Moonlight at DHS..fastpass & star wars boarding?

[DianaMB333]

Hi! I have the intention of booking a moonlight event at DHS.. do they distribute fastpass during the event? Any idea on how they could manage boarding groups for StarWars ride? Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

No FP, and they are unlikely to have ROTR open at all.

 

[jerseyduke]

they are unlikely to have ROTR open at all.

Not saying you are wrong, because I have no idea, but I am wondering why you think this?

 

[erionm]

I believe that both attractions in Galaxy's Edge will be open. It's still 7 months until the first DHS MM event of 2020, so plenty of time for Disney to work out the kinks in RotR.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Not saying you are wrong, because I have no idea, but I am wondering why you think this?

Because they've not been doing EMH with it. They are clearly choosing not to allow standby queueing for now, and we're in the third month of that choice. We are still doing Boarding Passes that are gone for a full park day by 5 minutes after opening.

There is almost no way to provide a "fair" and logical sequence to distribute Boarding Groups for a MM that won't have a lot of people angry. They're better off just not doing it, honestly.

If they open standby by then, maybe. I don't think it's happening any time before at least Easter, and if the ride continues to go down multiple times per day - as it has been - extend the timeline.

ETA: If they don't have standby running as a regular op, I don't think they can key a BG distribution on MM. The tickets don't show in MDE, and BG distro is based on scanned in ticket via MDE. So would they wait until they were sure the park was cleared of all non-DVC before opening? Take the risk someone non-DVC gets a BG while being thrown out?

 

[jerseyduke]

Because they've not been doing EMH with it. They are clearly choosing not to allow standby queueing for now, and we're in the third month of that choice. We are still doing Boarding Passes that are gone for a full park day by 5 minutes after opening.

There is almost no way to provide a "fair" and logical sequence to distribute Boarding Groups for a MM that won't have a lot of people angry. They're better off just not doing it, honestly.

If they open standby by then, maybe. I don't think it's happening any time before at least Easter, and if the ride continues to go down multiple times per day - as it has been - extend the timeline.

Good points(particularly about the EMH). I thought that they might open it (stand by queue only - certainly no boarding groups - because of the low attendance).

You are very optimistic about your possible time frame for opening standby by Easter, unless you mean Easter 2022 Cause it ain't happening this year at all. (I honestly think it might literally be years before they offer standby)

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Good points(particularly about the EMH). I thought that they might open it (stand by queue only - certainly no boarding groups - because of the low attendance).

You are very optimistic about your possible time frame for opening standby by Easter, unless you mean Easter 2022 Cause it ain't happening this year at all. (I honestly think it might literally be years before they offer standby)

I'm not sure attendance is low enough. I think estimates on MM at DHS are in the 15-25k range.

And Easter is my optimistic minimum earliest. No way they open standby before Easter crowds are through, especially with ride reliability being an issue.

 

[The Jackal]

Just one thing DHS Moonlight Magic event is much, much smaller than MK and Epcot. The amount of members allowed in is much lower. We went to the first one, when they opened Toy Story Land. TSL was packed the other rides had short to no lines. Not sure with SWL open if they let more in. It will probably be hard to get in. I wouldn’t plan a trip expecting to get in and be disappointed if you do not.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Because they've not been doing EMH with it. They are clearly choosing not to allow standby queueing for now, and we're in the third month of that choice. We are still doing Boarding Passes that are gone for a full park day by 5 minutes after opening.

There is almost no way to provide a "fair" and logical sequence to distribute Boarding Groups for a MM that won't have a lot of people angry. They're better off just not doing it, honestly.

If they open standby by then, maybe. I don't think it's happening any time before at least Easter, and if the ride continues to go down multiple times per day - as it has been - extend the timeline.

ETA: If they don't have standby running as a regular op, I don't think they can key a BG distribution on MM. The tickets don't show in MDE, and BG distro is based on scanned in ticket via MDE. So would they wait until they were sure the park was cleared of all non-DVC before opening? Take the risk someone non-DVC gets a BG while being thrown out?

I also think that if they are not allowing it for EMH by that time then it's quite unlikely it would be available for MM. But if they are then it will just be standby.

Honestly I keep wondering what it would be like if they just switched to standby now and dropped the boarding groups. Chaos for a few days I'm sure but personally I think the boarding group process is rather chaotic too and that the process itself is adding to or even creating the chaos. But that's off topic for the thread.

 

[CraigInPA]

The boarding group method used today allows anyone who wants to get up at 5am and gets to the park before it opens to get scanned into the park, a shot at getting onto the ride. I tried twice, and failed both times during my recent 10 day vacation. It's really a shame that they decided that issuing fast passes, which gives advantage to people staying in Disney hotels and DVC members over day trippers, was not "fair". They could have opened it up with everyone on standby, but they apparently felt that would create lines that were ridiculously long. I hope that they fix this travesty of "fairness" for my next trip, or open it up for MM or After Hours events.

The day I waited 75 minutes in line for Smuggler's Run in January, they announced that fastpasses for Smuggler's run would be issued starting February 16. I see that as a hopeful sign for ROTR.

 

[jerseyduke]

The boarding group method used today allows anyone who wants to get up at 5am and gets to the park before it opens to get scanned into the park, a shot at getting onto the ride. I tried twice, and failed both times during my recent 10 day vacation. It's really a shame that they decided that issuing fast passes, which gives advantage to people staying in Disney hotels and DVC members over day trippers, was not "fair". They could have opened it up with everyone on standby, but they apparently felt that would create lines that were ridiculously long. I hope that they fix this travesty of "fairness" for my next trip, or open it up for MM or After Hours events.

The day I waited 75 minutes in line for Smuggler's Run in January, they announced that fastpasses for Smuggler's run would be issued starting February 16. I see that as a hopeful sign for ROTR.

Sorry you did not get on.

I personally do not like this chaos of not getting to join a boarding group until the park opens. If, when it first opened back on 12/5, you had gotten up at 5 am as you said and headed over to the studios, you would have gotten on no problem. And thats not conjecture, I experienced it 12/6 and 12/7 no problem. at the studios both days between 6 and 6:15. In by 6:30. boarding passes lasted a few hours, not minutes. (they tended to almost last until official park opening at 9)

I just do not see fast passes or even a stand by queue for this any time soon. First they have to get the reliability of the attraction a lot closer to 100% so they can predict capacity. Secondly, I could literally see the stand by line being 12 hours long. Right now people are getting into back up boarding groups. Imagine those people going and waiting on line starting at 8 am, only to find come 9 at night they are still in line with possibly hours to go. If they treat it like every other stand by line where you just have to be on it by park close, ROTR will be open until 3 am every day.

I actually think Disney has a problem with no good solution.

Just one thing DHS Moonlight Magic event is much, much smaller than MK and Epcot. The amount of members allowed in is much lower. We went to the first one, when they opened Toy Story Land. TSL was packed the other rides had short to no lines. Not sure with SWL open if they let more in. It will probably be hard to get in. I wouldn’t plan a trip expecting to get in and be disappointed if you do not.

I was there as well. According to online statistics annual attendance at HS is about 12 million people which makes average daily attendance 32,000. Being that i go during slower times which would probably have a lower number, lets say 25,000 - Moonlight magic had less than 10K people in it. The crowd was not anywhere near even half of a typical day that I have experienced.

Of course my usual disclaimer, I have been wrong before.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If they treat it like every other stand by line where you just have to be on it by park close, ROTR will be open until 3 am every day.

And, to be clear: This would be a huge issue for MM, because if they follow the "in the queue before close" rule, any day visitor in queue would get to ride, thereby putting all DVC MM visitors in standby behind them.

I cannot come up with a single scenario in which someone in this doesn't end up awfully mad.

 

[jerseyduke]

And, to be clear: This would be a huge issue for MM, because if they follow the "in the queue before close" rule, any day visitor in queue would get to ride, thereby putting all DVC MM visitors in standby behind them.

I cannot come up with a single scenario in which someone in this doesn't end up awfully mad.

yes, even if MM is only 5K, they cant pump everyone thru that ride in the time frame probably even with it having no issues.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

If I remember correctly, the SW:GE is not open on After Hours nights and that is a paid for event.