Late for RotR boarding group?

[cdurham1]

We have a flight that gets to MCO at 10am on our upcoming trip. Probably just doing carry-on's and have Hertz Gold so I just walk straight to the car in the garage. So, I think 11 to 11:30 is a safe assumption I can be walking into HS.

If I get a boarding group in the 7am drop and it happens to be an early group, how forgiving are they if you are late, outside of your window?

 

[gottalovepluto]

We have a flight that gets to MCO at 10am on our upcoming trip. Probably just doing carry-on's and have Hertz Gold so I just walk straight to the car in the garage. So, I think 11 to 11:30 is a safe assumption I can be walking into HS.

If I get a boarding group in the 7am drop and it happens to be an early group, how forgiving are they if you are late, outside of your window?

They are not known to be forgiving. I would wait for the 1pm drop.

 

[DisneyTexan]

You can plead your case with the cast members who are standing under the umbrellas outside the ride entrance. Hopefully they will be able to move your time if you miss it.

 

[Pyxie]

Quite honestly I've seen reports that they *are* forgiving. I've actually seen where they let people on any time after their BG was called. Now, I wouldn't count on that to definitely be the case, but I think you'll likely be ok.

 

[Robo]

Quite honestly I've seen reports that they *are* forgiving. I've actually seen where they let people on any time after their BG was called. Now, I wouldn't count on that to definitely be the case, but I think you'll likely be ok.

THIS is the correct info.

 

[cdurham1]

They are not known to be forgiving. I would wait for the 1pm drop.

Darn. In that case, i think I will just postpone our HS day.

Hmm, so what if I had a HS park reservation, got a boarding group, but if it was too early, dropped the HS park reservation and switched to MK? I am talking about Sept. 18, so I can't imagine I would be in danger of not being able to get a MK park reservation.

 

[GoingSince1990]

At Disneyland last month the CMs had obviously been instructed to cheerfully wave anyone with a BG group that had been called onto the ride, no matter how late they were, with no begging or pleading necessary. Can’t speak for DHS but I would be very surprised indeed if someone flying in that day whose flight was delayed, for example, causing them to be late for a BG, would be denied admission.

 

[MikeOhio]

People saying they aren't forgiving are simply wrong.

I've shown up hours late to a boarding group multiple times and never once had an issue. In August a CM at Rise was even telling people they could come back any time of day. Of course there is always at least some risk that things could change or you get a CM that does care.

 

[ST1TCH]

People saying they aren't forgiving are simply wrong.

I've shown up hours late to a boarding group multiple times and never once had an issue. In August a CM at Rise was even telling people they could come back any time of day. Of course there is always at least some risk that things could change or you get a CM that does care.

While my experience may be an outlier, last Friday at HS, we arrived for our boarding group about 5 minutes after the hour ended. CM checking with each person what group they were then started into a spiel with a bit of an attitude about how we should have received a notification on our phone about when to arrive and our time was over but my wife and I made it clear that the app had been glitchy the whole week at the park and we had only just now received a notification and then she kinda shut up and let us move on. The folks actually scanning magic bands under the umbrellas at the front of the attraction didn't even bat an eye or question us. So...YMMV.

 

[NashvilleMama]

THIS is the correct info.

^same. We went to a guest services umbrella when we realized we were going to miss our time because of a dining reservation ,and she said not to even worry about - you can go anytime later that day and they won't bat an eye.

 

[subtchr]

They are not known to be forgiving. I would wait for the 1pm drop.

This is incorrect info.

I have not heard of one guest being turned away after arriving late with a valid boarding group. I have personally been 3 hours late (same as you, it was our arrival day after a flight), and the cm didn’t bat an eye.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is incorrect info.

I have not heard of one guest being turned away after arriving late with a valid boarding group. I have personally been 3 hours late (same as you, it was our arrival day after a flight), and the cm didn’t bat an eye.

Nice! I’d heard from folks the window was enforced at WDW, but not DLR. Good to know that was inaccurate. Also, makes my DHS days a lot nicer not having to worry about returning on time anymore!

 

[Timmy Boy]

deleted. realized that it was a guest just being rude to a CM. it happens everywhere.

 

[scrappinginontario]

This is incorrect info.

I have not heard of one guest being turned away after arriving late with a valid boarding group. I have personally been 3 hours late (same as you, it was our arrival day after a flight), and the cm didn’t bat an eye.

There have been more reports lately of guests being denied riding at WDW when late arriving. Personally I would not risk it.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Sorry to be , but I find this to be an interesting parallel to the legacy FP analysis regarding arriving after the return window. We had some real knock-down drag-outs over that in the past, but one of the reasons cited that CMs allowed late-comers revolved around the SB line getting more people through during the window that you missed, thus equalizing the wait for SB whether you arrived during your return window or after it.

I could see a similar outcome with ROTR BGs. If you miss your BG window, it would likely result in them calling the next BG slightly sooner (even if ever so slightly). When you do arrive, it would extend the time ever so slightly before another BG can be called, but it would merely be equalizing the time that the next BG is called back to what it would have been if you'd been on time.

That said, you are at the mercy of whether CMs allow you to arrive late and I wouldn't chance it.

Also, as I mentioned in the other thread... leniency for latecomers might get tossed out the window once IA$ is implemented for ROTR. If there are "paying customers" (yes, I know... we're all already paying customers... I mean those who are paying extra for priority access) that might get impacted with a longer wait because you were late, they might be less prone to allowing you to get on the ride.

 

[subtchr]

There have been more reports lately of guests being denied riding at WDW when late arriving. Personally I would not risk it.

Really? I have not seen any reports of this at all.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Really? I have not seen any reports of this at all.

I’ve seen lots of posts saying that there are “reports of” latecomers being denied boarding. But I’ve never seen a post where someone said “I was denied boarding”. Maybe such posts do exist and I’ve just never seen them. Having said that, with Genie+ and IAS imminent, the policy could change on any given day. As a grandmaster legacy FP user who accumulated many FPs for later use during the years that being late was allowed, I well remember the first time we were turned away for being late by a kindly but firm CM when Disney changed that policy.