Rise of the Resistance BOARDING GROUPS Superthread Part 1 *No Ride Spoilers Please* *PLEASE READ POSTS 1-4*

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Skyegirl1999 said:
Unrelated: it’s interesting watching the reaction to BGs play out on social media. A lot of very pro-Disney IGs have tried multiple days without being able to ride. I’m feeling especially bad for the ones with kids!
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Agree! Sad for Magical Kinda Mama this morning trying to ride with her son!
 
I stayed at the GCH over the weekend. I didn’t try doing both DCA EMH and ROTR. Frankly trying to do both is tough. You need to be inside Disneyland at opening if you’re going to have any chance. If you’re willing to risk it you could conceivably do one or two attractions at DCA before heading over, but it isn’t clear whether Disney is going to consistently open the park early, and you could easily get caught waiting to get in the gate if you blow the timing.

I had good success by getting to the gates half an hour early. I don’t think getting there any earlier really helps.

I managed to get good Boarding passes by doing the following:

If Disneyland has EMH get to the gates half an hour early. Ride whatever you want but make sure you are off any ride by 7:55. Find a quiet location that has good cellular and WiFi connectivity (you want to have both maxed out). I found that the area near The Matterhorn’s FastPass dispensers is good. If you’re near the front of the park the steps of the train station are good too. Try and stay out of crowds. Make sure your phone is connected to Disneyland’s guest network.

Make sure that Disneyland app knows you are in the park by booking a FastPass (assuming you have MaxPass).

Some claim that you should restart your phone. It probably doesn’t hurt but do it far enough ahead that it is completely up before the park opens.

Two minutes before opening start the Disneyland app but don’t do anything else. You want to use the clock on your phone to determine opening time. It should be synchronized to network time. Don’t depend on your watch unless you know it is exactly synchronized with your phone. Have the app scrolled to the “Find out more” but don’t press it.

At the exact second your phones clock rolls from :59 to :00 press the “Find out more” button, then press the “Join boarding group” button. Proceed as quickly as you can through group selection (you’ll need to have your party set up ahead of time).
I can’t make any guarantees but I got groups 9 and 15 following this procedure. I think the important parts are having good connectivity and jumping in immediately at opening, but I could also just be lucky.
 
Good Morning. I wanted to clear up a few things for you all. We were at DLR on Sunday 1/19 and we were a VIP TOUR group with a celebrity client. Our tour started at 7AM at the Grand Californian Hotel. From the day our client confirmed with Disney Special Activities the date of the tour they made it 100% clear that ROTR was NOT a ride that we could use for special access. They told us we would have to arrive early and use a boarding group process for a chance to ride the ride. We arrived at the Grand Californian at 7am, met our lovely guide who confirmed they ahve no extra access to walk ANYONE into RoTR for at elast the first 3 months. There were 8 of us and our guide and our clients mother is in a wheelchair. She said she would love to help us, but if they even take people to the ride without boarding passes they can be disciplined. We headed over to DLR. She escorted us through the turnstiles and we all added each others tickets into the disneyland app. She explained the process thoroughly for all of us. There were 8 of us in our group plus our tour guide. We waited with our guide near the Jolly Holiday Bakery at at 8am we had to use the process everyone else did. We were extremely nervous and it was so weird to ahve to do this but we did it. We managed to get boarding group 73. Our day was spent traversing the park and enjoying the services provided. We started to stress when the ride kept going down and our guide kept telling us that we should make it but it depends on the rides reliability.

The tid bit that sticks out most that noone on here has mentioned is that the ride needs a minimum of 8 hours of downtime every might to reset and that it generally will need to close between 10 and 11 with boarding groups stopping at around 9 each night. Our group as called at 752pm with a return by 852pm. We were inside the haunted mansion when our group was called and we went over to the ride as soon as we excited. As we went through critter country down by hungry bear our guide stopped to speak to a Guest Servjces Team Member. The line for the ride was all the way down near the entrance to the Galaxys Edge entrance. We used DAS entrance/fast pass entrance for the ride as our clients mother is in a wheelchair. We had all of our tickets scanned and boarding passes verified before they would allow us to enter. We got the the first preshow in about 5 minutes.

The ride is absolutely stunning. I cannot even tell you how many thoughts I have. My jaw was on the floor and I will need to ride about 15 more times to see everything. Our clients mother's wheel chair was taken when we loaded the R5 vehicle and it was waiting for us as we got off the ride where LT Beck is. Our guide told us she had noticed some things that time that she had not seen before so that gives me more excitement for further rides.

So I guess the take aways from all of this are that even though we had VIP tour we had to do the BG process just like everyone else, that the ride needs to go down for 8 hours min for maintenance and reset and that noone gets special access. Oh our guide also said that the boarding group numbers begin at random numbers. There is no super secret back entrance and there is no recovery numbers. Its dependent on the algorithm and the rides expected start time!
 
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Malcon10t said:
This isn't happening at DLR. I am checking sources to see if this is happening at WDW. I have previously been told "No Access" period at either park. Ms. Campbell has to personally approve any special access to the ride.
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Josh D’Amaro must have been approving WDW SWGE CMs riding RotR prior to BGs being loaded...the only chance they had to ride it. Also, Neil Patrick Harris had VIP access - no one saw his group enter the ride but they were seen exiting on a couple of different days - when he was a Candlelight Narrator.
 
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Shadowrado said:
Good Morning. I wanted to clear up a few things for you all. We were at DLR on Sunday 1/19 and we were a VIP TOUR group with a celebrity client. Our tour started at 7AM at the Grand Californian Hotel. From the day our client confirmed with Disney Special Activities the date of the tour they made it 100% clear that ROTR was NOT a ride that we could use for special access. They told us we would have to arrive early and use a boarding group process for a chance to ride the ride. We arrived at the Grand Californian at 7am, met our lovely guide who confirmed they ahve no extra access to walk ANYONE into RoTR for at elast the first 3 months. There were 8 of us and our guide and our clients mother is in a wheelchair. She said she would love to help us, but if they even take people to the ride without boarding passes they can be disciplined. We headed over to DLR. She escorted us through the turnstiles and we all added each others tickets into the disneyland app. She explained the process thoroughly for all of us. There were 8 of us in our group plus our tour guide. We waited with our guide near the Jolly Holiday Bakery at at 8am we had to use the process everyone else did. We were extremely nervous and it was so weird to ahve to do this but we did it. We managed to get boarding group 73. Our day was spent traversing the park and enjoying the services provided. We started to stress when the ride kept going down and our guide kept telling us that we should make it but it depends on the rides reliability.

The tid bit that sticks out most that noone on here has mentioned is that the ride needs a minimum of 8 hours of downtime every might to reset and that it generally will need to close between 10 and 11 with boarding groups stopping at around 9 each night. Our group as called at 752pm with a return by 852pm. We were inside the haunted mansion when our group was called and we went over to the ride as soon as we excited. As we went through critter country down by hungry bear our guide stopped to speak to a Guest Servjces Team Member. The line for the ride was all the way down near the entrance to the Galaxys Edge entrance. We used DAS entrance/fast pass entrance for the ride as our clients mother is in a wheelchair. We had all of our tickets scanned and boarding passes verified before they would allow us to enter. We got the the first preshow in about 5 minutes.

The ride is absolutely stunning. I cannot even tell you how many thoughts I have. My jaw was on the floor and I will need to ride about 15 more times to see everything. Our clients mother's wheel chair was taken when we loaded the R5 vehicle and it was waiting for us as we got off the ride where LT Beck is. Our guide told us she had noticed some things that time that she had not seen before so that gives me more excitement for further rides.

So I guess the take aways from all of this are that even though we had VIP tour we had to do the BG process just like everyone else, that the ride needs to go down for 8 hours min for maintenance and reset and that noone gets special access. Oh our guide also said that the boarding group numbers begin at random numbers. There is no super secret back entrance and there is no recovery numbers. Its dependent on the algorithm and the rides expected start time!
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Thank you so much for this information! And I’m glad you were able to ride!

May I respectfully suggest that you alter or “spoiler” banner the ride details that you mention around the wheelchair information?
 
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Edit: I should have quoted what I was referring to, since the post I replied to was merged into this one, and now my post is a bit vague, and I can't figure out how to insert a quote in an edit. :badpc:

Well, here's a copy/pasted quote that I believe was the original post of the other thread, by @Tinkerbell19672.

Staying at GCH later this week. Wondering what the best plan is for days where EMH is DCA but want to try to get BG for ROTR. Should we forego DCA and go straight to DL? Also, if we go through DCA security for hotel guests and go straight to DL, will that be a problem? I read a while ago that some people got stopped at DL turnstiles because it looked fishy they tried to get in so soon after DCA. Not sure if we should chance that or not. TIA!
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I've been wondering this exact thing. I'm going over spring break, so it's a rough choice to give up that golden hour in the morning at DCA for a chance at ROTR. However, the flip side makes me think it might a better chance on a non-MM morning at Disneyland Park.

I am clearly overthinking this, and it's complicated by me switching resorts my first day. I have one night booked on my arrival day before switching to VGC. I'm booked at PPH so I can take advantage of an easy switch and also the DCA early entry on a Monday, but if I'm planning to skip the early entry, I should just stay on Harbor... viscous cycle of decisions... :confused3
 
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It shut down for a little over an hour and a half right after I scanned in and lined up with boarding group 40 today. Once it opened, I made it through and rode it. Not my favorite ride ever but definitely a fun experience and highly detailed. It was an ambitious endeavor to design, create, and implement this ride and, I think overall, they hit the mark.
 
ThreeMountains said:
It shut down for a little over an hour and a half right after I scanned in and lined up with boarding group 40 today. Once it opened, I made it through and rode it. Not my favorite ride ever but definitely a fun experience and highly detailed. It was an ambitious endeavor to design, create, and implement this ride and, I think overall, they hit the mark.
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Really glad you made it through - hope you get to ride everything you were hoping to during the rest of your day!
 
We are flying home today, and I wanted to regather my thoughts about the last 2 days. Some of my posts yesterday from the line “jail” on ROTR were dictated into my phone and came out a little jumbled (or maybe my mind was going by that point!!)!

We were fortunate to get good BGs both Saturday and Sunday (14 and 27). After doing this process twice, we figured out that the first day we got it with an iphone X on Verizon, by the Nemo Subs. Second day we got it on an iPhone 7 on park Wifi near the Buzz gift shop. So for people from outside the US, there is hope on the Wifi but you need to be in a good location (thanks @WonkaKid for the advice on this location!). Try to get away from people as much as you can. We had 6 phones going simultaneously by 4 people, and as you can see, the oldest phone on Wifi was the winner yesterday, so you never know. One caveat was my DH on an iPhone 11 on AT&T never got the button to go red either day, even with full signal and away from crowds (standing with DD who got in on Verizon on day 1).

On Saturday, the ride experience was flawless, BGs worked amazingly well.

Yesterday, we entered BG 27 and we found out later, the ride was ALREADY DOWN when they let us in line. About 50 people after we scanned in, and then they closed the line. How I wish we had stopped for a churro on the way and not gotten in that line!!! We were in line for 2 hours and 40 minutes. Never once did a CM come through. No snacks, no water like reported in WDW. Many walked back out of the line and asked the CMs that scan you in “what should we do”. Stay in line or lose your BG for the day was the answer for the entire almost 3 hours. They did let people out to get food or have a bathroom break. They kept announcing overhead that all “missions were suspended” for the moment due to First Order activity, and if you had questions, ask a CM. Well, the CM were saying we had to stay. At 2 hours, cheers went up and we thought the ride was up. It was not or went right down. At 2 hours 30, cheers again, and we eventually made our way to enter the ride, but then evacuated. ONLY then, were we given a FP to return later.

I completely understand the tech, and that it will go down and that is not avoidable with this type of ride. What is appalling and unacceptable to me is leaving guests without any option other than to abandon their only chance to ride this for the day (and for us, the rest of the trip) or stand in a line for almost 3 hours without any information. I understand one hour. Beyond that, give people a FP and clear the line. You are not increasing the number of people that can ride by doing this. You are just pushing them later and not trapping them. I will be writing an email, as they need a better procedure. We wasted 3 hours of our trip and were exhausted from just standing in the cold all that time (And we are healthy and fit, and our kids are teens so we don’t have health issues or little kids like many in the line did).

We were watching to see that the ride was ”reliably” up based on progressing through BGs for a while, then went back to try again. Honestly, I was afraid to get in the line and risk another 3 hours of waiting. I asked the CM when we got to the FP entrance if the ride was really up, and he said yes. We walked through the FP line (no one else in it) and rode successfully at around 2pm (I think). I think everything was working the same as Saturday, so I am not sure if anything was broken for our ride. We saw other families later in the day who had been in line with us, tried to re-ride and got evacuated again and eventually rode but waited in a long FP line when they returned)

At around 830, we walked by the line and it was enormous! They had apparently rapidly called back all the regular BGs (and surely some with FPs from earlier in the day). It would have taken hours to get through the line, by my estimation.

All in all, it was a great ride, and we were very lucky (and prepared with our 6 phones! LOL) to get early BGs both days that we tried. We had a mixture of experiences on the two days, and the second day was unacceptable only because of the way they chose to handle being trapped in line for almost 3 hours. That is an easy fix on their part and I hope that they will have a better system for those types of ride down times (clear the line earlier and issue FPs), as they seem to be unavoidable with this technology.

I hope all who want to ride get to ride, but I know that the numbers won’t be good for that for a long time or ever really. Once they get the ride running at capacity and have less downtime’s too, then they will be able to offer more BGs and more people will win the 8am lottery.

I still feel strongly that BGs are the way to go with this ride for now, as SB would be a complete nightmare.

Last little tip, if you have old phones without cell service, why not load up the app and give it a whirl on the WiFi? It actually worked for us yesterday, much to my surprise. More phones equals more chances, I believe!! MTFBWY!!!

Thanks to all on here and the WDW boards for all of the great help (and listening and sympathizing with me from the “jail” line yesterday!!!)!
 
LilyJC said:
Agree! Sad for Magical Kinda Mama this morning trying to ride with her son!
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Two of the Disneyland blogger accounts I follow on Instagram (Magical Kinda Mama and Mr. Cheezy Pop) have both ended up riding thanks to a little “magic” even though they didn’t end up with a guaranteed boarding group. MKM was able to ride with her son today and Mr. Cheezy Pop ended up riding with Rebecca Campbell (DLR president) on opening day after getting a back-up group. It makes me think they are trying to avoid the bad PR by ensuring the more visible Disney bloggers are able to ride even without a guaranteed boarding group. No shade at all, just an observation!
 
socaldisneylover said:
OK, so I'll just throw this one out there. I completely believe that Disney is not going to change a thing, and continue with the boarding passes. But here, for purposes of this board, is my suggestion.

Go ahead with the Boarding Passes. But limit them somewhat more than they currently are. Then also allow a Stand By line. Make it known that if you are in that line, there are no guarantees as to how long it may take before you get on the ride. Could be 3 hours, could be 8 hours. Then pick a time, say 2:00 PM, and say that each day, the Stand By line will be cut off, meaning no more people can enter it. So while it will be more difficult to get into a "guaranteed" boarding group, for those who MUST get on the ride that day, the Stand By line will be an option. You may spend half of your Disneyland day in that line, but for all intents & purposes, you will get on eventually.

That will make the Backup groups the least desirable place to be, since those will only get called if it's a good day for the ride, i.e. few breakdowns. My solution allows people an option. If people complained, Disney could say, "well the demand is just so enormous, there is no way we can accommodate every single visitor. But if you are willing to wait, the Stand By line will afford you the opportunity of riding at some point today.

Of course, it's not perfect, it's not ideal, but no process would be. But the way it is now, I think Disney is disingenuous by advertising a ride that it is both a time consuming process, with absolutely no assurance of success. And if you're unsuccessful in those 90 seconds, you're shut out for the next 16 hours, and nothing you can do about it.
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LOTS of posts here in this thread and I myself have not read them all yet... :crazy2: ... just sayin' though that I "threw this out there" last night as well. I think it has merit. :)

HydroGuy said:
I agree that BGs are the way to go (for DL at least) until they get the ride operating reliably. For many reasons including the ability to close it early for maintenance.

Once DL has ROTR more reliable, I would say a middle road that might address all sides of the disagreement here about BG vs. SB lines is to have both - like FP. So all those lucky ones who get BGs in the morning are set, and if you don't get one, well there is the (3-6 hour?) SB line option - which rewards the early arrivers. Of course, that is sort of like just having FP, so maybe they will switch on FP for ROTR instead of BGs, although MaxPass at DLR allows you to get FPs before park opening while BGs do not.
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:wizard:
 
ckb_nc said:
Exactly - plus it's a holiday weekend with a good number of APs in town. Very curious to see what happens in say two weeks on a Tuesday.
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I’ll be there! I’ll let you know! We will try for our first on that Monday, but will try again on Tuesday.

I’ve been reading along for this entire thread and my group is going to practice tomorrow when we’re all together at work. We all have different phones and carriers so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Thank you to everyone who has been updating. Those of us anticipating our trips really appreciate it.
 
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Abbey1 said:
Two of the Disneyland blogger accounts I follow on Instagram (Magical Kinda Mama and Mr. Cheezy Pop) have both ended up riding thanks to a little “magic” even though they didn’t end up with a guaranteed boarding group. MKM was able to ride with her son today and Mr. Cheezy Pop ended up riding with Rebecca Campbell (DLR president) on opening day after getting a back-up group. It makes me think they are trying to avoid the bad PR by ensuring the more visible Disney bloggers are able to ride even without a guaranteed boarding group. No shade at all, just an observation!
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It’s definitely possible. But also, an influencer I’m friends with was able to ride Friday because someone she knew let them use their BG when they left early. So she might have looked like she got a Disney “in” from the outside, but really she just has nice friends. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone who’d already ridden offered MKM their BG because people love her and her son is cute - shoot, I’d probably have offered today if I’d been there and scored a BG!
 
nutshell said:
Certainly there are legitimate concerns and points raised. But there are those using words like “disaster.” Such hyperbole is unbecoming.
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Totally agree - the hyperbole and ignoring of history (i.e., looking at Disneyland's past with rose colored glasses) are not helpful to anyone and generate more heat than light.

For the most part I am finding this thread fairly civil - but wish we could get that up to 100% civil. :grouphug:

:wizard:
 
Skyegirl1999 said:
Ohhhhh, they 1000% know people are that dumb.

You should HEAR some of the things guests do. Dropping a phone mid-ride doesn’t even ding on the “dumb”scale.

Unrelated: it’s interesting watching the reaction to BGs play out on social media. A lot of very pro-Disney IGs have tried multiple days without being able to ride. I’m feeling especially bad for the ones with kids! It’s not actually possible to “hide” from your kid that you’re trying for a BG since you have to be there so early and have to be glued to your phone and they make announcements and everyone’s reacting...

Obviously this can’t happen for many logistical reasons, but I wish they could experiment with different ride options. They could never do it because it would confuse the heck out of everyone, but the data nerd in me would love to see them do one week with a lottery, one week with FPs, one week with standby, combos of things, etc. I bet it kills some of them that there’s no way to “test” for the best system!
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im usually not synical but one Instagram I follow who got a late boarding pass today magically got on this afternoon with her son... hopefully it was just some amazingly random pixie dust
 
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