READ POST 1 & 2 FIRST-Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group Planning and Information-*No Spoilers*

[Mouseturtle]

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the opening hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

 

[dina444444]

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the penguin hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

I recommend getting there about 45 minutes before opening so you are in the gates before 7am.

 

[wisblue]

I don’t know when they reached 174... (I was asleep, sorry guys )... but that appears to be the end. I roughly estimate that they called it around 7pm which would be expected.

I think they got to 174 around 7:30.

If they’re stopping there as it appears, I hope that means 174 was the highest backup group number issued today.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I think they got to 174 around 7:30.

If they’re stopping there as it appears, I hope that means 174 was the highest backup group number issued today.

Thanks! 160 was called around 6:15 I recall. I still don’t think we have any reliable way to know the highest BG handed out.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the penguin hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

You need to have tapped your admission to enter the park prior to 7am. Right at 7am, the Boarding Groups will “open” and you can join via the MDE app. Just how far in advance of that you arrive to the park is up to your discretion, but when you tap in is irrelevent in the process - just so long as you’ve tapped your admission before 7am. Disney does note that it may take a few minutes for the system to recognize that your admission has been used to enter the park, so you don’t really want to wait until right before 7am.

It’s a bit of a sliding scale - with the tapstyles actually opening in the 6:10-6:30 range, the earlier your arrive the more time you spend in line to get in. The later you arrive the more time the gates have been open to let the crowd through, the less you wait, etc. I’d peg it at your personal comfort time.

Yes, regular boarding groups over the last few days have filled in just a few minutes. Backup boarding groups have been open a bit longer. Today was around 30 minutes after park opening, for example.

Buses from resorts have been running very early (earliest report I’ve seen has been around 5am). We left Poly around 5:50am - a DHS bus was at the bus stop but we took a cab - I preferred the greater control of timing provided via car vs bus.

I didn’t particularly care for the process or stress, but the ride was worth it.

Good luck!

 

[aballerina]

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the penguin hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

Wait .... there's special hours for the penguins????

 

[ecclescake]

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the penguin hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

I’m guessing ‘penguin hours’ might be a typo (opening hours?) but I like it! It feels like penguins are a good description of the way folks will be moving in the busy queues



Oh and thanks everyone for all your posts here btw, my trip is end of Jan and this is a thread I’m reading every day to prep!

 

[gtitan21]

I can't wait until tomorrow morning. It's our first good look at realistic times. then there will be another uptick when the runners arrive. over the weekend.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

@ecclescake - you win DIS’er of the day on the thread for your excellent penguin emoji use.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I can't wait until tomorrow morning. It's our first good look at realistic times. then there will be another uptick when the runners arrive. over the weekend.

Not to be Mr. Party Pooper, but every year at this time I see “young kids might be back in school by college kids are still out and at WDW” posts when we get to this time of year. And it has been mentioned that Orange County is still off school tomorrow. Plus runners on various pre race schedules for those who arrive early.

Although I certainly hope you’re right and that my concerns above are unfounded.

 

[enyoc]

one week till i’m looking for penguin hours!

 

[gtitan21]

Not to be Mr. Party Pooper, but every year at this time I see “young kids might be back in school by college kids are still out and at WDW” posts when we get to this time of year. And it has been mentioned that Orange County is still off school tomorrow. Plus runners on various pre race schedules for those who arrive early.

Although I certainly hope you’re right and that my concerns above are unfounded.

Mainly going off what i experienced last year to give me hope. With all that said, i would be happy to see main boarding passes available for at least 15 min before back ups.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Now boarding...group 174 only so it was called ~2hours ago. Not that we expected them to, but another clear DP that Disney will stop calling BGs 2 hrs prior to regular park close even if there are EMHs.

EDIT: and as I typed this 174 fell off 5 minutes shy of 9pm.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Mainly going off what i experienced last year to give me hope. With all that said, i would be happy to see main boarding passes available for at least 15 min before back ups.

Yeah I agree - I don’t think anybody’s thinking they’ll last until 9am or something but 7:10 or 7:15 would be a nice change. Maybe back to how things were before Christmas.

 

[seanhara]

I would like to comment that this forum was extremely informative. Our family decided to go to Disney on Dec 30th and 31st, then head to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. We booked this trip in mid-Dec, so most of the fast passes were gone. On Monday Dec 30th, I had everyone roll out of bed and put a hat on around 5:30am. Uber came and picked us up at the B Resort & Spa hotel at 5:35am. We arrived at DHS at 5:50am with no bags. Most of the hoard was already in the park. So we went through security no bag line and through the ticket scanner and was inside at 5:55am. As soon as the PA announcement came on, the boarding group link popped up and we got group 66. Seriously, we booked at like 6:00am plus 10 seconds and got 66. By 6:05am we were back in an Uber to the hotel. We slept 3 hours and then came back to DHS around 11am. We were called around 1pm and got on ROTR in 10 minutes. We then left around 3pm after riding a couple other attractions and lunch to use our 3 fast passes at Magic Kingdom. In this forum, you guys also mentioned riding Flight of Pandora right before park closing. So around 9:30pm we left Magic Kingdom for Animal Kingdom. It was our first glimpse of Pandora and the lights in the whole area was magnificent. On the bus to AK, it said 225 minute wait. We got in line at 10:50pm (park closing at 11:00pm) and we only waited 50 minutes. It was a very exhausting day, but to be able to ride ROTR and Flight of Pandora the same day with less than an hour wait for each was awesome. Thanks everyone for their invaluable feedback!!!

 

[Thomas R]

My wife is travelling to DW soon and is planning on riding RotR during her stay. I'm trying to understand some of the specifics so I can give her the best chance of getting to experience the attraction with her friends. Once you click the join boarding group option, I see that people say that is when you can add party members to the group. Then after confirming the party members you are shown your group number. Are you able to not add part members during that screen so you can be assigned a group number earlier? Then add the party members to the group afterwards? Haven't found anything online about whether the group number is assigned as soon as you tap the button or after the party members are confirmed.

 

[mom22boys]

I would like to comment that this forum was extremely informative. Our family decided to go to Disney on Dec 30th and 31st, then head to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. We booked this trip in mid-Dec, so most of the fast passes were gone. On Monday Dec 30th, I had everyone roll out of bed and put a hat on around 5:30am. Uber came and picked us up at the B Resort & Spa hotel at 5:35am. We arrived at DHS at 5:50am with no bags. Most of the hoard was already in the park. So we went through security no bag line and through the ticket scanner and was inside at 5:55am. As soon as the PA announcement came on, the boarding group link popped up and we got group 66. Seriously, we booked at like 6:00am plus 10 seconds and got 66. By 6:05am we were back in an Uber to the hotel. We slept 3 hours and then came back to DHS around 11am. We were called around 1pm and got on ROTR in 10 minutes. We then left around 3pm after riding a couple other attractions and lunch to use our 3 fast passes at Magic Kingdom. In this forum, you guys also mentioned riding Flight of Pandora right before park closing. So around 9:30pm we left Magic Kingdom for Animal Kingdom. It was our first glimpse of Pandora and the lights in the whole area was magnificent. On the bus to AK, it said 225 minute wait. We got in line at 10:50pm (park closing at 11:00pm) and we only waited 50 minutes. It was a very exhausting day, but to be able to ride ROTR and Flight of Pandora the same day with less than an hour wait for each was awesome. Thanks everyone for their invaluable feedback!!!

That is an impressive day! Are you sure you only joined the DIS on December 22, 2019? You sound like a professional planner.

 

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

So I will be at WDW the 7,8&9. I see the penguin hours are at 7am. Do I "have" to get to the park earlier than that to "beat" the crowd into the park to tap in? I see today's boarding groups filled up in one minute is that right? I am coming from the Contemporary do I need to Uber over? Aye aye aye this better be worth it lol

Correct.
Recent, pre-dawn video footage of the walking path between Boardwalk and DHS:

 

[Zia100]

I love how we are trying to avoid RotR spoilers, all this effort to experience the ride in person .... and Disney puts on an ad during the Golden globes showing scenes of RotR.
i'll now return this safe spoiler free thread!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I love how we are trying to avoid RotR spoilers, all this effort to experience the ride in person .... and Disney puts on an ad during the Golden globes showing scenes of RotR.
i'll now return this safe spoiler free thread!!

wait, so as someone who hasn't ridden the ride yet, are you saying there aren't any penguins in the attraction?