News Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Standby Line and Boarding Groups at Disney's Hollywood Studios

BlindChow

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
Joel said:
Hey all! Apologies in advance for the lengthy post.

My sister and I were at the World in December and did RotR on the 9th. We followed this thread (and similar ones on other WDW forums) religiously leading up to it. Needless to say, these discussions were immensely helpful, so thanks!

After our trip, I only occasionally checked back in on this thread to see what the latest mayhem was. But lately I've been wondering to what extent our collective assumptions about how the app appears to work from the user interface side mesh with what's actually going on behind the scenes (the communication between the app and Disney's servers).

So I used Fiddler (a Web debugging tool) to examine the HTTP requests made by the app on my iPhone SE, and here's what I found:
  • The app makes two API calls that determine whether the all-important Join Boarding Group button is enabled:
    • getQueues: Called when the app is first loaded and may be called when you tap the Find Out More button.
    • getPositions: May be called when you tap the My Status button or do a pulldown refresh on the Boarding Status page.
  • The responses returned by these calls are identical for the purpose of joining a BG (getPositions has a couple of extra fields that only contain data after you actually join a BG), but it's important that they're actually separate API calls, because...
  • Notice how I said "may be called"? That's because each of these API calls is limited to one request every 60 seconds, no matter how many times you hit the buttons or refresh the status page, unless...
  • If you force quit and reopen the app, it'll immediately be able to make both API calls again.
How can we use this information to increase our likelihood of success with the boarding group process? Here, in my mind, are the key takeaways:
  • It's absolutely imperative that you have both API calls at your disposal the moment the virtual queue is opened. This means not wasting either of them during the 60 seconds leading up to it.

    How do you do this? I recommend making sure you're on the home screen of the app at least a couple of minutes beforehand and not tapping anything until it's time. This is the most crucial step in the Demarke method (besides getting into the park before opening, I guess).
  • If the Find Out More and My Status buttons both fail to present you with an enabled Join Boarding Group button, your immediate next step should be to force close and reopen the app. Refreshing the status page or going back and tapping through the buttons again will do nothing for the next 60 seconds, whereas with reloading the app you probably lose about 10 seconds max.
  • Using a clock that's as accurate as possible (assuming that Disney's servers themselves have reasonably accurate clocks) is essential. You definitely don't want to waste both of the API calls because your phone's clock was a few seconds fast. Here are a couple of options for avoiding this:
    • Anytime between entering the park and loading the MDE app to wait for the virtual queue to open, go into your phone's date and time settings, disable the option for setting the time automatically, and then reenable it. This should cause your phone to resync its clock.
    • After making sure the MDE app is on the home screen and ready to go, open your Web browser to a site like Time.is that's synced with an atomic clock. Depending on how fast you are at switching between apps, switch back to the MDE app a half second or so before the virtual queue opens and start tapping those buttons.

      One thing I like about this method is that you can see the seconds, which you don't get from the clock in the corner of your phone. Also, with a newer iPhone or Android with gesture navigation, swiping to the previously used app is really quick and easy.
Of course, there's always the chance of being tripped up by something beyond your control (random connection failure or phone/app glitch), but hopefully this information can help you stack the deck in your favor as much as possible.

Thanks for reading!
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I just want to say, thanks for doing this (and taking the time to type it up)!

I've been following this thread for a few weeks (mostly for ride status updates), but it's been awhile since we've actually learned anything new about the boarding group process. It's much appreciated.
 
disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
We stopped directly after the cannon room before the Finn transmission. First time I have ever stopped mid ride so I got to hear the spiel from Bek trying to encourage R5 to get back up and running. We were only stopped maybe 20-30 seconds and I feel if that was your first time on the ride you would never know that wasn’t part of the ride since it was mid scene transition. Even on my 18th ride I got to see something new today 😍
 
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KevinPage

KevinPage

Well-Known Member
disneygeek90 said:
We stopped directly after the cannon room before the Finn transmission. First time I have ever stopped mid ride so I got to hear the spiel from Bek trying to encourage R5 to get back up and running. We were only stopped maybe 20-30 seconds and I feel if that was your first time on the ride you would never know that wasn’t part of the ride based on where we stopped. Even on my 18th ride I got to see something new today 😍
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that as AFTER this we had something new as well

there was maybe a 5 second delay loading into the final escape elevator, so Finn starts talking about override codes and to not worry. The delay was timed perfectly that it sounded like it was part of the ride
 
gerarar

gerarar

Premium Member
disneygeek90 said:
We stopped directly after the cannon room before the Finn transmission. First time I have ever stopped mid ride so I got to hear the spiel from Bek trying to encourage R5 to get back up and running. We were only stopped maybe 20-30 seconds and I feel if that was your first time on the ride you would never know that wasn’t part of the ride based on where we stopped. Even on my 18th ride I got to see something new today 😍
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Did you get the chance to look behind you if the cannons were still moving or if the windows were still displaying moving ships and stuff.

It would be interesting what's the programmed mode while there is a slight "stall" in the ride.
 
disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
gerarar said:
Did you get the chance to look behind you if the cannons were still moving or if the windows were still displaying moving ships and stuff.

It would be interesting what's the programmed mode while there is a slight "stall" in the ride.
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No I didn’t think to look for that! I was too interested in the Bek/R5 interaction. Now I wish I had thought to turn around and look!

KevinPage said:
Funny you mention that as AFTER this we had something new as well

there was maybe a 5 second delay loading into the final escape elevator, so Finn starts talking about override codes and to not worry. The delay was timed perfectly that it sounded like it was part of the ride
Click to expand...
All the extra dialogue accounting for any delays is super cool, and even seems dependent on where you are in the ride to make it fit seamlessly. Those details are delicious.
 
Fleckdog

Fleckdog

Member
disneygeek90 said:
Well, thankfully I appeared on the app this morning. Luckily today was a solo trip because it only showed one random friend on my list today. Come on, MDE. Anyone else experiencing a lack of all friends populating?
View attachment 454680
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Yes same thing happened on a dry run at home today. Only I appeared for the first time ever. The weird thing was when it switched to backup groups everyone else then appeared in my Family and Friends list today. Glitchy day for sure.
 
disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
Fleckdog said:
Yes same thing happened on a dry run at home today. Only I appeared for the first time ever. The weird thing was when it switched to backup groups everyone else then appeared in my Family and Friends list today. Glitchy day for sure.
Click to expand...
It’s scary if we throw the possibility of friends not appearing (or even yourself) into the mix.
 
S

skiir97

Well-Known Member
gerarar said:
Did you get the chance to look behind you if the cannons were still moving or if the windows were still displaying moving ships and stuff.

It would be interesting what's the programmed mode while there is a slight "stall" in the ride.
Click to expand...

If you watch a 360 POV of the ride, literally 1 second after the second vehicle passes the last screen, the scene resets. If you were to look behind you, you would just see open space (no action).
 
D

DisneyPirate123

Member
KevinPage said:
Group was called before can even walk over and by time we got there it’s already down 🤬😳🙄
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Is there anyway to check if the ride is down before you walk ALL THE WAY over to RoR for your BG time?

(Like if you’re in line for MMRR and your BG return window is ending...before you leave the MMRR line can you check if RoR is down on the app somehow?)
 
disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
DisneyPirate123 said:
Is there anyway to check if the ride is down before you walk ALL THE WAY over to RoR for your BG time?

(Like if you’re in line for MMRR and your BG return window is ending...before you leave the MMRR line can you check if RoR is down on the app somehow?)
Click to expand...
The only way you can really tell is by seeing the last number called “stuck” for 10+ minutes. I’ve never had any sort of push notification regarding the status of the ride other than when I’m called.

If you talk to CM’s when it’s down they’ll just tell you to look for the number to move and you’ll know it’s open again.
 

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