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

[DLR>WDW]

Got group 98 after error messages when trying to obtain my group. Very stressful.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I have to ask, because this boarding group nonsense is all new to me. I'm old school, I just get in line for something and occasionally get Fastpasses.

What is the advantage of the boarding group? Who is it benefiting? Guests? Operations?

From what I've gathered, you need to be in the theme park before opening and immediately secure a boarding group to even ride. Meaning anyone who's in after 8:05 AM never even had a chance. Of course, I think this is stupid.

But I have to ask the question again, because I'm just not getting it. What is the advantage of the boarding group? Who is benefiting? Guests? Operations? Is capacity for this ride so low that they need to limit the amount of guests?

 

[flynnibus]

But I have to ask the question again, because I'm just not getting it. What is the advantage of the boarding group? Who is benefiting? Guests? Operations?

Both.

Guests do not have to dedicate hours to a single attraction
Guests do not have to waste hours in line only to risk getting bumped out of line due to a shutdown
Guests do not have to risk having to queue up multiple times for a single ride due to shutdowns
Guests do not have to deal with crappy behavior from other guests like 'place holding', line jumping, etc
Guests can get instant guest recovery via the app when things go bad - everyone has a digital ticket to who was in line, etc.
Guests get the benefit of a fp-like reservation without impacting the rest of their FP activity

Ops do not have to manage a massive line
Ops do not have to deal with issues with people being trapped in huge lines (restroom breaks, line jumping, line place holding)
Shutdowns only impact a smaller group of guests in line instead of 'every' guest waiting - makes managing the queue easier when a short term breakdown happens
When breakdowns happen, Ops can run guests who were already called without having to allow new guests 'into line'.. they control when they open up new groups
Ops gets to control how many people (within a margin) of how many people are in line, and how many people are entering the line
Ops gets to handle massive returns of FP holders better w/o having to allow new BGs to enter
Ops gets to have a handle on when the ride will shutdown at a reasonable time by cutting off the return times and not dealing with people trying to get into standby lines late

 

[DLR>WDW]

Rise is currently down..

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Sounds like too many attempts to control things. Disaster will strike.

 

[ProjectXBlog]

Got group 98 after error messages when trying to obtain my group. Very stressful.

this is the kind of thing that stresses me out just thinking about it. i don’t hate the idea of the VQ but the fact that it’s all luck-of-the-draw with your phone really bugs me. i’m the person at the turnstile who accidentally taps the calendar link on their phone ticket and then has to wait what feels like 6 months for it to reload

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

It's probably best to position yourself by Tomorrowland and use the physical booths next to Buzz Light Year. The App is well known for being buggy and I can just imagine errors from everyone trying to do it at once.

 

[flynnibus]

It seems odd to me since people are going to have to go from waiting in line at the gates to waiting for the park to open spend an hour in line total, then spend another hour and a half in line once they are called for the ride. I think why not just have a giant line with a cut off point? It becomes more confusing this way than convenient in my opinion.

Because that model only really works if that 'one line' is managable and gets taken in without problems. It's not very tolerant of things like breakdowns... and it just increases the pressure to 'be there first'.

People won't be waiting in lines at the gates much.. this is because of the stubbornness of some who just 'have to be there...'

 

[TP2000]

It's probably best to position yourself by Tomorrowland and use the physical booths next to Buzz Light Year. The App is well known for being buggy and I can just imagine errors from everyone trying to do it at once.

I don't know about that, it only took 22 seconds for all Boarding Groups to be distributed this morning. I doubt more than a handful of people standing right in front of the booths even got a Boarding Group.

I think I'd take my chances with the App standing in the Central Plaza or in line at Starbucks.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

22 seconds??

 

[TP2000]

22 seconds??

22 seconds.

Boarding groups gone in 22 seconds.
Backup boarding groups now.

State 1 = Open
State 2 = Paused

View attachment 441841

Looks like the backup boarding groups are starting at 82, maybe just a safe low number in case of any long down times.

EDIT: All backup groups gone as of 8:10:51.

 

[drizzitduddenbunnies]

I don't know about that, it only took 22 seconds for all Boarding Groups to be distributed this morning. I doubt more than a handful of people standing right in front of the booths even got a Boarding Group.

I think I'd take my chances with the App standing in the Central Plaza or in line at Starbucks.

The lines for the booths were really long, I can't imagine many of them got boarding groups.

EDIT: Didn't mean to attach this image to this post, and can't seem to delete it. This site doesn't seem to work very well with mobile devices.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

All those poor Cast Members having to explain to frustrated guests that they were 22 seconds too late.

 

[shambolicdefending]

shocking how few DL locals are posting about their experience here... guess we don't have the feet on the street

It's a good reminder that this (and really any other Disney parks Web or social media) forum is not an accurate representation of most guests.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Sounds like too many attempts to control things. Disaster will strike.

“She’s made of iron sir, she can sink!”

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Women and children first! Yes!

 

[RobWDW1971]

Apparently people were allowed to hang out at the park at 5 until its opening time. I guess at 8 it just becomes a free for all. It also seems that Disney is basing boarding group numbers on a random process and not as a first person= 1st boarding group kind of thing.

I think Disneyland is making it all more confusing by having the parking garages open in the middle of the night, opening the park hours early, etc. They are trying to change 60+ years of behavior of having to get there early to line up by sending the message you need to get there early to line up. You only have to be in the park when it is open.

As many have said, when the angry scooter/wheelchair crowd rolls in at 5 pm tonight, just wait for the fireworks at City Hall. God bless those cast members and please send some of Oga's liquor their way.

 

[disneygeek90]

Apparently people were allowed to hang out at the park at 5 until its opening time. I guess at 8 it just becomes a free for all. It also seems that Disney is basing boarding group numbers on a random process and not as a first person= 1st boarding group kind of thing.

The people getting through in the app quickest are getting the lowest group numbers. But when there's thousands smashing the join button within milliseconds of eachother, to the guest it appears as random.

 

[shambolicdefending]

Both.

Guests do not have to dedicate hours to a single attraction
Guests do not have to waste hours in line only to risk getting bumped out of line due to a shutdown
Guests do not have to risk having to queue up multiple times for a single ride due to shutdowns
Guests do not have to deal with crappy behavior from other guests like 'place holding', line jumping, etc
Guests can get instant guest recovery via the app when things go bad - everyone has a digital ticket to who was in line, etc.
Guests get the benefit of a fp-like reservation without impacting the rest of their FP activity

Ops do not have to manage a massive line
Ops do not have to deal with issues with people being trapped in huge lines (restroom breaks, line jumping, line place holding)
Shutdowns only impact a smaller group of guests in line instead of 'every' guest waiting - makes managing the queue easier when a short term breakdown happens
When breakdowns happen, Ops can run guests who were already called without having to allow new guests 'into line'.. they control when they open up new groups
Ops gets to control how many people (within a margin) of how many people are in line, and how many people are entering the line
Ops gets to handle massive returns of FP holders better w/o having to allow new BGs to enter
Ops gets to have a handle on when the ride will shutdown at a reasonable time by cutting off the return times and not dealing with people trying to get into standby lines late

Sounds like too many attempts to control things. Disaster will strike.

I don't think we can have a definite idea of how access to Rise will play out in the weeks to come based on what happens today. Disney will surely tweak things based on what works and what doesn't.

I'm at least a semi-proponent of the theory that virtual standby is the future. A generation from now it will probably have replaced FastPass and traditional standby entirely.

 

[Disney Analyst]

DO NOT GO FOR THE TICKETS.

The paper passes had 50 total printed before cut off, 50! Not 50 groups, 50 tickets. You have a strong chance with the app, and can get them for everyone in your group for the same boarding group without risk.