RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[DGsAtBLT]

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?

Nobody at opening. The issue at the beginning was getting late BG that didn’t get called but that seems to be mostly resolved. People definitely miss out though, people who don’t know to arrive any earlier than an hour at the very best after opening time. Its just not the people who are going to be posting in this thread for the most part as nobody here would attempt that at this point. I have seen plenty of people talk about making the choice not to ride because they know they can’t or don’t want to get there that early.

The less fair part is IMO the randomness of which BG you get assigned. Unlike a regular SB line you cannot control your wait time by arriving early, and technology issues will set you back further than they would have yesterday.

 

[sachilles]

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.

I can only offer a semi-reliable data point.
If the ride at it's best can serve 1700 people per hour, and you usually get 12-13 hour park days, that 22,100 rides per day. With the current system you shouldn't be able to ride the attraction more than once per day(though some have). Capacity of the park is 50,000 plus. So that means less than 50% of the parks visitors get an opportunity to ride.

Most rides in the park have capacities in that ball park, but do not limit your visits. This means you could be shut out of any ride on a given day. People go to DHS and never get on toys story mania, slinky dog, or rockin' roller coaster. Some never get in to Fantasmic.

 

[dina444444]

We’ve hit 105 the last guaranteed group for today.

 

[sayhello]

We’ve hit 105 the last guaranteed group for today.

106 is called now. So starting with the backup groups at 4:43. Something is different!

Sayhello

 

[JETSDAD]

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 want FP's added to everything right away. I was there for the first week of September with the first days of EEMH. We did one early morning for MFSR and I don't want to have to wait that long again (probably 40 minutes). We also went in October when EEMH were still running and we didn't bother with SWGE at all. We may do RotR without FP at some point if they keep BG's just to get to experience it once but otherwise we won't bother with SWGE until FP's are added.

 

[sachilles]

106 is called now. So starting with the backup groups at 4:43. Something is different!

Sayhello

I don't remember anyone saying they had a stoppage long enough to issue snacks or meet a character. So that is part of it. However, we don't truly know how big the boarding groups are, so we don't know if the group size reduced this morning.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I want FP's added to everything right away. I was there for the first week of September with the first days of EEMH. We did one early morning for MFSR and I don't want to have to wait that long again (probably 40 minutes). We also went in October when EEMH were still running and we didn't bother with SWGE at all. We may do RotR without FP at some point if they keep BG's just to get to experience it once but otherwise we won't bother with SWGE until FP's are added.

I don't want FP to go away, especially because I know how to use it fully to our advantage, but I really love the middle ground of not having to use one of the initial FP for the SWGE attractions freeing them up for something else.

 

[YawningDodo]

I can only offer a semi-reliable data point.
If the ride at it's best can serve 1700 people per hour, and you usually get 12-13 hour park days, that 22,100 rides per day. With the current system you shouldn't be able to ride the attraction more than once per day(though some have). Capacity of the park is 50,000 plus. So that means less than 50% of the parks visitors get an opportunity to ride.

Most rides in the park have capacities in that ball park, but do not limit your visits. This means you could be shut out of any ride on a given day. People go to DHS and never get on toys story mania, slinky dog, or rockin' roller coaster. Some never get in to Fantasmic.

But is that how many people are actually in the park on a given day? A quick search tells me that's a lowball number for absolute capacity (it's probably more like 75,000), but is 50,000 the actual daily attendance? I'm not asking to be snarky, especially since regardless of the answer I don't doubt there are more visitors who want to ride than visitors who can, but genuinely wondering if the attendance is actually that high and the ratio actually that bad.

A related question that's been more on my mind is whether a given person is at all likely to be unable to ride if they arrive at or before the official opening time. If it's possible to show up an hour before opening and fail to get assigned a boarding group at all, that's a big problem. If everyone who's there ahead of opening is still getting a boarding group (even if it's a later one than they wanted), I don't have a problem with it. And it sounds, so far, like the latter is the case.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

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.

Just wanted to say I appreciated your detailed experience post over both days/formats. Thank you.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

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?

Yes, other members will show up on a list to select, the same way it does when you go to make FPs.

 

[Opie100]

I don't want FP to go away, especially because I know how to use it fully to our advantage, but I really love the middle ground of not having to use one of the initial FP for the SWGE attractions freeing them up for something else.

Even when FP+ is activated for the GE experiences, you'll still be able to rope drop at least one of them.

 

[Spaceguy55]

...maybe the change today has to do with the Riviera opening this week..I'm sure the DVC owners would like to be able to use the Skyliner to get to DHS in time to get in a BG ..after all it was a selling point.

 

[rteetz]

...maybe the change today has to do with the Riviera opening this week..I'm sure the DVC owners would like to be able to use the Skyliner to get to DHS in time to get in a BG ..after all it was a selling point.

Uh doubtful...

 

[DGsAtBLT]

...maybe the change today has to do with the Riviera opening this week..I'm sure the DVC owners would like to be able to use the Skyliner to get to DHS in time to get in a BG ..after all it was a selling point.

Riviera owners are probably more concerned with being able to use their Murphy beds at this point, and crossing fingers a TV doesn't fall off the wall or something.

 

[NYHeel]

I can only offer a semi-reliable data point.
If the ride at it's best can serve 1700 people per hour, and you usually get 12-13 hour park days, that 22,100 rides per day. With the current system you shouldn't be able to ride the attraction more than once per day(though some have). Capacity of the park is 50,000 plus. So that means less than 50% of the parks visitors get an opportunity to ride.

Most rides in the park have capacities in that ball park, but do not limit your visits. This means you could be shut out of any ride on a given day. People go to DHS and never get on toys story mania, slinky dog, or rockin' roller coaster. Some never get in to Fantasmic.

2018 attendance at Hollywood studios was 11.26 million. On average that means 31,000 a day (understanding that peak times are much more). Also, a small chunk of that 31,000 are kids below 40 inches tall that can't ride Rise of the Resistance. So a good percentage would be able to ride on an average day with full ride capacity.

 

[sayhello]

Up to 117 at 5:22pm. It will be interesting to see how high they go.

Sayhello

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Up to 117 at 5:22pm. It will be interesting to see how high they go.

Sayhello

127 is the current record I think? From day 1. 123 was the next highest from the 15th. (P.S. Thanks for the convenient chart, rteetz!)

 

[rteetz]

127 is the current record I think? From day 1. 123 was the next highest from the 15th. (P.S. Thanks for the convenient chart, rteetz!)

127 was the opening day number. 123 then 122.

 

[wareagle57]

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.

For most rides I agree, but for brand new rides I’d much rather be able to wait 30-45 minutes any day I want rather than never be able to ride without waiting 3 hours because I can’t get a FP. And even if I can get one, it’s just once a trip.

 

[kboo]

2018 attendance at Hollywood studios was 11.26 million. On average that means 31,000 a day (understanding that peak times are much more). Also, a good chunk of that 31,000 are kids below 48 inches tall that can't ride Rise of the Resistance. So a good percentage would be able to ride on an average day with full ride capacity.

ROTR HEIGHT REQUIREMENT IS 40", RIGHT? RIGHT!?