RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[dina444444]

So my daughter and I were first at the tapstiles and surrounded by a lot of angry people when 7 was announced. It took a long time for anyone senior to come out and support the CMs. When the park opened we ended up right in front of the CMs at the hub on the MF side. The VQ opened at 7. My tech savvy daughter couldn’t get the app to work but luckily when I tried it gave us BG16. The CMs deliberately delayed starting the slow march to MF for a few minutes to allow people to get a BG rather than walk and use phones at the same time. There was a lot of pushing, shoving and attempts to barge forward and some angry shouting, I think because people were already angry about the VQ change. We didn’t experience this when we rode MF at RD in July. BG16 was called with an end time of 9.52. It looked as though the ride was only working at reduced capacity as there were lots of completely empty cars moving around.

From what I’ve gathered some of the empty cars you see in the first room are returning from the unload to the loading areas.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I’m slightly amused that we’ve come full circle with the FP system, where so many of us forgot how efficiently lines can move when they’re stand by only and MFSR left people impressed and not really wanting it to be added to anything new.

 

[jthornton94]

This may have been discussed, and I think I improperly asked this somewhere else....has the message always been on the app that boarding groups beyond 106 will only be called once all the others have been exhausted?

 

[PolyRob]

When the land opened no one knew they would use the VQ to access it. The difference was that it opened at the slowest time of year with a looming hurricane in the horizon and a land that can absorb a lot of people. Disney lost a lot of money with their EEMH.
They chose not to do that this time, treating the opening like any other ride opening, like they did with Pandora, but instead of having people waiting for hours to just enter the land they are giving us a way to join a VQ and go about our day.
Again, it's been 13 days since it opened, with the inconsistencies being addressed by day 4.
The only thing you need to do if you want to ride this attraction is go early, that's it, all your pre planning can stay in place. And if you thought you would be coming to an opening of a SW attraction that has been tooted as the best and more advanced and thought you could just show up at park opening and riding then you are kidding yourself.
Getting there early, that's all it takes. People need to stop making this like it's such a big conspiracy by Disney

Sadly getting there early may not necessarily mean what it had yesterday. Those in early could ride, leave, nap, and carry-on. Neither of my days that I planned at 180+ worked given what happened on my trip. EMH was very messy compared to my second day and today was reminiscent of the EMH day. I knew RotR would wreak havoc on DHS and that I had to go early, but that is from past experience and research. I do not deny getting there early is important, but today has changed that game and I wish Disney had planned it a little better and communicated about it better to all guests.

Smuggler's Run didn't cause this because there were way less people there, Rob.

Which just proves my point that Disney should have done a lot more in preparation for RotR than MFSR, Jon.

 

[Anchored]

I don't think it will be a year -- they will want to use FPs to drive resort business before then, as another poster suggested.

I can see DHS sticking with Tiers and Making ROTR, SDD and Mickey's Railroad Tier 1 to spread people out (Mickeys will be a draw for people with little kids - no height requirment)

 

[rteetz]

From what I’ve gathered some of the empty cars you see in the first room are returning from the unload to the loading areas.

Correct

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Sadly getting there early may not necessarily mean what it had yesterday. Those in early could ride, leave, nap, and carry-on. Neither of my days that I planned at 180+ worked given what happened on my trip. EMH was very messy compared to my second day and today was reminiscent of the EMH day. I knew RotR would wreak havoc on DHS and that I had to go early, but that is from past experience and research. I do not deny getting there early is important, but today has changed that game and I wish Disney had planned it a little better and communicated about it better to all guests.

Which just proves my point that Disney should have done a lot more in preparation for RotR than MFSR, Jon.

MFSR opening. Slow time, hurricane worries, lesser attraction, already open on the other coast, EEMH everywhere!!! Increase in park hours not seen in years!

ROTR opening. Crazy hyped up, no natural disasters, opens weeks before busiest time of year, only one in existence...... open the park at 8 AM, then 9 (but not really), realize the error of your ways, throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks, find something that somewhat works then change it up again. Who knows what tomorrow brings lol.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Question - couldn’t they have just held guests somewhere near the front of DHS or even at the SWGE entrance if the issue was just the event?

This being the new normal for the time being makes more sense to me.

 

[Spaceguy55]

From what I’ve gathered some of the empty cars you see in the first room are returning from the unload to the loading areas.

They are doing a over and under plus a dosey doe dance...

 

[jensen]

We have now experienced two line options for RoTR as we arrived early (about 5:30-5:45 am) yesterday and today. Both times we went expecting to get a boarding group and then leave the park until we received our call to come back. Yesterday we were boarding group 25 which gave us just barely enough time to return to our room to shower and freshen up before being called. Today was totally different, but certainly not in a bad way IMO. We were the lucky ones who were in boarding group 7 - the first group called today. However, not expecting to be first called, we randomly roamed before getting our call. TBH, I felt today’s scenario was more fair to all park attendees as it allowed MANY more people into the park before - what I considered to be - the “lottery” for boarding groups started.

I say that because on our first day my husband was LIVID when we arrived at the parking gates at 7:00 am only to be warmed by the parking attendant that boarding groups were full for the day.

Fortunately for us, we had many days to get going early to enjoy the ride. But, imagine the folks who were only coming one day. Or the folks with young children who had to torture their kids rising at 4:30 am.

I’ll be curious to see if this new procedure sticks as I’ll be back at 5:30 tomorrow.

 

[goofynut41]

Where does lyft and uber drop you off at HS?

 

[Ariel620]

[QUOTE="Ariel620, post: 61349980Thanks to everyone on here for helping me plan!
[/QUOTE]

5:12 mears taxi arrived for
5:15 scheduled pick up from BLT
5:28 arrive at HS
6:40 in park
Held on Hollywood Blvd
7:01 vq opens
Boarding group 35 (4ppl)
Boarding group 65 (3ppl) that didn’t register as in park when vq opened
10am group 35 called
Head to ROTR see guest services at ROTR to work out issue with the group 65 people arriving early but getting late boarding group and getting rider switch (8th person in our group was a baby)
10-11am, 6 people ride ROTR
11-11:30, 3 people ride ROTR thru expedited que with rider switch (so 2 kids rode twice)
All of our party had boarding passes, so I don’t know how rider switch would work without boarding passes, but when everyone has boarding passes it seems to work just the same as any other ride ( meaning the second group got to go thru the fast line....AND the parent waiting with the baby can take 2 extra people with them on rider switch! ).
It was a great morning! Great ride, and the guest services helped us with our issue with the 3 people who had a problem not registering correctly.

 

[Gehrig1B]

I’m slightly amused that we’ve come full circle with the FP system, where so many of us forgot how efficiently lines can move when they’re stand by only and MFSR left people impressed and not really wanting it to be added to anything new.

I am very happy with FP+... haven't gotten in a standby line of over 20 minutes (OK, Smuggler's Run was at 30 minutes but had no choice) in years. We easily grab 10+ FPs each day. Not interested in returning to 30+ minute queues for all rides.

 

[YawningDodo]

I'll be interested to see if this new procedure actually holds beyond today--I've already accepted it as the new reality, which I'm reminding myself is presumptuous.

Overall, I think this change benefits me personally, but I'm not going to touch the argument of whether it's "fair." If the BG distribution doesn't start until the official opening time, that means I can take a later start, which means more sleep, a chance to eat and grab a coffee at my resort (which I prefer over my other early morning options), plus money saved if I can take the Skyliner instead of arranging a Lyft (plus I just don't enjoy taking Lyft). It's less great on days when I was planning to rope drop DHS, grab the earliest boarding group possible, and then leave to take a nap/park hop--this lottery-style arrangement demands a lot more flexibility on my part regarding when I ride. But that's the only real detriment to me personally.

More relevant to the question, frankly, is the fact that it benefits Disney. By de-incentivizing early arrivals, they're pushing more people to do what I've described above: sleep in another hour, buy breakfast at their resorts (heyy money), and refrain from arriving so early that the CMs are forced to open the park hours ahead of schedule to prevent a security crisis.

Is this ideal? Heck no. But neither was my plan to get up at 3:00 AM to be the first one at the gate via paying extra money for a third party transportation option.

 

[BobbidieBoo]

Stability of App.... Better on cellular connection of Disney's WiFi?

When there's that many trying to refresh the app, any thoughts on if you're better off being on a cellular connection or using Disney's WiFi?

 

[aviva5675]

I think getting into a CM line immediately is smart, just try to get your own BG if you are not right at the front of the line and take whatever comes first. That way you’re also there and ready if something goes wrong on your phone.

We got there at 5 today and were in the angry group of people waiting. I was first at a CM and got group 41.

 

[dieumeye]

I’ve read every post in this thread from day one and something is not clear to me:

How many people each day WANT to join a BG but are unable to get a BG?

Almost everyone here seems to end up getting a BG when they try, even with the fluctuations in the specifics (park opening time, BG opening time, etc).

Every argument about what system is “fair” (mine included) relies on some hypothetical guests that wanted to join a BG, but couldn’t.

But who are those people? They don’t seem to be here. At least there are way fewer of them than people who are successfully joining BGs.

I know the “average guest” is not the same as the average DIS user. But I’m really curious about all those other people. How many are actually arriving at the park intending to join a BG to ride RotR and don’t get to?

You can’t assume everyone who goes to the park intends to ride RotR because some aren’t interested, and some might just decide to skip it until a future trip.

 

[Jennasis]

So my daughter and I were first at the tapstiles and surrounded by a lot of angry people when 7 was announced. It took a long time for anyone senior to come out and support the CMs. When the park opened we ended up right in front of the CMs at the hub on the MF side. The VQ opened at 7. My tech savvy daughter couldn’t get the app to work but luckily when I tried it gave us BG16. The CMs deliberately delayed starting the slow march to MF for a few minutes to allow people to get a BG rather than walk and use phones at the same time. There was a lot of pushing, shoving and attempts to barge forward and some angry shouting, I think because people were already angry about the VQ change. We didn’t experience this when we rode MF at RD in July. BG16 was called with an end time of 9.52. It looked as though the ride was only working at reduced capacity as there were lots of completely empty cars moving around.

No...the empty cars are part of the story line. They are also returning to the boarding area for the next load of passengers.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Thanks @Ariel620 for the notes on Rider Switch. My mom isn't the biggest Star Wars fan at all but she will be happy to ride if she can take my eldest through the FP line while I wait with my youngest, and eldest of course will be thrilled to get to ride twice.

Can anyone who was held on Hollywood Blvd this morning tell me if you were able to get into the Starbucks before the VQ opened? Caffeine-addicted inquiring minds want to know...

 

[hart6066]

If your family is linked, when one person goes to join bg, does it show other members in your party to add? Like when you make FP?