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

[IsleofDisney]

I haven't been to WDW in 20 years so please forgive me but what is FOP?

Flight of Passage attraction in Pandora Land at Animal Kingdom. It's based on the Avatar movie. This ride opened in May 2017 and is the most difficult to get a FP for, except for the new ROTR if you count BGs as a sort of FP.

 

[handyl03]

Does your reassigned BG have a number?

No new BG group number assigned. We can come back anytime the ride is up.

 

[DLRExpert]

Having a standby line does not magically increase capacity. All that would do is make all the disappointed people who didn’t get a BG stand in line for hours before they find out they can’t ride.

There are more people that want to ride each day than the current capacity of the attraction. A standby line won’t change that and it would make the experience worse for both the people who do get to ride and the people who don’t get to ride.

So far downtime during the past three days has been typical for a new attraction.
Just give the guests who visit Disneyland at, no matter what time of the day they arrive a fair and equal chance if they are willing to wait.
Have a sign out front stating that the new ride may have more down times than usual. Instead of saying there are no more Boarding Passes available.
Which again, they do not state in the Radio or TV advertising as being needed.

 

[matthewthompson87]

ROTR does not offer FP so I doubt the line for the attraction will be 5 hours plus, maybe 3-4 at park opening and slowly dwindling as it gets later in the day with a slight spike after the fireworks.

This feels like a broken record at this point... but an average family will not wait 3-4 hours for a ride anymore. That model of theme park behaviors is over. Just seeing a line that long (and not even getting in the line) negatively impacts the perception of a desirable vacation destination.

If you’re talking about annual pass holders, dedication to ride a ride doesn’t look like waiting in line for 10 hours or more anymore. Dedication is coming back several different times for lesser amounts of time to try to get a boarding pass.

Yes, this is a big shift in how theme parks operate... but it’s definitely the future, not something temporary nor a failure by any measurable means.

 

[amfunsize]

Flight of passage. The e ticket pandora ride at animal kingdom.

Got it thanks. I've been following this forum for about a week and didn't understand the FOP or why people were mentioning Hagrid's ride (someone clarified around page 75) but now, hopefully, I'm caught up.

 

[DLRExpert]

This feels like a broken record at this point... but an average family will not wait 3-4 hours for a ride anymore. That model of theme park behaviors is over. Just seeing a line that long (and not even getting in the line) negatively impacts the perception of a desirable vacation destination.

They seem to be ok with waiting for FOP and Slinky. Or when the park is at a peak attendance.

 

[dieumeye]

So far downtime during the past three days has been typical for a new attraction.
Just give the guests who visit Disneyland at, no matter what time of the day they arrive a fair and equal chance if they are willing to wait.
Have a sign out front stating that the new ride may have more down times than usual. Instead of saying there are no more Boarding Passes available.
Which again, they do not state in the Radio or TV advertising as being needed.

I think you vastly under estimate how long the standby line would be. But I guess we’ll never know.

I think it would be interesting if they picked one day of the week, say Wednesday, and on that day each week the ride operates with a regular standby line.

Of course, people would complain about that too, but it would give an option for people that don’t want to do boarding groups and are happy to wait in line for hours. And, best of all, it would give us great data to compare both approaches.

Edit: to your above post, SDD is at 100 and FoP is at 190. RotR would be longer I bet. But regardless, word is that the number one guest complaint about visits to Disney parks is that the lines are too long. So even if people are waiting, the research would suggest that they are not happy about it.

 

[WonkaKid]

I feel you. Going on Friday - I went to the "My Status" page and kept refreshing. When 8am came, I refreshed, and "Join Boarding Group" wouldn't activate. I had to restart the app, and finally it worked. In all that time, I was able to secure BG 110. It was def 8:01 by the time I got it.

I had the app open just before 8:00. I tried to get a BG several times but the option wouldn’t light/activate. So I, too, had to kill the app and relaunch it to get things moving. It almost feels like doing nothing would have been a better option .

 

[Heather07438]

I haven't been to WDW in 20 years so please forgive me but what is FOP?

Flight of Passage is similar to Soarin' but on steroids. You ride it on the back of a banshee, a wild animal from Avatar. And the ride is incredible. So incredible in fact that waits still often see 285 minutes (yep, 5hrs which has happened several times over the last 60 days). 2.5 years later and people still regularly wait 3+ hours.
That's why I think interest in RoR will not die down anytime in the near future either. RoR is even better than FoP.

 

[dieumeye]

Seems like the ride has been down for quite a while. is this the longest single down time it has had so far?

 

[Vysecity]

Seems like the ride has been down for quite a while. This is the longest single down time it has had so far?

I believe it is. Had to happen when I was here

 

[brightlined]

They seem to be ok with waiting for FOP and Slinky. Or when the park is at a peak attendance.

I think the difference between WDW and DL plays into that, though. When FOP has a three- or four-hour line, it isn't locals. It's people who are on their one trip to WDW who know that this ride is great and this is their only chance to ride it.

That might be the argument for ROTR-DL to have a slightly lower standby wait than we would expect (ie, three hours instead of five). I think the locals would see that it's a three-hour wait and not bother. Essentially the same result as the BG system: come to the park, not ride.

Btw - the BGs also mask how early they're closing the ride. Under the standby system - if they need to close the ride no later than 10pm for nightly maintenance, there's an argument that they'd have to close the line at 7pm or earlier, and Disney (to their credit) generally dislikes closing lines before park close.

 

[Mar Mar Binks]

I believe it is. Had to happen when I was here

We are at 1:15 waiting.

 

[SirBill]

No data, but from being there for these first three days, seeing and hearing disappointed guests and lines at Guest Services there is no way they are going to let this continue.
...

Not sure what you would base that on, the exact same scenario has been playing out at the Hollywood Studios park since the ride opened there for over a month now.

They have the same disappointed guests and lines and probably even in greater numbers. Yet the boarding groups are still in use there...

I know there is the argument that Disneyland is more of a locals park. But that would seem to argue for boarding groups to stay in place, much, much longer there - as it's easier for locals to pop in around 8am to try and get a boarding group, then just head home again, so more people would be tolerant of the boarding group system than would be at Disney World, where many people may only be getting one chance over several years.

 

[montreid]

I think you vastly under estimate how long the standby line would be. But I guess we’ll never know.

I think it would be interesting if they picked one day of the week, say Wednesday, and on that day each week the ride operates with a regular standby line.

Of course, people would complain about that too, but it would give an option for people that don’t want to do boarding groups and are happy to wait in line for hours. And, best of all, it would give us great data to compare both approaches.

Edit: to your above post, SDD is at 100 and FoP is at 190. RotR would be longer I bet. But regardless, word is that the number one guest complaint about visits to Disney parks is that the lines are too long. So even if people are waiting, the research would suggest that they are not happy about it.

When we were at AK this xmas - FOP topped 325 minutes----yep 5.5 hours. the standby line snaked all the out of Pandora to the Starbucks.

 

[handyl03]

We are at 1:15 waiting.

Cast members are saying at least another hour. Telling everyone to screenshot boarding passes to show for return later. Boarding passes up to 27 will be honored all day.

 

[s0rt0ffairytale]

Timeline of my day so far! Woke up at 5am to get into the Mickey & Friends parking structure at 6:25. Got into the ticket line at 7, they officially opened gates at 7:10 and we were scanned into the park by 7:30. My friend counted down the seconds to 8am and we clicked right into Join a Boarding Group from the Learn More page. Super lucked out with a BG 13!!! Got the notification to board at 9:37 and out of the ride by 10:05. It was an incredible experience! Thank you all for your tips and insights. We definitely wouldn't have been as prepared without so much great information!

 

[twodogs]

90 minutes in line so far. They’ve said if you leave the line, you can’t come back. No Chewie and no snacks like WDW.

 

[twodogs]

Cast members are saying at least another hour. Telling everyone to screenshot boarding passes to show for return later. Boarding passes up to 27 will be honored all day.

That is not what CMs in the ride are saying. They say if we leave we don’t ride. Super frustrating to be stuck with no info.

 

[handyl03]

I’m sitting at the ride entrance and have heard the same instructions about 100 times. Screen shot your boarding pass it will be honored all day. Today the problem is mechanical - now telling guests 1-2 hours more. Cast member Gabriel who is standing right next to us right now said down time issues past 2 days were due to guests not following directions or doing things they were asked not to do.