RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[DGsAtBLT]

I totally understand where you're coming from and gave it some thought myself. But I think Disney is stuck between a rock and a hard place here. They need somehow to stagger the hoards. Posting a time and then starting a bit sooner helps with that.

I think it would have been less deceptive to not post a time at all. Because yeah I agree it would have been a mess opening it all at once when everybody was trying at the same time.

I think they should have just said something like “Boarding groups will not be available immediately at the start of EMH” and left people to refresh and watch or not.

 

[rteetz]

At this point I bet the engineers can't wait until January when things will slow down so they can have some more down time to go over the ride.

At this rate it won’t slow down. This ride is bringing people in.

 

[Disneylover99]

I'd be glad to get a BG Nobody there missed getting a BG because they went to a restroom for 3 minutes. The ride just opened, it's not a good plan to have specific expectations so soon. Going in with flexibility is best. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

If you were first through the gates today because you followed the advice to get there early, I‘d think your specific expectation is to ride. I don’t think that’s an unrealistic expectation.

I do feel bad for those who checked constantly, but got shut out or got a super high boarding number because they were on a ride, or yes, maybe even in the washroom, especially since the announcements in the park said VQ would open at 7:45am.

 

[courtney1188]

Trying to make sure I understand how boarding groups work - in the past for new, popular attractions, if you were one of the first people at the park and walked very quickly at rope drop, you were pretty much guaranteed to walk onto the ride. It sounds like that's not necessarily the case with boarding groups, correct? Like, if I get there at 5:30 and someone else gets there at 6, if boarding groups open up at 6:15 that person who arrived a half hour after me could still end up on the ride earlier if they're quicker with their phone. Right?

I'm going to be there next Sunday and am deciding on my strategy. Solo trip, so at least I won't have a group of people to worry about or try to get out of bed that early!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Trying to make sure I understand how boarding groups work - in the past for new, popular attractions, if you were one of the first people at the park and walked very quickly at rope drop, you were pretty much guaranteed to walk onto the ride. It sounds like that's not necessarily the case with boarding groups, correct? Like, if I get there at 5:30 and someone else gets there at 6, if boarding groups open up at 6:15 that person who arrived a half hour after me could still end up on the ride earlier if they're quicker with their phone. Right?

I'm going to be there next Sunday and am deciding on my strategy. Solo trip, so at least I won't have a group of people to worry about or try to get out of bed that early!

Without EMH that is mostly correct, virtually obviously not physically. People have been able to get a boarding group after tapping into the park, with the exception of the first morning where it could be done before getting in.

With EMH on a Sunday yeah, it’s anybody’s guess what happens next time.

 

[JessicaW1234]

They’re the only way for now.

This is the way.

 

[Spridell]

At this rate it won’t slow down. This ride is bringing people in.

Yeah but we are in a very busy stretch here normally with DVC December, and Pop, and Holidays.

I would imagine there will be "SOME KIND" of slowdown once January hits. Though it might be small it might help.

 

[Heather07438]

If you were first through the gates today because you followed the advice to get there early, I‘d think your specific expectation is to ride. I don’t think that’s an unrealistic expectation.

I do feel bad for those who checked constantly, but got shut out or got a super high boarding number because they were on a ride, or yes, maybe even in the washroom, especially since the announcements in the park said VQ would open at 7:45am.

Yes, it would be horrible for whoever was on a ride during the short 35 minutes BGs were available. That said, it is only Day 4. There are NO solid expectations yet.

We're going on a relatively short trip next week. Our park days are Wed thru Sunday, flying out Sunday night. We planned Thurs for HS. Beside planning to show up extra early that day, we also devised a back up in case for whatever reason (ride just opened) we don't get on RoR Thurs. Our back-up is Fri and Sunday HS rope drop. If you really want to make sure to ride the brand spanking new World Class ride, you need flexibility.

 

[PolyRob]

Just got off the ride! It was excellent! The ride itself isn’t intense, but it was a very exciting experience! Now to decide if I want to ride again this trip

 

[rteetz]

Yeah but we are in a very busy stretch here normally with DVC December, and Pop, and Holidays.

I would imagine there will be "SOME KIND" of slowdown once January hits. Though it might be small it might help.

Early December usually is a “slow” period. January isn’t very slow these days either.

 

[Weedy]

I'm going in March and I wasn't going to HS until the late afternoon and do Epcot in the morning. I"m hoping this settles a bit but looks like we will would have to travel to HS get a Boarding group and figure out our day from there which sucks for fastpass planning smh.

Maybe park at HS and then after you scan for a BG take the Skyliner to EPCOT it’s a great form of transportation

 

[CPanther95]

I would assume that Disney will always insure that off-site guests have an opportunity to access the system at the same time as EMH guests, or at least before the BGs are gone. Not sure if there is a genuine liability exposure for a guest claiming they had ZERO opportunity to ride a ride (that will always be portrayed as "the sole reason for my entire vacation") - but at a minimum, it makes customer service much easier if they have a "first come, first served" argument to fall back on.

>even if that "first come" is "first to reserve on the app".

 

[Bobbob]

That sounds like a plan if you are OK with an evening boarding pass, personally I'd arrive there no later than 6am Christmas week...

Though really I would arrive there at 4 - 4:30am.

I’d rather an evening boarding pass than wake up at 3am will be a very flexible day and if we have a late boarding pass we’ll just leave the park and come back later.

A late BG that gets cancelled and turned into a FP+park hopper ticket for the next day even better!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I would assume that Disney will always insure that off-site guests have an opportunity to access the system at the same time as EMH guests, or at least before the BGs are gone. Not sure if there is a genuine liability exposure for a guest claiming they had ZERO opportunity to ride a ride (that will always be portrayed as "the sole reason for my entire vacation") - but at a minimum, it makes customer service much easier if they have a "first come, first served" argument to fall back on.

>even if that "first come" is "first to reserve on the app".

I really don’t think they would have a leg to stand but I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on the Internet. No different than a ride being down for the duration of someone’s stay.

My assumption is that sooner than later resort guests will have some sort of advantage for ROTR, and (hopefully) sooner than later ROTR will be capable of running near full capacity and with much better reliability greatly helping out when the BG sell out by.

 

[Liljo22]

Trying to make sure I understand how boarding groups work - in the past for new, popular attractions, if you were one of the first people at the park and walked very quickly at rope drop, you were pretty much guaranteed to walk onto the ride. It sounds like that's not necessarily the case with boarding groups, correct? Like, if I get there at 5:30 and someone else gets there at 6, if boarding groups open up at 6:15 that person who arrived a half hour after me could still end up on the ride earlier if they're quicker with their phone. Right?

I'm going to be there next Sunday and am deciding on my strategy. Solo trip, so at least I won't have a group of people to worry about or try to get out of bed that early!

Since you need to tap into the park before getting a BG, the person getting there at 5:30 would have access to the BG before the 6:00 person.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I’d rather an evening boarding pass than wake up at 3am will be a very flexible day and if we have a late boarding pass we’ll just leave the park and come back later.

A late BG that gets cancelled and turned into a FP+park hopper ticket for the next day even better!

Just a guess on my part, but I wouldn’t count on the Comp tickets continuing for much longer.

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes, it would be horrible for whoever was on a ride during the short 35 minutes BGs were available. That said, it is only Day 4. There are NO solid expectations yet.

We're going on a relatively short trip next week. Our park days are Wed thru Sunday, flying out Sunday night. We planned Thurs for HS. Beside planning to show up extra early that day, we also devised a back up in case for whatever reason (ride just opened) we don't get on RoR Thurs. Our back-up is Fri and Sunday HS rope drop. If you really want to make sure to ride the brand spanking new World Class ride, you need flexibility.

Yes. Going forward, flexibility is key. Based on what we’ve seen so far, if people really want to ride the ride, but are going on short trips, they need to plan to go to HS early on the first day of their trip in case it doesn’t work out for them on day 1.

Early bed times may also help. Lol.
And luck on emh days.

 

[Jax1023]

Neil Patrick Harris just walked off the ride right in front of me!

 

[Liljo22]

I would assume that Disney will always insure that off-site guests have an opportunity to access the system at the same time as EMH guests, or at least before the BGs are gone. Not sure if there is a genuine liability exposure for a guest claiming they had ZERO opportunity to ride a ride (that will always be portrayed as "the sole reason for my entire vacation") - but at a minimum, it makes customer service much easier if they have a "first come, first served" argument to fall back on.

>even if that "first come" is "first to reserve on the app".

I don’t think there would be a liability but Disney did allow non resort guests into the park before they turned on the VQ.

 

[Disneylover99]

Neil Patrick Harris just walked off the ride right in front of me!

I wonder what time he caught the AllStar bus at this morning. Lol.