RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[slyster]

Is it consider a slower crowd level right now? I'm wondering about those arriving Christmas and new years week when crowd number rise.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

UPDATE

So looks like the Back Up BGs will be set up in the morning as well ... They will just fill more BGs and have a note saying BGs above 121 will only be called if they have capacity

So I assume this let's them give out more but then if they don't get to then they won't give out the FPs or extra park ticket like they had been doing (only up to 121 now)

https://blogmickey.com/2019/12/upda...ise-of-the-resistance-already-gone-for-today/

 

[gemologygal]

Hopefully my detailed account will be helpful for anyone planning because I have been faithfully following this thread since the ride opened and am so grateful to everyone who shared their morning preps for RotR. Thank you to everyone posting!

Our details for my husband and I:
4 a.m. wake up
An hour for us to get ready
5:10 a.m. left hotel room at Coronado
5:30 a.m. Lyft picked us up
5:38 a.m. arrived at HS
5:41 a.m. right through security (no bags for either of us)
6:25 a.m. main RotR announcement over loudspeakers
6:30 a.m. tapped in magic band/finger scan
6:35 a.m. joined boarding group 28

While we waited we went on Smugglers Run and had a 30 min wait. As we walked the queue we saw that groups 9-22 were boarding so we made sure to head over to RotR right after.

7:55 a.m. boarding group 28 was called
8 a.m. entered the line
8:15 a.m. bananas and water given out and was told ride was down for a bit
8:35 a.m. chips were handed out
Chewbacca then made the rounds for pics and cookies were also handed out
8:50 a.m. still waiting
9:15 a.m. officially started the ride
9:35 off the ride and now back to the hotel.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Oh okay got it. I didn't think the buses would arrive in time. Thanks for that.

Yeah, it seems like they get one out really early and then a bit of delay until next one so if important to you to be there super early and want to take the bus I would be at your resort bust stop by 5am or so

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Is it consider a slower crowd level right now? I'm wondering about those arriving Christmas and new years week when crowd number rise.

Holiday crowds are getting there now. Certain levels of APs are blacked out starting today - so it will get even worse next week but already getting into high levels of crowds

 

[slyster]

Wow...thanks for all of that information. Definitely helps with planning!

 

[SG131]

UPDATE

So looks like the Back Up BGs will be set up in the morning as well ... They will just fill more BGs and have a note saying BGs above 121 will only be called if they have capacity

So I assume this let's them give out more but then if they don't get to then they won't give out the FPs or extra park ticket like they had been doing (only up to 121 now)

https://blogmickey.com/2019/12/upda...ise-of-the-resistance-already-gone-for-today/

I figured they’d open up more boarding groups but it surprises me that they’re doing it first thing in the morning. I figured they’d wait and see how things were going during they day then possibly release more in the evening.

 

[cheezNE1]

Does anyone recommend driving there early morning? Hows the parking and the walk to the entrance be like?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I figured they’d open up more boarding groups but it surprises me that they’re doing it first thing in the morning. I figured they’d wait and see how things were going during they day then possibly release more in the evening.

In some ways this is better and let's more people that show up at "rope drop" the chance vs people just getting lucky if they happen to check when they reopen the BGs at some random point in the day

Really think this is just a way for them to offer more BGs without having to compensate people if there are technical issuez

 

[Cherryb]

Do you have a better chance of getting a BG if you go to EMH in the morning (going the first week of March)?. I was not planning to go since it is a Sunday and I prefer going to HS on Tuesday, but I might change my plan.

 

[mamaode]

We had a fairly successful morning in DHS. We arrived at 5am, and in line just in front of the ticket booths by 5:25am. There was quite a back-up to park our car. We got boarding group 15. Our group was called around 7:30am. We entered the physical queue at 7:40am, and were done at 8:55am. There was a 20 minute delay while we were in line. LOVED the ride! Can't wait to ride again.

My question is regarding those of you who have used DAS. We have some friends joining us in a couple weeks. They have a son on the spectrum who cannot wait in lines. As we waited in line to enter the park today, and then again in the physical queue, I just kept thinking about how there's no way this boy will be able to do it. If any of you have children on the spectrum, how have you handled the morning queue? That can't be avoided, right? Does DAS help when your boarding group is called in the physical queue? I don't want my friends to miss all the stuff that happens in the queue, but I don't think this boy could handle the wait that we had today. Thanks for any feedback!

My 16yo son is on the spectrum, has extremely difficult time waiting and has a time perception disorder. Basically 15 minutes to him feel like an hour. He also is not a hug fan of being in a mob of people. Quite frankly I am not a huge fan either. Haha.

This is what we did. I reminded him that if he wanted to ride ride this ride this is what we had to do.....even right before bed I talked with him again that tomorrow was going to be a big day and we needed to work together to make it work.

1. The day before repeatedly explained our early morning plan. (Wake-up at 5:30, take Uber to park at 5:50, Arrive at park at 6:00, open tap point at 6:30, get boarding group. ) Prepped him we would need to wait a long time with a lot of people. We planned on him picking a show to watch while we waited.

2. The morning went pretty well. Above plan, though bag check at 6:15 and tap points opened at 6:18 most likely because of weather, we were in the park around 6:36ish and had boarding group 40. My son had headphones on and his phone watching a video. So he had his head down watching a show for most of it, he also was AMAZED at the mass of people and thought it was so cool. This shocked me. He took a bunch of pictures of the "opening day crowds" he called them.

3. Once through and the crowds started to disperse we rode a bunch of rides without any real wait times and only needed to use the DAS for Smugglers Run later in the day.

We were in one of the groups that just started to get interrogated and then had to be escorted out backstage because of a breakdown, I was not sure how he was going to handle it. Got paper fast pass for later. I think that was the key because my son knew he had a "ticket" to come back. We ended up coming back later to ride.

My son started to get worn out later in the morning from all of the excitement and early wake-up so he ended up going back to the hotel to relax for a bit.

If you have any other questions please let me know We have been going to Disney with him since he was 18 mo old and this was our 3rd trip this year so we have a bit of experience

 

[Nycraig79]

Can anyone confirm if the ticket windows are open around 5:45am? We are arriving tonight after parks close and want to do an early morning at the Studios, but have to go to the ticketing window first. Just wasn't sure if they opened that early or were accesible with the crowds lined up.

 

[button409]

So even if you get up at stupid o clock and get a boarding group, you still might not get to ride? Is that correct? It’s going to be a nightmare trying to get there with our 5,3 and 1 year old super early anyway (and we are relying on Disney buses) and we would be gutted not to get to ride. Does your BG roll over to the next day if it doesn’t get you on that day? Really dreading HS now! Thanks for any help

 

[mamaode]

We had a fairly successful morning in DHS. We arrived at 5am, and in line just in front of the ticket booths by 5:25am. There was quite a back-up to park our car. We got boarding group 15. Our group was called around 7:30am. We entered the physical queue at 7:40am, and were done at 8:55am. There was a 20 minute delay while we were in line. LOVED the ride! Can't wait to ride again.

My question is regarding those of you who have used DAS. We have some friends joining us in a couple weeks. They have a son on the spectrum who cannot wait in lines. As we waited in line to enter the park today, and then again in the physical queue, I just kept thinking about how there's no way this boy will be able to do it. If any of you have children on the spectrum, how have you handled the morning queue? That can't be avoided, right? Does DAS help when your boarding group is called in the physical queue? I don't want my friends to miss all the stuff that happens in the queue, but I don't think this boy could handle the wait that we had today. Thanks for any feedback!

oh sorry one other note, the physical queue was no trouble, even with us waiting, there is so much to look at and take in. We were in even stopped for about 15 minutes in one of the rooms because of the breakdown and it was fine. I think it is a lot different then waiting in the zigzag queues that are at other attractions.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So even if you get up at stupid o clock and get a boarding group, you still might not get to ride? Is that correct? It’s going to be a nightmare trying to get there with our 5,3 and 1 year old super early anyway (and we are relying on Disney buses) and we would be gutted not to get to ride. Does your BG roll over to the next day if it doesn’t get you on that day? Really dreading HS now! Thanks for any help

Your BG would not roll to the next day. If you are in main group (up to 121) I assume you will still get anytime FP but if in "back up" then nothing

But even the main group has been lasting until 20-30 minutes post official park opening time. Guess depends on your definition of "stupid early"

 

[Jonfw2]

In retrospect, opening GE in phases seems like a genius move.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

In retrospect, opening GE in phases seems like a genius move.

Well, except for the fact that in the internet age everyone has to have an instantaneous hot take so the land was dubbed a failure and Star Wars is dead, etc before the land was even fully open

Just think about what the internet reaction to the opening of New Orleans Sq in Disneyland would have been - when it opened there were literally zero attractions open

 

[DavidNYC]

Curious to see how long they offer compensation for those in normal boarding groups who don't get to ride (and curious how long they'll include a hopper instead of just the FP). I'm kind of surprised at the back up groups this early as they're almost locking themselves in to offering some sort of compensation to anyone in an initial BG if there are problems and they don't get through them (although if they just start offering the hoppers for the next day they're not really locking themselves into anything they can't easily accommodate). Luckily - knock on wood - we've had a few good days of getting though all BGs so hopefully they're feeling pretty confident that they can make it through a day a lot more reliably than the first few. They've got a little over 5 weeks to get this completely worked out before I get there!

 

[tsabs22]

Did you reserved uber way in advance?

Nope, all was fairly simple. Went on the Uber app and put in request around 3am. Uber arrived at AKL about 15 mins later and I was on my way. Only hiccup was the parking booths were coned off and Uber was a little hesitant to go around them at first, but he ended up doing it and it all worked out. If you could get yourself up early and willing to wait, it’s worth it

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Curious to see how long they offer compensation for those in normal boarding groups who don't get to ride (and curious how long they'll include a hopper instead of just the FP). I'm kind of surprised at the back up groups this early as they're almost locking themselves in to offering some sort of compensation to anyone in an initial BG if there are problems and they don't get through them (although if they just start offering the hoppers for the next day they're not really locking themselves into anything they can't easily accommodate). Luckily - knock on wood - we've had a few good days of getting though all BGs so hopefully they're feeling pretty confident that they can make it through a day a lot more reliably than the first few. They've got a little over 5 weeks to get this completely worked out before I get there!

I am surprised they didn't lower the number of BG that is part of normal operation... Thought this would be opportunity to say everything above 100 is back up even if they feel confident to get to at least 120

Though maybe they have reduced # of people in BG to get same effect