RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[wareagle57]

I walked by about 20 minutes ago and asked if they thought people would be allowed to join the queue after the boarding groups got though and they said no. I think trying that the other night and it breaking down probably resulted in them not wanting to try that again.

 

[PetePanMan]

To be fair there were only 2 days when they opened 2 hours before, again that was expected by everyone which is why everyone showed up early

lots of mornings 1.5 hrs as well but I did not realize that official opening is now 7am - looks like things now not so bad which is great. If “everyone” showed up, things would have been far crazier. I think those who are more in the know because of boards Like this do not represent the average park goer. This is reason I was a bit concerned over communication of opening times.

 

[StarGirl11]

I walked by about 20 minutes ago and asked if they thought people would be allowed to join the queue after the boarding groups got though and they said no. I think trying that the other night and it breaking down probably resulted in them not wanting to try that again.

Okay over 200 pages I apparently forgot this ever happened. What day did they do that again? Only thing I’m recalling right now off the top of my head is the other Diser got pixie dusted with a ride.

 

[yulilin3]

lots of mornings 1.5 hrs as well but I did not realize that official opening is now 7am - looks like things now not so bad which is great. If “everyone” showed up, things would have been far crazier. I think those who are more in the know because of boards Like this do not represent the average park goer. This is reason I was a bit concerned over communication of opening times.

Opening day had the huge SW fans that had been waiting for this attraction and are not really into the parks. It had nothing to do with people who visit Disney forums. I know because the same group of people that came to SWW every year had a big group discussion on when to arrive.
We all were willing to sleep the night like the good old days of SWW for the opening of the land. We were shut down and most people just circled the parking lot until it opened at 3:30am
For this opening we knew we couldn't sleep over but everyone was waiting for the lot to open, and it did at 4:30am this time
After that, once the word got out about bg, then the big SW fans had their day and it was more about the regular Disney park goer experience

 

[Weedy]

Boarding group data. 12/14
8am ish 8-22
12:00 pm ish 27-48
4:00 ish 69-85
8:55 ish 106-110

 

[yulilin3]

Boarding group data. 12/24
8am ish 8-22
12:00 pm ish 27-48
4:00 ish 69-85
8:55 ish 106-110
View attachment 458762

View attachment 458763
View attachment 458764View attachment 458765

8/14

 

[Ensusieasm]

The last 3 days have been a success. Each day had only 2 shutdowns and they were able to get through all BGs before park close. It looks like Disney is getting close to figuring out how to mitigate everyone's cell phones interfering with the ride and now starting to push the throughput higher and higher.

I am not surprised by a larger number of boarding groups at all. If they were unable to get through all their boarding groups over the last three days, I could see them lowering the number of BGs. Since it was successful, I am going to gamble and say the go for 115 tomorrow; or even higher since they have a buffer of the EEMHs to make sure they get through all the BGs.

Hopefully they can get to 1700/hour before I get there in January.

“Cell phones interfering with the ride” ?????

 

[courtney1188]

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.

That is a good point! I already have a FOP FP for around 1pm, so I don’t need to be as intense about EMH at AK anyways.

 

[montreid]

Thank you! I will pass along the information. I hope they decide to go for it, because the ride is incredible. So far they're leaning towards skipping it to avoid meltdowns though.

We are planning to have our us arrive midway through the masses with our DAS rider and try to have him circled as much as possible after the turnstiles open but to minimize the crowding waiting. Bringing headphones is an absolute in the plan.

Ok to have later BG and probably for the better. Yes; FP line once BG called is my understanding to help with some of the unpredictable times and waits.

I think this is as fair can be for DAS short of letting everyone leave their little loved ones in bed and do a virtual queue altogether

 

[wareagle57]

Okay over 200 pages I apparently forgot this ever happened. What day did they do that again? Only thing I’m recalling right now off the top of my head is the other Diser got pixie dusted with a ride.

I think it was Monday night. I don’t know that there is any proof this actually happened. But I had some operation CMs tell me it did. And tonight when I asked if the line would be opened up if they got through all the boarding groups they said “that was just a one time thing” without me even bringing up the fact that it had happened before. So I think that’s confirmation that they were at least selectively opening it up for people.

 

[rteetz]

 

[5kidsmommy]

We are planning to have our us arrive midway through the masses with our DAS rider and try to have him circled as much as possible after the turnstiles open but to minimize the crowding waiting. Bringing headphones is an absolute in the plan.

Ok to have later BG and probably for the better. Yes; FP line once BG called is my understanding to help with some of the unpredictable times and waits.

I think this is as fair can be for DAS short of letting everyone leave their little loved ones in bed and do a virtual queue altogether

We aren't going for awhile but I know for my son this is what we'll do. I know he'll want to ride it and he understands waiting he just tends to get over stimulated. Hopefully with headphones and his phone he'll be able to deal with the crowds. Honestly I'll be okay with a later BG so we can leave after doing a few rides and head back to the resort for a bit.

I do like the VQ much better than running or waiting in hours long lines. It's as good as a system there can be.

 

[AWalks]

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.

Another vote for this! If HS was still doing AM EMH on Sunday it would be a different story, but I don’t think the PM EMH are going to make much of a difference when the park is actually opening around 6:30 am. Then if you’re able to ride RotR on Sun, you can decide whether you want to rope-drop again on Monday or do AK EMH. And as PPs have mentioned, it would be possible to get a BG that allows you to go to AK in the am and then hop back for your BG later in the day, you’ll just have to keep an eye on this thread to figure out the right timing for your desired BG return time.

 

[AWalks]

I've been following this thread since the morning the ride opened. Fascinating stuff on crowd management. Overall, Disney has done a good job and it seems like the VQ is working well. As a night person, I wish that getting there at 5:00 or 6:00 wasn't the norm. I'd be happier with 7:00 or 8:00 and think that's more reasonable for most people. I do wish they had a way to stop people from lining up until a more reasonable hour. But, I can't think of how they'd ever do that.

As the holidays get closer and the crowds seem to be increasing and arriving earlier and earlier, I do think that Disney needs to find a way to stop people from pushing ahead in the line, whether it's to meet up with family members who arrived earlier or just to gain a more advantageous spot closer to the turnstiles. It's infuriating to the guests who arrived earlier and waited patiently. I understand the motive behind "move forward and fill all available space" but I think it just encourages people who arrived later to push ahead of people who arrived before they did. Disney needs to form fair lines and monitor them.

I agree! You said previously that DD and her boyfriend are going to be thereon Jan 7, right? I was soooo grumpy when Disney changed opening from 9 am to 8 am for that week, but it is what it is...Tell her DH and I are planning on arriving at HS between 5:30 and 6 am that day, hopefully closer to 5:30 but obviously dependent on the kids. And we will be dragging both of our young kids out of bed that early to stand in line (planning a very early bedtime the night before), no sleeping in and saving spots for anyone who wants to ride RotR! Your DD just needs to look out for the redhead with frizzy hair who looks a bit like Merida and clearly needs an IV drip of coffee, with 2 boys and a semi-grumpy husband. I’ve also already told my whole family that I am not above bailing and going to HS without them if they can’t handle the early wake-up!

 

[AWalks]

I think it was Monday night. I don’t know that there is any proof this actually happened. But I had some operation CMs tell me it did. And tonight when I asked if the line would be opened up if they got through all the boarding groups they said “that was just a one time thing” without me even bringing up the fact that it had happened before. So I think that’s confirmation that they were at least selectively opening it up for people.

Yeah I remember that DISer mentioning getting randomly pixie dusted with an extra ride several days ago, so somewhere around Mon or early this past week fits with that. I have zero reason to doubt that DISer, but I have also not heard of that happening before or since. I could definitely see it happening if you were just in the right place at the right time and it not being advertised in any way, but I wouldn’t depend on extra rides after BG are covered for the foreseeable future. And honestly, if I’m up at 5 am to get in line before rope drop, I’m probably going to be passed out in the hotel room well before the last boarding group is called anyway!

 

[themeparkfan02]

Leaving mederia beach for Hollywood studios, may the force be with us

 

[courtney1188]

Attempting to leave ASM now - no one has picked up my Uber request yet. Hopefully very soon!

edit: got one. Theyre 6 minutes away and it’s now 5am - hopefully
I’m still early enough for a decent boarding group. I didn’t get back from MK until almost 2am, so my brain is not quite awake yet.
Edit 2: And my Uber kept getting further away. But a Disney bus came at 5:05.

 

[DizFan13]

Finally get to add to this post! Arrived at 5:10, and the crowd is major.

 

[Nermel9]

Attempting to leave ASM now - no one has picked up my Uber request yet. Hopefully very soon!

edit: got one. Theyre 6 minutes away and it’s now 5am - hopefully
I’m still early enough for a decent boarding group. I didn’t get back from MK until almost 2am, so my brain is not quite awake yet.
Edit 2: And my Uber kept getting further away. But a Disney bus came at 5:05.

Good luck! Please keep us updated! I’m curious if the early crowds are going to be even bigger this morning with magic hours tonight!

 

[Nermel9]

Finally get to add to this post! Arrived at 5:10, and the crowd is major.View attachment 458788

Wow that’s crazy! Is that bag check or the actual entrance? I can’t really tell what I’m looking at sideways haha!