Rise of the Resistance in the Spring and Summer

[Grasshopper2016]

Disney has moved all DHS morning EMH to evening EMH at least through August. Does this suggest that the boarding groups are likely to continue through the summer? (It would be awkward, albeit not impossible, to continue to use the boarding group system while allowing on-site guests to enter the park hours earlier than everyone else. The fact that Disney has canceled morning EMH for the next five months seems to me like it might be correlated with an effort to avoid that awkwardness. In other words, it might be a sign that the boarding groups aren't going anywhere for a long time.)

Recent reports suggest that some (many?) people are arriving at DHS well before park opening, have their phones ready to go at precisely opening time, and still are not able to get a boarding group. One suspects that that problem will only get worse when spring break and summer crowds start pouring in.

This does not seem like a sensible way to run a theme park, or to allocate a scare resource! If the ride is transitioned into the fastpass system, then of course most people who want to experience the ride won't be able to get a fastpass, and will have to wait in ridiculously long lines if they want to ride, a la FOP. But at least we would all know in advance what our fate is, and we could all make plans based on that knowledge. Getting up extremely early, dragging the family to DHS at the crack of dawn, missing out on a boarding pass, and then finding yourself angry, frustrated, and in an already packed park is hardly the recipe for a successful and fun-filled vacation. And since you can't know for sure whether or not you will be lucky enough to get a boarding pass, it is very difficult to make sensible fastpass decisions 30 or 60 days in advance (or to make sensible ADRs 180 days in advance). Will we want to stay in DHS that day --- in a park that is already wall-to-wall crowded at rope drop? We don't know! That depends on whether or not we will get a boarding pass for RotR. And we can't know that until the morning of. We have to choose whether to make our fastpasses (and ADRs) for DHS or another park long before we can know this crucial piece of information.

Do you think this is the fate of those of us who are planning on going to Disney over spring break or summer? Or do you think that Disney will have come up with a better system by then?

 

[FCDub]

No one knows. Impossible to predict.

 

[MarkS2112]

I would say boarding romps stay for a long time. In January they had park opening at 7am. We got groups 46, 23, 23 and 8. Just be ready with you phone. If prepared you should get a group. Trust me you would rather do that than stand in a 6+ hour line and possibly not get on.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I would say boarding romps stay for a long time. In January they had park opening at 7am. We got groups 46, 23, 23 and 8. Just be ready with you phone. If prepared you should get a group. Trust me you would rather do that than stand in a 6+ hour line and possibly not get on.

I completely agree that getting a boarding group number is a lot better than taking your chances in a 6 hour line! My concern is that your experience from January may not continue to be the norm as we move into the spring and summer. There have already been reports of people who arrived and entered the park well before opening, had their phones open and ready to go, and did not get a boarding group. The groups are filling up in seconds some days, and more people are trying to get them than there are spots available.

For now, anyway, Disney has DHS opening at 8:00 or 9:00 throughout the spring and summer. A lot more people will be able to arrive for the boarding group lottery at that time than were willing and able to get there at 7:00 in the cold and dark of winter. And crowds in general are likely to increase as we get into the more popular months. (I know, there are no slow times anymore! But some weeks are still busier than others.)

I think that the boarding pass system is tolerable --- maybe even an overall positive --- so long as everyone who makes it into the park on time gets a boarding pass. But if that stops being the case (has it already?) then that strikes me as a serious problem. It really messes up advanced planning, and it will make a lot of people very angry, disappointed, and frustrated during their trips. I would much rather know in advance whether or not I have a fastpass --- and also know that there will be a long standby line available if I wasn't able to get a fastpass but really want to ride. I can plan for that, and I can know what to expect.

 

[MarkS2112]

So January was very busy at HS more so than we have seen in years. Lines all the way out to bag check by 615 so was not light in any way. It’s no longer cold dead of winter. So for what it was worth there were so many people heading to GE that is was worse than FOP when it opened. So you would see at least a 5-6 hour line if not more at rope drop if not more. FP would be very limited based on throughput on the ride daily. Could not guarantee that fp would even work with the breakdown issues.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

So January was very busy at HS more so than we have seen in years. Lines all the way out to bag check by 615 so was not light in any way. It’s no longer cold dead of winter. So for what it was worth there were so many people heading to GE that is was worse than FOP when it opened. So you would see at least a 5-6 hour line if not more at rope drop if not more. FP would be very limited based on throughput on the ride daily. Could not guarantee that fp would even work with the breakdown issues.

I agree that the breakdown issues probably mean that we are stuck with the boarding groups for the foreseeable future. But it is turning into much more of a mess than it used to be.

This blog post has a good summary:

https://blogmickey.com/2020/02/rise...ith-8am-openings-at-disneys-hollywood-studios
I suppose that they could continue to rely on boarding groups, but find another way to distribute them that doesn't require people to show up before opening with no guarantee of success.