News Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening reports and using Boarding Groups at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[EPCOT-O.G.]

The boarding group system is a flawed execution of a problematic concept with a massive bias towards repeat visitors and the technologically literate. If it’s going to come down to a lottery, make it fair and open access. Don’t require your guests to have to interpret your own rules... which require arrival prior to the published park opening time, essentially require smartphone and app integration, and being aware of and hitting the right button within an 8 second window.

I saw this happen firsthand back in January. Nice elderly couple, wearing matching tennis type outfits, meandered over to the ride entrance. They were clearly interested in the experience and tried talking to the CM about riding. She couldn’t help, obviously, and tried explaining the reservation system. I could tell they were confused and disappointed but not emotionally so. I feel for people that just want to experience the parks and don’t have the tech savviness or the desire to keep up with the “rat race” aspect of things.

 

[DCBaker]

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10am slots filled in ~40 seconds.

 

[orky8]

Given the state of the BG frenzy, I think a few things need to change. First, it shouldn't be fastest fingers/connections gets the BG. It should be a random lottery. Second, I think they need to pre-assign the lottery process so you know before showing up at DHS whether you will get a ride. Perhaps by say 5PM the day before, you have to enter your party in the lottery and you'll be notified if you receive a BG and what BG you received by say 6PM the day before. Third, for those staying onsite, perhaps with at least an 3-4 night stay, you are should be guaranteed a BG and you can sorta list your days of preference in advance and Disney will assign one to you. This way, you know when you go to DHS, that you will get a ride.

Or just scrap the whole concept altogether and go stand-by only and how long you are willing to wait determines who rides. The problem here is how to prevent people from continually showing up earlier and earlier. I will say, though, as someone with young children, I do not favor this alternative, but at least you can't argue with the equity of such a system.

 

[BlackCauldron]

10am slots filled in ~40 seconds.

major issues this morning. Everyone around me was getting errors saying they weren’t in the park. I kept refreshing and got group 26. Doesn’t look like anything is boarding yet though. Fingers crossed again.

 

[DCBaker]

30 minutes in and groups have not started calling.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I realize that, speaking as someone who’s been fortunate to have been on this ride twice, I am speaking from a place of privilege. But, seeing the headaches involved in trying to successfully get on this ride I am reminded of this:

 

[DCBaker]

10:45am and groups have begun being called.

 

[BlackCauldron]

Wait times at HS are off the hook right now. This is what happens when Rise doesn’t board - there’s not many other places for people to go. Capacity for this small park is also still much to high. There’s no reason that Star Tours should ever have a 45 minute wait on a Monday in September. Was here last Friday and today is markedly more crowded for some reason.

 

[BlackCauldron]

Still only called through group 8. Must be having continued issues.

 

[DCBaker]

No groups called for ~45 minutes. Last group called was 8.

ETA - groups have resumed being called at 12pm with group 9.

 

[Bocabear]

Is this really News/Rumors? Seems like this is just general daily discussion about how soon anyone can get on the ride...
Maybe this should be part of general discussion...

 

[wdwmagic]

Is this really News/Rumors? Seems like this is just general daily discussion about how soon anyone can get on the ride...
Maybe this should be part of general discussion...

Yes, it falls under "News/Rumors/Current Events"

 

[DCBaker]

"Once it came time to load into the vehicle, there was only one escape vehicle. The reason for only one car operation today at Rise of the Resistance is because one of the two elevators in the AT-AT room is not being utilized. We understand that the issue isn’t with the elevator itself, but with the vehicle positioning system.

Essentially, the positioning system is having difficulties transmitting data to confirm vehicle positioning. So while the operation of the elevator would be completely safe, the failsafe kicked in and essentially one “pathway” out of the two pathways used by the ride vehicles is not in use."

More noted below in the spoiler block -

Spoiler

"As you can see in our video below, multiple effects weren’t working and audio ques were missed, including that the Finn audio-animatronic wasn’t functioning and that Kylo Ren was, once again, in B-Mode. Also notable, was that extra ride vehicles were stationed throughout the attraction out of the ride path. It was the worst ride-through of Rise of the Resistance we’ve ever had, and we hope that Disney is able to come up with a solution for the attraction."

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[DCBaker]

2pm slots filled in ~5 seconds. Current groups called up to 19 (2 groups less than yesterday at this time).

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

They’ll never do it, but if you fail to get a BG Disney should give you a Park Hopper for the day

 

[BlackCauldron]

They’ll never do it, but if you fail to get a BG Disney should give you a Park Hopper for the day

Runaway Railway has also gone down at least 3 times today. I’ve now waited for that for a total of 2 hours and still haven’t ridden. Between that and Rise, their downtime has caused inflated lines everywhere else. It’s a miserable day all around here and you can tell a lot of people are very, very cranky. But with no park hoppers, we are stuck here with inflated crowds and broken rides.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

Runaway Railway has also gone down at least 3 times today. I’ve now waited for that for a total of 2 hours and still haven’t ridden. Between that and Rise, their downtime has caused inflated lines everywhere else. It’s a miserable day all around here and you can tell a lot of people are very, very cranky. But with no park hoppers, we are stuck here with inflated crowds and broken rides.

That sounds awful. If I were there now I'd have to think long and hard about visiting HS. I'd guess I'd rank the park experiences as follows based on reliability issues: 1) MK, 2) EPCOT, 3) AK, 4) Lounging at a relatively empty and tranquil resort, 5) HS.

On a side note, I love your screen name. I did not get into that story until after I missed the theatrical release (when I played the Sierra video game). We visited WDW a year or two later and asked a poor CM in a Kodak photography store if they had it on VHS, or when it might be coming out. I still remember him calling a bunch of numbers to find out this information. I was like 9, I knew no better. I still feel for him, trying (vainly! - it wouldn't receive a release until 1998). Still enjoyed eating at Gurgi's.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

This is making me super anxious about our trip next week. We booked DHS on a weekday hoping it wouldn't be as crowded as the weekend but it appears its still busy during the week. the long lines coupled with no FP and reduced hours and most people aren't even going to be able to do half the things they want to do. Thinking our DHS day we will take a midday break!

 

[Unbanshee]

That sounds awful. If I were there now I'd have to think long and hard about visiting HS. I'd guess I'd rank the park experiences as follows based on reliability issues: 1) MK, 2) EPCOT, 3) AK, 4) Lounging at a relatively empty and tranquil resort, 5) HS.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

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[gerarar]

I’ve been saying it for weeks now — the missing audio cues and soundtrack leading up to the big reveal is probably the worst thing that could happen to Rise. It’s really the only thing that a B-mode can’t fix, so that should honestly be a priority to fix. Really sad to see it still present after almost a month of plaguing various ride-throughs.