to get something THEY REALLY WANT is not winning any sympathy.

 

[Phroobar]

I like Robert Niles, but he's a little off on his approach here. This whole digital Hunger Games issue is not the guests' problem to solve. It's Disney's.

Although I do take some perverse pleasure in seeing all of the local APs finally get a taste of the planning stress that out-of-state visitors have experienced for quite some time.

It shouldn't be stressful to visit a theme park. No one should have to plan rides and plan to buy food. It's bad enough waiting in long lines. You shouldn't have to schedule time to wait in slightly shorter lines.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

By that logic.. what if luxury means I should be able to sleep in till 11?

Or why shouldn't the park hours just follow my whims?

Sorry, the endless woes people are trying to make about getting up at 5:45 or something to get something THEY REALLY WANT is not winning any sympathy.

No one is really asking for sympathy as much as just trying to make Disney look bad. Which they should. The company is so insistent on depicting WDW as a magical place where dreams come true; it absolutely should blow back up in their faces if the most magical place becomes a repeated 5am hassle for some of those who fail to experience the ride even with a boarding group.

 

[Purduevian]

These are at best ballparks... the math doesn't account for FP returners or people who were called, but denied boarding after they were called. The estimates given are 'best case' given every BG called returns and there are zero FP returners. But we don't have a good estimate for how many returners really are in line. For the thin information we have on how many people get return passes, it seems like the number is significant.

I agree it is pretty ball park math with a ton of assumptions... I don't really understand where your 2 groups of people are though?
Who are these FP returners?
Also has there been a report of people's boarding groups getting called and then not allowed to ride the rest of the night?

 

[MisterPenguin]

There are more people wanting to ride than the ride can handle. That's the reality. Which means one must deal with it. Wishing that life was fair and that Disney had a perfect solution gets one absolutely nowhere except angry and disillusioned. That's life. Deal with it.

The ride is not reliable. It's gradually been getting better and throughputting higher numbers of people per hour. But it's nowhere near its expected operational efficiency. That makes getting to ride it more difficult and there will definitely be people who attempt to ride it and are not able to ride it. See paragraph one with regard to dealing with that.

If the ride is not reliable and there will be times they have to evacuate riders and empty the queue and have the ride down for sometimes hours at a time, then that means there's no way in hell that Disney will "sell' a spot on the ride because they cannot guarantee that one will ride (see paragraph one). If they "sell" a spot to resort guests, or APs, or advanced FPs, or unlimited Maxpass, then they will wind up having to deal with angry customers and give out refunds and other compensation. Thus, while the ride is still buggy, no one is getting a method for guaranteed placement on the ride (and see paragraph one for dealing with that).

Those unhappy with this situation will have to wait until the ride is dependable and operating at the appropriate efficiency. Betting your time and resources that you will ride it is a bet... a gamble. You may lose. If you never want to lose, don't play. And if you want to tell me that Disney should have done "X" to ease your disappointment... see paragraph one.

 

[flynnibus]

I agree it is pretty ball park math with a ton of assumptions... I don't really understand where your 2 groups of people are though?
Who are these FP returners?

Anyone who gets dumped from the queue gets a FP to return without a set window. Anyone who had a garunteed boarding group but didn't get called gets one too for the next day.. but that isn't exercised much. The people dumped from the line tho.. is likely 300-400 people every time the ride breaks down for any period of time.

Also has there been a report of people's boarding groups getting called and then not allowed to ride the rest of the night?

Nope...

 

[flynnibus]

No one is really asking for sympathy as much as just trying to make Disney look bad. Which they should. The company is so insistent on depicting WDW as a magical place where dreams come true; it absolutely should blow back up in their faces if the most magical place becomes a repeated 5am hassle for some of those who fail to experience the ride even with a boarding group.

YAWN... for anyone on that agenda, RoTR is not the horse you should bet on.

 

[Darkbeer1]

No one is really asking for sympathy as much as just trying to make Disney look bad. Which they should. The company is so insistent on depicting WDW as a magical place where dreams come true; it absolutely should blow back up in their faces if the most magical place becomes a repeated 5am hassle for some of those who fail to experience the ride even with a boarding group.

If you are thinking I am trying to make Disney looks bad, that is totally wrong.

The Disneyland Resort is very important to the city of Anaheim, and truly a partner to this city. What I want as a place that draws in tourists and keeps them happy. I serve on the S.O.A.R. Committee without pay, one that receives the Walt Disney Company's political funds to make sure that partnership stays strong, and those funds ae over $1 million dollars a year. Not Chump Change.

We NEED to keep the tourists happy and have a great experience. The Boarding Group process is not going well with some of those tourists, and needs to be adjusted to keep those tourists happy, especially those at the top end of the spending average.

What I want is for Disney gets it right, and on this issue, something has to change to help those coming and wish to ride Rise of the Resistance.

 

[flynnibus]

It shouldn't be stressful to visit a theme park. No one should have to plan rides and buying food. It's bad enough waiting in long lines. You shouldn't have to schedule time to wait in slightly shorter lines.

Well then Disney should cap capacity and ensure all waits are enjoyable and managable... and we know that's not happening. Goto Discovery Cove if you want that ideal.. till then, visiting popular theme parks is always going to be about trying to optimize your experience... or risk getting the short end of the stick.

I agree Disney has made the whole thing worse.. but let's not aim for rainbows and unicorns.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

YAWN... for anyone on that agenda, RoTR is not the horse you should bet on.

Prob not, but it's the easiest. Rise is uniquely prohibitive in the history of Disney Parks.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

If you are thinking I am trying to make Disney looks bad, that is totally wrong.

The Disneyland Resort is very important to the city of Anaheim, and truly a partner to this city. What I want as a place that draws in tourists and keeps them happy. I serve on the S.O.A.R. Committee without pay, one that receives the Walt Disney Company's political funds to make sure that partnership stays strong, and those funds ae over $1 million dollars a year. Not Chump Change.

We NEED to keep the tourists happy and have a great experience. The Boarding Group process is not going well with some of those tourists, and needs to be adjusted to keep those tourists happy, especially those at the top end of the spending average.

What I want is for Disney gets it right, and on this issue, something has to change to help those coming and wish to ride Rise of the Resistance.

Oooh, not looking bad in that context. Don't worry, I totally agree with your stance, and that's part of the reason I've been so critical of this system since December 5th. By making Disney look bad, I meant guests opening up and making their voices heard about the system.

 

[Disney Analyst]

If you are thinking I am trying to make Disney looks bad, that is totally wrong.

The Disneyland Resort is very important to the city of Anaheim, and truly a partner to this city. What I want as a place that draws in tourists and keeps them happy. I serve on the S.O.A.R. Committee without pay, one that receives the Walt Disney Company's political funds to make sure that partnership stays strong, and those funds ae over $1 million dollars a year. Not Chump Change.

We NEED to keep the tourists happy and have a great experience. The Boarding Group process is not going well with some of those tourists, and needs to be adjusted to keep those tourists happy, especially those at the top end of the spending average.

What I want is for Disney gets it right, and on this issue, something has to change to help those coming and wish to ride Rise of the Resistance.

The BG's are a far better experience for Tourists then the alternative, and it is not permanent.

I think it's a whole lot of smoke without a fire being blown around here.

 

[flynnibus]

Prob not, but it's the easiest. Rise is uniquely prohibitive in the history of Disney Parks.

Sustained by the unbridled desire for it... and the success of its execution as a ride. Hence, not really a winning horse in the "Disney is doing it wrong!" mission...

The beef will come 6-9months from now if Disney can't get the attraction operating with greater capacity.

 

[Phroobar]

The BG's are a far better experience for Tourists then the alternative, and it is not permanent.

I think it's a whole lot of smoke without a fire being blown around here.

True and a lot of entitled millennials attitude.

Personally, I think it's the best time to visit the Resort as long as you ignore RotR.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I agree that planning your visit around one ride like this is ridiculous and I have no desire to show up at park opening, try to secure a boarding group and wait around hoping that my hypothetical boarding group is called. I'm glad I was able to do the CM preview, which was far more manageable than operation with regular guests now. The ride was clearly built with low capacity, like Titanic's lifeboats, and the cast preview's lower attendance was perfectly suited to it. I mean, we were able to secure a boarding group between like 9:30 and 10am (after park had been open since 8) with a noon return time, although it broke down and we had to come back later. Will DL guests ever be able to do that in the foreseeable future? It seems highly unlikely. The ride simply wasn't built to handle the number of guests at Disneyland, only a fraction of them.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

The BG's are a far better experience for Tourists then the alternative, and it is not permanent.

I think it's a whole lot of smoke without a fire being blown around here.

I think my issue from a business and optics perspective is that telling guests, "oh, you should be happy/grateful with this" usually doesn't go very well. I saw that from experience whenever one of my CM friends would use a line like that.

The idea here is that the guests ARE ridiculous. They are entitled. They are planning a trip around one ride (hey, isn't that what this attraction was supposed to do in the first place????) and they are expecting to get their money's worth on a ride that honestly isn't worth it. But those same guests are the ones making Disney a lot of money.

But this is nothing new. People have always been and will continue to be difficult. I think my disappoint stems from how things have persisted despite the two months the DHS version has been running and Disney's experience in general.

 

[Disney Analyst]

True and a lot of entitled millennials attitude.

Personally, I think it's the best time to visit the Resort as long as you ignore RotR.

I don't know what an entire generation of people have to do with it? If anything I think the Millennials are some of the most understanding and well-equipped with this sort of thing.