Rise of the Resistance BOARDING GROUPS Superthread Part 1 *No Ride Spoilers Please* *PLEASE READ POSTS 1-4*

[ironband74]

Looks like backups are gone. 79 and up are backups today. Are they starting at BG 8 today then? We shall see soon...

 

[ironband74]

Called it! boarding 8-9. Good luck everyone, May the Force be With You.

 

[Peachy0118]

Played along at home. Android S10. Glanced at the time and saw it was exactly open time, so figured I'd give it a go. Opened my app to realize I'd left it open on a menu (I visit the menus and dream about what we are going to try... I may have a problem...). Backed out to the main page, "join boarding group" was up and orange still, both on the main page and through "find out more". I was able to go ahead as far as we can at home through both.

I'm aware Wednesday is a lot easier going, but I thought for sure having the app open to another page and backing out was going to freeze it. Luckily that didn't happen. I'm sure it's different at the park, but it made me slightly hopeful since Androids seems to have a tougher go than iPhones at the park.

Congrats to everyone who got their BG today!

 

[Daisybelle]

I’m telling you guys, it’s really not that bad once the park opens. It’s more people than you’d see at a normal rope drop, of course, but the total number of people is still way less people than would normally be in the park at, say, 10:30 on any normal day. It’s the arriving all at once aspect that creates those “sea of humanity” photos.

That's encouraging! I've been getting nervous about our trip next month because of all the crowd pics from first thing in the morning.

 

[fac429]

I appreciate the good thoughts and empathy from people here. FWIW, here's my take on what went down yesterday (sorry it's so long):

We were boarding group 81 (backup group). From reading the boards here I was reasonably confident we'd get on, as 81 seemed to be the minimum number of groups they'd gone through. I was quite encouraged that they were moving through boarding groups pretty quickly, and at the rate we were going I figured we'd be able to get in line sometime before 4:00. But we also knew that the ride has had quite a bit of down time, and therefore could break down at any time. We hoped that there wouldn't be significant downtime while we were in line, but unfortunately that's exactly what happened.

They called our BG at 3:45, and it worked out that we were ready to go in right when we were called. Park wasn't super-crowded throughout the day, so we had been able to ride almost everything we wanted to ride earlier in the day. We figured we'd ride ROTR, get something to eat and see the park at dark, and call it a day.

I should probably mention that I'm a local who's lived in SoCal almost all of my life, so I've been to DL more times than I can count. We used to be passholders but they've jacked the price up so high that we haven't had them for the past few years. So while this was our first trip to DL in about 3 years, our primary goal was to ride ROTR and see the rest of GE. We were using the SoCal 3 day pass and knew that we'd probably be coming back to DL one more day (using the last day for CA Adventure). I guess I bring this up to give a little context- we're not AP's, so we wanted to make the most out of this trip, but we've been on the other rides in the park many, many times before. So while we didn't have the luxury of knowing we could come back whenever we want, we were pretty committed to riding ROTR if we got a boarding group.

As we were in line I noticed that a substantial amount of the queue is lined with benches. So it seems that Disney anticipated that this ride could go down often, and for long periods of time.

Shortly after we got in line (probably within 10-15 minutes) the ride went down. Not really a surprise, as we knew this had been happening. A few people left, but most people stayed. They announced- over and over- that the ride was down, that they didn't know when it would be up, that you could stay or leave, and that they hoped to have the ride back up "soon." I have no idea why they kept making the same announcement over the next 3 hours, as they mostly stopped taking new boarding groups after it went down (at one point they let another boarding group come in when it looked like the ride might be back up- although it was back down again within a few minutes). So this wasn't new information for anybody in line after the announcements started.

At some point a cast member came out and was chatting with a couple of people in line. They didn't really give any substantial update, which wasn't surprising (I know from past experience that you can't get a straight answer from a cast member about when a ride may be coming back up). But that was the only cast member we saw the whole time we were in line.

There was a pattern to what was happening. The line would stop moving, then the background music in the queue would stop. The announcement would be made, and people would sit down or camp out. A few people would leave. We'd sit there for a half hour or more (listening to the same announcement every 10 minutes or so), then eventually the background music would start up. People would get excited and stand up, the line would move forward a few feet... and then repeat. Line stops, music stops, announcements made, people decided whether to stay or go. This happened 3 or 4 times before they finally had it up and running and we were able to ride about 3 hours later.

Word got around the queue that they would let you leave to go to the bathroom so long as you had someone in line saving your place. They made it clear that if you left the line without having someone saving your place you were done for the day. You either stuck it out or you had to come back another day.

After being in a line like that for an hour or more you realize you can't really win. If you leave you feel stupid that you waited that long and didn't even get to experience the ride. If you continue to wait you feel like no ride can possibly redeem wasting 3 hours of a day that you've spent hundreds of dollars to experience with your family.

All things considered I think Disney's move should have been to issue FP's to the people in line after an hour or so. Others have already pointed out that if you're stuck in a line like that you're not spending money in the park, and that was definitely true for us- we were going to have dinner in the park and enjoy at least some of the evening there, but after being marooned in that queue for 3 hours we just wanted to go home. We left the park and went to Burger King as soon as we finished the ride. (Well, we stopped at the candy store on the way out- but we would have done that anyway.) And as for people flooding the line after they re-open, I don't see that being a concern. They can just wait for a while to call any more boarding groups. The worst case scenario would have been that they re-open the ride and everybody who was in line and got a Fastpass gets back in line. Nobody else can get in. That makes the line only as long as it already was.

As for the difference in handling the situation in FL vs. CA, my personal view is that it's related to the general way in which DL policy is different from FL due to the larger percentage of AP's who visit the parks. While I think both places strive to deliver a positive guest experience to everyone I think that DL occasionally takes the position of "oh well, they can come back some other day" because a lot of those people CAN come back another day. That's far less true in FL. So while it may be true that a large number of people in that line yesterday were passholders who could've left and come back today, tomorrow, this weekend, or really anytime... there were definitely people in line who were visiting the park for the first time ever, and maybe the only time in their lives. Those people spent no less than a quarter of that day waiting to see if this ride would ever get back up. I feel bad for those people. They got to ride ROTR, but probably at the expense of 3-4 other experiences they were hoping to have. And when they go back home, their story isn't going to be about their Magical Day at Disneyland- it's going to be about how they waited in line for 3 hours. Not a good look for the park.

So was it worth it? ROTR is an amazing, immersive experience, and I'm glad I got to do it. But I won't be going back until we visit DW in 2022, and after we use these 3 day SoCal passes I probably won't pass through the gates of DL for a very, very long time.

 

[twodogs]

i think my main issue with how they’re handling it is I don’t remember this being their policy for DHS. Or if it is they are handling it much better with the whole send food, drinks, and characters through the queue during down time. If your going to force me to stay in line that long at least implement the same tactic as your identical sister ride on the other coast. I don’t see why this at least isn’t an option.

It’s one thing to get stuck on the ride. It’s another to be stuck in the queue and being forced with a policy that is being done much better on the other coast.

Knowing that is how they were handling it at WDW (and not hearing about any 3 hour line trappings there, even with snacks) made me even more mad at DLR opening weekend. I knew that they have handled it better at WDW, and I knew they were severely mismanaging it at DLR. No a single CM ever came through the line the entire almost 3 hours we were in line. Not one. Only information was the cryptic overhead announcements about First Order activity, and then reports from others who got out of line to go back to the CMs scanning the BGs in, who just said stay or leave, but you can't ride today if you leave.

Can someone post the email address for Disney customer service please? I think I have calmed down enough to write an effective email. I was also waiting to see if that was just an opening weekend fluke of mishandling, and to see if they didn't do it again. However, the exact same thing happened to OP yesterday, so they have clearly not changed the way they are handling these prolonged breakdowns. I want to express my dissatisfaction with this policy directly to Disney.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

That's encouraging! I've been getting nervous about our trip next month because of all the crowd pics from first thing in the morning.

Current wait times are low!

5 minutes for Pirates? 20 for Star Tours? Even MF:SR is at 40.

That shows the disconnect between those “pre-park-opening” photos and actual crowds once the park opens.

I will say that FPs are running out/further ahead sooner than normal for the crowds/time of year. That makes sense since people are there so early, on the app, pulling FPs.

 

[PairOfDice]

Can someone explain why they would go to My Status if they are not able to click on Join BG immediately after opening?

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Can someone explain why they would go to My Status if they are not able to click on Join BG immediately after opening?

Because you can join a BG from there. It’ll tell you that you aren’t currently in a BG and give you a button to join one.

That’s how my husband and I both got in on Sunday.

 

[PairOfDice]

Because you can join a BG from there. It’ll tell you that you aren’t currently in a BG and give you a button to join one.

That’s how my husband and I both got in on Sunday.

OK, thank you. I must not be seeing that because I don't have my tickets linked yet but this is really helpful. Thanks!

 

[aymiewilson]

Reading through people's experiences who were in line (or on the ride) during a breakdown makes me think Disney should create and distribute special buttons that say "I Survived Rise of the Resistance's Queue" in addition to all those snacks and drinks. YEESH. Three hours? I would die.

Are people still showing up super early to get into the parks at rope drop on weekends? I know we experienced that two weekends ago on our trip. Sunday was especially bad. The queue went all the way to the DCA gates and then wrapped around back towards DL gates. They didn't start letting people through until... I think about 7:35 am (for 8 am opening), but they got us through QUICKLY. We were wrapped back around about 30 people deep, but we got thru the turnstiles at 7:54. I noticed that on those mornings, NO ONE got stopped to take a picture to go with their ticket. They just ran you through. But later in the afternoon when we came back in from nap time, people WERE getting pictures taken if it was their first use of a ticket. Thought that was a smart policy on Disneyland's part.

 

[HydroGuy]

Knowing that is how they were handling it at WDW (and not hearing about any 3 hour line trappings there, even with snacks) made me even more mad at DLR opening weekend. I knew that they have handled it better at WDW, and I knew they were severely mismanaging it at DLR. No a single CM ever came through the line the entire almost 3 hours we were in line. Not one. Only information was the cryptic overhead announcements about First Order activity, and then reports from others who got out of line to go back to the CMs scanning the BGs in, who just said stay or leave, but you can't ride today if you leave.

Can someone post the email address for Disney customer service please? I think I have calmed down enough to write an effective email. I was also waiting to see if that was just an opening weekend fluke of mishandling, and to see if they didn't do it again. However, the exact same thing happened to OP yesterday, so they have clearly not changed the way they are handling these prolonged breakdowns. I want to express my dissatisfaction with this policy directly to Disney.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/help/phone/

 

[natebenma]

Where were you when you scored your BG?

Rode cars at ca then entered dl

upper deck train station. iPhone 11. AT&T. Heard lots of low BGs

then we took train to Orleans square to tide pirates

rode around 10:30

 

[disneyholic family]

on mornings that have the extra hour (magic morning?), at what time do the gates open for regular visitors?
do they get through the gates in time to get a boarding group?

.

 

[ironband74]

on mornings that have the extra hour (magic morning?), at what time do the gates open for regular visitors?
do they get through the gates in time to get a boarding group?

.

The time has varied a little as far as I can tell, but they seem to convert a number of the Magic Morning turnstiles and start letting regular guests in around half an hour before opening. Most folks have not had a problem getting through the gates in time for the Boarding Group Battleroyale.

 

[LizzyS]

They are not going to hassle you, even at Savi’s. The mood is very understanding and accommodating, particularly in Galaxy’s Edge but I suspect the same will be true for Blue Bayou. I would not stress about any of these things at all! I didn’t even tell Oga’s I was going to be late, showed up an hour after my reservation and they were 100% find me with it and I didn’t even have to wait.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience; that really makes me feel better!

 

[vickiea]

I got BG 39 this morning while on the path to MFSR, about half way between Big Thunder and GE. Using an iPhone 6 on AT&T.

We got in line at 12:50, started the ‘experience’ at 1:08.

 

[Aurora0427]

I appreciate the good thoughts and empathy from people here. FWIW, here's my take on what went down yesterday (sorry it's so long):

We were boarding group 81 (backup group). From reading the boards here I was reasonably confident we'd get on, as 81 seemed to be the minimum number of groups they'd gone through. I was quite encouraged that they were moving through boarding groups pretty quickly, and at the rate we were going I figured we'd be able to get in line sometime before 4:00. But we also knew that the ride has had quite a bit of down time, and therefore could break down at any time. We hoped that there wouldn't be significant downtime while we were in line, but unfortunately that's exactly what happened.

They called our BG at 3:45, and it worked out that we were ready to go in right when we were called. Park wasn't super-crowded throughout the day, so we had been able to ride almost everything we wanted to ride earlier in the day. We figured we'd ride ROTR, get something to eat and see the park at dark, and call it a day.

I should probably mention that I'm a local who's lived in SoCal almost all of my life, so I've been to DL more times than I can count. We used to be passholders but they've jacked the price up so high that we haven't had them for the past few years. So while this was our first trip to DL in about 3 years, our primary goal was to ride ROTR and see the rest of GE. We were using the SoCal 3 day pass and knew that we'd probably be coming back to DL one more day (using the last day for CA Adventure). I guess I bring this up to give a little context- we're not AP's, so we wanted to make the most out of this trip, but we've been on the other rides in the park many, many times before. So while we didn't have the luxury of knowing we could come back whenever we want, we were pretty committed to riding ROTR if we got a boarding group.

As we were in line I noticed that a substantial amount of the queue is lined with benches. So it seems that Disney anticipated that this ride could go down often, and for long periods of time.

Shortly after we got in line (probably within 10-15 minutes) the ride went down. Not really a surprise, as we knew this had been happening. A few people left, but most people stayed. They announced- over and over- that the ride was down, that they didn't know when it would be up, that you could stay or leave, and that they hoped to have the ride back up "soon." I have no idea why they kept making the same announcement over the next 3 hours, as they mostly stopped taking new boarding groups after it went down (at one point they let another boarding group come in when it looked like the ride might be back up- although it was back down again within a few minutes). So this wasn't new information for anybody in line after the announcements started.

At some point a cast member came out and was chatting with a couple of people in line. They didn't really give any substantial update, which wasn't surprising (I know from past experience that you can't get a straight answer from a cast member about when a ride may be coming back up). But that was the only cast member we saw the whole time we were in line.

There was a pattern to what was happening. The line would stop moving, then the background music in the queue would stop. The announcement would be made, and people would sit down or camp out. A few people would leave. We'd sit there for a half hour or more (listening to the same announcement every 10 minutes or so), then eventually the background music would start up. People would get excited and stand up, the line would move forward a few feet... and then repeat. Line stops, music stops, announcements made, people decided whether to stay or go. This happened 3 or 4 times before they finally had it up and running and we were able to ride about 3 hours later.

Word got around the queue that they would let you leave to go to the bathroom so long as you had someone in line saving your place. They made it clear that if you left the line without having someone saving your place you were done for the day. You either stuck it out or you had to come back another day.

After being in a line like that for an hour or more you realize you can't really win. If you leave you feel stupid that you waited that long and didn't even get to experience the ride. If you continue to wait you feel like no ride can possibly redeem wasting 3 hours of a day that you've spent hundreds of dollars to experience with your family.

All things considered I think Disney's move should have been to issue FP's to the people in line after an hour or so. Others have already pointed out that if you're stuck in a line like that you're not spending money in the park, and that was definitely true for us- we were going to have dinner in the park and enjoy at least some of the evening there, but after being marooned in that queue for 3 hours we just wanted to go home. We left the park and went to Burger King as soon as we finished the ride. (Well, we stopped at the candy store on the way out- but we would have done that anyway.) And as for people flooding the line after they re-open, I don't see that being a concern. They can just wait for a while to call any more boarding groups. The worst case scenario would have been that they re-open the ride and everybody who was in line and got a Fastpass gets back in line. Nobody else can get in. That makes the line only as long as it already was.

As for the difference in handling the situation in FL vs. CA, my personal view is that it's related to the general way in which DL policy is different from FL due to the larger percentage of AP's who visit the parks. While I think both places strive to deliver a positive guest experience to everyone I think that DL occasionally takes the position of "oh well, they can come back some other day" because a lot of those people CAN come back another day. That's far less true in FL. So while it may be true that a large number of people in that line yesterday were passholders who could've left and come back today, tomorrow, this weekend, or really anytime... there were definitely people in line who were visiting the park for the first time ever, and maybe the only time in their lives. Those people spent no less than a quarter of that day waiting to see if this ride would ever get back up. I feel bad for those people. They got to ride ROTR, but probably at the expense of 3-4 other experiences they were hoping to have. And when they go back home, their story isn't going to be about their Magical Day at Disneyland- it's going to be about how they waited in line for 3 hours. Not a good look for the park.

So was it worth it? ROTR is an amazing, immersive experience, and I'm glad I got to do it. But I won't be going back until we visit DW in 2022, and after we use these 3 day SoCal passes I probably won't pass through the gates of DL for a very, very long time.

This is absolutely unbelievable. I hope you will email guest services. Anyone who gets stuck in that line needs to.... SHAME ON YOU, DISNEYLAND.

 

[montreid]

This is absolutely unbelievable. I hope you will email guest services. Anyone who gets stuck in that line needs to.... SHAME ON YOU, DISNEYLAND.

Exactly -- with the guaranteed BG low at 72 per day; even with horrible breakdowns of 3+ hours now, it's able to recover and push through those so -- really what's the harm for issuing some 200 FPs that probably 10% may not utilize and risk of needing to issue service recovery guarantees?

Come on folk; give the CMs a break and a fighting chance to do it right.

 

[twodogs]

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/help/phone/

Thank you!