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

[xdan0920]

Too many are blaming others for their choice to take a passive approach to figuring what it was going to take to access the attraction instead of taking responsibility for themselves and figuring out what was needed to access. Nobody from Disney sent me any special information or special communication. I invested some time to figure out on my own that my best chance of getting in on Saturday was to get there as early as possible and go from there. It was important enough to me to actively search for the necessary information across multiple sources and take responsibility for myself instead of sitting back and waiting for someone to hand it to me and then complain when they didn't.

Haven’t posted in a bit. But this had me rolling.

Good job identifying the lie by TDO and getting in ahead of the schlubs who actually followed the rules.

Buying a ticket and then listening to Disney’s official communications simply isn’t good enough.

 

[donsullivan]

What are we anticipating for the length of use of the virtual queue? A month? 3 months?

Absolutely speculation here but I'd expect it to run until late in Q1. If the attraction is running at full capacity throughout the day in January a good opportunity to kick that in is the opening date of MMRR in March and then they can flip Virtual queue over to that for however long it's needed.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Gotcha. So if the transportation situation put them at a disadvantage on Thur/Friday, but the EMH gave them the advantage today, does that even things out?

Sure. If the same people were effected. I don't know. I'm sure there were resort guests enjoying the EMH park, waiting until the queue opened at 8 AM, that were very disappointed when it was already full for the day.

Honestly, it's a moot point now all around. If you want to ride RotR, get there 3-4 hours before opening any way possible and check the app every 3-5 minutes. I've got a different set of problems with those expectations, but at least now everyone knows.

 

[socaljoeyb]

What are we anticipating for the length of use of the virtual queue? A month? 3 months?

I'd say at least to Marathon Weekend if not longer.

 

[flynnibus]

Baffled how people can defend Disney in this whole thing... If your entire communications strategy to guests is that everyone will have a fair chance with boarding groups at 8am, that's when you enable the system. Not secretly before, so that those who planned their entire morning around being in the park by 8am are left out for the day.

Funny... everyday disney publishes a showtime for things like fireworks, parades, etc. how many of you would empathize with someone who came to you upset that little suzzie couldnt get a good view of the fireworks because their plans were to just get there by the published showtime?

If your plan to get something in ultra high demand at disney is by getting there at the published time... you are going to suffer or lose just about everytime.

Simply open the park at the specified EMH time and give out wristbands to those eligible so the attractions CMs can know who can ride. Whenever the park duty manager decides the crowds out front are too great, they can start letting day guests in, but those without wristbands can enjoy the park, have a coffee but not take advantage of the EMH attraction access. Then everyone, regardless of their resort status, gets a fair chance at boarding groups. This is not rocket science.

All of that because of less than 45mins of time overlap?

 

[EdnaMode]

How did the people who respected the information they were provided by Disney become the entitled, selfish greedy guests in this scenario, and the guests who created a crowd control problem at the front gates become the responsible ones...

 

[AshaNeOmah]

How did the people who respected the information they were provided by Disney become the entitled, selfish greedy guests in this scenario, and the guests who created a crowd control problem at the front gates become the responsible ones...

Yup.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Absolutely speculation here but I'd expect it to run until late in Q1. If the attraction is running at full capacity throughout the day in January a good opportunity to kick that in is the opening date of MMRR in March and then they can flip Virtual queue over to that for however long it's needed.

I think they'd have to keep it in play as long as the ride system is unreliable. It sounds like opening day was amongst the best operationally but since then I'm not sure they've cracked 100 boarding groups.

 

[EdnaMode]

Funny... everyday disney publishes a showtime for things like fireworks, parades, etc. how many of you would empathize with someone who came to you upset that little suzzie couldnt get a good view of the fireworks because their plans were to just get there by the published showtime?

If there were turnstiles where Disney regularly controlled access to the viewing locations at published times or if little Suzzie's family paid for a dessert party/better viewing location, then yes, I'd be empathetic if someone else created a crowd control problem that prevented Suzzie's enjoyment of the fireworks.

 

[donsullivan]

I think they'd have to keep it in play as long as the ride system is unreliable. It sounds like opening day was amongst the best operationally but since then I'm not sure they've cracked 100 boarding groups.

No question that speculative date hinges on reaching reliable operation by mid January. They have to be sure they have full and consistent capacity before they even consider opening up FP.

 

[scottieRoss]

Yeah, I agree. This argument started Friday about Thursday and Friday procedures. Those people had no idea it was going to be such a cluster since SW:GE and MF:SR were so planned and organized. I agree with research and preparation going forward. No announcement is safe.

The problem now is the EMH procedures this morning were deceptive as well.

You obviously were not at the opening of Galaxy's Edge. We had no clue when the park was going to open. Announced time was 6am. But since we know that Disney has a tendency to open the gates early (Animal Kingdom every day for 2 1/2 years and Hollywood studios since Toy Story Land opened) we knew we needed to get out early. Bus times were not announced, but we figured that they would start earlier than 45 minutes before announced park opening... since they do every other day they of the year. So we got in line at 230. We were the last ones to fit on the first bus from Pop Century, so there were people who lined up even earlier.

Not once were we mad that Disney started bus service 2 1/2 hours early or that they opened the park and hour early. Instead we thanked them. I guess I could have told the driver to leave us behind and wait for the 5:15 bus since that was announced.

 

[RSoxNo1]

No question that speculative date hinges on reaching reliable operation by mid January. The have to be sure they have full and consistent capacity before they even consider opening up FP.

What will also be interesting is if Smugglers Run (and other Fastpass shuffling) takes place once Mickey & Minnie's opens.

 

[donsullivan]

What will also be interesting is if Smugglers Run (and other Fastpass shuffling) takes place once Mickey & Minnie's opens.

Yeah, at that point they'll have a whole lot of Tier 1 FP's that guests will have to chose from.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

You obviously were not at the opening of Galaxy's Edge. We had no clue when the park was going to open. Announced time was 6am. But since we know that Disney has a tendency to open the gates early (Animal Kingdom every day for 2 1/2 years and Hollywood studios since Toy Story Land opened) we knew we needed to get out early. Bus times were not announced, but we figured that they would start earlier than 45 minutes before announced park opening... since they do every other day they of the year. So we got in line at 230. We were the last ones to fit on the first bus from Pop Century, so there were people who lined up even earlier.

Not once were we mad that Disney started bus service 2 1/2 hours early or that they opened the park and hour early. Instead we thanked them. I guess I could have told the driver to leave us behind and wait for the 5:15 bus since that was announced.

One hour early opening is completely reasonable. Expecting resort guests to be on a bus at 3 AM for a scheduled 8 or 9 AM opening is not if that bus schedule is never announced. That was my initial argument way back on Friday that has now turned into a fiasco debate.

 

[Kuzco]

Sooooo...what’s the best plan of attack for tomorrow?

 

[WDWTrojan]

Funny... everyday disney publishes a showtime for things like fireworks, parades, etc. how many of you would empathize with someone who came to you upset that little suzzie couldnt get a good view of the fireworks because their plans were to just get there by the published showtime?

If your plan to get something in ultra high demand at disney is by getting there at the published time... you are going to suffer or lose just about everytime.




All of that because of less than 45mins of time overlap?

This is not at all a valid comparison. If Disney published that the fireworks were at 10pm and launched them at 8:30 instead, with no warning. If you get a crappy view that's your fault for not arriving early, but you still have a chance to see them.

 

[flynnibus]

Every single guest has absolutely the same opportunity to access the attraction without exception. Everyone has the same information. The gates open for everyone at the same time. The boarding group access opens for everyone at the same time.

You are correct. What he’s really mad about but can’t articulate is “those who took disney at face value and did nothing more lost out”. But he incorrectly labels that group as resort guests because of buses... where really everyone was impacted equally by the unannounced information.

Reality is, those who planned to be there early, even by the original scheduled time... would have gotten a pass.

 

[drizgirl]

Yeah, at that point they'll have a whole lot of Tier 1 FP's that guests will have to chose from.

Sounds like the perfect time to roll out paid FP.

 

[flynnibus]

This is not at all a valid comparison. If Disney published that the fireworks were at 10pm and launched them at 8:30 instead, with no warning. If you get a crappy view that's your fault for not arriving early, but you still have a chance to see them.

The complaint isnt about the time... it was the fact they missed out because they took disney’s time as a literal. Thats why the analogy works.

We all know you cant show up at showtime and get the advertised experience.... just like we all know you dont show up at 8am for an 8am park opening if you want to actually get in at opening

 

[AshaNeOmah]

just like we all know you dont show up at 8am for an 8am park opening if you want to actually get in at opening

Just like Pooh has been told multiple times, there's literally no one who was expecting that. Where does that keep coming from?