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

[techgeek]

Every major E-Ticket, with new ride systems and technologies has always had a long test and adjust phase with reliability issues. We just didn’t live in a social media world where everyone in the world was instantly aware of the issues like they are today. This is absolutely not a new phenomenon- it has been happening for decades on new complex attractions.

I’ve referenced many times before the major issues they had with the ride system in Spaceship Earth. The rotation systems didn’t work right so they had a cast member at the top to push the ride vehicles into the rotated position with their foot because the ride system wasn’t locking them in. Then at the bottom was another CM on a stool pushing the vehicle with their foot to lock it back in the other direction. This went on for a very long time after the attraction opened.

I don’t ever debate, or necessarily fault, the need for a lengthy test and adjust. It goes with the territory.

I have two major issues with Rise.

First is an imagineering one: the capacity is massively under designed considering its broad appeal and intended headliner ‘mega-E’ status. Even in the best case scenario, only a fraction of the daily attendance of HS can ride.

Second is operationally. 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. Then, you still might spend all day waiting to ride. That’s literally insanity. How can that possibly be defended as a positive guest experience? Even FoP in its days of high demand FP and 180 minute standby lines still was always accessible.

 

[FeelsSoGoodToBeBad]

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. Then, you still might spend all day waiting to ride.

And now I'm yet again VERY grateful that I am a member of these forums or I would be just like every other ignorant guest, trying to score the near-impossible ticket on luck and connection speed.

 

[marni1971]

In other words, WDI couldn’t deliver an ops ready attraction on time regardless of the budget. Note it had to open months after the land on the west coast and STILL didn’t work reliably.

I wish my bosses over my career could rationalize like this.

They asked for more time.

 

[Magic Feather]

They asked for more time.

And (to an extent) they got it.

 

[marni1971]

And (to an extent) they got it.

Not enough obviously. They wanted another 4-6 weeks. Minimum.

The real blame lies with those who green lit such an ambitious attraction with a highly attractive IP to have such a low OHRC. Rise had the most B modes of any attraction to date. They knew it would be problematic if opened as it was. But higher ups okayed it.

 

[Tha Realest]

How long did it take for Test Track to get to a level of reliability?

I don’t think it has.

 

[Tha Realest]

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]

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.

 

[Tha Realest]

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."

Rise of the Resistance Broken Elevator Effect (and More) Create Operational Nightmare at Disney's Hollywood Studios

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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).