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

[ironband74]

And we're back up.

I can't really imagine what Disney would gain by increasing the number of regular BGs, so I don't see that as a meaningful metric at all. Even if they're pushing through 200 groups per day, why not just give out 120 backups?

I agree. This is classic risk management. No upside to increasing. Looking at WDW who started with regular groups in the hundreds and has now had to ratchet that down into the sixties to temper expectations, keeping our BGs in the 70s provides a comfortable target that we have been able to meet 100% of the time so far, while leaving room for improvement. It is far easier to increase BGs than to reduce them, as DHS has had to.

On another topic (sort of), when we look at the DHS data, we do see worsening performance over the last few weeks. I know that a lot of folks will look at this and have a tendency to say "See! The attraction is degrading and there is no improvement!" But I look at that and say to myself "They are trying some creative solutions that are not working, but from which they are learning something." The "right" time to do this is during the slower winter season (I understand that seasons work differently in WDW, but winter is still the 'low' season, no?) When you can better get away with it.

I believe that with two months of operation in Florida and 3 weeks here (plus CM previews), they have likely identified many of the weak points. It is now a matter of solving those. Some solutions have to be implemented in order to fully evaluate. Some will make things worse and have to be backed out, but I expect that when they find one that makes things better, we'll notice.

 

[montreid]

Most Disney folk tend to be optimistic.

I haven't seen specific advertisements for ROTR specifically. If so, I would expect some type of disclaimer for that ride somewhere.

As for the BGs.....remember WDW launched during the holidays. We got up at 430AM for it on during the busiest weekend Dec 28. in the rain!

We simply just don't know where this goes. Even with higher demands in the summer, if the breakdowns last an hour still and multiple times a day, I would expect they maintain BGs to manage this. If it becomes 'reliable' as say Indy; perhaps they will move to a standby/FP system; where all the FP still will go in :01 if not faster. Personally, when we went to AK and saw FOP standy at 5 hours, spilling out of Pandora into the main hub....that was insane and a huge disruption to crowd control and flow throughout the Pandora land.

 

[ironband74]

I also get annoyed that there is absolutely nothing in the advertisements of this ride to indicate these restrictions. I have no doubt that some are seeing the commercials of how fantastic this ride is, yet have no idea that there are multiple hoops to jump through, and really no guarantees that by paying your $100+ to visit DL, you will actually get on it. Surely there are people willing to wait multiple hours in a standby line, or are even expecting to have to deal with that, only to discover that scenario doesn't exist. You might get to park at 7:00 AM, yet 12 hours later, get a notification that you aren't getting on that day. It is very deceptive....and INTENTIONAL on Disney's part, I believe, to fail to mention this at all in their advertising. Heck, during the reservation period of Galaxy's Edge, it was a big bold statement on every ad, that you needed one in order to enter the new land.

Being in NorCal, I'm not seeing any advertisements for this thing yet. But then again, I don't watch a lot of network TV these days. I would agree that they should disclaimer the heck out of any ads they have for this attraction until they are able to move away from BGs.

 

[Blue32]

If I’m honest, I hope they continue with the boarding groups for a while. I can’t imagine what the standby waits are going to look like for this once they change over. How about the crowds in the esplanade in the morning? I think they might get worse. At least you know right away in the morning if you have a chance to ride...hopefully not a terrible wait.

 

[Aurora0427]

If I’m honest, I hope they continue with the boarding groups for a while. I can’t imagine what the standby waits are going to look like for this once they change over. How about the crowds in the esplanade in the morning? I think they might get worse. At least you know right away in the morning if you have a chance to ride...hopefully not a terrible wait.

Can you imagine the run to Galaxy’s Edge? Omg. Pure chaos.

 

[midnight star]

Can you imagine the run to Galaxy’s Edge? Omg. Pure chaos.

That would be a stampede lol

 

[ironband74]

Hmmm...

Can't decide if it is broken down again...or if 110 is just the last BG of the day:

 

[ironband74]

Can you imagine the run to Galaxy’s Edge? Omg. Pure chaos.

That's a good argument for keeping BGs around. And why I think if they have reliability they will move to FP only. Just like BGs, but you know approximately when you'll ride.

 

[brightlined]

I'm hoping that the advertising was just the lead-up to the ride opening. Advertising it now feels like a terrible idea.

The thing with getting rid of BGs - it's not only about improving efficiency during the day; they also need to lessen the amount of nightly maintenance it needs. If they switch to any kind of standby, it'd be pretty much required for the ride to still be open an hour after close. (Six Flags parks have often done "close early" with their rides, but I can't imagine that DL would want to do that with this. You'd see a super-long line 1 minute before whatever time that was, and pissed-off people if they chose a time at random.) The BGs let them close whenever they're done for the day - that's a huge advantage.

And going full FP doesn't really feel like much of a change. They'd still be gone in the morning. (And then what happens if it goes down for three hours?)

I'm still in the thinking that BGs will become the new normal, and people will get used to it. Once you don't have to be there at 8:01 or 9:01 to get one (maybe you can still get one at 10am or 11am), people will relax about it. (If I'm wrong, I still wouldn't expect BGs to go away until after the busy summer season is over.)

 

[durantigger]

I have been reading this thread compulsively for weeks in the lead up to my trip next week!! I'm excited and stressed!!!

Anyway, just chiming in on the ads. I live in the Bay Area, and listen to the radio all day every day at work. They are advertising ROTR a lot, and NO mention of boarding groups. None. I think that's really crappy and misleading for the non-psychoticly obsessive visitor.

 

[ironband74]

Looks like 110 is it for tonight. Gonna get into maintenance mode early it looks like and get ready for tomorrow's 9AM normalcy. They'll have 2 early but short days for the sweetheart nights, and then the long weekend to contend with.

I have been reading this thread compulsively for weeks in the lead up to my trip next week!! I'm excited and stressed!!!

Anyway, just chiming in on the ads. I live in the Bay Area, and listen to the radio all day every day at work. They are advertising ROTR a lot, and NO mention of boarding groups. None. I think that's really crappy and misleading for the non-psychoticly obsessive visitor.

I'm in the Bay Area as well. What stations are you hearing the ads on? I might listen just to hear them and send feedback to Disney about the lack of "fine print"

 

[montreid]

Looks like 110 is it for tonight. Gonna get into maintenance mode early it looks like and get ready for tomorrow's 9AM normalcy. They'll have 2 early but short days for the sweetheart nights, and then the long weekend to contend with.


I'm in the Bay Area as well. What stations are you hearing the ads on? I might listen just to hear them and send feedback to Disney about the lack of "fine print"

Yeah, no disclaimers with a specific ride mention --- no bueno disney. No bueno.

 

[Aurora0427]

That's a good argument for keeping BGs around. And why I think if they have reliability they will move to FP only. Just like BGs, but you know approximately when you'll ride.

I know this would never happen, but I kind of wish GE had its own entrance separate from the Disneyland main entrance, so all of the people wanting to run each other over in the morning at rope drop to ride SR and eventually ROTR could go to their own chaotic place to wait and enter the park.

 

[socaldisneylover]

They have been showing a TV ad here in So Cal since it opened last month. I saw it again last night during the Academy Awards. No surprise there, since Disney owns ABC. But I made it a point to replay the commercial to make sure they didn't have some small print, and there was none. Not that 2 seconds of tiny print would necessarily suffice, but it would at least show they are at least attempting to let people know that there is a process.

And it is really simple. I thought of what it could say over the course of about 1 minute. Simply this:

Boarding Groups Required To Ride Attraction. Number Of Groups Is Limited And Will Be Assigned To Guests At Park Opening On First Come, First Served Basis.

If people wanted to learn more, they are then free to do research ahead of their visit. But Disney wants to limit bad PR about how the whole process works. They also don't want to dissuade people from coming, by worrying them that they might not actually get on the ride. And make no mistake, there are some who are paying 120 bucks primarily to go on this 1 ride. And hyping it through tv ads merely fuels the interest, which is why they should state the caveat. It is highly deceiving the way it is now.

Beyond that, the ride is having serious issues daily. They delayed the opening by several months, and there's really no telling whether there has been any significant improvement over that period. If this is somewhat common with complex rides, and Indy & RSR both experienced major downtimes on a daily basis when they opened, then that reassures that Disney has a chance to get it fixed. My concern continues to be that they have this highly complex and complicated ride system, and have more or less hit the wall in terms of it's ongoing reliability. One thing is certain, no part of the process will change 1 bit until they either can get the attraction to start occasionally getting full days where it does not break down. And/or they can get the downtimes to a more acceptable 30-60 minutes, rather than up to 3 or 4 hours. With a single 4 hour breakdown, they have lost 33% of a 12 hour park day. If that seems acceptable over the long term, then I don't know what else to say.

 

[durantigger]

I'm in the Bay Area as well. What stations are you hearing the ads on? I might listen just to hear them and send feedback to Disney about the lack of "fine print"

BayFM and Mix106 frequently, and both are also currently giving away park tickets.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

My favorite are all the Facebook ads that are like, “The Resistance Needs Your Help!” with pictures of the ride.

And then the comments are full of people posting pictures of the “boarding groups are full for today” signs and saying, “no, they don’t need my help; they won’t LET me help!”

 

[StarGirl11]

I kind of wonder if they possibly recorded the ads prior to even deciding to do the boarding groups.

Realistically it's going to take a while to sort out all the kinks. Hate to bring the 'other park' into this discussion. But I rode Hagrids in December, six months after its opening. And the ride was barely open for half of the operating day (5-6 hours out of 11) and you could tell it was time for its daily maintenance by my last ride. At 2:00 in the afternoon.

But that being said the trend does show improvement. But big leaps and bounds with the ride is going to take a while. The thing is massive. Its got as much lines of code as the freaking Curiousity Rover. Bugs that they are finding now will take time to fix. And that's not accounting for a possible whackamole affect from bugs they find.

 

[ironband74]

And going full FP doesn't really feel like much of a change. They'd still be gone in the morning. (And then what happens if it goes down for three hours?)

It wouldn't be, but if you have 90-95% up time, then they give you more value because you know when you're going to ride. And if it does go down...it's a multi-experience FP just like when any other FP attraction goes down.

But there would be some logistical considerations, such as when the FPs become available. I imagine they would continue to limit to park open.

But it is probably too soon to think about details on that. First thing is first, reliability has to improve drastically.

 

[AndyMcDandy]

I believe both you and your wife will need to be apart of the BG in order to use rider swp

Thank you for the response! Yes 4 y.o. Is tall enough but I think it might be a little much for him. We barely got him on on Smuggler’s Run and he’s still sort of afraid of Radiator springs lol. The resistance will need to wait for him to confront the Dark Side on his own terms... =)

 

[ZCarroll]

I see a few times mentioned on the first page for when the turnstiles opened... is the information for the other days available somewhere? Is there any consistency for when that happens now?