RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[Opie100]

Hi, everyone, I've read through this thread-- but now the park will be opening at 6 AM during the time between Xmas and New Year's. UGH. We're planning to go on 12/30, and am wondering how this would change your plans. Will a lot of people realistically get there at 5 AM if the park is opening at 6? Would 5:30 be safe to get a boarding group? We're coming from near Tampa, so have an hour drive to the park. Any thoughts are welcome.

Guests that desire an early BG are already arriving at 5am, so you can bet that will continue to be the case. If you don't care what BG you get, it seems likely that entering the park around official opening time will still garner you a BG. But keep watching here to get reports once the time changes.

 

[Disneylover99]

Hi, everyone, I've read through this thread-- but now the park will be opening at 6 AM during the time between Xmas and New Year's. UGH. We're planning to go on 12/30, and am wondering how this would change your plans. Will a lot of people realistically get there at 5 AM if the park is opening at 6? Would 5:30 be safe to get a boarding group? We're coming from near Tampa, so have an hour drive to the park. Any thoughts are welcome.

Yes. A lot of people will be there at 5am. You’ll probably be safe arriving at 5:30am, but that will be the busiest week, so there’s lots to consider. Even traffic that early in the morning may be problematic. And buses will be dispatched to resorts before 5am, so lots of resort guests will be there early. I’d try to get there earlier if I were you.

 

[Ginger03]

you must have been in a better part of the line. We were in line at 611a, joined a group at 706a. Number 86. I'm mad.

I followed the tips to stay right. We were about three tap stiles from the right.

 

[5kidsmommy]

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

Thank you for this. Your son sounds a lot like my son. Luckily w aren't going until September so we've got plenty of time for everything to work out. I know that we'll still need a plan since he wants to ride it.WDW is doable for us, we just need plans and more plans and lots of downtown away from people. Glad it worked out so well for you.

 

[JessicaW1234]

My 16yo son is on the spectrum, has extremely difficult time waiting and has a time perception

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

do you know if they there is a guest relations outside of the tapstyles at HS that would handle a DAS? I don't remember one being there but another DIS'er had suggested that location.

 

[MIChessGuy]

What’s this about ‘the far right tapstile but slightly away from the right edge’? (Apologies, I’m sure I’m asking folks to repeat what’s already in this forum but there are an intimidating number of posts to sift through!)

Earlier posts have mentioned that the DHS tapstiles that are all the way to the extreme right have fewer places to tap in. So, as I understand it, you want to stay to the far right, but not at the very end of that right side. Perhaps count off 3 or 4 lanes from the right edge and get in line (to the extent that's possible, photos I've seen show a huge mass of people all over the place).

 

[Heather07438]

6:45a we were assault fined BG 37

Sheesh... what did you do to get that?!!

Lol! Spell check giving another gem
We visited WDW Dec 11-15.
Wed Dec 11 we closed AK @6pm and hopped to MK for fireworks & nite EMH. Late night, home at 1:30a.

Our 2 RoR experiences:

Thurs Dec 12 - Rope Dropped HS, on line at tap styles around 6:05am.
Went to last line all the way to the right, directly next to construction wall (very smelly construction digging up ground, PEW!)
But it was worth it. HS opened about 6:35a and we were assigned BG 37 at 6:45a (not assaulted , or fined)
Our BG 37 was called around 10:20a and we were in the queue by 10:30a. No problems. RoR AWESOME!!1!!!
11:30a lunch at Hollywood & Vine, then took a well deserved 3 hour nap before returning to HS 5-9p.
ETA: We sacrificed seeing HS fireworks and decided to run across park to ride Falcon instead, got there at 8:59pm.

Sun Dec 15 - Rope Dropped HS, on line at tap styles around 6:30am. HS had opened about 6:20a.
We went fully right to smelly construction wall again, about 30 ppl back from where we were Dec 12. Smell is bad, advantage is that side goes much quicker with all the extra banks of tap styles open on the right once you pass the choke point of that construction wall.
We were thru the tapstyles at 6:42a and assigned BG 63 at 6:45a.
DH got held up at bagcheck. Got thru tapstyle at 6:51a and immediately able to be assigned BG 71.
Our BG 63 was called not long after 1pm, iirc. BG 71 called around 2pm and we rode again
Worried because we had evening flight, but BGs went quickly Sunday. RoR is a champ.

Both days we were inside HS at 6:45a to join BGs. Thurs we were BG 37, Sun BG 63. Big difference.

 

[Heather07438]

oops

 

[heapmaster]

initial BGs stopped at 120

 

[mechteach1]

At that arrival time you’ll be fine. There will be a good amount of cars already filling the lot.

Do you remember what time they open the booths? I've been following this thread since the beginning, but I can't remember that! We're hoping to drive in around 5 am.

 

[twodogs]

I am trying to see what group they’re on but my app just keeps saying it‘s trying to load but then it doesn’t? What is going on at the parks right now?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Do you remember what time they open the booths? I've been following this thread since the beginning, but I can't remember that! We're hoping to drive in around 5 am.

Blog Mickey confirms lot was open prior to 4:30a.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1206507599052623872

 

[Weedy]

do you know if they there is a guest relations outside of the tapstyles at HS that would handle a DAS? I don't remember one being there but another DIS'er had suggested that location.

People have been posting that you have to have a BG before you can get a DAS for RotR. Once your BG is called you can go to RotR and get your DAS.
It is possible to get a DAS for all the other rides in Hollywood Studios without a BG

 

[delgrec]

I am trying to see what group they’re on but my app just keeps saying it‘s trying to load but then it doesn’t? What is going on at the parks right now?

My app is saying groups 61-71 right now (2:00)

 

[EmJ]

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

I mean, yes you have to get there really early if you want a chance to ride, and that’s all it is—a chance. The chance to ride an early boarding group number is higher than a very late number, but no one is guaranteed.

Remember though, and I say this sincerely, you aren’t required to ride this attraction. It’s not going anywhere; Star Tours has been around since 1987! If trying to ride is really going to be a nightmare and is making you dread part of your vacation (two words that should not go together!), maybe take a pass this time. Our family plans to be at the gates at DL at 7:00 am because that’s when my family can get there and still have a nice day. If we get a BG (assuming DL does the same), yay! If not, there are other trips in other years.

 

[twodogs]

My app is saying groups 61-71 right now (2:00)

Ok my app hates me. Refreshed it, closed it etc and it finally likes me now! Thanks!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

do you know if they there is a guest relations outside of the tapstyles at HS that would handle a DAS? I don't remember one being there but another DIS'er had suggested that location.

There is a guest relations booth outside of the park entrance. It is on your left as you approach DHS.

 

[NYHeel]

I mean, yes you have to get there really early if you want a chance to ride, and that’s all it is—a chance. The chance to ride an early boarding group number is higher than a very late number, but no one is guaranteed.

Remember though, and I say this sincerely, you aren’t required to ride this attraction. It’s not going anywhere; Star Tours has been around since 1987! If trying to ride is really going to be a nightmare and is making you dread part of your vacation (two words that should not go together!), maybe take a pass this time. Our family plans to be at the gates at DL at 7:00 am because that’s when my family can get there and still have a nice day. If we get a BG (assuming DL does the same), yay! If not, there are other trips in other years.

That's easy to say but far harder to do. You also assume that there will be other trips in other years. That's not necessarily the case for many families. We're coming in January after going in January 2016 and January 2012. It already was difficult to convince my wife to come and I'm not sure when, if ever, our next trip will be.

With that said, we plan to be at the gate by 7:00 but I understand if some families simply can't get into the park by 7:30. Telling them to just do the ride next trip isn't really a great answer. That's why I think Disney should use these backup boarding groups in the late afternoon or early morning instead of just extending the boarding group opening for another few minutes in the morning.

 

[emily nicole]

Just wanted to share our experience. We arrived to the park via Lyft at about 5:30am. We were quite a few rows back behind the ticket booths. I didn’t catch exactly what time the park opened but it was around 6:30. We got boarding group 35 and our group was called about 9:30.

 

[yulilin3]

That's easy to say but far harder to do. You also assume that there will be other trips in other years. That's not necessarily the case for many families. We're coming in January after going in January 2016 and January 2012. It already was difficult to convince my wife to come and I'm not sure when, if ever, our next trip will be.

With that said, we plan to be at the gate by 7:00 but I understand if some families simply can't get into the park by 7:30. Telling them to just do the ride next trip isn't really a great answer. That's why I think Disney should use these backup boarding groups in the late afternoon or early morning instead of just extending the boarding group opening for another few minutes in the morning.

Opening the backup bg later in the day will just create more angry people. Imagine arriving at 7:20am and being shut out of the bg, you decide to wait it out until the backup bg opens randomly later in the day only to be shut out again by someone that arrived at noon and just happened to check their phone at the right time