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

[disneygeek90]

Wanted to drop my experience from yesterday in this thread. We used the "refresh" method above and while it worked really well on Saturday (group 15), it DID NOT work yesterday and never gave the "Join Boarding Group" option. Once we backed out of the screen it worked but we were given group 96 (backups were 97 and above)

This is what scares me with the refresh. When it works, it's great. But when it doesn't work, it really doesn't.

If you have multiple phones I think it's worth trying but with one person holding all the pressure the scratch open is much safer.

 

[DennisN]

Right. The difference of group 12 or group 27 is miniscule all things considered. The difference from 27 to 92, not so much.

I had 39 with the "refresh" method. Was that terrible? Obviously not. But with the app open at 7 I have group 31, 17, 18, 57, 20, 8 and to me seems "safer."

Right. The difference of group 12 or group 27 is miniscule all things considered. The difference from 27 to 92, not so much.

I had 39 with the "refresh" method. Was that terrible? Obviously not. But with the app open at 7 I have group 31, 17, 18, 57, 20, 8 and to me seems "safer."

Having all the experience from this forum was valuable to me. It's best, if you can, to have 2+ people trying and using different methods.

 

[Unplugged]

The entire boarding group process seems to be failing miserably. Having to be in the park before it opens so you can grab a group that may not ride at all is the dumbest process ever. If they want to keep pushing FP+ through the rest of the parks, then do so and apply it to this attraction as well. Personally, I don't like the FP+ process either, but at least guests have some idea as to how busy an attraction is in advance so they can opt to do something else if they choose. This group process is a joke at best and shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Does anyone know how early the buses at Shades of Green have been starting out in the morning?

 

[DisneyJoe]

The entire boarding group process seems to be failing miserably. Having to be in the park before it opens so you can grab a group that may not ride at all is the dumbest process ever. If they want to keep pushing FP+ through the rest of the parks, then do so and apply it to this attraction as well. Personally, I don't like the FP+ process either, but at least guests have some idea as to how busy an attraction is in advance so they can opt to do something else if they choose. This group process is a joke at best and shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time.

A combination of FP+ and standby would be just as bad, if not worse, with the current operating status of this attraction and how often it breaks down.

Having a FP+ would not guarantee you a ride either if the ride breaks down for 7 hours - and even without a breakdown that long it could create standby/FP+ lines out onto Grant Ave.

 

[disneygeek90]

The entire boarding group process seems to be failing miserably. Having to be in the park before it opens so you can grab a group that may not ride at all is the dumbest process ever. If they want to keep pushing FP+ through the rest of the parks, then do so and apply it to this attraction as well. Personally, I don't like the FP+ process either, but at least guests have some idea as to how busy an attraction is in advance so they can opt to do something else if they choose. This group process is a joke at best and shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time.

The ride is not stable enough in it's current form to guarantee times via FP+ or accommodate several hour standby queues. I don't know how that's not obvious at this point.

 

[MJJME]

Interested to see if crowds die down a bit this week

why would crowds be lower? just the time of the year?

 

[ThistleMae]

I'm hoping to ride, but I'm not going to stress myself out over it. I have a FP for SDD, which I've never been on. I'm excited just to ride this. I will try for a BG, get up super early, bring my coffee with me and stand in line. If I don't get a BG, I'll ride SDD and leave.

 

[DCBaker]

Some ups and downs this morning - current groups called at 12:30 are 41-62.

 

[KevinPage]

This has been discussed multiple times in multiple posts by @disneygeek90, myself and others but I feel obligated to reiterate what what works best (so far) to get a good/early boarding pass.

I’ve done the BG process 13x, but 5x under the current lottery system (with great results 4 out of the 5 times). I’ve had parties ranging from 1-5 people & obtained 25, 21, 131, 13, 28, 22.

1. Get into the park BEFORE 7am. That doesn’t mean 6:58 or 6:55, that means as close to 6:30 as possible. Why? We know MDE is a bit wonky and with so many people having to synch and recognize that their band has been scanned, I have no proof, but mildly strong suspicion, that the more lead time you give it, the better. (The day I had issues I got in at 6:52am)

2. As long as you have a good cellular signal, turn off blue tooth, WIFI, close out all programs/apps, & restart your phone. Don’t tweet, Instagram or play any games. Chat with another human being and have the entire power of your phone dedicated to loading MDE when the time calls for it.

3. Prior to getting in the park (and again once I get in), I make sure that the MY STATUS button is RED in MDE. Join Boarding Group should be grayed out but the 1 and only time I had an issue (and got 131), both buttons were grayed out as I entered the park and never turned red until I opened and closed the app 4-5x. Cost me 2 minutes before I could grab one.

4. Ignore the people around you being in MDE before 7am. Ignore the constant Disney announcements about the BG’s. Especially ignore the announcement that Disney loves to do at 6:59am, which I’m sure causes legions of people to start pounding the app.

5. HOLD OFF AND WAIT UNTIL YOUR PHONE CHANGES TO 7am. Unless someone needs CPR, ignore them. 2 minutes prior to 7am, I let my kids know to cease with the questions and requests as they will be ignored.

Then click to open app (from SCRATCH/FRESH).

If Disney’s servers are not delayed the JOIN BOARDING GROUP icon red, click, add party and then CONTINUE.

I have never done the My Status and bounced back and forth in the app. If JOING BOARDING GROUP is not red, I fully close the app and reload it.

Good luck

Yes I’m gonna quote myself (for my next feat I’ll reference myself in the 3rd person )

Let’s put this into a sports metaphor.

The fresh from scratch wait til 7am “almost” guarantees you’ll finish the race in 2nd or 3rd place.

Jumping the gun (being in the app and refreshing) MAY get you into 1st place but also runs the risk of coming in 10th place (or worst case scenario) being disqualified (not getting a BG).

So when the difference between 1st, 2nd or 3rd is essentially meaningless to negligible, I’m gonna go with the most possible chance to guarantee results

#TeamFresh
#TeamScratch
#DontClickEarly

 

[flynnibus]

Personally, I don't like the FP+ process either, but at least guests have some idea as to how busy an attraction is in advance so they can opt to do something else if they choose. This group process is a joke at best and shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time.

You contradict yourself... nothing else needs to be added.

 

[scottieRoss]

The entire boarding group process seems to be failing miserably. Having to be in the park before it opens so you can grab a group that may not ride at all is the dumbest process ever. If they want to keep pushing FP+ through the rest of the parks, then do so and apply it to this attraction as well. Personally, I don't like the FP+ process either, but at least guests have some idea as to how busy an attraction is in advance so they can opt to do something else if they choose. This group process is a joke at best and shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time.

The boarding group process is not "failing miserably". It is actually working exactly as planned. It controls the flow of people into the queue.
In a culture of First Come, First Served, the boarding groups are a great way to manage the queue. If you are willing to get there before park opening, you will get a boarding group. Even if they used another method, like FP+and/or standby lines, you would have the same opportunities to do something else. With a FP+ return time, you still would not be guaranteed to ride due to the attraction's frequent downtimes.
You have not given any facts to back up why this "is a joke" or how it "shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time". In fact, by allowing guests to ride other attractions in Hollywood studios or other parks including with FP+, it is, in fact, showing "great respect for paying cutomers' time"

 

[Lmazzola]

We just realized that we're missing two magic bands that we were going to reuse for our trip this year, but we do have real tickets from a trip that we could use. Anyone have any experience with entering HS using a ticket instead of a magic band?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

We just realized that we're missing two magic bands that we were going to reuse for our trip this year, but we do have real tickets from a trip that we could use. Anyone have any experience with entering HS using a ticket instead of a magic band?

I always use my physical annual pass. I don’t like wearing the magic bands. I also ask for a traditional hotel key card at the resorts.

 

[Aschwenker]

We just realized that we're missing two magic bands that we were going to reuse for our trip this year, but we do have real tickets from a trip that we could use. Anyone have any experience with entering HS using a ticket instead of a magic band?

Your magic band and your ticket both tie back to your My Disney Experience account or your placeholder account if someone else manages your account for you. You can use them interchangeably. In fact, I have a magicband that, for whatever reason, will not work at the touchpoints but works fine for Fast Passes and PhotoPass. When I wear that one, I have to use my Annual Pass card for entry.

You can also use any magicband attached to your account regardless of when you got it. Occasionally I still rock my OG one from 2014.

As a slightly off-topic aside, My Disney Experience will also take whatever ticket is most advantageous to you even if you used a different ticket for entry. Case in point, my sister's boyfriend had a one-day comp that expired on 12/31/19 and a regular one-day that was supposed to expire on 12/31/30 but actually expired on 12/30/19 (when he bought it) for some reason. He scanned in on 12/30/19 with the comp ticket but the system marked his regular one-day as used instead because the comp ticket was valid longer than the regular one. We got it figured out, but I was not aware the system could (or would) do that. Shout out to MK GR for fixing that!

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

why would crowds be lower? just the time of the year?

Historically it's supposed to be a less crowded this time of year, until around mid March. But it seems predicting Disney crowds anymore is darn near impossible.

 

[aladdin2007]

The boarding group process is not "failing miserably". It is actually working exactly as planned. It controls the flow of people into the queue.
In a culture of First Come, First Served, the boarding groups are a great way to manage the queue. If you are willing to get there before park opening, you will get a boarding group. Even if they used another method, like FP+and/or standby lines, you would have the same opportunities to do something else. With a FP+ return time, you still would not be guaranteed to ride due to the attraction's frequent downtimes.
You have not given any facts to back up why this "is a joke" or how it "shows a complete lack of respect for paying customers time". In fact, by allowing guests to ride other attractions in Hollywood studios or other parks including with FP+, it is, in fact, showing "great respect for paying cutomers' time"

I think its wrong to require you to have to be there before park opening as the only chance to experience an attraction. So while the process may or may not be failing etc, I agree with the posters sentiments and feel the same way. It's getting much too complicated and restrictive. Maybe its a way to ditch passholders, I for one am not going to keep paying for one if I have to be there at the crack of dawn to even attempt to do attractions on a pain in the whatever app. So maybe its just the final push to oust people for crowd control.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Historically it's supposed to be a less crowded this time of year, until around mid March. But it seems predicting Disney crowds anymore is darn near impossible.

This Saturday, epcot felt like New Years level crowds. Maybe that was because more people were in the paths to see the art, but the park was definitely very crowded. So it’s not just studios.

 

[disneygeek90]

I think its wrong to require you to have to be there before park opening as the only chance to experience an attraction. So while the process may or may not be failing etc, I agree with the posters sentiments and feel the same way. It's getting much too complicated and restrictive. Maybe its a way to ditch passholders, I for one am not going to keep paying for one if I have to be there at the crack of dawn to even attempt to do attractions on a pain in the whatever app. So maybe its just the final push to oust people for crowd control.

I don't really get this, but okay. Why would you give up an Annual Pass because you have to be at a park at open to ride one attraction? You were an AP before that ride was open, so it shouldn't make a difference to you if you don't think the attraction is worth putting in a little extra effort.

 

[sixbagelboy]

I think its wrong to require you to have to be there before park opening as the only chance to experience an attraction. So while the process may or may not be failing etc, I agree with the posters sentiments and feel the same way. It's getting much too complicated and restrictive. Maybe its a way to ditch passholders, I for one am not going to keep paying for one if I have to be there at the crack of dawn to even attempt to do attractions on a pain in the whatever app. So maybe its just the final push to oust people for crowd control.

You make some good points, but if you were in charge, what would you do differently to ensure it is fair to everyone (especially passholders which is your main concern).