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

[DGsAtBLT]

I do think it's automated not an actual person hitting a button
I wouldn't get frustrated over it unless they did it way before scheduled opening time, which is what happened that one day of morning EMH, when they said they would open at one time and ended up opening like 30 minutes before.
You know you have to be in the park, so hopefully people are inside at least 5 minutes before, and then just play the refresh game, if more than one of you has a phone try different strategies on each phone, it really isn't such a hassle as some have said it to be, it is nerve wrecking obviously, but all you need to do is be in the park before park opening

I disagree.

There’s been plenty of people reporting that it’s best to open the app right at 7, or navigate to the BG page right at 7, and not mess with refreshing. One minute sooner makes a huge difference in BG number if they’re running out of regular groups in 1-2 minutes, including the minute before opening. That combined with the poor reliability lately makes for the potential of missing out even if you’re there at opening, or having a very late group.

 

[blistex]

Me too! I would be so frustrated.

Also, I can’t figure out why the FP changes are happening after Pres. Day weekend. I am a little bummed about that. I would think the new FP tiers would help to manage the holiday crowd. My only thought is maybe they will extend the early openings until Feb 18, but from Feb 19 on they are trying to go back to 9 am openings???

Do the marathons run usually through DHS? The Princess Marathon is usually the weekend after President's Day so if it goes through DHS maybe you're right and they have to keep the openings later those days because of the marathon anyway.

 

[yulilin3]

Does the marathons run usually through DHS? The Princess Marathon is usually the weekend after President's Day so if it goes through DHS maybe you're right and they have to keep the openings later those days because of the marathon anyway.

the half marathon does not run through DHS

 

[yulilin3]

I disagree.

There’s been plenty of people reporting that it’s best to open the app right at 7, or navigate to the BG page right at 7, and not mess with refreshing. One minute sooner makes a huge difference in BG number if they’re running out of regular groups in 1-2 minutes, including the minute before opening. That combined with the poor reliability lately makes for the potential of missing out even if you’re there at opening, or having a very late group.

We've seem every report under the 3 Batuu suns. People refreshing get a bg, people opening the app at 7 get a bg, people on wifi or data, people inside the park, outside the park. I don't think there's a specific way that works best. Again if there is more than one phone available I would try a different approach with each, if not, just wait a minute before opening time and get at least on the home page.
Refreshing will not take more than a minute. A minute is a long time when you are going back and forth

 

[yulilin3]

Just to add, I understand the stress, I do, but it is not hard to get into a bg. It's not.
You saw today people that opened the app at 7am and still got a "guaranteed" bg, even with it being closed in a minute. Even getting a low number backup bg will most likely get you in today.
Obviously set your expectations right. Do not expect first group or anything like that, just now that you will most likely ride the day you try if you are there before park opening.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Just to add, I understand the stress, I do, but it is not hard to get into a bg. It's not.
You saw today people that opened the app at 7am and still got a "guaranteed" bg, even with it being closed in a minute. Even getting a low number backup bg will most likely get you in today.
Obviously set your expectations right. Do not expect first group or anything like that, just now that you will most likely ride the day you try if you are there before park opening.

Every day is somebody’s only day to ride. Every day is an attempt spent trying to ride and a day taken away from doing other things in WDW.

I just feel bad for people who follow all the rules and do everything right, only to get unlucky and receive a later group on a day with poor performance. Disney’s consistency (since the major change to opening time drops) with the process helps to mitigate some of the frustration. I hope this was a one time thing. With the performance in the last few days, there’s certainly less room for error.

 

[teach22180]

for you and others who were in the park, did they make the announcement that bg were open prior to 7am?

My phone said 658 when an announcement started. I didn't recognize it as THE announcement until people around me started yelling they had one. Sounded just like all the other announcements they had made.

 

[yulilin3]

Every day is somebody’s only day to ride. Every day is an attempt spent trying to ride and a day taken away from doing other things in WDW.

I just feel bad for people who follow all the rules and do everything right, only to get unlucky and receive a later group on a day with poor performance. Disney’s consistency (since the major change to opening time drops) with the process helps to mitigate some of the frustration. I hope this was a one time thing. With the performance in the last few days, there’s certainly less room for error.

obviously, when you come to the parks you must make a decision and prioritize what you want to do and have real expectations about it. Right now, if you want to ride RotR this is what you have to do. You have to be willing and at peace with that decision or else it really won't matter.
If you don't want to get to the parks early and join then be at peace with that.
I don't think we have had any reports from people at the park at park opening not being able to ride unless it was one of the 2 days where it's had a lot of problems, and even then, they got guest recovery.
If there was a better way Disney would be all over that, not only are they suffering with bad PR but CM are actually having so much stress from being yelled at every minute that some are asking to take breaks or even some have put requests to transfer. Everyone wants this attraction to do better, this is not Disney's ideal situation

 

[DGsAtBLT]

obviously, when you come to the parks you must make a decision and prioritize what you want to do and have real expectations about it. Right now, if you want to ride RotR this is what you have to do. You have to be willing and at peace with that decision or else it really won't matter.
If you don't want to get to the parks early and join then be at peace with that.
I don't think we have had any reports from people at the park at park opening not being able to ride unless it was one of the 2 days where it's had a lot of problems, and even then, they got guest recovery.

I just think it’s unfair to chalk it all up to managing your expectations, I think it’s okay to get upset or frustrated with aspects of the process. There have been some frustrating decisions made along the way.

I definitely agree that it’s important to go in with eyes wide open to the possibilities and to make an informed decision. That’s why I think consistency on Disney’s end is the least they could do. People give up a lot for this ride.

 

[apocalyps3]

Just to add, I understand the stress, I do, but it is not hard to get into a bg. It's not.

You're right, its not hard, but it also shouldn't be this complicated/frustrating either (which is my complaint about Disney in general).

Not everyone's circumstances are the same. For example, I'm visiting in Feb, but I can't stay from morning to close. I have to leave by 3 and unfortunately there's no getting around that. So I have to do my best to get an early boarding group. So a 1-2 minute "glitch" of opening BG's early could mean the difference between my family and I riding it or not riding it. Add on top of that the random closures/issues the ride has the window for us to successfully get a ride narrows.

Will it be the end of our world if we don't get on RotR? No, but it will be disappointing and I would consider it a waste of money/time. Again, I don't have a problem with the current process as long as its consistent. Then I can at least feel like I had my fair shot and just missed it.

 

[yulilin3]

I just think it’s unfair to chalk it all up to managing your expectations, I think it’s okay to get upset or frustrated with aspects of the process. There have been some frustrating decisions made along the way.

I definitely agree that it’s important to go in with eyes wide open to the possibilities and to make an informed decision. That’s why I think consistency on Disney’s end is the least they could do. People give up a lot for this ride.

it's ok to get upset and frustrated but honestly, is that helping you get a bg? Then you have to un-frustrate yourself and still have a bg...or not

You're right, its not hard, but it also shouldn't be this complicated/frustrating either (which is my complaint about Disney in general).

Not everyone's circumstances are the same. For example, I'm visiting in Feb, but I can't stay from morning to close. I have to leave by 3 and unfortunately there's no getting around that. So I have to do my best to get an early boarding group. So a 1-2 minute "glitch" of opening BG's early could mean the difference between my family and I riding it or not riding it. Add on top of that the random closures/issues the ride has the window for us to successfully get a ride narrows.

Will it be the end of our world if we don't get on RotR? No, but it will be disappointing and I would consider it a waste of money/time. Again, I don't have a problem with the current process as long as its consistent. Then I can at least feel like I had my fair shot and just missed it.

If there's a better way Disney would've already tried it. Like I mentioned a gazillion pages back, would it be better if Disney closed the ride all together and not opened it until it was closure to running at capacity?

 

[StacyStrong]

obviously, when you come to the parks you must make a decision and prioritize what you want to do and have real expectations about it. Right now, if you want to ride RotR this is what you have to do. You have to be willing and at peace with that decision or else it really won't matter.
If you don't want to get to the parks early and join then be at peace with that.
I don't think we have had any reports from people at the park at park opening not being able to ride unless it was one of the 2 days where it's had a lot of problems, and even then, they got guest recovery.
If there was a better way Disney would be all over that, not only are they suffering with bad PR but CM are actually having so much stress from being yelled at every minute that some are asking to take breaks or even some have put requests to transfer. Everyone wants this attraction to do better, this is not Disney's ideal situation

While I agree that people should have real expectations, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect Disney to follow their own procedures for a ride where the opportunity to get on can disappear in a minute.

This isn't like a park opening 10 minutes early and if you get there late, you can still ride later in the day.

At the end of the day, this is still just a ride and I get that. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But it's still not really defensible to open up BGs 1-2 minutes early, not tell anyone it's happening, and then have them fill up right when they are supposed to open. It would really suck if you missed it because your app didn't light up, you had a short crash, or it didn't refresh quickly enough on a day where it opened up before it was even supposed to.


ETA - of course that doesn't mean a guest should yell at a CM about it

 

[erc]

If it was just a standby ride with no fastpasses do you think it would be any better? I'm guessing 6+ hour waits. And your entire day spent standing in line. I wonder how many less people would be trying to secure a BG if the rule right now was a person can only ride the attraction once in a 3 day window?

 

[StacyStrong]

If it was just a standby ride with no fastpasses do you think it would be any better? I'm guessing 6+ hour waits. And your entire day spent standing in line. I wonder how many less people would be trying to secure a BG if the rule right now was a person can only ride the attraction once in a 3 day window?

Honestly, I think suggestions on limitations on the amount of times people can ride are pretty bogus. A ticket is a ticket. Every ticket should get full access to the parks the same way any other ticket would regardless of how many you have.

 

[yulilin3]

Honestly, I think suggestions on limitations on the amount of times people can ride are pretty bogus. A ticket is a ticket. Every ticket should get full access to the parks the same way any other ticket would regardless of how many you have.

yeah that wouldn't go well.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If it was just a standby ride with no fastpasses do you think it would be any better? I'm guessing 6+ hour waits. And your entire day spent standing in line. I wonder how many less people would be trying to secure a BG if the rule right now was a person can only ride the attraction once in a 3 day window?

Im certainly not in favour of changing the system in a major way. BG is the best way to handle this. I just want consistency, so as guests we can leave as little to chance as possible.

 

[MommaBerd]

I think it is way too premature to call Disney out for “inconsistency.” This is ONE day. If we had tracked a pattern of inconsistency that would be a different matter. Who knows what happened, but my guess is some sort of computer glitch. And that could have been out of Disney’s control.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Update on our 4 Parks One day adventure. BG actually opened up a few minutes early. Accidently got BG 14 which was way too early for our plans. Dropped that group and rejoined and got BG 60!! .

Talk about nerve wracking, haha

Now off to RD MK!!

You may have been the first person to ever do that.....Wow!

 

[dragitoff]

the half marathon does not run through DHS

I believe the Star Wars half does, but that's later in the Spring. I ran it a few years ago and it did, but they could've changed the course by now.

 

[ninafeliz]

I think this whole process to ride one ride is crazy! But it is what it is, and if you want to ride you have to play the game, learn what’s going on, and then do it all on your day.

I do have problems with a few things, though.

1. It there’s a glitch beyond your control you might have played the game and still be completely out of luck. Your wi-fi drops, your app glitches, you refresh and it sits and spins. Then you did everything right and still can’t ride. That’s insane.
2. If they change the rules or do something different one day. Like opening it 1 min early. Sounds dumb, right? To complain about 30-60 sec? However, that’s the difference between riding and not riding on some days,
or getting a time you can use. Not everyone is able to have a completely open schedule to ride at literally any time in an entire day. Some actually can’t, some aren’t willing. Being unable or even unwilling to give up an entire day for 1 ride shouldn’t mean you can’t ride.
3. Changing park hours last minute. We need to have a babysitter. If they move our hours from 9 to 8 or 7 we’ll have to deal with that. We’re less than 2 weeks out, and it’s crazy that we still have to seriously consider the opening hours could still change. Yet I had to know 6 months ago where and when I wanted to eat (I do realize getting later ADRs isn’t really that hard, but it’s still hugely hypocritical of them).

I can’t help but be slightly annoyed at those that keep seeming to imply it’s all the guests “fault” or it’s not a big deal and we shouldn’t care and that it won’t be a problem, don’t stress, you have to be willing to have different people in your group try every method and one will work, etc. it comes across to me as overly defending this absurd system. I like reassurance and support, but not the extreme defense of everything Disney does.

i do know I could simply choose to not ride for now and avoid this whole mess, and believe me, I considered it! After I got over the shock of what I had to do I used my OCD and type A personality to make sure I knew what to do, and it seems like I have a grasp, but occasionally they still throw a change at us or it has a bad day. I know it’s a risk I’m taking, I know I don’t have to do this, but if I get a babysitter, get up early, go over and either don’t get a BG (unlikely it seems) OR same thing but we can’t ride because it’s down so much (somewhat more of a chance) I will be very disappointed and I have to admit, angry. It seems that isn’t a popular feeling or opinion on here, but I will be mad. There’s nothing I can do about it, but I’ll be upset. I won’t file a complaint,
I won’t berate a CM, but I will
be ticked off, I will tell my friends and anyone who asks that, and I will be a little more jaded about Disney.

I guess I’m just in an irritable mood or something this morning. I’m crossing my fingers that everything goes smoothly for us on our day. If it doesn’t my family will be less likely to do these hoops in the future, as they aren’t ones to want to play games like this and typically do it because I want to and take the lead. We will have one day to ride, period. Even if we got free tickets we wouldn’t be able or willing to use our next day to go (MK EMM, harmony barbershop, ADR, FPs, no sitter, etc) and the day after is our last day, so we won’t be willing to risk “ruining” it (plus no sitter) so it would be a no go.

again, sorry for the negativity, maybe I just need to vent every week or so until we actually get to experience this.