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

D

DCBaker

Premium Member
lentesta

lentesta

Premium Member
DCBaker said:
I use cellular.

Here's an excellent article from @lentesta that is worth reading so you can decide for yourself.

touringplans.com

We Tested Wi-Fi and Cell Service for Rise of the Resistance Boarding Groups at Disney’s Hollywood Studios | TouringPlans.com Blog

A frequent question we're getting is whether people should use their cell phone carrier or Disney Wi-Fi when attempting
touringplans.com touringplans.com
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think resetting your phone and closing all other apps is probably also a good idea.
 
Joel

Joel

Well-Known Member
Warning: Most of this information is now (thankfully) obsolete.

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. Update: Also may be called ~3 minutes after app load and every 6 minutes thereafter (see this post for more details).
  • 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 approximately two 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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D

DCBaker

Premium Member
KevinPage said:
2. Last week Join Boarding Group did not turn red, so I clicked My Status and then Join Boarding Group turned blue and allowed me to join from that 2nd screen. But you feel that if you don’t get Join immediately after clicking Find Out More, you should force close the app? Clearly my success flies in the face of this recommendation, if I’m understanding this correctly?
Click to expand...

I've also experienced this - no immediately join button, but as soon as I hit "My Status", the screen that then comes up has Join Boarding Group lit up and I entered the boarding group no problem.
 
MrHappy

MrHappy

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!
Click to expand...
Bullets and sub-bullets.....



Nice work bro
 
KevinPage

KevinPage

Well-Known Member
DCBaker said:
I've also experienced this - no immediately join button, but as soon as I hit "My Status", the screen that then comes up has Join Boarding Group lit up and I entered the boarding group no problem.
Click to expand...

I deleted my post cause I realized I misread the explanation. The 2nd request is made in that screen, so if it still doesn’t show there, THEN you force close the app to reset the 60 second timer.

What’s most 😱 about this is that if Disney’s internal clock is .5-1 second slower then your phone clock, you could actually be at a disadvantage for having a fast finger. 🤯
 
Joel

Joel

Well-Known Member
KevinPage said:
Couple of things I want to make sure I’m correct on and a question on:

1. So it is super important to load app say 2-3 minutes before 8am (or stated park opening) and SIT on the initial FIND OUT MORE screen. Using your two 60 second API’s doesn’t start until you click FIND OUT MORE? If so, and you check 30 seconds before (by clicking it), then you are essentially SOL unless you force close the app and reload it
Click to expand...
Thanks for asking for clarification on this. I probably could have explained it better.

The getQueues call is first made when the app is initially loaded, whether you click the Find Out More button (or anything else) or not. This means that you don't want to wait until, say, 30 seconds before the queue opens to load the app. After it loads, it automatically calls getQueues, which then can't be called for another 60 seconds. So tapping Find Out More does nothing, and only the call to getPositions made by tapping My Status has any effect.

On the other hand, if you follow the Demarke method, the call to getQueues is made plenty ahead of time that the 60 second timeout has expired before the queue opens. So when you tap Find Out More in this scenario, the getQueues call is actually made.

KevinPage said:
2. Last week Join Boarding Group did not turn red, so I clicked My Status and then Join Boarding Group turned blue and allowed me to join from that 2nd screen. But you feel that if you don’t get Join immediately after clicking Find Out More, you should force close the app? Clearly my success flies in the face of this recommendation, if I’m understanding this correctly?
Click to expand...
No, it's only after tapping the My Status button and that Join button not being enabled that you should do a force close. You did exactly what you should have in this situation. If the second Join button had failed, then you need to reload the app.

KevinPage said:
Thanks for the fascinating breakdown. I can’t say I’m gonna disable and reenable my auto clock as I’ve consistently obtained low BG’s (knock on wood). But this API business I’d like to know more of 🤩🤩🤩
Click to expand...
Syncing your clock is something you generally shouldn't have to worry about too much, as your phone should automatically sync every so often (though how often it is for iPhone or Android, I don't know). Clock sync issues will only really bite you if your phone's clock is significantly fast.
 
KevinPage

KevinPage

Well-Known Member
Joel said:
Thanks for asking for clarification on this. I probably could have explained it better.

The getQueues call is first made when the app is initially loaded, whether you click the Find Out More button (or anything else) or not. This means that you don't want to wait until, say, 30 seconds before the queue opens to load the app. After it loads, it automatically calls getQueues, which then can't be called for another 60 seconds. So tapping Find Out More does nothing, and only the call to getPositions made by tapping My Status has any effect.

On the other hand, if you follow the Demarke method, the call to getQueues is made plenty ahead of time that the 60 second timeout has expired before the queue opens. So when you tap Find Out More in this scenario, the getQueues call is actually made.


No, it's only after tapping the My Status button and that Join button not being enabled that you should do a force close. You did exactly what you should have in this situation. If the second Join button had failed, then you need to reload the app.


Syncing your clock is something you generally shouldn't have to worry about too much, as your phone should automatically sync every so often (though how often it is for iPhone or Android, I don't know). Clock sync issues will only really bite you if your phone's clock is significantly fast.
Click to expand...

So naturally even more follow ups 😂

1. I’m guessing it’s a software thing that tells your phone to place the initial GetQueues on loading of the app & not again until Find Out More is clicked?

2. Assuming you load the app at least 60+ seconds prior to park opening/clicking Find Out More, is there a specific (or litany) of reason(s) why Join Boarding Group would not be red? And why it would not be clickable on the next screen (after hitting My Status)?

3. For people who load app from scratch at park opening, if the GetQueues happens at startup, those people should (theoretically) not be able to Join a boarding group after clicking Find Out More and would need to click My Status (but that clearly has not been an issue)

4. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of loading MDE and sitting on home screen 15 minutes prior as opposed to only 2-3 minutes prior to park opening? I didn’t know if there’s anything going on in the background that could help or hinder this process.

Can API calls be getting made even if you are not doing anything after loading the app?

5. Would you recommend pausing a half a second after it hits park opening to click buttons, to assume for any potential issue of Disney’s clock being slow? Or would the normal human delay between hand/eye coordination offset this?

Thanks 🤩🤩🤩
 
Joel

Joel

Well-Known Member
KevinPage said:
1. I’m guessing it’s a software thing that tells your phone to place the initial GetQueues on loading of the app & not again until Find Out More is clicked?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's just the way the app has been written, as far as I can tell.

KevinPage said:
2. Assuming you load the app at least 60+ seconds prior to park opening/clicking Find Out More, is there a specific (or litany) of reason(s) why Join Boarding Group would not be red? And why it would not be clickable on the next screen (after hitting My Status)?
Click to expand...
Assuming your phone, the app, your network connection, and Disney's servers are all working properly? Not that I can see.

KevinPage said:
3. For people who load app from scratch at park opening, if the GetQueues happens at startup, those people should (theoretically) not be able to Join a boarding group after clicking Find Out More and would need to click My Status (but that clearly has not been an issue
Click to expand...
There is nothing different about the getQueues call that's made at startup versus after tapping Find Out More. What happens behind the scenes (or at least my best guess without access to the source code) is that anytime the app makes the getQueues (or getPositions, for that matter) request and receives a response from the server, it updates its internal state related to the virtual queue. Then after you hit Find Out More, the Join button is either enabled or not depending on this internal state, no matter what triggered it to change.

So as long as the app makes the initial getQueues call after the queue opens, it will still cause the Join button to be red, as we have seen. That being said, I don't think it's a good idea to wait until opening time (or a few seconds before) to load the app because you're just adding in extra variables and chances for failure during what is obviously the most crucial time.

KevinPage said:
4. Is there any advantage or disadvantage of loading MDE and sitting on home screen 15 minutes prior as opposed to only 2-3 minutes prior to park opening? I didn’t know if there’s anything going on in the background that could help or hinder this process.

Can API calls be getting made even if you are not doing anything after loading the app?
Click to expand...
From what I have seen, no BG-related API calls (after the initial getQueues call) are made by just sitting on the home screen. You could have had the app open all week and it should function the same as if you had just loaded it fresh three minutes before opening. This turns out not to be true!

I've had enough random bugs/crashes in the MDE app that I would still recommend people restart their phones anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes ahead of time just to start somewhat fresh. But I don't see anything wrong with immediately loading the app after that.

KevinPage said:
5. Would you recommend pausing a half a second after it hits park opening to click buttons, to assume for any potential issue of Disney’s clock being slow? Or would the normal human delay between hand/eye coordination offset this?
Click to expand...
I've done some unscientific testing of Disney's server time (based on the Date header returned in the API call responses), and it seems to be pretty accurate.

As long as you don't jump the gun by more than a second or so, you'll probably at least be able to join after tapping My Status. I think that what I would recommend for those who want to be overly cautious (especially if they only have one shot to do Rise) is that if the Join button isn't enabled after tapping Find Out More, wait a second or two for safety before tapping My Status. You'll possibly end up with a higher BG than you could have, but it'll probably be significantly lower than if you have to force reload the app. It's really a matter of risk/reward.

KevinPage said:
Thanks 🤩🤩🤩
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
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disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
Joel said:
Yeah, that's just the way the app has been written, as far as I can tell.


Assuming your phone, the app, your network connection, and Disney's servers are all working properly? Not that I can see.


There is nothing different about the getQueues call that's made at startup versus after tapping Find Out More. What happens behind the scenes (or at least my best guess without access to the source code) is that anytime the app makes the getQueues (or getPositions, for that matter) request and receives a response from the server, it updates its internal state related to the virtual queue. Then after you hit Find Out More, the Join button is either enabled or not depending on this internal state, no matter what triggered it to change.

So as long as the app makes the initial getQueues call after the queue opens, it will still cause the Join button to be red, as we have seen. That being said, I don't think it's a good idea to wait until opening time (or a few seconds before) to load the app because you're just adding in extra variables and chances for failure during what is obviously the most crucial time.


From what I have seen, no BG-related API calls (after the initial getQueues call) are made by just sitting on the home screen. You could have had the app open all week and it should function the same as if you had just loaded it fresh three minutes before opening.

I've had enough random bugs/crashes in the MDE app that I would still recommend people restart their phones anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes ahead of time just to start somewhat fresh. But I don't see anything wrong with immediately loading the app after that.


I've done some unscientific testing of Disney's server time (based on the Date header returned in the API call responses), and it seems to be pretty accurate.

As long as you don't jump the gun by more than a second or so, you'll probably at least be able to join after tapping My Status. I think that what I would recommend for those who want to be overly cautious (especially if they only have one shot to do Rise) is that if the Join button isn't enabled after tapping Find Out More, wait a second or two for safety before tapping My Status. You'll possibly end up with a higher BG than you could have, but it'll probably be significantly lower than if you have to force reload the app. It's really a matter of risk/reward.


Thank you!
Click to expand...
This is incredibly interesting and helpful and really helps explains why the two methods both used here are seeing a high success rate. It definitely makes me want to try the Demarke one more time but with a solo phone that makes me nervous. I guess I’ll wait till I have a backup again.

I had to drop my friend off at the airport at 7am. So, naturally, I think we all know where my gps is pointed to now.
 
disneygeek90

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
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?
14102750-39CE-42FE-AC5F-0BD8BC3F7DB8.jpeg
 

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