RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[hinamra]

Disabilities, medical conditions, and potty breaks are a different situation altogether and not meant to be addressed by my post The mom at Legoland was clearly dealing with none of these issue (I watched her for some time before her kids actually cut in front of us and I told them to go to the back, at which point she rushed over to rescue her kids, yelled at me for “not allowing” the siblings to ride together, and loudly told her son that he could not ride because “THAT LADY [pointing at me] said so” and then glared at me when he started crying). The previous poster’s question also was about cutting the line due to timing and weather, which are going to be a factor for everyone wanting to ride RoTR that day.

Well actually one of my kids has a disability which is why I was concerned with how much shelter we would have at the entrance (this is my first time so I don't know what kind of covering from the rain is around there) given that sensory overload of the rain overhead just an umbrella is a huge trigger. But I still see the point that it's not anyone's responsibility to accommodate my kid except for me and since the disability system isn't in effect until AFTER we enter in park, we'll just switch to a day where the circumstances may be more suitable for our party to get to the line and wait together. Thanks again for the info!

 

[TDSAXX]

Well actually one of my kids has a disability which is why I was concerned with how much shelter we would have at the entrance (this is my first time so I don't know what kind of covering from the rain is around there) given that sensory overload of the rain overhead just an umbrella is a huge trigger. But I still see the point that it's not anyone's responsibility to accommodate my kid except for me and since the disability system isn't in effect until AFTER we enter in park, we'll just switch to a day where the circumstances may be more suitable for our party to get to the line and wait together. Thanks again for the info!

You could also just wait and go closer to park open. You should still get a BG it would just be for a later time in the day.

 

[hinamra]

You could also just wait and go closer to park open. You should still get a BG it would just be for a later time in the day.

Oh hm good point! Yeah we would like to get just *a* boarding pass group, not an early one! I'll research more on the timing of this to weigh my options. Thanks a lot!

 

[Museick]

Back at home from a great vacation! This was mostly due to riding RotR twice; once on Monday, Dec. 9th and once on Thursday, Dec. 12th! Monday was by far less crowded and ran more smoothly. Both times we arrived a bit before 6 A.M. and were able to ride before 10:30 A.M each time. This ride is so worth getting up earlier and heading back for a nap afterwards.

Since we rode 5 days after opening, we were just starting to see the pattern of when the parks could be opening in order to obtain the most perfect BG. In the week we were there, park opening changed from 9 A.M, to 8 A.M. to 7 A.M. and Sunday EMH had a 6 A.M. I stayed glued to this forum and also contributed my experiences for the times that we rode. Thank you to all of the "boots on the ground" reporting. The guidance was invaluable!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

We just got back. We went early on two days to successfully get In a BG. One time we waited over two hours in line after BG called. Overall, we loved the attraction. I understand the use of the VQ and do see the value. Having said this, i do think the official opening times are getting a bit silly. They are totally artificial as they fully intend on opening way earlier as they have staffed accordingly. I think it is time to just play it straight with everyone.

It seems as if the crowd is just going to shift in accordance to the official opening times for the time being so I'm not sure how much playing it straight is going to help. Usually with early park openings that doesn't happen as less people are willing to get up on vacation, but this seems to be an exception. Those 6 AM official openings are going to be interesting to watch. Will the crowd show before 4 AM? Will they have no choice but to open the gates at 4:30?

They're creeping into night owl territory at this point lol.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We just got back. We went early on two days to successfully get In a BG. One time we waited over two hours in line after BG called. Overall, we loved the attraction. I understand the use of the VQ and do see the value. Having said this, i do think the official opening times are getting a bit silly. They are totally artificial as they fully intend on opening way earlier as they have staffed accordingly. I think it is time to just play it straight with everyone.

Challenge I see is it seems no matter what time Disney posts as the official open time people will show up 2-2.5 hours early.

So if everyone would just show up 2 hours after the time they were going to show up that would be great! But not going to happen

 

[Opie100]

It seems as if the crowd is just going to shift in accordance to the official opening times for the time being so I'm not sure how much playing it straight is going to help. Usually with early park openings that doesn't happen as less people are willing to get up on vacation, but this seems to be an exception. Those 6 AM official openings are going to be interesting to watch. Will the crowd show before 4 AM? Will they have no choice but to open the gates at 4:30?

They're creeping into night owl territory at this point lol.

Based on what we've observed so far, I'd guess that 6am DHS openings see guests admitted 20-25 mins early, with the BG's filling up by 7:15-7:20am. Obviously a big chunk of this depends on how the ride has been functioning, among a myriad of other factors (including weather, like today).

 

[courtney1188]

I can’t decide what day to wake up early for this! Tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday. I feel like Monday might be less crazy, but I wanted to take advantage of EMH at AK that morning.

 

[yulilin3]

I can’t decide what day to wake up early for this! Tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday. I feel like Monday might be less crazy, but I wanted to take advantage of EMH at AK that morning.

It doesn't really matter, the crowds are growing everyday because of the season, plenty of international visitors and groups are arriving everyday. Pick the day that works best for your plans

 

[Lewisc]

I can’t decide what day to wake up early for this! Tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday. I feel like Monday might be less crazy, but I wanted to take advantage of EMH at AK that morning.

Ride tomorrow and you'll probably wind up going back on Monday. Go to DHS, get VQ then go to AK.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I can’t decide what day to wake up early for this! Tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday. I feel like Monday might be less crazy, but I wanted to take advantage of EMH at AK that morning.

I would do Sunday. You've got to get there ridiculously early no matter which day and there's no way of predicting if crowds get worse or better, and this way you give yourself an extra day to try and ride again if it doesn't work out. Plus you want to do something else Monday morning.

 

[SirBill]

I can’t decide what day to wake up early for this! Tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday. I feel like Monday might be less crazy, but I wanted to take advantage of EMH at AK that morning.

Wake up early Sunday and go, so you can decide if you want to go Monday morning as well...

If you get to HS early enough Monday morning, you should be able to ride ROTR and then get over to AK in time for EMH there as well. (That is sure a lot of acronyms). Or even if you didn't get to HS that early Monday, you could go in just to get a later boarding group, enjoy AK for EMH, and return to HS later for your boarding group.

 

[JBeaty0507]

Any idea what evacuation was for? We were in next boarding group (46). Were turned away when we got to entrance with no indication of time or how to find out if it’s back up. Ride went down around 1050.

we have no idea what happened. Just got told that we were being walked out and couldn’t take pictures (just a break room) lol

What happens when the ride gets evacuated and they give you FP’s? Can you use them to ride later or are they for the next day?

(I’m sure this was mentioned before but I must have missed it!)

Ours says it has to be used by the end of the day today. They did inform us we would actually go through the fastpass queue when we come back.

 

[albuhay]

I was in boarding group 48 which got called at 12.00. Got in line at about 12.25 and was off the ride by 1.19. Absolutely amazing experience and so worth the early wake up!

 

[Alynw]

I prefer no FP+ because anyone without a long onsite stay will not be able to get one. Alas our trip is in August so I’m sure we are stick with FP+ or insane rope drop.

Agree. If they did fp's, u would have a 2hr wait in the fp line and a 8hr wait in standby. I'm hoping they keep this ride on the VQ and then maybe just open up a certain amount of fp's for onsite guests. Even if they did open up fp's, its going to be all the UK and foreign guests that stay onsite who will benefit from it. They get the 14 day and 21 day extended tickets and will be first at any fp's. U think MT and FOP are impossible to get, u will not get any ROR unless ur going to stay onsite with 14+ day booking. Curious to see how long before they use the VQ before trying something different. I think we'll continue to see boarding groups for some time.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I'm optimistically hoping that this thing is up and running properly sooner than later, and the stressing about all of this becomes just a memory. Sure it will still be popular for years and years to come (look at FoP which is nowhere near as impressive), but think how nice it will be if they can move through BGs twice as fast, if they've got double the capacity to dole out before it sells out, if people aren't frequently stuck in line because of breakdowns, etc.

 

[SirBill]

I'm optimistically hoping that this thing is up and running properly sooner than later, and the stressing about all of this becomes just a memory. Sure it will still be popular for years and years to come (look at FoP which is nowhere near as impressive), but think how nice it will be if they can move through BGs twice as fast, if they've got double the capacity to dole out before it sells out, if people aren't frequently stuck in line because of breakdowns, etc.

I'm with you, I think eventually they will get it running to where it is processing people rather fast... even then I kind of hope they would keep the boarding group system in place, as from a guest experience standpoint a wait of 30-40 minutes instead of multiple hours of standby, is just so much nicer... awesome to be able to wander around enjoying Galaxy's Edge and having a snack while you wait for a boarding group to come up. If it could process a lot of people it should mean boarding groups could be a lot larger and then you wouldn't have them running out so early in the morning, relaxing the pressure to get there very early.

The other thing is, I don't think the queue has room for hours of people waiting so I'm not sure when if ever they could move to a standby system.

Maybe boarding groups in conjunction with some fast passes people could obtain... would be awesome if completing some complex tasks in your Data Pad app could earn you an FP for Rise of the Resistance. Or maybe some excellent score in Smugglers Run.

 

[yulilin3]

The queue is designed to hold about 3 hours worth of people.
I believe the plan is to be able to distribute bg and hopefully reopen them later in the day.

 

[PetePanMan]

Challenge I see is it seems no matter what time Disney posts as the official open time people will show up 2-2.5 hours early.

So if everyone would just show up 2 hours after the time they were going to show up that would be great! But not going to happen

I agree with challenge but think they should just be transparent with everyone.

 

[Weedy]

I agree with challenge but think they should just be transparent with everyone.

How are they not being transparent?
They publish the opening time. Disney has always led the gate a bit to get the crowd moving