Star Wars Rise of Resistance Report: Recent Rockiness & 8 am Opening Crowds
Since our last visit to Galaxy’s Edge, a few things have changed with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Namely, Hollywood Studios has moved to a later opening time. In this report, we share our latest experience with Walt Disney World’s new flagship attraction, plus recent rockiness and unreliability with the ride.
While we knew it was an inevitability at some point, it did come by surprise that Disney’s Hollywood Studios moved to an 8 am opening time only a couple of weeks before the popular Presidents’ Day holiday, at a time when Walt Disney World is surprisingly busy.
Between the upcoming holiday and the aforementioned crowds, we figured the 7 am openings would be extended at least through the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. (Shows what we know!) Wanting to see how this delayed opening worked in practice, we headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios yesterday…
We were once again at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios turnstiles 30 minutes before official park opening, making it through the parking booths and security checkpoint pretty swiftly. Unlike before, there was a noticeably larger crowd despite the turnstiles having opened shortly before we arrived.
Even with a longer line, getting through the turnstiles was still a breeze and took around 5 minutes. In large part, this was because no fingerprint validation was required, making the process far faster. After that, we stepped foot onto a very crowded Hollywood Boulevard.
It’s worth noting that you would not have to arrive this early to ensure you’re inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios by 8 am. After ~7:45 am, this is the line you could anticipate encountering, which amounts to a wait of under 3 minutes. (Above is a photo from around that time yesterday.)
Naturally, it was another overcast morning, as I cannot catch a break when it comes to beautiful sunrises in this park.
Inside the park is another story entirely. However, some of the congestion on Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards has been relieved, although you might not be able to tell from the photos.
Rather than having crowds gather in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run or Slinky Dog Dash, those rope drops were moved closer to their respective lands. This was a savvy move, and one that allowed Disney’s Hollywood Studios to offset the larger crowd of the delayed opening time with more physical space available to guests within the park.
Heading over to Grand Avenue, we see a pretty colossal crowd as of around 7:45 am.
I have no clue what the wait time for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run would’ve been from my spot in this mass of humanity, but my personal answer is “too long.”
I didn’t stick around to find out, instead bouncing over to Animation Courtyard to see how things were looking for Toy Story Land’s rope drop.
A few things here are quickly worth noting. First, this crowd is smaller. Second, there are two “rope drop worthy” rides in Toy Story Land. Third, Slinky Dog Dash will have a longer line later in the day. Finally, it takes far less time from queue to exit to do Slinky Dog Dash than Smugglers Run, meaning you’re on your way to attraction #2 far sooner.
Above is the crowd for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge just before 8 am. At this point, the mass is backed up to the entrance of Star Tours. This is, again, despite Slinky Dog Dash being the objectively superior rope drop choice at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The crowd disparity between the two is still a bit baffling.
My guess is that this primarily is caused by a mix of confusion and Star Wars excitement. People are hyped to be there early for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, don’t quite know what to do, and that spills over into this. I don’t want to be the buzzkill who rains on the starship parade by pointing out that heading to Galaxy’s Edge first is irrational from a park touring perspective…but it is.
Over in front of Carthay Circle on Sunset Boulevard is where guests are being held for Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. This is the crowd as of 7:59 am.
While this is worse than it has been previous mornings, it’s still maybe 25% the size of the crowd for Toy Story Land, and 10% the size of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge crowd. Plus, this smaller crowd is split between two headliners. Everyone waiting in Grand Avenue is making the slow march towards Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run.
If you’re sticking around Disney’s Hollywood Studios all day (whether you want to or not, you very well might be depending upon your Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance return time), Sunset Boulevard is also an objectively better rope drop option than Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Above are wait times yesterday as of 5:30 pm.
These times will vary throughout the midday hours, but a couple of things are consistent. First, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run wait times will peak shortly after park opening. Second, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror will both hit their highs in the afternoon. In short, you’re saving more time–not to mention having a more pleasant experience by rope dropping anything but Star Wars Land.
Moving along, what was perhaps most interesting is the number of people not rope dropping anything at all. Walkways, shops, and restaurant seating areas were all packed to a much more noticeable degree than when park opening was at 7 am.
It should go without saying, but this is a strategically poor idea. (Although still a better idea than being at the back of the pack on Grand Ave.) Even if your first FastPass+ reservation is at or shortly after park opening, you could rope drop something else via standby and do your FastPass+ attraction and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance if you somehow luck out with a low boarding group.
The question that remains for me is how an 8 am opening will look on a busier days, such as Presidents’ Day. There was not a ton of unfilled space in Disney’s Hollywood Studios by 8 am on this random weekday in February, so things could get really uncomfortable on a busier day–or if Walt Disney World sticks with those 9 am park openings scheduled for next month.
One solution is simply opening Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land before official park opening time. Both could soak up crowds and there’s no reason those attractions could begin running early. The alternative is letting things get even more uncomfortable, which is less than ideal for guests. With the later opening time, there’s also another option…
You could leave entirely and walk over to Epcot for that park’s rope drop. There are a couple of strategies that could work, but we couldn’t stick around to test them yesterday. Rather than spitballing here, we’ll follow up sometime next week. The general idea is intentionally securing a later boarding group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, doing Epcot in the morning, and a late afternoon itinerary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
We didn’t make it all the way over to Epcot, but we both (intentionally) did wait until after 8:00 am to attempt to secure boarding passes. Sarah got hers (group 97) at 8:01 am and I got boarding group 121 at 8:13 am. Backup boarding groups were available until close to 9 am.
The last group called yesterday was 120, and I’m not even confident that many people with that group number were able to ride since the attraction seemed to go down around ~6 pm and not come back up again for the rest of the night. (We weren’t there, so I’m not totally sure of what happened.) This means that anyone who joined the virtual queue after around 8:11 am would not have been able to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance yesterday.
Finally, it’s also been a rough week for Rise of the Resistance’s reliability. (Above is a look at boarding groups courtesy of thrill-data.com.) On two consecutive days, the attraction struggled to make it out of the primary boarding groups, calling the remaining guaranteed spots all at once towards the end of the day, and ending up only reaching groups 67 and 70 those two days.
Those are the worst two days Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has had at Walt Disney World, and they came back-to-back. If those were your only two days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (as a few readers indicated in the comments to our last ride report), I feel your pain.
Most other days haven’t been nearly as bad, with Rise of the Resistance reaching 110-120 with regularity. There have been delayed openings and breakdowns, but it’s always seemed to bounce back and get through a decent number. (“Cheering” for Rise of the Resistance to have efficient days feels like the lamest ‘sport’ ever, but here I am.)
While this is all frustrating, it’s ultimately the reason why the virtual queue is ideal for this unreliable attraction. Some readers who got shut out recently have indicated that they would’ve preferred waiting the standby line for a few hours for the guarantee they’d be able to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
On those particularly rocky days, that’s probably not how things would’ve played out. Rather, guests would’ve waited in line for several hours, perhaps endured a shorter breakdown, and eventually would’ve been dumped from the queue before the attraction closed for the remainder of the day. This has happened with other new attractions when they had rough days, and the time those guests spent in the physical line was totally wasted. To be sure, the virtual queue and boarding pass system is imperfect, but remember that the grass is always greener on the other side. With an unreliable attraction like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, this is the ‘lemonade out of lemons’ approach that causes the fewest headaches for guests.
Still have unanswered questions about the attraction? Read our Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which covers everything you need to know. If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you been done the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding pass dash since the 8 am openings began? What was your approach? If you’ve done RotR in the last two weeks, what time did you arrive, which boarding group did you receive, and when was your return time? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I was able to ride ROTR a few weeks ago at a 7 am opening but I didn’t realize how much stuff at HS doesn’t open until around 10 am. If I could do it over, I would have gotten our boarding passes and then immediately would have gone back to our resort. It was just too much time to kill.
Do you mean rides or entertainment or just food etc? I would have thought the rides would have been enough? Or just too crowded?
Group of four on 2/6. Took bus from Port Orleans at 7:15 am (which was actually second bus that morning) and arrived around 7:30. People RUNNING to get in line. We walked and were in park by 7:45 even though my daughter had issue with her magic band scanning.
Headed towards Toy Story Land where there were probably 1,000 people waiting to get in. Refreshed “Join boarding group” page within app right at 8am and managed to get Boarding Group 8. Woman next to us had trouble with her app and got a group over 100 for a single rider at no later than 8:02 am.
We headed over to sign kids up for jedi training, boarding group was called at 8:09 am told to report within one hour. We headed over at about 8:20 and by the time we got there, they stopped letting people in due to ride being down. App updated by itself telling us to come back by 10:09am and the cast members told us to keep checking app as once the boarding groups #’s changed that would let us know they were letting people in again.
At about 9:15 am after riding Star Tours, they had started boarding again. The problem was they were boarding groups 2 through 13 or so, meaning when we got over there the line was pretty long. Our fault for not staying on top of it, but we got the sense they didn’t want people hanging around right by the ride entrance. Ride broke down twice while we were in line resulting in a 90 minute wait. They did bring snacks and water through the line.
The ride was good….was it worth getting up early, rushing over, the overall stress and waiting 90 minutes in line? Maybe? I’d need to ride it again. We also had a substantial mid-ride wait; not sure how long that line usually is. I don’t think there are any easy fixes for Disney though.
I was also a little disappointed with Smuggler’s Run. I was a gunner and given that our pilots were terrible and I had a hard time seeing the screen, I wasn’t that impressed with the ride. My son rode a second time and was a pilot and enjoyed it much more.
FYI on Magic Bands. You can pre-order a gray Star Wars band ($20) on MDE website.
Tom,
I was really disappointed to read this blog. Disappointed because I was at HS also, and have always hoped to run in to you some time. Would love to tell you how much I like your photographs and the help you give through your articles. Maybe next time 🙂
Ha, sorry we didn’t see you!
If it makes you feel any better, we were only there for an hour or so before leaving. Also, meeting me in person is a colossal disappointment, so there’s that! 🙂
At Disney World now, sharing my experience because reading others’ accounts was so helpful during planning of this trip!
Saturday 2/8 – Left Port Orleans Riverside via Lyft at 7:15 am, arrived at the park by 7:30 am. Got through bag check and scanned into the park by 7:40 am, definitely crowded but if you head back towards the Chinese Theatre there’s a lot more breathing room. Just before 8 am used the refresh method (clicking back and forth between the home screen and “Find Out More” on the app) and scored boarding group 50; groups were guaranteed up through 67. Park hopped over to Epcot using the Skyliner, our group was called at 12:36 pm with a 2 hour return window. Finished lunch at Epcot and got in line for Rise of the Resistance at about 2 pm. Halfway through the physical queue we stopped and after about 5 minutes of now moving, a cast member came out and announced that they were having some technical difficulties with the ride. We were offered water, bananas, and popcorn while we waited. After about 30 minutes the queue started moving again and we did the entire attraction. I was BLOWN AWAY; my mouth was open and I had a giant goofy grin for the entire 15 minutes+ of the experience. I teared up at one point I was so happy (lifelong Star Wars fan and this trip was planned specifically to experience all of Galaxy’s Edge).
Mon 2/10 – Was planning on calling a Lyft from Port Orleans Riverside at 7:15 am again, but as we left the main lobby we saw a bus waiting to go to Hollywood Studios so we got on that instead. I was specifically advised by a cast member upon check-in at the hotel to not count on the buses so I consider this a happy accident and wouldn’t rely on them if I only had one chance at doing the attraction. Bus dropped us off at 7:35 am, security seemed busier than on Saturday but we were still in the park by 7:45 am. At 8 am tried the same technique as before but the “Join a Boarding Group” button wasn’t turning red despite cheers around me indicating some people had already gotten groups. Closed the app completely and restarted, got backup group 87 (this was 8:01 am). Spent the day in Hollywood Studios, our group was called at 3:30 pm. Got halfway through the actual attraction when we encountered a long pause that hadn’t been there before (don’t want to spoil anything but I will say it was where there is a natural pause in the experience). Cast members came in and told us our ride was being rescheduled and led us out through backstage areas. Before we left they scanned our Magic Bands and told us we could come back any time after the attraction was back up and skip the line. They did specify the pass had to be used that day, although they took a couple who said they had plans for the rest of the night off to the side so I assume there is a workaround if you have conflicting reservations. At 6 pm we came back to the attraction, were indeed able to skip to the front of the queue (there’s a FastPass entrance built in) and experience the full attraction. As far as I can tell all components were working as it was the same experience we had on Saturday.
Both days I noticed they called up through the 110s, so if you don’t get a guaranteed boarding group but have something below 100 I wouldn’t panic. I know others in the comments said they were in the 80s and never got called, it sounds like those were particularly bad days as from first hand experience the ride went down both days I rode and they still got up to the 110s. And I though the cast members did an excellent job with guest recovery whenever there was an issue. Good luck, it truly is the best thing I’ve experienced at any of the US Disney Parks (and likely the world).
We were there on 2/7. Parked car around 7:30. Walked to the gates. No bags, were through security and into park by 7:45. Sat around the Chinese Theater and waited with MDE app open. At 8am, clicked more information nothing. Closed App, went back in. Got boarding group 28. Guys next to us were having issues. We told them to close app and reopen they got group 82. Friday (2/7) was a rough day. Group 28 window was from 12:23 to 2:23pm, due to ride issues.
We had a lunch reservation for 1:15, and they try to keep line around an hour wait, and the ride is about 20 mins. Cast Members told us not to worry. If we missed our Window because of a reservation to come back and they would accommodate us. They dont want you lose money canceling reservation.
Got in standby line around 2:15. Ride broke down. Didn’t move for about 20-30 mins. After that line never stopped. Our Kid needed to go to the bathroom, and a cast member took him to the restroom and brought him back to us in line.
Ride broke down while we were on it about half way through. Escorted off and given fast passes. Hung out in area and were back in line 20 mins later. Rode second time without issue. Amazing ride. Absolutely worth all the hassle. Just dont plan on doing it if you have something from preventing you from riding later in the day no matter what your boarding group is since it was around 4:15pm when we actually got finished with the ride and we had group 28.
My family will be at HS March 9, and I am wondering how the opening of Minnie & Mickey’s Runaway Rail will affect Rope Drop? We are travelling with a 7 and 5 year old, who can’t/won’t do RnR or ToT. We have FP for Slinky Dog, Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. Tom, do you think we are better off trying to Rope Drop Toy Story Land or will be ok with Rope Drop MMRR? We plan on attempting Smuggler’s Run later in the day – we don’t think we can manage those insane morning crowds with our kiddos. We plan on arriving at 7:30am to try and get a boarding pass ROTR, but just aren’t sure which direction to head.
I read the advice that everyone in your group should have their apps up and running to get boarding passes. Is this everyone signed into the same MDE app account or does everyone need their own account? At the moment we only have one MDE account, wasn’t sure if another account could add in the same magic band numbers/tickets and the same names. ???
We have never tried it while signed into the same MDX account, but it should work the same whether you go with that approach or via separate accounts.
We were at the park yesterday, and three of us were signed into the same account. It didn’t seem to cause an issue. I opened the app and got boarding group 28 with no issues. Great ride!
We were there at 6:45 on Monday, Feb. 3, in the park with the app not working at 7:01. Got boarding group 86 at 7:03. Walked around, signed the kids up for Jedi training, built a droid and ate poptarts in toy story land. The chocolate one was amazing. We did Star Tours and Toy Story Mania then left the park at 11am. We came back around 3 – crowds were much thinner. Our boarding group was called at 5:10 with an hour to report. We waited in line approximately 30 mins and still had time to ride Millenium falcon, make a plastic saber and ride swirling saucers. It was well worth the hassle. I totally recommend leaving and returning later if you can. The crowds were way more manageable and we were able to do just about everything we wanted except for slinky dog.
We were there Monday feb 3rd for the last 7am opening time and started refreshing the app at 7am and the button finally activated and we got boarding group 63 at 7:01. When we were called around 3pm the ride broke down and we were in the queue for 1.5 hours. They brought around snacks, water, and characters so that was nice. That Saturday we rope dropped and 8am and I got group 33 at 8am. Our group was called around 10:45 but halfway through the ride (right before the storm trooper part) it broke down and we were escorted off and given fast passes. With the fast passes we did not have to go through the queue again which was great. The ride was up again in about 2 hours.
Was there on the 6th, didnt know about the my status thing and having to select just myself, which caused me to get group 96. Got on the ride at 510. The first part of the ride was down, entered directly into the hangar bay storntrooper scene. Made zero sense to some others in line, would have wished to experience the full ride. Can’t wait to go back when it is running better.
Thanks everyone for all the great info. (Thanks to Mary for a reply to my question)
Am going in May, and I believe the plan is:
1) Be in the park 30 mins early or so with everyone who wants to ride, linked in app
2) Get away from the crowds
3) log in early once that day to make sure it doesn’t ask for password, then close app
4) be OFF wifi.
5) Open the app up, timing so it opens just after park opening
6) click on “find out more” right after opening
7) if boarding group isn’t there, go to my status and try that way
8) be near cast members in case things don’t go right.
9) Have spouse also have app ready as backup.
Anything else? My main two questions/worries:
1) when do you “choose group”? Is it after you click for the boarding group? I am worried in a panic that I’d click through and end up with one just for me instead of whole group. Kind of wish you could tell it ahead of time it’s for everyone. But i guess i just click “select all” quickly?
2) Is anyone just ditching trying the app just to try going with cast members, or is this a bad idea? ( I will try app of course, i’m just curious if cast members have more magic to make things happen)
3) is being near a in park cell tower a good idea and if so, how to see them?
Thanks!
I had my app up and running before park opening. I counted down at 6:59 (for 7am opening), and started toggling between the “Find out more” page & “my status” page just before the actual opening. and quickly the “Join Boarding group” button became available to press.
once you select Join boarding Group, everyone in your group will pop up (like when you’re selecting Fast Passes), and you can “select all” or click everyone separately, then go to the next screen and it gives you your boarding group.
I was there Monday and I did not use wifi but att. The guy next to me immediately got boarding group 16 and I kept
Refreshing and got boarding group 91. It was so upsetting but it’s the only way i see working. I just wish I knew why mine didn’t work.
Does anyone know – if I have a 2 year old in my group, will that cause problems with signing up for a boarding group? She clearly is not going to ride but I know it’s faster to “select all” in the group and continue that way. Will the app stop or delay me if she’s part of the boarding group?
Any insight will help – thanks.
We were there the same day as you Tom the week of January 12th! If it wasn’t for my in-laws hearing it from another person at a different park the day before we would have had no idea how the process worked. We got in the park at 6:50 and got group 37. Felt pretty guilty though when a group next to us got in, but a couple next to them did not, or got a really high number. The ride was down first two hours of the day, then while in line near boarding it went down again for quite some time. Enough time that characters were coming through doing pictures and bottles of water being handed out. Well worth the wait though!
We road on Tuesday and Friday. On Tuesday we got boarding group 97 and were with the herd waiting to rope drop Tower of Terror/Rockin Roller Coaster well before 7:30. On Friday we decided to stay away from the crowds assuming we would get a better cell signal and we got boarding group 16 over by Frozen sing alone (across from the picture you have in your article). In both cases my friend with AT&T cell service got the boarding group assignment and I did not get close with Verizon. (i was lucky to have a 1-2 bar connection). On Tuesday they seemed to get through the boarding groups much more quickly than Friday. The nice thing about the boarding group is that you dont have a line building when the ride is down. When we road we noticed some issues with voice/video syncing and also in one spot where the queue didn’t work right (no spoiler). Great attraction and I know Disney is doing their best to make the guest experience good.
I wish that they wouldn’t have the “lottery” type of distribution for the boarding groups. It should be first come, first served.
Then we’d be back to guests lining up at 3 or 4 am with Disney feeling pressure to provide extra security. Nothings perfect, but the lottery system does a nice job of mixing first come with an equitable opportunity.
Until we have greater reliability and stability with the ride, as well as possibly a second track, nothing about this ride is fair. It is what it is and you just have to make the most of it unfortunately.
Note: I personally think it would be better if they opened at 4 am and started rolling people through immediately in an effort to get more people through as fewer people would feel the need to get up for this crazy lottery, but…we all know that won’t happen, especially with the instability and nightly testing
We were there on Wednesday, February 6 we refreshed at drop and got boarding pass number 66. If nothing else read the very end of this text there’s no spoilers. A while later we Talked to someone who had boarding pass 4 and the ride broke down while they were on it they were given a fast pass for the next day. a Cast member told us that we definitely wouldn’t get called before 1 o’clock this afternoon so I went into Epcot and my husband stayed to wait. In the afternoon We were told they probably would not get past boarding pass 63 today. We were very discouraged and went to our dinner reservation. we were having the most fantastic dinner at flying fish when we got a text that our boarding pass what’s up and we had an hour to get to it. we were told since it was getting close to the end of the park hours they only give you an hour to get to the reservation. We finished the dinner and took the gondola there. We got there within the hour and walked in To The Queue. There was no one else around!!! we were the only two people in that group on the ride. I took a 360 video of each room we had our own private tour. It turned a disastrous day into an exhilarating day.
We were there also on the 7th. Got in park about 7:05, and my husband and I split up. He headed for slinky dog line and I went to sign kids up for Jedi training which they started at 7:45. I found him in line and I stood off to the side and when my phone clicked from 7:59 to 8:00 I clicked join boarding group and got boarding group 3!!! Our mistake was leaving the slinky dog line to head immediately to the ride. We should of stayed there. But we were off ROTH by 8:45 and it was a great experience.