For the second day in a row, Rise of the Resistance boarding groups have been completely distributed within seconds of going live. This is a concerning trend right now, making it harder than ever to secure a boarding group to ride Disney’s newest attraction. It’s worth noting that we are referring to the regular boarding groups, not backup boarding groups as they shouldn’t be relied upon.
As you may know by now, a boarding group is required to ride the attraction, with Disney offering no standby queue since the ride opened in early December. By requiring a boarding group, guests are not able to just show up at the park throughout the day and wait in line.
The virtual queue system is a controversial enough system, but Disney complicated the matter in mid-December by letting hundreds of guests (if not more) into the park 30 minutes before the virtual queue opened, effectively creating a free for all for the virtual queue distribution that doesn’t respect a first come, first served system like every other rope drop for a ride at their theme parks. For more on the process and our opinion of the changes, check out our post (HERE).
By allowing guests to enter the park (a requirement for securing a boarding group), that meant hundreds of guests (if not thousands) are all refreshing the app at the same time for a limited amount of boarding groups. With hundreds (thousands?) of guests inside the park and snagging boarding groups at the same time, they can be completely distributed pretty quickly. In the past, we’ve seen them last for 10-15 minutes at a minimum before Disney started distributing backup boarding groups (more info). The past two days, however, have seen the boarding groups completely distributed within seconds. Yesterday, guests observed the boarding groups distributed within 60-90 seconds. Today, we were in the park and saw the boarding groups distributed within 90 seconds.
As of right now, our Rise of the Resistance boarding group guide is still up to date, asking you to show up 60-90 minutes before scheduled park open. From there, it’s a shot in the dark right now, with the boarding group distribution system acting more like a lottery than anything else.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest coverage of Rise of the Resistance and much more from around the Disney Parks.
What I’ve noticed is that it’s still a possibility it goes by when you scan in. We noticed people shouting in front of us they got a boarding group and ours wouldn’t work. Then ours did and we got a group but no one behind us shouted yet. Shortly after us we would continue to hear shouts from people behind us at that point. That’s just what we noticed. There may be a method to it or not. But from what we saw, people who were in front of us that scanned before us, got their passes before us. People who were behind us and scanned in after us got their group after we did.
Just luck on the app. When I obtained my group people behind me were able to obtain a group before myself. I was 7th person to scan in at 6:30 and still when the app went live at 6am I was group 55. You can stand near a cast member and they can scan you into a boarding group easier than the app.
Or you could do what we did this past Monday and just wait until 9 at night and the “75 minute wait time” really ended up being about 50 minutes.
This comment makes zero sense. There is no standby line for this ride only the VQ.
Sorry I read it too fast. I meant for the millennium falcon.
Does anyone know if you have a disability pass do you have to be in a boarding group?
Yes, you need to be in a boarding group
I was there Saturday Jan 4. Arrived at 5:30am. Cleared security by 5:40. We were ushered into the area between security and the entrance along with thousands of other people. We were told that if the “line” (more like a semi-controlled mob) reached security the the park would have to be opened so the security area would not be overrun. At about 6:15 am the park entrance had to be opened. We made it through the gate by 6:35. We walked to Toy Story Land to stand in the line for those rides and were detained just short of that area. At 7:00 am the Disney Experience app began accepting boarding groups. It was a free for all. Within seconds all the groups were gone. We managed to get group 111 which boarded at 4:30pm. There was no respect for early arrival and no rhyme or reason regarding who was in and who was left out. Plenty of people who arrived much earlier than we did were left out. The good news is that the ride operated very efficiently and they accommodated 179 groups Saturday so all of the standby groups boarded. Having said that, I can guarantee that many people did not last the 16+ hours it took to get to all of those groups. This system is nuts! A major fail for Disney.
No respect? 1) You were able to get a boarding pass because you were allowed to ticket into the park while the schmucks behind you may not have because of the mob. 2) you queued early for a very popular ride. 3) The system allows you to NOT stand in line for 4 hours, but rather enjoy the rest of the park or other parks since you have 2 hours to return when your boarding group is called. You did the research, you knew when the app would go live, you knew the risks and tried to push the odds in your favor by arriving early. You still won in my book.
The popular ride referred to in #2 is Toy Story land
I think it’s a great system. We were there on the 28th Dec. The park/BG opened at 6AM we got out BG and I didn’t hear of anyone not receiving a boarding group around us. I would much rather do this than stand in line for 6 hours.
Is it required for the whole group to be in the park or can just the person with the app get in and add the group to a BG? Thinking about going to the park before the family to secure our place in a BG.
Everyone must be in the park
There’s no need to be at the park 60-90 minutes before opening. You only need to be there early enough to get through security and into the park before opening. Half an hour should be more than enough time. We were there on January 4th and parked about 6:30 for the 7:00 opening. We were into the park by 6:45, in spite of the mass of people between security and the park gates. Be in the park and on the app at opening. Getting there an extra hour ahead might get you farther in and onto some other rides more quickly at opening, but won’t make a difference for Rise of the Resistance. My suggestion: get your boarding group, then go somewhere else for breakfast. The in park restaurants were wholy insufficient to handle that crowd for breakfast, especially without the commissary being open.
I was there on Christmas Day, and lined up by 5:15 am. At 7 am I pressed the button on my app and got on a BG without refreshing. As far r as I can tell the entire mob of people that were there early got a BG. You have to be committed to arrive between 5am and 5:30 am to get on a BG. It’s that simple if you don’t want to sacrifice some sleep don’t complain about not getting to ride this great ride. After paying all that money to go to Disney I made damn sure I was going to get on both the new star wars rides..
[…] the crowds have certainly died down from the craziness that we saw over the weekend (with all boarding groups snatched up in 90 seconds), there is still a premium on getting to the park early to ensure you’re inside the gates and […]
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