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

[yulilin3]

so this is a dangerous question, but would it be "wrong" to politely ask if they can lower their phone so others can enjoy the experience and not have a LCD screen in front of them the whole time - especially if they are infront of kids who cant see over them.

Not wrong at all. I live stream for a living from the parks, there's no need to have the phone above your head, also i lower the brightness all the way inside dark rides.

 

[kboo]

so this is a dangerous question, but would it be "wrong" to politely ask if they can lower their phone so others can enjoy the experience and not have a LCD screen in front of them the whole time - especially if they are infront of kids who cant see over them.

off topic but - someone was doing this during the Nemo show at AK and I said loudly to my 4yo, "you might be able to see over the man's phone if you sit on my lap!"

He lowered his phone, but continued videoing...

Thankfully no one was taking videos during our RotR experiences! There are some places where we did take some selfies, but we made sure to be quick and that we were not in anyone's way.

 

[Laura's Dad]

So to add a little comic relief to this thread, today at the gym I chatted with an acquaintance who is a DVC member who makes multiple trips to Disney each year. She has a trip planned for the beginning of February, so I asked her, "Are you planning to ride ROTR?" and her direct quote was, "What is that?" I explained that it was the new ride in SWGE, and she said, "Oh no, we are not SW people."

Sorry if this story is off topic, but I just had to share with my fellow DISers who , like me, are desperately trying to learn the secrets of securing a BG. Moral of the story, I guess not everyone at WDW is trying to get a ROTR BG. Strangely, that makes me feel a little better.

In February it will be just me (and thousands).

 

[DGsAtBLT]

We rode in a boat on Navi River Journey with a woman who insisted on taking flash pictures of the entire ride. On a tablet. I’m sure she’s got extremely high quality images () of one of the most uneventful rides in Disney to look back on.

 

[kae11]

A friend (local) was there yesterday, arrived shortly after 5am. Due to technical issues was issued a backup group. Went to guest relations and was given any anytime fastpass for ROTR. Not sure if this is the norm for tech issues

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Up to BG 98 at 3:30pm today. I know we’ve largely been hung up on yesterday’s poor performance (myself included). Today has been a pretty solid day so far including what I assume is a bunch of guest recovery FPs.

A rough calculation says they are on pace to get to 140-150 today.

 

[Weedy]

compensation for back up BG snagged right at park opening. I think those are two basic things that would help a lot with days like yesterday.

It’s a slippery slope ...
Who do you compensate? People that missed by 1 minuet? 5?
All the Backup groups?? People that didn’t get Backup?
So the next day you have 1000-2000 people that didn’t ride that will just add to the line each day allowing less people to ride.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

A friend (local) was there yesterday, arrived shortly after 5am. Due to technical issues was issued a backup group. Went to guest relations and was given any anytime fastpass for ROTR. Not sure if this is the norm for tech issues

This is what should be happening, IMO.

 

[Krystal659]

I think if this continues moving to a true lottery system that doesn’t involve you wasting your time only to be shut out would be best. I would like to see them eliminate the need to be in the park if this continues. They could come up with some requirements and restrictions that prevent everyone from joining BG every day.

I think what’s being lost in this conversation in this thread (and I’m talking in general not just to your comment) is how expensive a day at Disney is and how infrequent it is for some. It is a big deal if an entire day is spent trying and failing to get on this attraction. It’s a big deal to completely change your plans to arrive at DHS very early trying to ride this but missing out or not getting on for 12+ hours. It’s a big deal to have to put much of your trip on hold to dedicate a chunk of time to try and ride this.

My initial thought is that if it were a shorter trip for me, I would have to skip this ride. I know I did the same thing the year that FoP opened. I just could not justify spending most of my day waiting for one ride. With a longer trip, I think I would take the gamble.

 

[ShadeDK]

So to add a little comic relief to this thread, today at the gym I chatted with an acquaintance who is a DVC member who makes multiple trips to Disney each year. She has a trip planned for the beginning of February, so I asked her, "Are you planning to ride ROTR?" and her direct quote was, "What is that?" I explained that it was the new ride in SWGE, and she said, "Oh no, we are not SW people."

Sorry if this story is off topic, but I just had to share with my fellow DISers who , like me, are desperately trying to learn the secrets of securing a BG. Moral of the story, I guess not everyone at WDW is trying to get a ROTR BG. Strangely, that makes me feel a little better.

And as luck would have it, these are probably the types of people who blindly, miraculously and haplessly wander into the lottery at the last possible instant in an “oh, why not?” moment, only to secure BG 14 while those of us who research, plan and obsess have a Disney IT glitch and stare dumbfounded when our phone proudly displays BG 178 a few minutes later.

On the VQ system - having had a few days to settle since riding, one thing I realized that almost necessitates the VQ is just how short the queue line is. There really doesn’t seem to be much capacity built in - maybe an hour’s worth before the pre-show elements start? Unless I missed something, our line started all the way back at the entrance to the ride, seemed to snake through the entire queue and switchbacks, and reached the first preshow area in about 45-50 minutes. And no place really to put extra people in that part of the land unless they snaked the line out through the tunnel towards Muppet Courtyard. I get that part of the line technically is still running through the pre-show elements (and maybe it was a design choice to make the first part of the queue shorter for that reason) but it won’t surprise me if this short queue for such a high demand ride turns out to be an ongoing issue (certainly in comparison with recent rides like FoP and Hagrid’s that have several hours of capacity built into their queues).

 

[dina444444]

Up to BG 98 at 3:30pm today. I know we’ve largely been hung up on yesterday’s poor performance (myself included). Today has been a pretty solid day so far including what I assume is a bunch of guest recovery FPs.

A rough calculation says they are on pace to get to 140-150 today.

up to 106 now, they seem to be moving a bit quicker than earlier.

 

[yulilin3]

And as luck would have it, these are probably the types of people who blindly, miraculously and haplessly wander into the lottery at the last possible instant in an “oh, why not?” moment, only to secure BG 14 while those of us who research, plan and obsess have a Disney IT glitch and stare dumbfounded when our phone proudly displays BG 178 a few minutes later.

On the VQ system - having had a few days to settle since riding, one thing I realized that almost necessitates the VQ is just how short the queue line is. There really doesn’t seem to be much capacity built in - maybe an hour’s worth before the pre-show elements start? Unless I missed something, our line started all the way back at the entrance to the ride, seemed to snake through the entire queue and switchbacks, and reached the first preshow area in about 45-50 minutes. And no place really to put extra people in that part of the land unless they snaked the line out through the tunnel towards Muppet Courtyard. I get that part of the line technically is still running through the pre-show elements (and maybe it was a design choice to make the first part of the queue shorter for that reason) but it won’t surprise me if this short queue for such a high demand ride turns out to be an ongoing issue (certainly in comparison with recent rides like FoP and Hagrid’s that have several hours of capacity built into their queues).

Did you make the outdoor queue or did it start at the turret and went into the caves?

 

[matthewthompson87]

I’m curious what the atmosphere and crowd morale is looking like at official park opening at DHS while everyone is frantically trying to book a BG and results popping up?

Cheers? Boos? Any incorporation of this screen gazing into the themed experience?

A lottery you can enter until 30 minutes after park opening seems like it would take the pressure off. Plus the results of the lottery could be made into entertainment.

I posted a similar idea on the Disneyland version of this thread:

Maybe a cleverly written push notification to the crowd at a specific cue in an in-park show? A themed announcement for all of the people who got a BG to give a round of applause and encouragement to those who were thwarted from joining the Resistance?

They’ve got a crowd assembled who are going through an emotional experience together. Surely capitalizing on that by making it part of the immersive entertainment experience would be praised. (Especially if this high demand keeps up.)

 

[montreid]

We did this back in 12/28th - it was 600AM; dark and rainy and still no coffee in us yet -- wasn't ready to have an experience beyond getting our BG!

That said, as we move to the lighter and 800AM drops, would be really interesting to get a ropedrop type experience or 'release the prisoners' moment

 

[only hope]

so this is a dangerous question, but would it be "wrong" to politely ask if they can lower their phone so others can enjoy the experience and not have a LCD screen in front of them the whole time - especially if they are infront of kids who cant see over them.

Politely asking people to lower their phones, or take off their tall hat/mickey ears is perfectly ok. I hear people ask others to remove mickey ears all the time before shows. The last time I saw the Festival of the Lion King, the couple in front of me were both recording on their phones and blocking my view while doing so. I gave them to the end of the intro and when it became clear they were going to continue, I politely informed the man I couldn't see past his phone. He seemed surprised he was blocking someones view, spoke to his wife, and they both lowered their phones the rest of the show.

 

[Bills22]

Obsessively following his thread for weeks paid off for us in spades this morning,
6:05-6:10- boarded bus at Poly
6:20- in bag check line
Tapped in by 6:40- no fingerprint
Opened app at 6:58- Att LTE
Turned red right at 7.
Got BG 18!
All 5 of us were trying, I just got in first.
For security and tapping in, I cannot stress enough how accurate the “stay right” advice is. DD’s and I went right. DH and DS went through no bag line and stayed middle. We were inside the park a full 5 minutes before them.
RotR was worth all the research and planning! Loved it and all of SWGE.
Off topic but the food situation in DHS is abysmal

 

[dina444444]

Politely asking people to lower their phones, or take off their tall hat/mickey ears is perfectly ok. I hear people ask others to remove mickey ears all the time before shows. The last time I saw the Festival of the Lion King, the couple in front of me were both recording on their phones and blocking my view while doing so. I gave them to the end of the intro and when it became clear they were going to continue, I politely informed the man I couldn't see past his phone. He seemed surprised he was blocking someones view, spoke to his wife, and they both lowered their phones the rest of the show.

My favorite is telling someone to take their kid off their shoulders.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

up to 106 now, they seem to be moving a bit quicker than earlier.

125 now

I wonder if the slow pace at the beginning of the day was due to some guest recovery from yesterday.

I’m curious what the atmosphere and crowd morale is looking like at official park opening at DHS while everyone is frantically trying to book a BG and results popping up?

Cheers? Boos? Any incorporation of this screen gazing into the themed experience?

A lottery you can enter until 30 minutes after park opening seems like it would take the pressure off. Plus the results of the lottery could be made into entertainment.

I posted a similar idea on the Disneyland version of this thread:

Maybe a cleverly written push notification to the crowd at a specific cue in an in-park show? A themed announcement for all of the people who got a BG to give a round of applause and encouragement to those who were thwarted from joining the Resistance?

They’ve got a crowd assembled who are going through an emotional experience together. Surely capitalizing on that by making it part of the immersive entertainment experience would be praised. (Especially if this high demand keeps up.)

Oooooh!! Let’s call it a reaping and go all Hunger Games style. People picked don’t get to ride!

...I kid...

 

[dina444444]

125 now

I wonder if the slow pace at the beginning of the day was due to some guest recovery from yesterday.

Oooooh!! Let’s call it a reaping and go all Hunger Games style. People picked don’t get to ride!

...I kid...

I’m guessing it likely was

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I’m guessing it likely was

That would obviously be my guess too but I’m fully embracing my armchair analyst role and making sure to not state my theories with any amount of certainty