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

I've been trying to do the testing from home, if I get the notification saying that I don't have a park reservation and to remove myself from the group, does that mean I would have gotten a spot?
Yes, but keep in mind if the connection you're using for your practicing is different than what you will use on "game day" results most likely will vary! I practiced from home (in Pa) on and off for weeks leading up to my most recent trip. I alternated between my home wifi and Verizon LTE each say, and I had "success" 100% of the time (getting the same notification you saw).

For my actual trip in June, we stayed at Pop Century. I had no cell signal from anywhere at my resort that I could find, so I was forced to use Disney wifi. I went 0 for 2 at 7am with lightning fast reflexes... so yeah, take your "practice" with a grain of salt! Thankfully I scored decent boarding groups both days at 1pm, so don't freak out like my family did if you strike out at 7am!
 

Goodeone

Active Member
Yes, but keep in mind if the connection you're using for your practicing is different than what you will use on "game day" results most likely will vary! I practiced from home (in Pa) on and off for weeks leading up to my most recent trip. I alternated between my home wifi and Verizon LTE each say, and I had "success" 100% of the time (getting the same notification you saw).

For my actual trip in June, we stayed at Pop Century. I had no cell signal from anywhere at my resort that I could find, so I was forced to use Disney wifi. I went 0 for 2 at 7am with lightning fast reflexes... so yeah, take your "practice" with a grain of salt! Thankfully I scored decent boarding groups both days at 1pm, so don't freak out like my family did if you strike out at 7am!
Thanks for that response/feedback. I am trying to keep this in mind! I'm 100% in my practice as well, but as you mentioned I have very fast wifi at home.

We'll be staying at the Dolphin while we're on site and I have 2 phones. So I'm hoping that if I try to run the 2 of them at the same time (1 on wifi, 1 on cell signal) that I'll have a decent chance on the 7am release. Will only be at the parks 3 days, but we've booked a park reservation at Hollywood Studios for 2 of those days to help increase our chances as well.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
A randomized lottery is a better system overall and, as I said, far more equitable. The other systems they've tried give certain people an advantage over others; a random lottery puts everyone on equal footing. I honestly can't believe Disney didn't do that from the start.
As someone that hasn't been to DHS since ROTR opened. I much prefer the current system to a random lottery. I am planning on going later this year with 1 day and 1 day only for DHS. At least this way I feel somewhat in control whether or not I get a boarding group. If I screw up (along with the rest of my group that will be trying), I can accept that. If a loose a lottery that I had no control over, I'm going to be pretty upset.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
As someone that hasn't been to DHS since ROTR opened. I much prefer the current system to a random lottery. I am planning on going later this year with 1 day and 1 day only for DHS. At least this way I feel somewhat in control whether or not I get a boarding group. If I screw up (along with the rest of my group that will be trying), I can accept that. If a loose a lottery that I had no control over, I'm going to be pretty upset.

The lottery is still more equitable, though. I don't think that's really arguable. The current system disadvantages some guests for reasons they can't really control. It's an improvement over the original system, but it's still not really fair.

You can do everything perfectly and still not get a group (people in this thread have said as much). I would be much more upset about not getting a group in the current system than I would be in a random lottery, but of course that's subjective to each individual person.
 
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Purduevian

Well-Known Member
The lottery is still more equitable, though. I don't think that's really arguable. The current system disadvantages some guests for reasons they can't really control. It's an improvement over the original system, but it's still not really fair.

You can do everything perfectly and still not get a group (people in this thread have said as much). I would be much more upset about not getting a group in the current system than I would be in a random lottery, but of course that's subjective to each individual person.
Agree to disagree, I see your point and can see how the lottery would be better for many people. I believe my odds will be higher under the current system because I did the research and learned how to use the system vs if it was a straight lottery.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Agree to disagree, I see your point and can see how the lottery would be better for many people. I believe my odds will be higher under the current system because I did the research and learned how to use the system vs if it was a straight lottery.

I agree that you likely have a better chance than you would if it was a straight lottery, but that's kind of my point -- it favors certain guests over others.

If everybody actually did all the research and knew how to use the system properly, most people still wouldn't get a boarding group because there just aren't enough to go around. The longer the current system lasts, the more of an issue that will become; i.e. even if you know the system intricately and do everything right you'll still have a small chance of actually getting one because most other guests will know everything too.

The current system is absolutely better than a lottery for some people, at least at the moment; it's just not the fairest way to do it.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
The lottery is still more equitable, though. I don't think that's really arguable. The current system disadvantages some guests for reasons they can't really control. It's an improvement over the original system, but it's still not really fair.

You can do everything perfectly and still not get a group (people in this thread have said as much). I would be much more upset about not getting a group in the current system than I would be in a random lottery, but of course that's subjective to each individual person.
The perfect plan is to build a lottery based on an algorithm that takes into account certain factors like whether someone is staying on site or not and how often they have ridden in a given month. Think the NBA draft with the ping pong balls. Someone who has not ridden ROTR this month gets 100 “ping pong balls” and then if you want to give on site guests an advantage give them 100 extra “ping pong balls” and then each time you ride your number of balls is cut in half. In that example an on-site guest who has not ridden RoTR has their Id entered 200 times in the lottery and someone who has ridden 5 times already this month and isn’t staying on property gets 4 entries so person 1 is 50 times as likely to win the lottery but everyone still has a shot at winning. Your probability of winning can be weighted based on whatever metrics they decide.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
I agree that you likely have a better chance than you would if it was a straight lottery, but that's kind of my point -- it favors certain guests over others.

If everybody actually did all the research and knew how to use the system properly, most people still wouldn't get a boarding group because there just aren't enough to go around. The longer the current system lasts, the more of an issue that will become; i.e. even if you know the system intricately and do everything right you'll still have a small chance of actually getting one because most other guests will know everything too.

The current system is absolutely better than a lottery for some people, at least at the moment; it's just not the fairest way to do it.
Most of life favors those who do research and prepare for any type of vacation, especially a Disney Trip. I'm of the mindset that preparation should be rewarded.
In Disney-
  • 60 day dinning (Including Savi's/Droid Depot)
  • Theme park availability reservations
  • Hotel Reservations
  • Previously the FP+ system
  • Even knowing which rides to rope drop and which to avoid until later in the day
I can't walk up to Disneyworld tomorrow (7/30) with no preparation and stay at the Grand Floridian (or any hotel Disney hotel actually), visit MK or DHS, and eat at whatever sit down I want.
 

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Most of life favors those who do research and prepare for any type of vacation, especially a Disney Trip. I'm of the mindset that preparation should be rewarded.
In Disney-
  • 60 day dinning (Including Savi's/Droid Depot)
  • Theme park availability reservations
  • Hotel Reservations
  • Previously the FP+ system
  • Even knowing which rides to rope drop and which to avoid until later in the day
I can't walk up to Disneyworld tomorrow (7/30) with no preparation and stay at the Grand Floridian (or any hotel Disney hotel actually), visit MK or DHS, and eat at whatever sit down I want.

That's what I'm saying, though. The current system only temporarily rewards preparation -- in fact, I'm not sure it really rewards preparation at all anymore considering the groups are all gone in less than 10 seconds every day. There's no guarantee you'll get a group right now no matter how well prepared you are.

Entering the random lottery would require basically the same level of preparation. You'd have to know that you had to sign up to get in the lottery the night before (and it would also require a DHS park reservation). The only real difference is that you'd be able to just sign up and get your result instead of just hoping you're lucky enough to get one at 7 AM -- nothing would be more infuriating, at least to me, than not getting one in the morning because of some technology issue like your connection drops or the app isn't functioning properly.

It's not like people could just randomly get a BG without knowing what was going on if there was a lottery system.

I would understand your position more if you were guaranteed to get a group if you wake up at 7 AM and try for one, but that's not even close to being true. There are many people every day who don't get one despite being fully prepared.
 

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
That's what I'm saying, though. The current system only temporarily rewards preparation -- in fact, I'm not sure it really rewards preparation at all anymore considering the groups are all gone in less than 10 seconds every day. There's no guarantee you'll get a group right now no matter how well prepared you are.

Entering the random lottery would require basically the same level of preparation. You'd have to know that you had to sign up to get in the lottery the night before (and it would also require a DHS park reservation). The only real difference is that you'd be able to just sign up and get your result instead of just hoping you're lucky enough to get one at 7 AM -- nothing would be more infuriating, at least to me, than not getting one in the morning because of some technology issue like your connection drops or the app isn't functioning properly.

It's not like people could just randomly get a BG without knowing what was going on if there was a lottery system.

I would understand your position more if you were guaranteed to get a group if you wake up at 7 AM and try for one, but that's not even close to being true. There are many people every day who don't get one despite being fully prepared.
I agree that you likely have a better chance than you would if it was a straight lottery, but that's kind of my point -- it favors certain guests over others.
There is no way everyone that prepares and has knowledge of boarding groups can get one in a day. However I think rewarding those and increasing their odds if someone goes through the motions a few times, looks at all the screens, knows where the join button will be, ect. is the best Disney can do.

Again 2 different philosophies on how RotR should be distributed. You say anyone with knowledge of the boarding group system should have an equal shot. I say people that have looked up more about the process and even potentially practiced it should have an advantage up on those that think they can log in at 7:05 and get one. I wish everyone that requested a boarding group in the first 60 seconds was guaranteed a group, but there simply isn't the capacity for it. I understand you point, but I think it's much easier to blame the customer (you weren't fast enough) than to say that they randomly didn't choose you.
 

TikibirdLand

Well-Known Member
The perfect plan is to build a lottery based on an algorithm that takes into account certain factors like whether someone is staying on site or not and how often they have ridden in a given month. Think the NBA draft with the ping pong balls. Someone who has not ridden ROTR this month gets 100 “ping pong balls” and then if you want to give on site guests an advantage give them 100 extra “ping pong balls” and then each time you ride your number of balls is cut in half. In that example an on-site guest who has not ridden RoTR has their Id entered 200 times in the lottery and someone who has ridden 5 times already this month and isn’t staying on property gets 4 entries so person 1 is 50 times as likely to win the lottery but everyone still has a shot at winning. Your probability of winning can be weighted based on whatever metrics they decide.
You know, those frequent riders getting down to that 1/2 a ping pong ball is really gonna gum up the selection system. They just roll around that good in the mixer.
 

Demarke

Have I told you lately that I 👍 you?
Premium Member
Yes, but keep in mind if the connection you're using for your practicing is different than what you will use on "game day" results most likely will vary! I practiced from home (in Pa) on and off for weeks leading up to my most recent trip. I alternated between my home wifi and Verizon LTE each say, and I had "success" 100% of the time (getting the same notification you saw).

For my actual trip in June, we stayed at Pop Century. I had no cell signal from anywhere at my resort that I could find, so I was forced to use Disney wifi. I went 0 for 2 at 7am with lightning fast reflexes... so yeah, take your "practice" with a grain of salt! Thankfully I scored decent boarding groups both days at 1pm, so don't freak out like my family did if you strike out at 7am!
Uh oh, I just checked in at Pop :banghead:
 

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