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

[WickedWrench]

With RotR seeming to be on trend for more boarding groups getting through day by day, I wonder how long using boarding groups will last? As an informed out of state tourist, I honestly hope they keep the boarding group system. Maybe it's a bit selfish, but I like the idea of not having to wait in a long queue.

 

[TP2000]

Today was another busy holiday weekend day for the parks, but they had a pretty good day at Rise Before Dawn. Only a slightly delayed opening this morning, and then only three long breakdowns during the day. They got all the way to Boarding Group 150 at 8:45pm tonight before they closed up for the night, as I watch the fireworks burst over the horizon right now. Not bad! (Well, actually it's not good, but for this ride it's not bad.)

Disneyland is open from 8am to Midnight today.

Monday 2/17: Open 8:15am, Closed 8:45pm at Boarding Group #150, Six Hours Closed, 10 Hours Open

 

[Disney Analyst]

I’d say this is actually well written.

“Just Open The Line!” “Make It FastPass Only!” Nope. Here’s why Rise of the Resistance’s Boarding Groups Are Here to Stay... | Theme Park Tourist

We’ve all seen it on Facebook, Twitter, or Disney Parks discussion boards: “Just open the line!” “Make it FastPass only!” Would it really be that easy?

www.themeparktourist.com

 

[shambolicdefending]

I’d say this is actually well written.

“Just Open The Line!” “Make It FastPass Only!” Nope. Here’s why Rise of the Resistance’s Boarding Groups Are Here to Stay... | Theme Park Tourist

We’ve all seen it on Facebook, Twitter, or Disney Parks discussion boards: “Just open the line!” “Make it FastPass only!” Would it really be that easy?

www.themeparktourist.com

I think the premise if the article is basically correct. Ops is probably doing about as well as they could given the situation in front of them.

The mistake was opening an attraction to the public before it was ready, and all the factors and missteps that led to that decision.

 

[flynnibus]

I’d say this is actually well written.

“Just Open The Line!” “Make It FastPass Only!” Nope. Here’s why Rise of the Resistance’s Boarding Groups Are Here to Stay... | Theme Park Tourist

We’ve all seen it on Facebook, Twitter, or Disney Parks discussion boards: “Just open the line!” “Make it FastPass only!” Would it really be that easy?

www.themeparktourist.com

I'm glad he could rewrite what's been covered here on wdwmagic since Dec

 

[flynnibus]

I think the premise if the article is basically correct. Ops is probably doing about as well as they could given the situation in front of them.

The mistake was opening an attraction to the public before it was ready, and all the factors and missteps that led to that decision.

Those are two very different discussions. How you admit guests and manage that... is related to, but not the same discussion as how the attraction is being operated.

The BG model is a reasonable compromise of things... but how the ride is actually managing its public time, service time, etc... could still be managed very differently.

 

[Ismael Flores]

ok so my experience on a Holiday Monday was not as bad as i had feared and stressed over But at the same time it was a very stressful experience.

left the house at 6am from Riverside area and made it to the resort about 6:35. Not bad for a ride on the 91 fwy.

took Katella to Harbor and and got in a long left turn line to go into the Toy Story parking lot. At this time everything was peaceful until i the car in front of me and myself almost got hit by a careless and rude young driver in a suburban full of teenagers. This person felt he didn't have to wait like everyone else and sped up and pushed inside the front car and myself right as the light turned green.
next green ligt he pulled up a few feet and then stopped the line and here came a couple more suburbans full of teenagers. cutting in and ing myself and several dozen cars behind me. We later saw them at the security area all wearing Panther jackets for some dance group.

well that whole situation delayed our entering the parking lot which eventually made us miss the five buses that were parked and waiting for guests. Asked a Castmembers how many buses they had running and he said only five and that they hoped to get more to come. No security checks open in the parking lot

Finally made it on a bus and headed to the shuttle drop off. At this time we are stressing already because we have lost quite a few minutes and its already 7am worrying that we will be stuck in security after all that and not make it into park before 8am.
Finally made it to shuttle drop of and the security points are packed with lines stretching almost to the shuttle turn-about in almost every row.
we were dropped off on the far south and notice that the last row has only a handful of people so we get in that lien right away. We have not bags and nothing t stop us but they have no lanes for bagless people.
In front is a man that holds up the line because he has a selfie stick and the conversation goes on for a couple minutes, then there are two ladies with a large handbag that has another bag inside it. They both put them on the table and then wait, security man has to pull the bags out and then go thru all the closed zippers and multiple bags. The stress is building as we could see the entrance lines growing. Finally they moved and walk to metal detectors and then flash their employee bag.

Ok here is a bit of a criticism about this procedure --

1) security very friendly but do not seem to realize that people want to get thru because of this badly implemented boarding group system that requires people to be in park before 8am

2) Why did they just go thru the expense of building security area in Toy Story lot if it sit closed during an extremely busy Holiday weekend? This is just bad management that created huge crowds before security when it wasn't necessary. This also shows the need for the Eastern gateway to move the crowds away from the park entrance to an area that can handle the crowds.

3) Why is there not a designated security check point for the Castmembers so they can go to work without having to deal with the long lines?

4) In regards to Castmembers, why are they not prepared? They know the security rules about handbags and probably go thru this several times a week. The ladies held the line of stressed out people including myself because they had multiple large bags to be checked and they were all sealed and stuffed inside each other.


Finally made it into the esplanade after a very long and stressful event and realized that the lines were huge now and my early wake up might not get me into the park before 8 if the gates do not open soon. We got in line about 7:12 and they were already all packed and passed the center point. I remembered the monorail pylon effect when it comes to lines and got in one of the lines that ws directly behind the monorail pylon and it looked slightly shorter than the other ones and a couple minutes later the gates opened.

As i had thought the line moved fast because that one line started splitting up into to once it got passed the monorail pylon. That is something that happens because most people do not realize that there are a couple gates behind those pylons that have no room for a line. The lined moved quickly and made it into the park by around 7:35 and was a bit more relaxed.

Next step was waiting and those 25 minutes seemed to be the most stressful time of all trying to make sure that a bit of distraction didn't destroy my chances for the boarding pass. Early morning and then hunger and need for coffee kicked in but was worried that my signal would break while in any building. Even a bathroom run was stressful when you are standing inside the building waiting for your turn and you keep hearing announcements outside.

The eerie silence a minute before 8am is quite alarming and then ;loud cheers and sounds of disappointment. Even i thought i would be one of those because the confirmation didn't appear right away but then it was there. The cheers as we walked down Mainstreet with people asking others if they got one was pretty crazy but seeing the disappointment was a bit more depressing. I had hoped i would bumped into the man with the children again and see how it went but at the same time didn't just in case they did not.

I did not see a mass exodus yesterday and actually glad went yesterday. I met quite a few tourist and sat with several throughout the day and gave them ideas of how to enjoy the park. Also managed to help a few lost ones and showed them the ease of using the app.

As a passholder that normally just goes once or maybe two times a month it was great to interact with people that were experiencing the park for their first time in years or just their first time in their life. I enjoy the interaction because i am used to doing that in my travels. always much nicer experience in the parks with tourist instead of bumping into other passholders that live there and need to keep reminding you about it

 

[shambolicdefending]

I remembered the monorail pilon effect when it comes to lines and got in one of the lines that ws directly behind the monorail pylon... that one line started splitting up into to once it got passed the monorail pylon. That is something that happens because most people do not realize that there are a couple gates behind those pylons that have no room for a line.

This is the first I've heard of this tactic. I'll have to remember it for our next trip.

 

[Phroobar]

ok so my experience on a Holiday Monday was not as bad as i had feared and stressed over But at the same time it was a very stressful experience.

left the house at 6am from Riverside area and made it to the resort about 6:35. Not bad for a ride on the 91 fwy.

took Katella to Harbor and and got in a long left turn line to go into the Toy Story parking lot. At this time everything was peaceful until i the car in front of me and myself almost got hit by a careless and rude young driver in a suburban full of teenagers. This person felt he didn't have to wait like everyone else and sped up and pushed inside the front car and myself right as the light turned green.
next green ligt he pulled up a few feet and then stopped the line and here came a couple more suburbans full of teenagers. cutting in and ****ing myself and several dozen cars behind me. We later saw them at the security area all wearing Panther jackets for some dance group.

well that whole situation delayed our entering the parking lot which eventually made us miss the five buses that were parked and waiting for guests. Asked a Castmembers how many buses they had running and he said only five and that they hoped to get more to come. No security checks open in the parking lot

Finally made it on a bus and headed to the shuttle drop off. At this time we are stressing already because we have lost quite a few minutes and its already 7am worrying that we will be stuck in security after all that and not make it into park before 8am.
Finally made it to shuttle drop of and the security points are packed with lines stretching almost to the shuttle turn-about in almost every row.
we were dropped off on the far south and notice that the last row has only a handful of people so we get in that lien right away. We have not bags and nothing t stop us but they have no lanes for bagless people.
In front is a man that holds up the line because he has a selfie stick and the conversation goes on for a couple minutes, then there are two ladies with a large handbag that has another bag inside it. They both put them on the table and then wait, security man has to pull the bags out and then go thru all the closed zippers and multiple bags. The stress is building as we could see the entrance lines growing. Finally they moved and walk to metal detectors and then flash their employee bag.

Ok here is a bit of a criticism about this procedure --

1) security very friendly but do not seem to realize that people want to get thru because of this badly implemented boarding group system that requires people to be in park before 8am

2) Why did they just go thru the expense of building security area in Toy Story lot if it sit closed during an extremely busy Holiday weekend? This is just bad management that created huge crowds before security when it wasn't necessary. This also shows the need for the Eastern gateway to move the crowds away from the park entrance to an area that can handle the crowds.

3) Why is there not a designated security check point for the Castmembers so they can go to work without having to deal with the long lines?

4) In regards to Castmembers, why are they not prepared? They know the security rules about handbags and probably go thru this several times a week. The ladies held the line of stressed out people including myself because they had multiple large bags to be checked and they were all sealed and stuffed inside each other.


Finally made it into the esplanade after a very long and stressful event and realized that the lines were huge now and my early wake up might not get me into the park before 8 if the gates do not open soon. We got in line about 7:12 and they were already all packed and passed the center point. I remembered the monorail pilon effect when it comes to lines and got in one of the lines that ws directly behind the monorail pylon and it looked slightly shorter than the other ones and a couple minutes later the gates opened.

As i had thought the line moved fast because that one line started splitting up into to once it got passed the monorail pylon. That is something that happens because most people do not realize that there are a couple gates behind those pylons that have no room for a line. The lined moved quickly and made it into the park by around 7:35 and was a bit more relaxed.

Next step was waiting and those 25 minutes seemed to be the most stressful time of all trying to make sure that a bit of distraction didn't destroy my chances for the boarding pass. Early morning and then hunger and need for coffee kicked in but was worried that my signal would break while in any building. Even a bathroom run was stressful when you are standing inside the building waiting for your turn and you keep hearing announcements outside.

The eerie silence a minute before 8am is quite alarming and then ;loud cheers and sounds of disappointment. Even i thought i would be one of those because the confirmation didn't appear right away but then it was there. The cheers as we walked down Mainstreet with people asking others if they got one was pretty crazy but seeing the disappointment was a bit more depressing. I had hoped i would bumped into the man with the children again and see how it went but at the same time didn't just in case they did not.

I did not see a mass exodus yesterday and actually glad went yesterday. I met quite a few tourist and sat with several throughout the day and gave them ideas of how to enjoy the park. Also managed to help a few lost ones and showed them the ease of using the app.

As a passholder that normally just goes once or maybe two times a month it was great to interact with people that were experiencing the park for their first time in years or just their first time in their life. I enjoy the interaction because i am used to that in my travels always much nicer in the parks then bumping into other passholders that live their and need to remind you about that

That's pretty incredible! The most incredible part was getting from Riverside to the park in 35 minutes on the 91. You must have Express laned it.

 

[flynnibus]

So.. mostly stuff TDA could fix... if they actually prioritized some guest service.

 

[Atomicmickey]

I remembered the monorail pilon effect when it comes to lines and got in one of the lines that ws directly behind the monorail pylon and it looked slightly shorter than the other ones and a couple minutes later the gates opened.

As i had thought the line moved fast because that one line started splitting up into to once it got passed the monorail pylon.

Which Monorail pylon??

 

[Ismael Flores]

Which Monorail pylon??
View attachment 449983

the worst ones are in the right side of the entrance turnstyles. The gates are position in a weird spot to the pylons and to the trees that are between the pylons and the gates. The tree is mostly the cause of the line break issue but the pylon also adds to the mix up.

If people form a line it hits the round garden of the tree and if for some odd reason it manages to curve itself around the pylon cuts it off again. he line can't push its way out during crowded days so the line just abruptly ends most of the time. People in the line next to it for the turnstyle on the right side just split and use both turnstyles.

here is a good view of one of the turnstyles and the pylon blue being the lines and yellow being the split that happens and makes that line move quicker than others

the above picture is this gate

 

[TP2000]

ok so my experience on a Holiday Monday was not as bad as i had feared and stressed over But at the same time it was a very stressful experience.

left the house at 6am from Riverside area and made it to the resort about 6:35. Not bad for a ride on the 91 fwy.

took Katella to Harbor and and got in a long left turn line to go into the Toy Story parking lot. At this time everything was peaceful until i the car in front of me and myself almost got hit by a careless and rude young driver in a suburban full of teenagers. This person felt he didn't have to wait like everyone else and sped up and pushed inside the front car and myself right as the light turned green.
next green ligt he pulled up a few feet and then stopped the line and here came a couple more suburbans full of teenagers. cutting in and ****ing myself and several dozen cars behind me. We later saw them at the security area all wearing Panther jackets for some dance group.

well that whole situation delayed our entering the parking lot which eventually made us miss the five buses that were parked and waiting for guests. Asked a Castmembers how many buses they had running and he said only five and that they hoped to get more to come. No security checks open in the parking lot

Finally made it on a bus and headed to the shuttle drop off. At this time we are stressing already because we have lost quite a few minutes and its already 7am worrying that we will be stuck in security after all that and not make it into park before 8am.
Finally made it to shuttle drop of and the security points are packed with lines stretching almost to the shuttle turn-about in almost every row.
we were dropped off on the far south and notice that the last row has only a handful of people so we get in that lien right away. We have not bags and nothing t stop us but they have no lanes for bagless people.
In front is a man that holds up the line because he has a selfie stick and the conversation goes on for a couple minutes, then there are two ladies with a large handbag that has another bag inside it. They both put them on the table and then wait, security man has to pull the bags out and then go thru all the closed zippers and multiple bags. The stress is building as we could see the entrance lines growing. Finally they moved and walk to metal detectors and then flash their employee bag.

Ok here is a bit of a criticism about this procedure --

1) security very friendly but do not seem to realize that people want to get thru because of this badly implemented boarding group system that requires people to be in park before 8am

2) Why did they just go thru the expense of building security area in Toy Story lot if it sit closed during an extremely busy Holiday weekend? This is just bad management that created huge crowds before security when it wasn't necessary. This also shows the need for the Eastern gateway to move the crowds away from the park entrance to an area that can handle the crowds.

3) Why is there not a designated security check point for the Castmembers so they can go to work without having to deal with the long lines?

4) In regards to Castmembers, why are they not prepared? They know the security rules about handbags and probably go thru this several times a week. The ladies held the line of stressed out people including myself because they had multiple large bags to be checked and they were all sealed and stuffed inside each other.


Finally made it into the esplanade after a very long and stressful event and realized that the lines were huge now and my early wake up might not get me into the park before 8 if the gates do not open soon. We got in line about 7:12 and they were already all packed and passed the center point. I remembered the monorail pilon effect when it comes to lines and got in one of the lines that ws directly behind the monorail pylon and it looked slightly shorter than the other ones and a couple minutes later the gates opened.

As i had thought the line moved fast because that one line started splitting up into to once it got passed the monorail pylon. That is something that happens because most people do not realize that there are a couple gates behind those pylons that have no room for a line. The lined moved quickly and made it into the park by around 7:35 and was a bit more relaxed.

Next step was waiting and those 25 minutes seemed to be the most stressful time of all trying to make sure that a bit of distraction didn't destroy my chances for the boarding pass. Early morning and then hunger and need for coffee kicked in but was worried that my signal would break while in any building. Even a bathroom run was stressful when you are standing inside the building waiting for your turn and you keep hearing announcements outside.

The eerie silence a minute before 8am is quite alarming and then ;loud cheers and sounds of disappointment. Even i thought i would be one of those because the confirmation didn't appear right away but then it was there. The cheers as we walked down Mainstreet with people asking others if they got one was pretty crazy but seeing the disappointment was a bit more depressing. I had hoped i would bumped into the man with the children again and see how it went but at the same time didn't just in case they did not.

I did not see a mass exodus yesterday and actually glad went yesterday. I met quite a few tourist and sat with several throughout the day and gave them ideas of how to enjoy the park. Also managed to help a few lost ones and showed them the ease of using the app.

As a passholder that normally just goes once or maybe two times a month it was great to interact with people that were experiencing the park for their first time in years or just their first time in their life. I enjoy the interaction because i am used to that in my travels always much nicer in the parks then bumping into other passholders that live their and need to remind you about that

Wonderful write up, thank you! Your experience and thoughts on this entire Rise Before Dawn concept mirror mine exactly, unfortunately for both of us.

So.. mostly stuff TDA could fix... if they actually prioritized some guest service.

Exactly. And we even discovered last week via the Pixar Pier thread that there is a TDA Vice President who has the title of being specifically in charge of "Guest Arrival Experience"; Vice President Mr. Finnegan who hosted that hilariously bad Emotional Whirlwind opening ceremony last summer.

So TDA is paying some exec to be in charge of Guest Arrival Experience, which would seem like a brilliant idea when you've got a giant new E Ticket that is completely changing the decades-long precedent on how and when people get to the park in order to be allowed entry to the new ride.

But then the whole Guest Arrival Experience, as experienced firsthand by me and others here, is currently nothing but stress and frustration with a dollop of fear on top. I had a horrible security/turnstile experience on a slow winter weekday (I cut out the entire parking mess by using Lyft), and others have had the same frustrating and stressful experience during this busy holiday weekend all the way from the parking toll booth to a park turnstile.

I would love to see Mr. Finnegan's recent PowerPoint shows on how much he is kicking butt on his Guest Arrival Experience gig, wouldn't you?

Because if Mr. Finnegan wanted to create a frustrating, inefficient and stressful Arrival Experience at sunrise for thousands of high-affinity paying customers each morning, then he's hit it out of the park!

 

[Ismael Flores]

That's pretty incredible! The most incredible part was getting from Riverside to the park in 35 minutes on the 91. You must have Express laned it.

surprisingly i do not but i think the holiday helped ease the traffic since many people were off work. going back home though was bad.

speaking of 91, can't believe the toll cost read $24.95 in the morning from Corona to wherever it ends. Who in their right mind can or would be paying that?

 

[TP2000]

While TDA executives work through their learning curve on how to operate a Guest Arrival Experience, because God knows they've only had 65 years and deep corporate resources to work on that, at least the actual ride inside the park is having a very good day during this very busy holiday week!

Disneyland is open 8am to 11pm today and both parks are very busy with E Ticket wait times in the 60 to 120 minute range. Rise Before Dawn was only delayed by 25 minutes this morning and hasn't had any major breakdowns yet today! Already at Boarding Group 103 at 3pm!

Wait Time for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland - Thrill-Data

Learn what to ride and when with wait times at Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando, Universal Hollywood, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Cedar Point, and more

www.thrill-data.com

 

[Ismael Flores]

SO i forgot to give a bit of what i thought about the ride. I will make it as brief as possible

The ride itself is impressive and massive. The huge rooms really bring out quite an energy of excitement an awe. I was surprised to see the scale and amount of time they took to create the first awe moment as you get off the transport especially since most people spend very minimal time their before being told to move along. It does seem like a couple live storm troopers would add to the experience their though and maybe a bit more of that when in the first corridor.

The interrogation area was great fun for us since a few people got in a bit of trouble. especially when the two lines were called to move over to the color pads and half of the line did not move. It so happens that the wife and child moved forward as directed but the husband and other teenager stayed behind. The father then proceeded to yell at his wife to go back because she wasn't suppose to move. Then the castmember walked towards husband and told him sternly if you had been paying attention instead of staring at your electronic gadget then you would have known i called both lines now move it. The guy actually argued back a bit and the castmember ignored him and said prisoner do not need excuses now get in line and stand up straight. It was hilarious and a couple people thought so too and then they got in trouble. Castmember came back and told them that was between the other prisoner and him and that they needed to be prepared to be questioned. someone then decided to lean back on the wall and that didn't go well he got in toruble for slouching and told to stand up straight. People really seemed to enjoy this back and forth and people got seriously behaved after that.

The rest of the attraction was amazing although i do have to say that the first few rooms before the AT AT could have used a few more interaction with troopers. In my mind their should have been more movement on the ship. Overall though there was so much energetic vibe that it kept the adrenaline going.

I have to admit that i missed quite a few things because i only saw a glimpse of Poe when someone pointed him out. At the moment i was looking at the AT AT massive size and the simulations in the cockpit of the massive vehicles.

Not sure if someone has mentioned it here but the attraction seems to have a B mode for the big Kylo scene where he gets crushed by the ceiling. We didn't see that scene at all or noticed the platform or ceiling where that happens because we were so entertained. What we did see where i think is that scene was a large window with the battle going outside and then Kylo shows up in his ship and sways back and forth trying to hit us. At one point his ship gets hit and that is when are vehicles move on.

The last simulator sequence was great, the drop and movement of the ship is perfect. really makes Star tours feel dated.

The exit, this is another one of those rooms that is massive and amazingly detailed. The amount of work that went into this and its not even visible to the guests walking on the paths of Batuu. I got ff the attraction and had to stay back and admire the work that went into this area. Most people just walk off excited and keep walking out and doubt if they realize how immense this final scene of the experience is. I really recommend people just stop before rushing out and see the beautiful work that WDI and the rest of the construction crew did to this place.

 

[Phroobar]

surprisingly i do not but i think the holiday helped ease the traffic since many people were off work. going back home though was bad.

speaking of 91, can't believe the toll cost read $24.95 in the morning from Corona to wherever it ends. Who in their right mind can or would be paying that?

It's against my religion to pay tolls.

 

[Emmanuel]

As of 5:45pm

Currently calling groups 109-136

 

[Ismael Flores]

As of 8:15 PM calling groups 141 to 151.

Yesterday when I checked the app Around 9:15 PM they were at group 150 didn’t check later on to see if they continued calling or if they stopped at that time

 

[SoCalMort]

here is a good view of one of the turnstyles and the pylon blue being the lines and yellow being the split that happens and makes that line move quicker than othersView attachment 449985

the above picture is this gate

View attachment 449986

By chance/luck I ended up in that line the one time I Rised Before Dawn and it's true! Moved quicker than the others. But whatever you do, don't share this info with anyone or on any public forum...