As a reminder, tomorrow is the first day that Disney is “piloting” a new Rise of the Resistance boarding group process. The change in process no doubt follows waves of negative feedback about the current process, which we’ve called the “worst guest experience at Walt Disney World”. So, what will change?
Boarding Groups Open at 7am
Set your alarm clocks and hope the extra hour from Daylight Saving Time was enough to ensure that you’re awake enough to deal with the My Disney Experience app and Rise of the Resistance boarding group process at a new time – 7am. While Disney has been distributing the boarding groups at 10am since the theme parks reopened back in July, this new shift in time should allow those within traveling distance of Disney’s Hollywood Studios to either secure a boarding group or go into the day with the knowledge that they missed out.
No Need To Be Inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios (at 7am)
With this new 7am opening time for boarding groups, that means that guests literally cannot be inside of Disney’s Hollywood Studios given the pandemic-era park hours. If you’ve been keeping up with all of the latest theme park hours changes, you’ll know that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is typically open from 10am to 7pm, with a few exceptions. This means that Disney will allow guests to make reservations from outside of the theme park.
One question we’ve heard a lot of is: how far away can I be from Disney’s Hollywood Studios to make a Rise of the Resistance reservation? While Disney has not answered that question explicitly, they have been telling guests that they don’t need to be on Disney property to make a reservation. Cast Members that we’ve talked to said that the reservations can be made from “anywhere in the world”, but we’ll know more beginning tomorrow (November 3rd).
Try, Try Again
In addition to the 7am opening of boarding groups, there will be another chance to try and get a boarding group at 2pm. While guests will still be limited to one ride per day, this 2pm drop will hopefully allow some guests a chance to ride who missed their opportunity at 7am.
Interesting to note here is that Disney has explicitly stated that “Guests must be inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios to access this second virtual queue opportunity”. If this 2pm drop truly functions like it does today, guests won’t physically have to be inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 2pm, but they will have to have entered the theme park at some point during the day to qualify. We’ll know more tomorrow.
Rise of the Plexiglass
Disney is hoping to increase the amount of boarding groups distributed thanks to a pandemic-era increase in capacity for Rise of the Resistance. Disney recently installed a lot more plexiglass in the queue and on the ride vehicles to effectively double the pandemic-era capacity of the attraction. This will hopefully allow them to get through more boarding groups in a single day.
May the Force Be With You!
Good luck and keep an eye out for our reporting on the new process beginning tomorrow morning!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!