We are on our way home from 4 days at DL/DCA. We had a great trip and thanks to the advice here (I’ve been lurking since before the ride opened) we got low boarding groups (for 8-9 people) all 3 days we tried.
Day 1, Sat: used MM got in by 7:00, tested ping time around the park (DH swears this is the important #). Best ping time by Mad Hatters. BIL got BG 25 (using an iPhone 11 on Verizon). I was by IASW, much lower ping times, and no one around me reported a BG less than 100.
Day 2, Sun: arrived about 7:20, Lines were to DCA and curving back, a total mess. Gates opened at 7:34 and we assumed we wouldn’t make it. Got in at 7:58, stood near entrance w/ tons of people. DH got boarding group 15 (using iPhone X on AT&T).
Day 3, Mon: can’t remember arrival/gate opening times, but it was much better than Sun. Waited for rope drop in hub, good ping times so stayed there. DS ended up getting BG 4 from the line for Peter Pan (using iPhone 8 on AT&T)
A few other notes: We were worried as 3 of the 4 phones trying to get a BG each day are AT&T, but we got it with an AT&T phone 2/3 days.
We don’t have apple watches and didn’t bother w/ a second timer. When the clock switched to 8:59 we all just started counting seconds in our heads so we’d be close and watched closely for the clock to change to 8:00.
Our group changed daily, so we made my account the primary (scanned all tix into it 1st, it appears they can’t be deleted from here). Then scanned them all into a separate account for DH where they could be deleted. Each morning in line we’d add/subtract people on his account and use it to get the BG.
Lastly, we all LOVED the ride. But I think it’a interesting that my DSs 10 & 13 both prefer MFSR maybe because it’s interactive.