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

[MIChessGuy]

Several posters here, including myself, will be going on MLK Sunday. I suppose it will be somewhere between today's crowd and a Christmas/New Years crowd. Any thoughts on a reasonably "safe" time to show up at the gate?

 

[maryj11]

I’m all new to this. What are backups? Is it extra groups that will get to ride later or might get a chance to ride?

 

[osufeth24]

Saw this posted on Reddit, thought it was funny

 

[Nvrgrowup]

Have been following this crazy funny and great info thread from day one. A big shout out to @rteetz for starting the awsome daily bg chart and his expertise even while training to run like the wind.
To @yulilin3 for keeping us all focused for the task at hand. I know sometimes it must have felt like you were wrangling porgs
To @SouthFayetteFan for picking up the torch with the chart and running full speed ahead with great humor.
Also a shout out to all that have given great intel and helped my family and others plan ride and experience something phenomenal!! Truly grateful for the dis family!!

 

[yulilin3]

Several posters here, including myself, will be going on MLK Sunday. I suppose it will be somewhere between today's crowd and a Christmas/New Years crowd. Any thoughts on a reasonably "safe" time to show up at the gate?

Safe would be to be at the tapstiles by 6:30am for a 7am opening

I’m all new to this. What are backups? Is it extra groups that will get to ride later or might get a chance to ride?

Backup are not guaranteed boarding groups.
In short NOTHING is guaranteed at WDW, so even if you get a regular BG you are not guaranteed to ride,BUT if your regular BG does not get to load then they have guest recovery where they give you a fastpass for the next day. With the backup BG you are not guaranteed to ride and if your group doesn't get called there's no recovery option

 

[yulilin3]

Have been following this crazy funny and great info thread from day one. A big shout out to @rteetz for starting the awsome daily bg chart and his expertise even while training to run like the wind.
To @yulilin3 for keeping us all focused for the task at hand. I know sometimes it must have felt like you were wrangling porgs
To @SouthFayetteFan for picking up the torch with the chart and running full speed ahead with great humor.
Also a shout out to all that have given great intel and helped my family and others plan ride and experience something phenomenal!! Truly grateful for the dis family!!

A more proper description does not exist you are welcome. And yes the parking lot is open early enough

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I am making this after having spoke to guest experience team in DHS today.

The woman told me that groups are filled in order, meaning they are NOT random (1st person gets first boarding group). Now, you may tap it before someone but have a slower device than those who hit it 5 seconds after you, or the server may register requests oddly because of the max influx of user requests.

Based on this, it is not worth (what I previously theorized) getting passes for your group, but not for you, and refreshing boarding groups only for yourself to see if you can get a lower number and get your family moved to your group.

This strategy is one I think is very much worth attempting when you can:

1) Be in the park before 7AM with a party of 2 or more. Ensure before 7AM that all of you have the WDW experience app and have your entire party linked to each person’s account/phone/app (as if you need to select fast passes for them).
2) Have the app closed and leave it closed until 7AM before you enter the park. It needs to register that you’ve tapped your magic band. (As a side note - the ONLY requirement to obtain a boarding pass is that you have tapped your magic band or pass to the tap station at DHS and that it turns green. You can make a 180 degree turn and walk right out if you wanted to, which is actually strategic for rope dropping another park. Just get to your phone at 7AM wherever you are).
3) Split your group into 2-3, depending on what you want to do or feel comfortable doing. You will need to speak to a cast member and get them to move your party to the group you want (that you’ve chosen).
4) At 7AM, open the app and join a boarding group. I like waiting 2-3 seconds to open the app on good connection. Have each person do this. Do not overlap people. I will give an example here for a group of 3:
Person A: obtains a pass for person A and B.
Person C: obtains a pass for person C only.

This can extend to however many people you’d like. Just know that the more divisions in groups, the harder it will be to get a CM to shift all of you around.

5) Because 2 people are trying, theoretically, you have twice the probability of getting to a good boarding group if you each do it ASAP at 7AM. The more people, the higher likelihood you are in a low group, but also the harder it is to combine groups with a CM.

6) Go to guest experience umbrellas in DHS with your party. Personally, I’d recommend referring to your party as “family” to ensure CMs help you out more. If you don’t like bending the truth a little, simply don’t use this strategy. It will probably work - combining someone to your more favorable group - but if you aren’t comfortable doing this, don’t.

From here, hopefully, you have obtained the lowest group possible that your party has found with several people checking the app at the same time and sending those requests to Disney’s servers.

Let me know what you think and if you test it!

I think I’ll just stick with selecting my family of 4 and getting 1 BG. I’m just not sure why we’d complicate it like this... this isn’t that complicated

 

[yulilin3]

Off topic but a huge CONGRATULATIONS to @rteetz for completing another Dopey Challenge. That's 48.6 miles in 4 days.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Off topic but a huge CONGRATULATIONS to @rteetz for completing another Dopey Challenge. That's 48.6 miles in 4 days.

Pfft, I drive that much every day, what's the big deal?

 

[wdw&sonny]

Off topic but a huge CONGRATULATIONS to @rteetz for completing another Dopey Challenge. That's 48.6 miles in 4 days.

How many has he done?
I have completed zero. But, it's on my bucket list.

 

[blistex]

I am making this after having spoke to guest experience team in DHS today.

The woman told me that groups are filled in order, meaning they are NOT random (1st person gets first boarding group). Now, you may tap it before someone but have a slower device than those who hit it 5 seconds after you, or the server may register requests oddly because of the max influx of user requests.

Based on this, it is not worth (what I previously theorized) getting passes for your group, but not for you, and refreshing boarding groups only for yourself to see if you can get a lower number and get your family moved to your group.

This strategy is one I think is very much worth attempting when you can:

1) Be in the park before 7AM with a party of 2 or more. Ensure before 7AM that all of you have the WDW experience app and have your entire party linked to each person’s account/phone/app (as if you need to select fast passes for them).
2) Have the app closed and leave it closed until 7AM before you enter the park. It needs to register that you’ve tapped your magic band. (As a side note - the ONLY requirement to obtain a boarding pass is that you have tapped your magic band or pass to the tap station at DHS and that it turns green. You can make a 180 degree turn and walk right out if you wanted to, which is actually strategic for rope dropping another park. Just get to your phone at 7AM wherever you are).
3) Split your group into 2-3, depending on what you want to do or feel comfortable doing. You will need to speak to a cast member and get them to move your party to the group you want (that you’ve chosen).
4) At 7AM, open the app and join a boarding group. I like waiting 2-3 seconds to open the app on good connection. Have each person do this. Do not overlap people. I will give an example here for a group of 3:
Person A: obtains a pass for person A and B.
Person C: obtains a pass for person C only.

This can extend to however many people you’d like. Just know that the more divisions in groups, the harder it will be to get a CM to shift all of you around.

5) Because 2 people are trying, theoretically, you have twice the probability of getting to a good boarding group if you each do it ASAP at 7AM. The more people, the higher likelihood you are in a low group, but also the harder it is to combine groups with a CM.

6) Go to guest experience umbrellas in DHS with your party. Personally, I’d recommend referring to your party as “family” to ensure CMs help you out more. If you don’t like bending the truth a little, simply don’t use this strategy. It will probably work - combining someone to your more favorable group - but if you aren’t comfortable doing this, don’t.

From here, hopefully, you have obtained the lowest group possible that your party has found with several people checking the app at the same time and sending those requests to Disney’s servers.

Let me know what you think and if you test it!

This seems like it's just going to disadvantage everyone else, since presumably the boarding groups are full, if you are moving people around into already-full boarding groups. Feels a lot like trying to cut in line to me and to what end? Riding the ride an hour earlier?

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Off topic but a huge CONGRATULATIONS to @rteetz for completing another Dopey Challenge. That's 48.6 miles in 4 days.

I can’t even imagine the will power and motivation it takes to train and complete that challenge! Awesome job!!

As for the rest of us...

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I am making this after having spoke to guest experience team in DHS today.

The woman told me that groups are filled in order, meaning they are NOT random (1st person gets first boarding group). Now, you may tap it before someone but have a slower device than those who hit it 5 seconds after you, or the server may register requests oddly because of the max influx of user requests.

Based on this, it is not worth (what I previously theorized) getting passes for your group, but not for you, and refreshing boarding groups only for yourself to see if you can get a lower number and get your family moved to your group.

This strategy is one I think is very much worth attempting when you can:

1) Be in the park before 7AM with a party of 2 or more. Ensure before 7AM that all of you have the WDW experience app and have your entire party linked to each person’s account/phone/app (as if you need to select fast passes for them).
2) Have the app closed and leave it closed until 7AM before you enter the park. It needs to register that you’ve tapped your magic band. (As a side note - the ONLY requirement to obtain a boarding pass is that you have tapped your magic band or pass to the tap station at DHS and that it turns green. You can make a 180 degree turn and walk right out if you wanted to, which is actually strategic for rope dropping another park. Just get to your phone at 7AM wherever you are).
3) Split your group into 2-3, depending on what you want to do or feel comfortable doing. You will need to speak to a cast member and get them to move your party to the group you want (that you’ve chosen).
4) At 7AM, open the app and join a boarding group. I like waiting 2-3 seconds to open the app on good connection. Have each person do this. Do not overlap people. I will give an example here for a group of 3:
Person A: obtains a pass for person A and B.
Person C: obtains a pass for person C only.

This can extend to however many people you’d like. Just know that the more divisions in groups, the harder it will be to get a CM to shift all of you around.

5) Because 2 people are trying, theoretically, you have twice the probability of getting to a good boarding group if you each do it ASAP at 7AM. The more people, the higher likelihood you are in a low group, but also the harder it is to combine groups with a CM.

6) Go to guest experience umbrellas in DHS with your party. Personally, I’d recommend referring to your party as “family” to ensure CMs help you out more. If you don’t like bending the truth a little, simply don’t use this strategy. It will probably work - combining someone to your more favorable group - but if you aren’t comfortable doing this, don’t.

From here, hopefully, you have obtained the lowest group possible that your party has found with several people checking the app at the same time and sending those requests to Disney’s servers.

Let me know what you think and if you test it!

This seems like a bad idea, because there’s no guarantee a CM will actually move your group back together.

 

[NYHeel]

I am making this after having spoke to guest experience team in DHS today.

The woman told me that groups are filled in order, meaning they are NOT random (1st person gets first boarding group). Now, you may tap it before someone but have a slower device than those who hit it 5 seconds after you, or the server may register requests oddly because of the max influx of user requests.

Based on this, it is not worth (what I previously theorized) getting passes for your group, but not for you, and refreshing boarding groups only for yourself to see if you can get a lower number and get your family moved to your group.

This strategy is one I think is very much worth attempting when you can:

1) Be in the park before 7AM with a party of 2 or more. Ensure before 7AM that all of you have the WDW experience app and have your entire party linked to each person’s account/phone/app (as if you need to select fast passes for them).
2) Have the app closed and leave it closed until 7AM before you enter the park. It needs to register that you’ve tapped your magic band. (As a side note - the ONLY requirement to obtain a boarding pass is that you have tapped your magic band or pass to the tap station at DHS and that it turns green. You can make a 180 degree turn and walk right out if you wanted to, which is actually strategic for rope dropping another park. Just get to your phone at 7AM wherever you are).
3) Split your group into 2-3, depending on what you want to do or feel comfortable doing. You will need to speak to a cast member and get them to move your party to the group you want (that you’ve chosen).
4) At 7AM, open the app and join a boarding group. I like waiting 2-3 seconds to open the app on good connection. Have each person do this. Do not overlap people. I will give an example here for a group of 3:
Person A: obtains a pass for person A and B.
Person C: obtains a pass for person C only.

This can extend to however many people you’d like. Just know that the more divisions in groups, the harder it will be to get a CM to shift all of you around.

5) Because 2 people are trying, theoretically, you have twice the probability of getting to a good boarding group if you each do it ASAP at 7AM. The more people, the higher likelihood you are in a low group, but also the harder it is to combine groups with a CM.

6) Go to guest experience umbrellas in DHS with your party. Personally, I’d recommend referring to your party as “family” to ensure CMs help you out more. If you don’t like bending the truth a little, simply don’t use this strategy. It will probably work - combining someone to your more favorable group - but if you aren’t comfortable doing this, don’t.

From here, hopefully, you have obtained the lowest group possible that your party has found with several people checking the app at the same time and sending those requests to Disney’s servers.

Let me know what you think and if you test it!

What's the point of all this? Just get a boarding group for your full group. We've seen people get early boarding groups with 11 people. There's no reason to think that you're going to get a signficantly earlier boarding group for 2 people than for 4 people. Maybe you get 1-2 boarding groups earlier. Maybe. So you get on the ride 5 minutes earlier.

 

[dina444444]

How many has he done?
I have completed zero. But, it's on my bucket list.

This is his 4th year running dopey.

 

[lorenae]

That’s insane. I got mine 30-45 sec into opening and for 64. We are a couple hours apart despite you going after me. Still thinking it’s lottery and not totally first come first serve.

I don’t know maybe it has something to do with party size as well, as I am alone and got 45, but the three next to me who got in before I did or something like 65

 

[FantasmicMike]

Thanks to everyone's contributions on this thread, my family of 4 was able to ride twice during our visit between 1/4 and 1/11 (and 2 of us passed on a backup-BG that we grabbed after arriving 1hr after park open one day). I'll share a slightly more detailed report here than I did after our first successful ride.

On 1/4, we were on the CBR bus around 6:10 am, and through bag check and tapped in by 6:35am. We followed the RD crowd around to I believe around ABC Commissary (don't think we were were yet to Baseline). Both DW and I are on Verizon (me an iPhone 11 and her a Samsung S10). Both of us were logged into my MDE acount. Though I made sure my app was working, I did not begin refreshing until about 6:59, (maintaining my Zen with "I am one with the force, and the force is with me"). Right around 7 had the "Join Boarding Group" button go red - and got boarding group 12. We were into the queue at 7:45, and off the ride at 8:15.

On 1/11, we tried again (had a FoP FP+ for 10:40am, so figured why not). This time, we weren't on the bus until 6:35, through security and into the park at 6:54. Walked down Hollywood Blvd. and took a right past Trolley Car, and found a place to camp out away from the rope-drop madness. This time, right at 7, DW beat me into the BG. Before my button went red, she instead clicked "My Status" and got the option to join a boarding group - and got BG 10. We were on the ride at 7:15 and off by 7:30 - then breakfast at Ronto Roasters!

I thought it would be useful to share that the "My Status" link, in that moment, revealed the option faster on her phone, but mine was faster with "Join Boarding Group" the first time. Just some info that might be useful to those with multiple phones. Again, we were both logged into my MDE account.

Clearly, the tips and information provided here proved VERY successful for us - and I wish everyone the same good fortune in the future. MTFBWY.

 

[JavaLikesAgua]

What's the point of all this? Just get a boarding group for your full group. We've seen people get early boarding groups with 11 people. There's no reason to think that you're going to get a signficantly earlier boarding group for 2 people than for 4 people. Maybe you get 1-2 boarding groups earlier. Maybe. So you get on the ride 5 minutes earlier.

Thats not how it works. If you have multiple people checking, the probability of you getting a worse group decreases because there are more phones to be checking. If one person is looking for the whole group, if that one person has one hiccup with their phone or connection, that may push your ride time back 4 hours.

 

[JavaLikesAgua]

This seems like a bad idea, because there’s no guarantee a CM will actually move your group back together.

There is a high likelihood, it just depends on how much you are willing to bend the truth to the CM. I’ve had to do it myself with my friend, but I didn’t plan it in advance (was an actual issue).

 

[JavaLikesAgua]

This seems like it's just going to disadvantage everyone else, since presumably the boarding groups are full, if you are moving people around into already-full boarding groups. Feels a lot like trying to cut in line to me and to what end? Riding the ride an hour earlier?

Correct - this strategy is not the regular way of doing it. If you don’t feel comfortable playing somewhat dirty - of course, you don’t have to. This may be something worth doing if you only have a few hours and have to leave Orlando that day and REALLY want to ride the ride early on.