READ POST 1 & 2 FIRST-Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group Planning and Information-*No Spoilers*

[TheMaxRebo]

I'd be curious how many BG's are going to repeat riders vs first time riders. This probably isn't a poplular opinion on a place like disboards since we are pretty hard core and like to game the system as much as possible (within the rules) and ride as many rides as we can, but I'm really starting to think they should limit this ride to once/per week. They have already proven they can limit once/day. If you get a BG, maybe you can't get another one for 5 days. If for some reason you are unable to get on the ride (or maybe if the ride is not fully functioning, they can remove the 5 day block for you so you can still try again the next day. I know annual passes are not cheap (I've had one a couple times) but it feels just a little off that if the BG's are full and you live close by you just try again, while for the vast majority of people, if this doesn't work out or they are 10 minutes late to the park, they don't get another try until a year or two later (if at all). This wouldn't need to be a permanent thing but at least until things calm down. Only having 60 seconds to book a ride seems more than a little crazy.

Sorry, but that's a terrible idea. My entrance just because I live close by shouldn't be anything less than someone else's. Guests on resorts already get a lot of advantages over local AP's. That's a good way to lose a huge chunk of your people. I paid money to be there just like everyone else.

i agree that limiting how often you can ride in a week or whatever is at a minimum debateable if you should do it and also i think would be challenging to implement (also, like most things I would suspect people would figure ways around it anyway).

I do also see the side that if people book a week long trip and stay on property and don't get to ride that can be discouraging as well. Maybe instead of limiting how often one group can ride you give everyone that stays on property for at least 3 nights (can't just do one night or people would book a 1 night campsite to get access) or something a 1 time anytime use FP for the ride?

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Yesterday we arrived at some ridiculous hour. Wife and I went into our cattle stalls towards Slinky Dog. Had a daughter with a brief butterfly stomach incident causing me to run through people to the bathroom. Had our phones at the ready for Boarding Groups. I managed to get 87. She never connected.

We watched BG's move to 31 and stall for at least an hour. Started warning the kids. Got excited again watching Indy while BGs moved again. Saw them stall again at 80 for at least an hour. Warned the kids and pretty much figured it was not going to happen. We gave up and went to MFSR line for a second time.

Our BG was finally called sometime after 5 while in-line for Millennium Falcon. Had to rush through 50 people for an exit while getting dirty looks and the "no you have 2! hour arguments from CM's". (We didn't).

It was at least an hour in line. We managed to move our DR back to 8:20.

The ride itself was amazing and I'm glad we did it.

We got off the ride around 7ish. It was dusk and if you know the ride that really felt neat. Meaning we got in line in full sun and "landed" at dusk.

It was easily the most stressful day I've ever had at WDW. If Disney's mission was to make us avoid BGs again, then they succeeded. We'll wait for our next trip on this one. But kinda sorta maybe worth it for one ride.

Thanks for the honest update. My wife and I are going Friday and our attitude is very much if we ride great, if not, oh well. If anything...I am kind of expecting it won't work out for some reason so I'll be pleasantly surprised if we ride.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I'd be curious how many BG's are going to repeat riders vs first time riders. This probably isn't a poplular opinion on a place like disboards since we are pretty hard core and like to game the system as much as possible (within the rules) and ride as many rides as we can, but I'm really starting to think they should limit this ride to once/per week. They have already proven they can limit once/day. If you get a BG, maybe you can't get another one for 5 days. If for some reason you are unable to get on the ride (or maybe if the ride is not fully functioning, they can remove the 5 day block for you so you can still try again the next day. I know annual passes are not cheap (I've had one a couple times) but it feels just a little off that if the BG's are full and you live close by you just try again, while for the vast majority of people, if this doesn't work out or they are 10 minutes late to the park, they don't get another try until a year or two later (if at all). This wouldn't need to be a permanent thing but at least until things calm down. Only having 60 seconds to book a ride seems more than a little crazy.

It's not a terrible idea I suppose...but will never, ever happen. Imagine booking a $12,000 vacation for a week at the Poly or Beach Club and they tell you you can only ride the biggest attraction once? There would be outrage.

 

[AngiTN]

I'd be curious how many BG's are going to repeat riders vs first time riders. This probably isn't a poplular opinion on a place like disboards since we are pretty hard core and like to game the system as much as possible (within the rules) and ride as many rides as we can, but I'm really starting to think they should limit this ride to once/per week. They have already proven they can limit once/day. If you get a BG, maybe you can't get another one for 5 days. If for some reason you are unable to get on the ride (or maybe if the ride is not fully functioning, they can remove the 5 day block for you so you can still try again the next day. I know annual passes are not cheap (I've had one a couple times) but it feels just a little off that if the BG's are full and you live close by you just try again, while for the vast majority of people, if this doesn't work out or they are 10 minutes late to the park, they don't get another try until a year or two later (if at all). This wouldn't need to be a permanent thing but at least until things calm down. Only having 60 seconds to book a ride seems more than a little crazy.

Sorry, this one I can't get on board with. Not as long as those who get to the park before it opens are getting some BG for that day.
If someone is there 10 days and wants to get up and get to the park every day for 10 days they deserve to ride if they get a BG on each of those mornings.
They put forth the efforts. It's not their fault that someone else didn't.
Getting to the park before it opens isn't THAT hard. If my DH who normally sleeps till noon on off days can do it, anyone can.

 

[instlouis]

Seems like today is official practice from home day

 

[frjohnk]

Sorry, this one I can't get on board with.
If someone is there 10 days and wants to get up and get to the park every day for 10 days they deserve to ride if they get a BG on each of those mornings.
They put forth the efforts. It's not their fault that someone else didn't.
Getting to the park before it opens isn't THAT hard. If my DH who normally sleeps till noon on off days can do it, anyone can.

I’m from Canada. 5 kids. Only way we are here today is because we won the ShopDisney sweepstakes. We were saving to come here but it would taken about 5 years.
We may or may not get a ride today. And we will be disappointed.

With that said. I think the way it is makes it equal each and every day for someone to get a chance to ride that day. It’s not perfect, but I think Disney is doing the best they can with this situation.

 

[hoosierdad5]

Are there reports of people being there and ready at 7am and not getting a BG?

Yes..the group next to us both had app issues and only got a late backup group

 

[Cherryb]

Is anything going on in the parks right now?. I thought it would be less crowded by now, I was not expecting 1 min of regular boarding groups today.

 

[AngiTN]

I’m from Canada. 5 kids. Only way we are here today is because we won the ShopDisney sweepstakes. We were saving to come here but it would taken about 5 years.
We may or may not get a ride today. And we will be disappointed.

With that said. I think the way it is makes it equal each and every day for someone to get a chance to ride that day. It’s not perfect, but I think Disney is doing the best they can with this situation.

You are correct in that it's not perfect but it is the best option they can do right now. I assume you got there and got your group? That's really all anyone can do. Ride being up is something outside of their control. Hopefully, things on that front are slowly improving.

 

[AngiTN]

Is anything going on in the parks right now?. I thought it would be less crowded by now, I was not expecting 1 min of regular boarding groups today.

That equates more to how few regular groups there are more than anything. There aren't more people there now than when I was there Christmas week but they are distributing way fewer groups. So they are going faster.

 

[joelkfla]

If you get a BG, maybe you can't get another one for 5 days.

That's probably technically feasible.

If for some reason you are unable to get on the ride (or maybe if the ride is not fully functioning, they can remove the 5 day block for you so you can still try again the next day.

That may not be within Disney IT's abilities.

 

[kassonvike]

It's not a terrible idea I suppose...but will never, ever happen. Imagine booking a $12,000 vacation for a week at the Poly or Beach Club and they tell you you can only ride the biggest attraction once? There would be outrage.

Imagine booking a $12,000 vacation for a week at the Poly or Beach Club and then on the last day, saving the best for last, showing up at HS at 7:05 AM and finding out you will not be able to even think about riding the biggest new attraction? I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion. It was just a thought. There really isn't a good answer. To me I would rather balance out the crowd by limiting access in the short term but I understand that is a slippery slope and leads to lots of other questions/potential issues.

 

[hoosierdad5]

Ride is currently down...was in queue for 10 minutes.

 

[MJ NH]

I want to thank everyone for their posts. I was able to ride it twice last week but both had some high and low emotions during the process. The first day I went was last Tuesday and only my daughter went with me. l was able to get BG21 even when I had to remove my son and wife (who were still sleeping). The couple of others in the crowd with us got the same boarding group and everything seemed awesome. But that was the day the ride was down for 6 hours so we didn’t ride until 3pm. The second day I went, both my daughter and son were with me. My wife stayed in bed. We went later just before 6:30, scan and fingerprinted in by 6:45. When it was time to join, it said I wasn’t in the park, so I dropped myself and got my kids BG42. I go to Guest Services and they said I had my wife’s band on. I grabbed it by mistake and I guess the fingerprint must have been for show that day. They switched me in to BG42 so they had an adult with them. They also switched our FP for Flight of Pandora, so we rode that an hour after we got off ROTR. I felt like the luckiest idiot that day.

 

[joelkfla]

I’m from Canada. 5 kids. Only way we are here today is because we won the ShopDisney sweepstakes.

Wow! Congratulations!

 

[xApril]

I’m here today and got BG38, went to use and the ride is down. My friend got here before me and sent me a photo of the front gate this morning and it looked a lot busier than my dec 19 and 31st attempts.

 

[MrMichaelJames]

I don't think they should restrict multiple days in a row riders, but I think a priority when dishing out BG should be given to those that have never ridden. If you have ridden it already and I haven't and we click to get a boarding group at the same time I should get a lower number than you. Or maybe set aside groups 1-50 for first timers and 51-x for repeats. This way repeats still get a chance to ride but those that haven't ridden yet get a "better" chance. There are a million ways they can adjust the dishing out of groups. And who knows if there is some logic in there, we don't know. Disney could have also just gone with the easiest to just dish them out in order requested since that is by far the easiest as opposed to having to crunch the data to determine your priority in getting a group.

 

[Sarahslay]

Thanks for the honest update. My wife and I are going Friday and our attitude is very much if we ride great, if not, oh well. If anything...I am kind of expecting it won't work out for some reason so I'll be pleasantly surprised if we ride.

I will be there Friday as well, and pretty much have the same attitude. I'll be back over the summer to try again, and could possibly convince myself to wake up early again on this trip (but that chance is slim), but if not I'll be fine.

 

[osufeth24]

I don't think they should restrict multiple days in a row riders, but I think a priority when dishing out BG should be given to those that have never ridden. If you have ridden it already and I haven't and we click to get a boarding group at the same time I should get a lower number than you. Or maybe set aside groups 1-50 for first timers and 51-x for repeats. This way repeats still get a chance to ride but those that haven't ridden yet get a "better" chance. There are a million ways they can adjust the dishing out of groups. And who knows if there is some logic in there, we don't know. Disney could have also just gone with the easiest to just dish them out in order requested since that is by far the easiest as opposed to having to crunch the data to determine your priority in getting a group.

But what happens if you're with a group that has never ridden? They should be punished because they're with someone who has? Anything that restricts people from riding a certain amount or a certain time just isn't possible, there's too many other variables

 

[MeridaAnn]

Sorry, this one I can't get on board with. Not as long as those who get to the park before it opens are getting some BG for that day.
If someone is there 10 days and wants to get up and get to the park every day for 10 days they deserve to ride if they get a BG on each of those mornings.
They put forth the efforts. It's not their fault that someone else didn't.
Getting to the park before it opens isn't THAT hard. If my DH who normally sleeps till noon on off days can do it, anyone can.

Yeah, if someone wants to use every day of their vacation waking up early and going straight to this ride, that's their prerogative. And if I want to get up in time to leave my apartment at 4am on both Saturday and Monday of a long weekend to make it on time to ride, then that's a choice I get to make. There are a TON of advantages to the people who stay on site get over local/semi-local APs - the early FPs (I've been on FoP a couple dozen times, but I've never been able to get a FP for it, I just have to be there early and wait in line forever), EMH, and lots of other benefits - I don't think it's asking too much to have this one ride actually have an equal opportunity for everyone.

The only way that a one-per-week could even conceivably be valid would be if they were also guaranteeing that you *will* get on once during that week if you are there, which isn't possible. (Something like the assigned entry times that they used in California for the first few days that SWGE was open last year, but adjusted so that there was also an option for off-site guests. And that's just not possible.) But with the number of people who are able to ride right now and the inconsistency of the ride's timing, I think the current system is the only one that's reasonably fair to everyone. Once they have the Star Wars hotel open, I'd assume a guaranteed ride would be part of that, but that's the only way I'd see that ever come into play.

I don't think they should restrict multiple days in a row riders, but I think a priority when dishing out BG should be given to those that have never ridden. If you have ridden it already and I haven't and we click to get a boarding group at the same time I should get a lower number than you. Or maybe set aside groups 1-50 for first timers and 51-x for repeats. This way repeats still get a chance to ride but those that haven't ridden yet get a "better" chance. There are a million ways they can adjust the dishing out of groups. And who knows if there is some logic in there, we don't know. Disney could have also just gone with the easiest to just dish them out in order requested since that is by far the easiest as opposed to having to crunch the data to determine your priority in getting a group.

In order to ride with my friends next weekend, I'm having to host them for a sleepover so that I can guarantee they actually get up at 3:30am with me so that we can get to the park on time. One of them has been on the ride once, two of them not at all, I've been on 3 times solo since it opened. Do my two newbie friends get punished with a later group or no group because I've ridden before? Or do I have to sit out and we don't get an option to ride together, even after going through all that effort? What happens to a family staying on-site who has one person who doesn't feel like getting up early when the rest of the group goes, but then changes their mind and wants to ride it after they've heard feedback from the others - do they have to ride alone the next day now and no one else gets to ride a second time with them?

All these restriction alternatives are just way too complicated and won't work for way too many people. The current system is the best and fairest possibility for the time being. If you're in the park before 7, you'll get your BG, and unless something goes terribly wrong with the ride that day, you will get on at some point. It might not be easy, because getting up early isn't fun, but it is straightforward and it is as fair as it can be for the time being.

Get to the park early. Have your phone ready to go. Wifi or Data doesn't matter, refresh or go back and forth to home or open the app right at 7 are all pretty much the same likelihood of working, none of that seems to make too much of a difference. Just keep an eye on opening times and be there and you have the best chance of getting on that you can have.