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

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
The only other time I remember them not requiring a finger scan was opening day because they wanted to clear the traffic jam of people really quickly.
What a mess. I appreciate having a boarding group that isn’t a backup (after pleading my case to guest services), but this screwed over the majority of the first hundreds (maybe thousands) of guests to enter. Lottery for the early groups, fine; blocked out of a proper boarding group entirely, not cool.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Nobody finger scanned, but 3 of our 6 were registered in. So, can’t imagine that was the issue. 3 who got in got group 31. At GET our other 3 got 100. Went to guest services and got put together in 31.

91 is the first backup group, so I’m thinking when the issue was identified they moved up the backup start.

Looks like a ton of GET and Guest Relations got called in because they are everywhere.

Someone in IT is going to be putting in some overtime.
 
The only other time I remember them not requiring a finger scan was opening day because they wanted to clear the traffic jam of people really quickly.

Forgive the n00b question, but how does WDW know the pass is mine by reading my finger if I’ve never given them that data before? Not an AP holder, purchased a ticket online and got my magic band in the mail.

Hope they hammer this issue out soon! That sounds like a horrible experience for everyone who got up early :/
 
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DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
Wait so you were there at what time? Early right.

And instead of getting normal boarding group because of the server breakdown you ended up with Backup Boarding Group?
Yep, was at the park by 4:05. First in line at my tapstyle. One of the first into Galaxy’s Edge. And was checking the app constantly from well before 6am through my first ride on Smuggler’s Run. After all that time, the app still didn’t recognize me as in the park, despite many hard refreshes. Guest services assigned me a backup group (105) at around 6:40. I spoke to someone else and negotiated a guaranteed ride: group 70.

I understand today was a tough day but wouldn’t have been happy taking a backup group after pulling an all-nighter and doing everything that would’ve scored a guaranteed ride until today.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Forgive the n00b question, but how does WDW know the pass is mine by reading my finger if I’ve never given them that data before? Not an AP holder, purchased a ticket online and got my magic band in the mail.

Hope the hammer this issue out soon! That sounds like a horrible experience for everyone who got up early :/
The first time you use your chosen pass your fingerprint is scanned at the gate (using the usual method) and assigned to your pass.
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
I would go back to Guest Services when things have calmed down a little bit and explain that you were there at 4:05 am. If you have a picture with a time stamp on it or even a screen capture of your post on here at 4:05 as proof.

At the very least they should give you a Park Hopper ticket or maybe even a RotR Fastpass.

But I would wait till things have calmed down cause they are probably bombarded right now.
Not a bad idea - it was the photographic evidence (front of the line, a 4:24am time stamp, etc.) that probably made it possible for me to move my group at all.

Overall, I’d bet today’s experience was irritating for a lot of people, but hopefully they’ll be able to troubleshoot whatever went wrong this morning.
 

gerarar

Premium Member
Solo'in the parks today as the rest of my family rests back at the hotel.

Kinda forgot about the 6am opening today, but hope I get to ride it today!
Screenshot_20191226-074126_Disney World.jpg


Signs were already out in front saying groups were gone, which made me mad at myself. But it seems backups are still available..
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
Solo'in the parks today as the rest of my family rests back at the hotel.

Kinda forgot about the 6am opening today, but hope I get to ride it today!
View attachment 436329

Signs were already out in front saying groups were gone, which made me mad at myself. But it seems backups are still available..
No need to be too sad - most of the guests who arrived between 4-5am got saddled with backup groups too!
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
Yes, really. The earliest wave of guests couldn’t access boarding groups upon opening at 6. There was no reaction of success - just a bunch of people saying “not yet!” and “it says I’m not in the park!” The silence was bizarre. Many of us figured the issue would resolve itself after a few minutes and continued refreshing the app; it never did, hence the ridiculous lines for guest experience CMs.

I’d bet many of the early boarding groups went to people outside that earliest wave, with the only exception being those who immediately went to guest services.
 

scottieRoss

Well-Known Member
Disney is really good at making the customer happy.

My last day in Orlando, I rope dropped for ROTR and then when I went to scan my band at 6:50 am there was a problem because my AP had expired the day before. So they sent me to guest services and the lady was nice enough to give me a one-day park hopper even though there was no reason to. I was out of there and back in the park by 6:57 am to get my boarding pass.
I had the same experience, almost.
In MDE one place said my pass expired 12/24 and in the profile said my pass expired on 12/25. I called Guest Services before I left home to confirm and they said it expired 12/24 but passes have an extra day so that it would be good on 12/25. kept checking it every day and had a countdown of park days left until 12/25. It even let me make fastpasses on 12/25. Fast forward to yesterday morning and my husband got in line for rope drop and I headed straight to guest services to confirm my admission. Nope it was expired. But when he saw the screen the showed 12/25 he added a one-day parkhopper. Sure enough at the tapstyle, it took from the parkhopper and still showed 1 day left of annual pass. But about 5pm, it all changed and showed pass expired on 12/24. So there was a definite bug in their software, but Guest SErvices was great with the one-day ticket so all ended well.
 

scottieRoss

Well-Known Member
I had the same experience, almost.
In MDE one place said my pass expired 12/24 and in the profile said my pass expired on 12/25. I called Guest Services before I left home to confirm and they said it expired 12/24 but passes have an extra day so that it would be good on 12/25. kept checking it every day and had a countdown of park days left until 12/25. It even let me make fastpasses on 12/25. Fast forward to yesterday morning and my husband got in line for rope drop and I headed straight to guest services to confirm my admission. Nope it was expired. But when he saw the screen the showed 12/25 he added a one-day parkhopper. Sure enough at the tapstyle, it took from the parkhopper and still showed 1 day left of annual pass. But about 5pm, it all changed and showed pass expired on 12/24. So there was a definite bug in their software, but Guest SErvices was great with the one-day ticket so all ended well.
And Rise of the Resistance rocked both days. Loved it!
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
Disney is really good at making the customer happy.

My last day in Orlando, I rope dropped for ROTR and then when I went to scan my band at 6:50 am there was a problem because my AP had expired the day before. So they sent me to guest services and the lady was nice enough to give me a one day park hopper even though there was no reason to. I was out of there and back in the park by 6:57 am to get my boarding pass.
Thank you so much! Your advice was spot on - I paid one more visit to guest services and boom:

98A20916-CAE4-4312-BF9B-3E641B213AEE.png
 

KevinPage

Well-Known Member
As a Silver AP I can’t return until January 2, and I want to (as need to get our little one on for the first time), but the idea of app not working and then having to go to Guest Relations to plead my case, seems like an (necessary) annoyance.

When is it exactly that all you out of towners leave? 😂😜🤩😎
 

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