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

[MithrilMaiden]

Anybody have any experience getting BG using AT&T? It seems the majority here either have Verizon or Tmobile.

I have AT&T. Failed me three days in a row, and I'm heading home tomorrow without riding. I was going to make the trek to Disney World next year, so I'm putting it off until then.

 

[Ferrellcon]

Its back group 73 was called

 

[VandVsmama]

I'm on Sprint. Has anybody had luck on that carrier? Just curious for our trip in March.

 

[aebeauregard]

You guys have me extra nervous now with the bad talk about AT&T. We will be there next week. There isn't much I can do about it I guess. It would be nice to hear a couple success stories to put me at ease.

Would you guys suggest husband and I split up a little to be in different parts of the park when trying?

 

[Theok029]

Anybody have any experience getting BG using AT&T? It seems the majority here either have Verizon or Tmobile.

I am on ATT and had full bars, went on Saturday, Sunday, and today. I had BG 5, BG 30, and BG 80 respectively.

 

[Djio123]

First Post: Wanted to provide report on our recent trip.

Living in CA, but tested the WDW app in Dec and was able to get the “Join Boarding Group” to light up each time (woke up at 4 AM). I was able to get the Join Board Group to light up while traveling to Anaheim on Jan 17.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S10, DW has iPhone 7 and DS has iPhone 8. Carrier ATT
DW signed into my Dis account, DS had his own account, but all linked.

Jan 18, Early Morning, long lines on left side entrances, but lines on the right side entrances for EM, shorter. Not sure if communicated to everyone by CM. CM told me while in the longer line. EM gates opened around 7:30, the rest on the left side were getting ready to open. CM stopped people who did not have EM (show hotel key or ticket) from going into Tomorrowland near Plaza Inn. Many people in line at Buzz Lightyear FP for manual BG.

We all used 5G (not wifi), Sat in front of Space Mountain. At 8 am, I never got my Join Boarding Group to light up. Refreshed between My Status page to Boarding status. Did not use refresh/pull down on Boarding Status page. Very Frustrating! DS: Same. DW: never played with the app but she tried refreshing between “Find Out More” to “My Status” page. Started to click at 8:00 am on the phone. Had to refresh a couple of times. Got BD 68. Called in around 4:00 pm, crowded.

Jan 19: All on 5G, stood on Mainstreet near Carnation Café. I could not get Join Boarding Group to light up. DS: same. DW after a few refreshes, got BG 103 Backup. ROR was down for a long time. At 5 pm, message sent on phone that they would not be able to accommodate us. Message disappears after clicking it. Saw another post that BD 124 backup was notified around 1pm.

Jan 20: All on 5G, different approach. Scanned into the park, and then Departed and sat in the esplanade near the Harbor Blvd side ticket booths, almost under the monorail tracks. DS started to press the “Find Out More” a few seconds after 8 AM. Got BG 14. Did not have to refresh. Called in around 9:05 AM.

Thank you again for all the information on the board. We were prepared to face the challenge of getting a BG. I never expected the BG and backup BGs to be gone in minutes. At 7:58 AM, almost everyone in the park were on their phone waiting to try to get a BG, Interesting sight. At 8:00 AM, you could start hearing cheers and groans. Definitely a new Disney Experience.

 

[twodogs]

Thank you for the information. We tried yesterday and unfortunately we got BG 120 in our group of 6 with 5 iPhones on Tmobile and Verizon near the flagpole. Can I ask if you used multiple Disney accounts and scanned all the passes in all the accounts or logged all phones into the same account? A couple of us got the “something went wrong” message and we aren’t sure if it’s because we were logged on to different accounts. We are planning our strategy for next time!

We were logged into my account on all 6 phones. None of us got the something went wrong, but we did get, “you can’t join a boarding group because you are already in a boarding group” once one person secured the group. Since we had physically split up (2 by the Nemo subs and 2 by the Buzz gift shop), we could not tell when one person secured the BG. That message gave us hope but we had to call the other group the first day and get the confirmation! When my DD got it the second day, she was standing with me and she got the screen showing the BG number, and I had not even hit confirm on my 2 phones (slow mom fingers yesterday!).

 

[twodogs]

I am on ATT and had full bars, went on Saturday, Sunday, and today. I had BG 5, BG 30, and BG 80 respectively.

We had 6 phones going at the same time both Saturday and Sunday. Three on Verizon cell, 2 on park WiFi (no cell service on the phones), one on AT&T. The AT&T phone was the newest phone, an iPhone 11. The Verizons were iPhone X’s. The WiFi phones were an iPhone X and an iPhone 7. AT&T phone had full bars both days, away from crowds, and never got the red button. Either day!!! My DH was so mad. We got group 14 on Saturday on the iPhone XR on Verizon by the Subs. We got group 27 on Sunday on the iPhone 7 on WiFi by the Buzz gift shop. So I don’t know if AT&T is any good or not, but for us, it was terrible!

 

[hiroMYhero]

All on 5G, different approach.

Thanks for reporting! I was hoping someone would report finding success in the Esplanade! There is hope for AT&T.

 

[Lewdannie]

Lots of folk reporting that it works having multiple phones logged into the same account.
What about 2 phones logged into different accounts but with tickets for both persons loaded into each?

 

[Mathmagicland]

Jan 20: All on 5G, different approach. Scanned into the park, and then Departed and sat in the esplanade near the Harbor Blvd side ticket booths, almost under the monorail tracks. DS started to press the “Find Out More” a few seconds after 8 AM. Got BG 14. Did not have to refresh. Called in around 9:05 AM.

Thanks for this info - this is actually the approach I’ve been considering using when I’m there later this week.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

Lots of folk reporting that it works having multiple phones logged into the same account.
What about 2 phones logged into different accounts but with tickets for both persons loaded into each?

This is the situation with me and DGF and we didn’t have any issue getting a BG on the 17th

 

[CastAStone]

Chart updates are going to be sporadic till next Saturday since I'll be in WDW this week.

Doing an update/recreation now. Will post after we're clearly done for the day.

 

[twodogs]

You guys have me extra nervous now with the bad talk about AT&T. We will be there next week. There isn't much I can do about it I guess. It would be nice to hear a couple success stories to put me at ease.

Would you guys suggest husband and I split up a little to be in different parts of the park when trying?

We struggled with the 1/6 phones we had on AT&T, which didn’t get the Red button either day (but maybe would have eventually but we got a BG on other phones faster). I know others have posted bad luck with AT&T but one posted success. I would consider splitting up in the parks from each other, just to hedge your bets. My DH had full bars by the Nemo Subs and didn’t have luck on AT&T, so I think you may want to try different locations.

 

[dina444444]

Doing an update/recreation now. Will post after we're clearly done for the day.

Sent you a PM.

 

[dina444444]

Up to group 85. They are calling backups today.

 

[Ferrellcon]

Tonight was better it went past 80 the backups are being called.

 

[njchris]

Lots of folk reporting that it works having multiple phones logged into the same account.
What about 2 phones logged into different accounts but with tickets for both persons loaded into each?

That's what I was trying this morning with my phone and my friend's phone. T-mobile (Mint mobile but they use t-mobile). If you try on 2 different accounts with the same tickets in each, once you get a BG on one, the other will just say you are already in a boarding group. It goes by your tickets, not your account.

Also, I tested my speed and it was bad up front. So when they let people into the lands, I found a less populated area near the shooting gallery and it worked fine. I would assume if I stayed where it was slower, then it would have reduced my chances.

It was a bit on the emotional side hearing everyone that got BGs cheering.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

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!!!)!

Thanks so much to everyone who's been posting as it was a great help reading everyone's experiences and questions before trying ourselves yesterday . I tried to add some info while at the park, but also had to keep it short, so just thought I'd mention a few items:

I was using an older Galaxy S7 and my partner a brand new iPhone 11, both on Verizon. As others have noted, we got great service in the area right past the gates. It never occurred to us to even go farther, but that may be because we didn't even get in until 7:51 so just wanted to get ready. Our tickets are linked and we were both signed in to my account.

I got BG 74 on my Android, which based on the previous two days, I figured was pretty safe as we were a regular, not backup group. Of course, anyone who's been reading this thread knows yesterday was a big headache with major delays due to the ride being down. I'd originally guessed we might be called around 4 or 5 p.m., but once the ride kept continually stopping and staying that way, it became figuring out how long we could wait it out (We hadn't originally planned to stay super late, especially once we pulled 75), and then even whether we'd be called at all. We thankfully got on, but didn't get called until just before 8 p.m.

One key thing - no matter what, don't rely on one point of information. At one point while the boarding groups were stuck for a long time on 64, we went to get a Dole Whip. On the way back, we passed one of the message boards that shows status of the ride. It had a message saying that no new boarding groups would be called for the ride that day. At the same time, I noticed when I checked the app, where it normally shows Current Land Status and the boarding groups, it no longer said Current Land Status" or Open and only showed the group numbers (same ones from before we went to Tiki). This was different from when the ride was down throughout the day, as the Current Land Status heading still displayed, just without the word Open. This of course worried us, as we thought maybe they decided to call it early, based on knowing there'd been glitches all day, and needing to get through the current groups and all the folks waiting in the return line. Luckily this didn't end up being the case (the cast members we asked said not to give up as the plan was to go past 64 as long as the ride continued to run), but that message board really had us expecting to get bad news once we got back to the ride.

Truthfully, the whole process was definitely stressful, but I know that's in large part because we were in a group where it could've gone either way. (The last group called Sunday was 81.) So it did make it difficult later on to just try and enjoy the park as if not for getting the RotR group, we wouldn't have stayed so late. It was also hard getting jazzed to try and grab later evening fast passes because we just didn't know how things would go with our number being right on the line. But I'm not complaining as we chose to stay (stubbornness and not knowing if we'd want to try this again anytime soon.) If not for the crazy delays and waiting it out trying to figure out whether we should stay or leave, it would've been fine. Waiting for 8 a.m. to hit was also a stressful feeling, but at least that part is quick and I don't have a better recommendation for the process, so other than waking up ridiculously early, it wasn't too bad. (It's funny how quiet it gets all around right at 7:59 a.m. though.) So having said all that...

Yes, it was totally worth it!!! My partner is not a Star Wars (hasn't seen any of the recent trilogy) and I like SW but am not a super fan and we were both completely blown away. I was just repeatedly going ohmygod throughout, and the first thing we both said after it was over was, "I have to ride it again."

Thank you both for posting such detailed reports. Really appreciate!

I am on ATT and had full bars, went on Saturday, Sunday, and today. I had BG 5, BG 30, and BG 80 respectively.

Yay! I was getting very discouraged by all the negative AT&T DPs. Nice to hear someone has had some success.

Jan 20: All on 5G, different approach. Scanned into the park, and then Departed and sat in the esplanade near the Harbor Blvd side ticket booths, almost under the monorail tracks. DS started to press the “Find Out More” a few seconds after 8 AM. Got BG 14. Did not have to refresh. Called in around 9:05 AM.

Wonderful! Thank yo so much for posting. This was my plan so it's great to hear someone had some success.

Thanks for reporting! I was hoping someone would report finding success in the Esplanade! There is hope for AT&T.

Thanks for this info - this is actually the approach I’ve been considering using when I’m there later this week.

Me, too!

 

[otten]

Hopefully by the time we go in March BGs aren't disappearing quite so fast. We'll be on AT&T because that's who Rogers uses for roaming. One member of our party will be on a different network so I guess we'll all try.