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

[RobWDW1971]

Most new attractions don't have the capacity to meet demand when they opened. If they did, and had no wait, they would be deemed a failure.

Hey, this isn’t a thread about MFSR!

But don’t worry, once the Dorian impact subsides they will be lined up at the gate in the morning for MFSR and boarding groups will be used to manage the excited crowds about Hondo and his errand to go pick up cans.

 

[el_super]

I don't like any situation where guests are forced to gamble with whether or not they'll even be able to queue up. Many people booked trips this weekend JUST for this ride and how many of them are not going to even have a chance to "queue up"?

That situation isnt exclusive to virtual queues though. If they did have a physical queue, you could have had a 10 hour wait before park opening and been told the queue is closed. The ride could have broke down and they would have closed the queue. A medical emergency may have required closing the queue. There would still be cases where the queue would be closed in a physical system too, and we know this because we saw all these issue with Hagrid's.

Something has to be done, even if it means you still wait over an hour when your boarding time arrives.

When you have a ride where the demand is exceeding the capacity, people will be disappointed regardless of whatever system (virtual or physical) you choose. They could have done a random lottery like Tokyo. They could have done online reservations 60 days in advance. They could have shifted advantages from one group and disadvantaged others, but the end result would be the same number of riders each day.

The virtual queue is not to blame here as much as the demand is. And why on earth would anyone fault them for building an attraction people want to ride?

 

[drizgirl]

So you are saying they lie every day when they open the gates before the posted times? Because they do that as normal convention... operations shifts like that are the norm. The vq opening is a different beast... but your b&w definition is violated to the advantage of guests every day...

If they put out an unscheduled message (including printed sign boards for the resorts) the night before reiterating and clarifying the schedule in response to unprecedented demand, then yes.

 

[ThistleMae]

Many AP holder aren't locals. There is a surprising number of AP holders from the UK.

Well if they hold an AP, they must still go more often than I could attend. Otherwise why buy one?

 

[monothingie]

False. Using standby wont change how many have a chance. The only thing that changes is some would be able to commit themselves to waiting... not changing how many get a chance

False. Use of virtual queuing allows a Disney to limit capacity. It is clear from the amount of boarding groups varying from day to day that Disney is using boarding groups to maintain lower load on the ride and ensure an on time close.

 

[cmwade77]

False. Use of virtual queuing allows a Disney to limit capacity. It is clear from the amount of boarding groups varying from day to day that Disney is using boarding groups to maintain lower load on the ride and ensure an on time close.

Yeah, so much for the idea of if you are in line before the park closed, then you will get to ride, which is exactly what Disney should do....in other words, if you have a boarding group, you WILL get on the attraction. But even I will admit that this is a major decline from how things used to be handled. Hopefully they will handle this a lot better when Disneyland's version opens.

 

[tirian]

It seemed to work for Flight of Passage.

Remember they have the huge holding area on Grand Avenue, and those new bathrooms that were built just for the purpose.

I guess I'm just l'm school when it comes to queing. I prefer standby only, no FP.

This is the result of one of the worlds most technological advanced attractions based on one of the worlds most popular and well known brands that cannot achieve an already woeful, for its status, hourly capacity and opens without adequate testing.

And Christmas is coming?

Look at the bright side. Disney can reduce the number of people per boarding group, and the overall total of groups available each day, and still get the headlines that the ride “sells out” each morning before the park opens. It’s PR spin that assumes its audience is stupid—but with the way people form opinions based on clickbait titles, is Disney really that wrong?

 

[gorillaball]

Universal has perfected all of these issues of people waiting in long lines. Why can’t Disney?

Hahahhahaha, are you serious? Wait, I think you actually are.

 

[tirian]

I think @marni1971 quoted a theoretical 1,700/hour, which yeah, is still fairly low.

I know in my own experience doing ROTR a bunch of times is that it wears on you a little... The actual ride is only 4:30 but the overall 18:00 needs to be streamlined a little.

Disney's reaction right now is to open the ride, keep it running as much as possible and mitigate bad press/guest experience in any way, and as quickly as they can. They're already cutting back on that in some ways (e.g. limited digital/MDE FP). The bonus PH is nice, but essentially costs them nothing and returning guests spend money. So, win-win.

Don’t misinterpret this, because I think ROTR is fantastic.

But...over time...the linear storytelling will come back to bite it. Star Tours 1.0 suffered the same fate once the shiny tech wasn’t special anymore, hence why WDI and Lucasfilm randomized the sequences for 2.0.

Other attractions with linear storylines usually include enough “cocktail party” atmosphere to round out the experience. Splash, Indy, and Dinosaur are good examples.

Combined with its 18 minute time, I wonder if ROTR will eventually come to feel like Test Track 1.0, where the pre-ride video was an annoyance to be endured.

Again—ROTR looks incredible just the same.

 

[Disneyboy021969]

What's wrong with giving resort guests an advantage? That's literally what they do with EMH every day. Its a perk of staying on property.

Non-Resort guests were basically on a level playing field. They were all told the same thing: that the park would open by 8. Some people decided to invest more time in waiting, showed up early, and were rewarded. Some people showed up early and didnt get passes, but that's always the risk you take with a first-come, first served system. Why not limit the sting by telling them sooner rather than later?

the reason I said use a Level Playing Field for everyone is because they had already announced it would not be included in extra magic hours if you're going to do that do it for everyone

 

[tribbleorlfl]

All boarding passes were gone before the park was supposed to open! They have NEVER opened a ride where guests arriving at park open are told “you can’t ride.” And the fact that they are lying to guests with the result being that they are sabotaged into not riding is appalling.

While not technically a ride, this is exactly what they used to do with the Star Wars Weekends Autographs. The first time I went, I didn't know you needed a fastpass, I figured it was a standby line like the countless other autograph sessions I had been to over the years. The second time I went out there (now knowing ai needed to get a FP), I didn't know they handed out the fastpasses over an hour before park open. Even though I was there half an hour before park open, all FPs had been distributed.

So in subsequent years, I was sure to get there no later than 6 to ensure I got my FP. But in all that time, it was never officially communicated by Disney that you had to get there that early to have any chance at am autograph. I can't tell you how many times I saw dejected guests like we were the first two years who had come specifically for SW Weekends to meet a SW actor only to find out they were SOL.

And the worst part about it, is there were never consistent with when they actually started the distribution. It was all dependent on the popularity of the guests and how many people were waiting.

In addition, while sometimes they did allow a standby line for those without FPs, they often didn't for the bigger names and you certainly weren't guaranteed to get an autograph even if you were the first person in the standby line. I just missed out in getting a FP for John Ratzenberger, so I decided to wait in his Standby line the whole day (I desperately wanted him to sign my Toy Story 2 poster, as my wife and I saw that on our first date 20 years ago). I was the first person in the line for all of his sessions and they didn't take me for any of them.

 

[beertiki]

The issue today was non resort guests thinking that they would somehow get a spot in the queue even though there was two hours of EMH guests ahead of them. This is no different than resort guests getting dining and FP reservations before non resort guest. Staying on property should have its benefits. A resort guest who gets up early for EMH, should have a better chance than a local AP, or an off site visitor.

As resort guests, we scanned in at 7am today, and were told that we could get a boarding group at 745. We still checked MDE every few minutes and got group 22 at about 720 am. We did TSMM twice, and star tours once, left the park and had breakfast, and came back about 1pm and did ROTR. The virtual queue was much better than a 6 hour stand in line wait.

We will be there early tomorrow.

 

[el_super]

As resort guests, we scanned in at 7am today, and were told that we could get a boarding group at 745. We still checked MDE every few minutes and got group 22 at about 720 am. We did TSMM twice, and star tours once, left the park and had breakfast, and came back about 1pm and did ROTR. The virtual queue was much better than a 6 hour stand in line wait.

Sounds like you did it right, and had a fun and productive day already!

 

[Rich Brownn]

People aren't upset the didn't get a pass. They're upset due to misinformation -- deliberate or otherwise -- that removed the opportunity to get a pass. And if it was a one time thing, sure. But this is now 3 days in a row information has been delivered sloppily, or not at all. And, as for the rope drop, having worked Magic Kingdom at the opening months of Space Mountain, yeah, you get unbalanced crowds but thats how it is.

 

[EdnaMode]

the reason I said use a Level Playing Field for everyone is because they had already announced it would not be included in extra magic hours if you're going to do that do it for everyone

Access to the boarding groups should have been available to resort guests a few minutes ahead of day guests as a result of resort guests being in the park right at opening at 8am -- instead of entering at 8am and accessing the boarding groups at (for example) 8:05am. And with or without ROTR, 40 minutes of EMH was lost for resort guests today when EMH turned into general admission at 7:20. Both of those things degrades the benefits for the resort guests who paid for EMH.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

I never whined about resort guests. YOU did. I said everyone should have an equal chance to ride and I’ve always stated this.

That was me.

I complained that Disney should be up front as to when Disney Transportation starts bussing guests to their parks. Pooh disagreed and thought starting the buses at a arbitrary and surprising time, based entirely on how many guests were arriving early in cars, was a perfectly fair system.

We continue to disagree. I'm going to be that resort guest in about 2 weeks, so it's an important distinction.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Long waits are expected for new rides and that’s nothing new. Don’t want to wait that long? Don’t try to ride it this close to opening.

OK, so, you just ignored all the issues of larger than normal crowds and just let them become a danger to human health. Nice.

 

[Disneyboy021969]

Access to the boarding groups should have been available to resort guests a few minutes ahead of day guests as a result of resort guests being in the park right at opening at 8am -- instead of entering at 8am and accessing the boarding groups at (for example) 8:05am. And with or without ROTR, 40 minutes of EMH was lost for resort guests today when EMH turned into general admission at 7:20. Both of those things degrades the benefits for the resort guests who paid for EMH.

Seeing that emh was originally set for 8 am not 6am and it was announced that it was not included in emh you lose nothing in fact you gained an extra 20 min in the park..enjoy you benefit .lol

 

[EdnaMode]

Seeing that emh was originally set for 8 am not 6am and it was announced that it was not included in emh you lose nothing in fact you gained an extra 20 min in the park..enjoy you benefit .lol

Resort guests paid for a room that included EMH, whatever time that's held, and this morning the published and posted time for EMH was 6-8, not 6-7:20. I think most people would be just fine with them publishing/posting EMH as 6-7:20am today and general admission at 7:20 - 10pm today, if that's what they planned to do and then did that.

 

[Darth Snips]

The second day Hagrid's was open they instituted a VQ.

I have some family who waited in an 8 hour line for Hagrid on day 2. If there was a virtual queue that day, nobody told them.