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

[DLRExpert]

The majority of people who visit Disneyland do not plan. They are used to showing up and enjoying a day at the park.
They may know of the new ride through the TV or Radio commercial, maybe Social Media and YouTube, but even those don't necessarily state the need for a Boarding Group Pass and how it all works.

 

[Lewdannie]

Would you like it if the three main hotels gave you a pass to ride during your visit?

definitely...given how much the rooms cost

 

[Ferrellcon]

Just 6 away from finishing the main groups with about 5 hours to spare.

 

[twodogs]

Isn’t this basically giving it fastpasses? You’d still need to be there at park opening because all of the fastpasses would be gone in the same amount of time as boarding groups, right? That’s why people would come early to line up for RSR FP line I think.

Yes and no. FP gives you an actual set time window to ride the ride. If you miss it, you miss it. BG give you a possibility to ride, but no commitment on Disney's part as to when that will be (so maybe not as good for the guest trying to plan other things that day). I think the BGs give Disney more flexibility if the ride breaks down to slide the times to later in the day (by not allowing the next groups until they are ready for them). If you have a FP system, and the ride goes down at 11am and comes back up at 4pm, then all the people who had FPs for any time in the window when it was down would be eligible to line up right at 4pm when it came back up (if they did it like the current FP system). With BGs, if the ride has a 5 hour downtime, when it comes back up, they just resume calling the groups, so there is not such a huge flood of riders at ride re-opening. So keeping BGs allows Disney to better control things, in case of breakdowns, which seems to be so common with this ride.

And for the locals, they would not use FP or BG if they don't have the ability or want to get there at RD. They would have the option to use the SB line, if they introduced one, but those with BGs would get priority at the merge, in my little proposed plan!

 

[MychaelP]

I find this thread fun. People enjoy discussing that this is the most anticipated ride ever, blah blah blah. I was there at Space Mountain's opening, and it was a madhouse and I waited almost 5 hours for it. But this good thing is I had the opportunity to ride it by getting there early. Right now there are a lot of disappointed people at Disneyland who get there at opening and have zero chance at riding. I see kids faces droop, etc. Doesn't seem very Disney to me. Maybe they will find a way to make more money off it, by offering a "premium" version of Max Pass allowing you to ride it one time. Sounds more like the Disney I know rather than asking people to spend full price only to find out minutes later you can't ride it.

 

[ironband74]

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

I remember how I used to enjoy going to the parks and just enjoying myself with my family with little to no planning at all. We'd go in the off season, we'd sleep in, we'd do whatever. We'd wait in lines because "That's just the way it is." We didn't bother with fastpass and honestly thought it was something you had to pay for.

And we were happy to come back every few years and mosey and meander and just go with the flow.

Then, one fateful year (2010) we decided to bring my in-laws with us during the week between Christmas and New Years.

The first day was the very definition of a rude awakening. We got to the park around 10 to find it pretty packed. It was one of those days where they stopped letting people in around noon. We waited like 45 mintues for Mr. Toad's wild ride. We waited about 50 minutes for Gadget's Go Coaster. We headed over to DCA and waited for a long time to ride the Fun Wheel and then forever to ride California Screamin. And we left the park, battered, confused and disappointed because our experience, quite frankly...sucked.

But, oddly enough, I was not angry at Disney. I decided that the onus was on us to make the most of this vacation. The next two days couldn't go that way for me and my family and my in-laws.

So, back at the hotel, while everyone else slept, I researched. I took notes. I even bought a Ridemax subscription and read all the tips that I could find.

And the next two days were magical.

The thing that is hardest about this BG stuff is that you can do everything "right" and still not get on.

But that can happen with other attractions too. They aren't advertising that HM is down for extended maintenance. I doubt they will advertise that Indy is down for extended maintenance when it goes down later this year. If you didn't look at the web site you might show up to the park and discover that your favorite attraction is unavailable.

Or it might be 101 for the day. It happens.

The also don't advertise that fastpasses are needed to get good viewing for the nighttime spectaculars.

Heck, when I scheduled my trip between Christmas and New Year in like March, I had heard that ROTR was going to be open. It was expected that it would be open before the end of the year. If I hadn't done research, I might have gone to the park expecting it to be open.

But I would have been fine. Because a bad day at DLR is better than a good day most anywhere else.

If that had happened, I would have felt that it was on me, not Disney.

Yeah, it sucks that some people don't get to ride, and that some of those people are kids and there are tears and all that. I remember one trip we kept putting off going on Tarzan's Treehouse, and my then 3 year old really wanted to do it. And by the time we got around to it on our last day, it was dark and it was closed. And boy did he cry. All the joy we had for three days for that moment was just ruined. Did I get angry at Disney for closing it? Or did I tell my son that sometimes things don't go our way and get on with our lives?

There is a lot to do at DLR, Rise or no Rise.

 

[aymiewilson]

YUP. What @ironband74 said. Also... I feel this way about ALL vacation destinations. It applies to virtually any new place you go to, especially those that are very popular and crowded.

 

[dismsn]

Couple of thoughts.

Would guests get upset if they were limited to ride once a week to allow other guests a shot at riding it?

Would you like it if the three main hotels gave you a pass to ride during your visit?

I would be fine with just one ride IF it didn't break down during that ride. If it did break down, I'd want a chance to ride it all the way through without pauses or having sections not work.

Yes, I'd appreciate a Disney hotel guest pass. After paying the ridiculous cost of their hotels, that's the least they can do. If they are only getting 5,000 -7,000 people through the ride in a day though, maybe the hotel guests would take up most of those spots and that's not fair to everyone else.

 

[ironband74]

81 has been called. we are officially in the backup groups at 3:49pm

 

[B3rlingirl]

I find this thread fun. People enjoy discussing that this is the most anticipated ride ever, blah blah blah. I was there at Space Mountain's opening, and it was a madhouse and I waited almost 5 hours for it. But this good thing is I had the opportunity to ride it by getting there early. Right now there are a lot of disappointed people at Disneyland who get there at opening and have zero chance at riding. I see kids faces droop, etc. Doesn't seem very Disney to me. Maybe they will find a way to make more money off it, by offering a "premium" version of Max Pass allowing you to ride it one time. Sounds more like the Disney I know rather than asking people to spend full price only to find out minutes later you can't ride it.

I understand your point but the problem is capacity. If Disney did Standby queue right now it would be a mad race every morning to it and in the end not everyone there at park opening would be able to ride... the system Disney uses right now actually doesn’t matter someone won’t be able to ride... right now there are more people there at rope drop that wanna ride than the ride has as daily capacity. There is no way around sad faces till the ride is able to raise the capacity.

The only question is how the lucky ones who are able to ride are determined. I personally prefer Boarding passes over a mad race... everyone pretty much has the same chance of riding if you arrive at rope drop... and that’s one thing I like about DL... every day everyone has the same chance of riding popular rides!

 

[crystal1313]

Because a bad day at DLR is better than a good day most anywhere else.

^THIS. 100%

We keep trying to teach our kids that. I usually preface our DL days saying that we will try our best to do everything that we want to do, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control and we will make the most of it!

 

[IsleofDisney]

The majority of people who visit Disneyland do not plan. They are used to showing up and enjoying a day at the park.
They may know of the new ride through the TV or Radio commercial, maybe Social Media and YouTube, but even those don't necessarily state the need for a Boarding Group Pass and how it all works.

But that's the thing about local AP holders if that's whom you're referring, we can always come back later, with a plan, and give it another shot.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

Off topic but all this "false advertising" & "bait & switch" talk makes me think back to when the Nintendo Wii was released. Much like ROTR demand far outpaced supply but Nintendo didn't change their advertising campaign to mention that you needed to be at your local retailer prior to opening on the day they receive a shipment to get in line for the ticket that would allow you to purchase one.

I for one agree with @ironband74 & @aymiewilson if someone can't be bothered to do minimal research on their vacation destination and miss out on something that's the customers fault not the location they visited.

 

[Etonduf]

I find this thread fun. People enjoy discussing that this is the most anticipated ride ever, blah blah blah. I was there at Space Mountain's opening, and it was a madhouse and I waited almost 5 hours for it. But this good thing is I had the opportunity to ride it by getting there early. Right now there are a lot of disappointed people at Disneyland who get there at opening and have zero chance at riding. I see kids faces droop, etc. Doesn't seem very Disney to me. Maybe they will find a way to make more money off it, by offering a "premium" version of Max Pass allowing you to ride it one time. Sounds more like the Disney I know rather than asking people to spend full price only to find out minutes later you can't ride it.

I went to DLR as a young child, and one of the major reasons I never returned until well into my thirties is because my abiding memory was waiting in lines. So yes, this system that doesn't require waiting in multi-hour lines is not very Disney from that perspective.

But keep in mind that when there is a five-hour line to get on the latest rides, there are just as many drooping faces--all the kids whose parents took one look and said, "Sorry kids, I know you are dying to do that but we can't pay all this money to wait in one line for half of our day."

As others have said, demand outstrips supply for ROTR. Standby, or whatever other system people come up with, doesn't fix that. And whatever system I come up with may seem fair to me, but there would be a gazillion other people who would find it unfair for whatever reasons apply to them and their loved ones. I'm taking my kids to the park in a couple of weeks. We'll take our shot at the BGs each day, then go on and have fun regardless of the outcome. But count me as one of the folks who doesn't want to wait in a five-hour line when I could just find out at 8:01 that I'm not riding. And I'm thankfully to not have the public saftey concerns that come with five hours worth of people crammed into that little space.

 

[NateD1226]

Today has been going amazing! Here is a comparison from today and opening day (best day). Clearly there is much improvement



https://www.thrill-data.com/

 

[DLgal]

And for the locals, they would not use FP or BG if they don't have the ability or want to get there at RD. They would have the option to use the SB line, if they introduced one, but those with BGs would get priority at the merge, in my little proposed plan!

Locals who come later would have 3 optiions.

1. Pick up a cancelled fastpass using Maxpass
2. Use the Single Rider line (which I am pretty sure RotR was designed to have, like MFSR
3. Get in the standby line

That is what late arriving locals do for other popular rides like RSR, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, etc.

 

[DLgal]

I find this thread fun. People enjoy discussing that this is the most anticipated ride ever, blah blah blah. I was there at Space Mountain's opening, and it was a madhouse and I waited almost 5 hours for it. But this good thing is I had the opportunity to ride it by getting there early. Right now there are a lot of disappointed people at Disneyland who get there at opening and have zero chance at riding. I see kids faces droop, etc. Doesn't seem very Disney to me. Maybe they will find a way to make more money off it, by offering a "premium" version of Max Pass allowing you to ride it one time. Sounds more like the Disney I know rather than asking people to spend full price only to find out minutes later you can't ride it.

The faces of the disappointed kids all around is really heartbreaking. A few were flat out crying. My son was on the verge himself...

 

[ckb_nc]

...particularly given the price of the tickets. I would never spend that much money on anything without doing some basic research to make sure I get the best return for my bucks.

Yeah well as park vets we all know stories of people who show up with zero understanding on things like fast passes or doing reservations. Had an uncle who visited WDW and from they told me , oh did just totally miss the mark.

 

[DLgal]

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

I remember how I used to enjoy going to the parks and just enjoying myself with my family with little to no planning at all. We'd go in the off season, we'd sleep in, we'd do whatever. We'd wait in lines because "That's just the way it is." We didn't bother with fastpass and honestly thought it was something you had to pay for.

And we were happy to come back every few years and mosey and meander and just go with the flow.

Then, one fateful year (2010) we decided to bring my in-laws with us during the week between Christmas and New Years.

The first day was the very definition of a rude awakening. We got to the park around 10 to find it pretty packed. It was one of those days where they stopped letting people in around noon. We waited like 45 mintues for Mr. Toad's wild ride. We waited about 50 minutes for Gadget's Go Coaster. We headed over to DCA and waited for a long time to ride the Fun Wheel and then forever to ride California Screamin. And we left the park, battered, confused and disappointed because our experience, quite frankly...sucked.

But, oddly enough, I was not angry at Disney. I decided that the onus was on us to make the most of this vacation. The next two days couldn't go that way for me and my family and my in-laws.

So, back at the hotel, while everyone else slept, I researched. I took notes. I even bought a Ridemax subscription and read all the tips that I could find.

And the next two days were magical.

The thing that is hardest about this BG stuff is that you can do everything "right" and still not get on.

But that can happen with other attractions too. They aren't advertising that HM is down for extended maintenance. I doubt they will advertise that Indy is down for extended maintenance when it goes down later this year. If you didn't look at the web site you might show up to the park and discover that your favorite attraction is unavailable.

Or it might be 101 for the day. It happens.

The also don't advertise that fastpasses are needed to get good viewing for the nighttime spectaculars.

Heck, when I scheduled my trip between Christmas and New Year in like March, I had heard that ROTR was going to be open. It was expected that it would be open before the end of the year. If I hadn't done research, I might have gone to the park expecting it to be open.

But I would have been fine. Because a bad day at DLR is better than a good day most anywhere else.

If that had happened, I would have felt that it was on me, not Disney.

Yeah, it sucks that some people don't get to ride, and that some of those people are kids and there are tears and all that. I remember one trip we kept putting off going on Tarzan's Treehouse, and my then 3 year old really wanted to do it. And by the time we got around to it on our last day, it was dark and it was closed. And boy did he cry. All the joy we had for three days for that moment was just ruined. Did I get angry at Disney for closing it? Or did I tell my son that sometimes things don't go our way and get on with our lives?

There is a lot to do at DLR, Rise or no Rise.

All those things that you are saying they don't advertise, they do advertise. They post closed rides right at the ticket booths. They advertise the need for World of Color and Fantasmic fastpasses in almost all their printed materials. The commercials that depict those shows indicate "subject to availability". They advertise their dining packages with sandwich boards in the parks.

You statement that I bolded is the most important part. I did everything right, as thousands of other people also did. I ended up with no chance because my app was unresponsive on a brand new phone with service provided by the "official mobile provider of Disney Parks." What more could I have done? Nothing. And it was crushing in that moment.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I think the queue being virtual really bothers a lot of people, and they take the rejection worse than a regular queue. If you are missing out on regular BG at the very beginning of the day, and regular groups are finished boarding at 5 PM (as an example) that is just like walking up to a queue at rope drop, and seeing a 7 hour wait. If you miss out on the back ups too, that’s like walking up to the queue and seeing a 12 hour line or a closed queue.

That isn’t better. Under any other first come first served system, you still wouldn’t be riding. Kids would still be crying. Disney ads would still be showing a ride that was extremely difficult to ride. That is the nature of an attraction without enough capacity to satisfy demand, and that is unreliable to boot.