Park Hopper Strategy for Star Wars Rise of Resistance
We return to Hollywood Studios for another attempt at experiencing Walt Disney World’s most popular new attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This time with a twist: we attempt to Park Hop between DHS and Epcot while making strategic use of FastPass+ for the most efficient day possible.
In last week’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Recent Rockiness & 8 am Opening Ride Report, we indicated this would be our next move. Crowds have worsened in the mornings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, thanks to a mix of the later openings, increased awareness of protocol for the ride, and a general spike in attendance. (See our new Peak Crowds in Winter “Off-Season” at Walt Disney World for more.)
To compound matters, it’s the start of the Presidents’ Day long weekend crowds at Walt Disney World. (Expect today through Tuesday to be among the busiest days ever at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.) As such, we figured it would be a good day to test a more strategic approach to experiencing as much as possible in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot, instead of simply sharing photos of the crowds…
Arrival and entering the park was really easy. After a slight backup at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios parking toll booths, everything was smooth sailing. We got to bag check at 7:40 am and were inside the turnstiles by 7:45 am. I’m not sure what time they opened the park, but there was absolutely no line by 7:45 am.
From there, I made a quick loop of the park to get crowd photos (spoiler: it was busy) before heading over to Animation Courtyard to join a huge crowd of other guests lined up for Toy Story Land. We were reasonably far back, but still under the Voyage of the Little Mermaid marquee, so my expectation was a ~30-40 minute wait for Slinky Dog Dash or 10 minutes for Toy Story Mania.
The night before visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we made some speculative FastPass+ reservations in Epcot. Our plan was to try for a low boarding group, do a couple of Toy Story Land attractions, maybe something on Sunset Boulevard if time allowed, then Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance before bouncing to Epcot.
We had also dabbled with the idea of waiting until 50 seconds seconds after park opening, and intentionally grabbing a higher numbered boarding group then. Theoretically, this would allow us to do some rope drop attractions at DHS, bounce to Epcot, and return to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and more once the crowds had cleared out in the evening.
You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? I couldn’t get the boarding group module in the My Disney Experience app to work at all, and Sarah scored boarding group 43 before 8:00:10 am. Since she already had a boarding group, I kept refreshing to see how long it’d take for my app to work. (If I were alone, I would’ve closed and reopened it.)
MDX finally worked for me right as the clock hit 8:01 am, at which point the virtual queue for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was already into the backup boarding groups. (I’m not totally certain, but I think the backup groups started around 8:00:50 am.) Backup boarding groups were fully distributed before 8:03 am.
Don’t get me wrong–I’m very happy that we were able to snag a primary boarding group, but it sort of threw a monkey wrench into the two options I had already mapped out in my head. A lower or higher number would’ve been ideal–we were sort of in no man’s land. That’s the nature of the beast, though, and is probably a better end result for a more spontaneous strategy.
As we began the slow march towards Toy Story Land, it became abundantly clear that we had underestimated the size of the crowd in front of us. We previously hadn’t been able to see the front of the line/mass of people, but it had obviously extended beyond where we thought.
The line for Slinky Dog Dash began well beyond Walt Disney Presents, and while it was stacked outside the queue at this point, it was still very long. Neither of us liked the potential gamble here, so we opted for Toy Story Mania instead.
That queue was also spilling back deeper into the land, and it easily would’ve been a 30 minute wait for Toy Story Mania at that point, too. Rather than cutting our losses, we opted for the ultimate consolation prize: Alien Swirling Saucers. No wait!
This presented literally no strategic advantage. It was truly a “make myself feel better about the situation by accomplishing something–anything” type of thing. It didn’t help that Sarah did not ride because the attraction makes her nauseous…nor did she cheer me on from the sideline.
Nevertheless, my great work spinning around with aliens left me revitalized and ready to pivot our day. We checked wait times at Epcot and noticed they were still very manageable. Previously, we wanted to avoid rope dropping Epcot since it was an Extra Magic Hours morning and we’d be behind that crowd.
However, that crowd was still smaller than the one at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We headed out to the car to grab my camera bag and some snacks, and then began the walk over to Epcot.
On the way, I modified our FastPass+ reservations, moving them forward to earlier times. I also managed to snag Frozen Ever After for mid-afternoon. Given that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance still hadn’t started operating for the day, I figured there was a reasonable chance we’d be able to ride.
It’s worth noting that when I booked this Frozen Ever After FastPass+ reservation (~10 minutes before official park opening time) there were multiple other times available. A strong refresh game will help if you’re trying to replicate this strategy and aren’t having as much initial success.
In retrospect, the best approach of all would’ve been to enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios at ~7:30 am, immediately leave for morning Extra Magic Hours at Epcot, trying to score a boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in the comparatively uncrowded International Gateway area.
UPDATE: To answer questions we’re already receiving in the comments, yes it is possible to leave Disney’s Hollywood Studios and still get a boarding pass. We’ve done it. The only question is whether you can tap into Epcot before joining the virtual queue. I don’t know the answer to this (yet) because it wasn’t even possible to do this until very recently.
I do know that it’s possible to enter Disneyland, then enter DCA, and join a boarding group. Obviously, Disneyland is not Walt Disney World. We will test this strategy in the next week or two and see whether it works. (If you’ve already done it, please let us know!)
For anyone staying on-site, this would’ve been the perfect strategy. Even if you didn’t enter Epcot until ~8:15 am, you still could’ve run the table on headliners.
Frozen Ever After twice and Soarin’ Around the World once before 9 am would’ve been totally possible. (I’m guessing some people did exactly this, which would explain the Frozen Ever After FP+ cancellations/availability.)
As we approached Future World, we received a notification that boarding for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance had been delayed.
This both vindicated our decision to Park Hop, but also underscored the reality that flexibility is key–the plan I had mapped out ahead of time simply wouldn’t have worked.
We didn’t get to Soarin’ Around the World until about 9:10 am, but it was still a near walk-on at this point. We lucked out with front row, dead-center seats resulting in global icons that were not bent!
As we left there, we noticed Awesome Planet was starting in zero minutes. This was not a strategically savvy move, but we did it anyway.
From there, it was onto Spaceship Earth to use our FastPass for that.
We finished that and bounced over to Mission: Space, doing the less intense orbit above earth. Sarah can’t do the orange version, which was convenient here because the green one had no wait.
Next up was our Living with the Land FastPass+ reservation, which came in handy because the wait time had ballooned to 30 minutes. (It was a walk-on when we did Awesome Planet, which wouldn’t have any wait all day.)
At this point, we were pretty hungry. The plan was to eat lunch at Sunshine Seasons, but in wandering around there, nothing looked particularly appealing.
With most of the high-priority attractions in Epcot knocked out and still a few hours until our Frozen Ever After FastPass, we looked at My Disney Experience for same-day table service availability. The first thing I saw was Beaches & Cream 20 minutes from then. More or less exactly how long it’d take to walk there. Perfect.
We had been putting off trying the reimagined Beaches & Cream, but this was the perfect chance to get that out of the way. We’ll have a full review soon, but the meal was a (very) pleasant surprise…until dessert.
That was our fault, though, as we took a gamble on something not in Beaches & Cream’s wheelhouse. If we had ordered a tried and true favorite, it would’ve been a great meal from start to finish. Moving on…
Back in Epcot, we still had a couple of hours to kill until Frozen Ever After.
Although the goal was to demonstrate an “efficient” day in Epcot, our normal afternoon in the park is pretty much just enjoying World Showcase and entertainment. We did the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along for the first time, watched Mariachi Cobre, did Gran Fiesta Tour, Canada Far & Wide, and wandered around.
We also enjoyed a bunch of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts offerings, several of which we hadn’t done before because we usually visit in the evenings after some of this stuff ends. (See if you can spot the hidden Sarah above!)
While Disney’s Hollywood Studios was packed and chaotic, Epcot was actually fairly chill for most of the day. So long as you don’t go in the evenings or weekends, Epcot is definitely your best option crowd-wise, right now.
Frozen Ever After was our final stop, and we knocked that out and shortly thereafter our boarding group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was called.
In retrospect, we could’ve done things more efficiently first thing in the morning, but this day in Epcot went swimmingly in the end.
We took the Skyliner back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and went inside to get a quick feel for crowds (and some more pictures). Judging by the huge numbers of guests exiting versus very few entering, it was immediately clear the park was getting less busy.
Inside, this was even more obvious, as visible crowds and wait times had both dropped precipitously (and would continue to drop later in the afternoon). We had other obligations, so we didn’t stick around. However, it seemed highly likely we could’ve successfully used a modified version of our Half-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance would’ve been the big wildcard–we didn’t do it, but it appears that it broke down again shortly after we left and then began calling boarding groups in quick succession in a scramble just to get through the primary boarding groups.
Suffice to say, yesterday was another rough one for the ride.
There are a few takeaways here, most of which are fairly upbeat. First, entering DHS on an Extra Magic Hours morning at Epcot and immediately leaving for International Gateway is a top-notch strategy.
With that approach, you could probably make all of your FastPass+ reservations for midday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and do everything in short order at Epcot via the standby lines. We already have a hotel reservation and will be testing this approach once Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens.
Second, if you’re willing to be flexible and spontaneous, you can still leverage the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue to your advantage.
Again, think of this as a “bonus” FastPass+ (minus the fixed return time) that doesn’t need to be in the same park as your other FastPasses.
A lot of people have expressed anxiety in the comments to our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance reports, and that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to inspire.
If you are an obsessive, compulsive planner, this might throw you for a loop. The solution is to adopt a more go-with-the-flow attitude, modifying your schedule on the fly as necessary. (As our day demonstrates, this is totally possible.)
Third, Park Hopper tickets are almost essential if you’re trying to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. We’ve said that before, but we’ll reiterate here.
Being able to bounce between DHS and Epcot is huge.
Finally, if you have Park Hopper tickets and try for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on both your Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios days (as demonstrated here, that’s totally feasible), your chances of experiencing the attraction at least once are nearly 100%.
There are some horror stories about people not getting to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and that has (we think) caused a disproportionate negative reaction to the virtual queue. Our goal with all of these posts approaching the attraction from all angles isn’t to scare you–it’s to prepare you.
Each time we’ve done these rope drop mornings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we’ve showed up no earlier than 30 minutes before park opening. Every single time, we could’ve done Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance while also getting plenty of other things done. All planned day-of.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance absolutely does require strategy and knowledge, but once you have that, there’s really no sense freaking out about this. If you give yourselves two days to experience it and arrive shortly before park opening with a solid plan-of-attack, you’re virtually guaranteed success. Being willing and able to spontaneously pivot will definitely help minimize headaches with the new Walt Disney World blockbuster.
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 tried Park Hopping between Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot after scoring a Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding pass? What was your approach? Have you done morning Extra Magic Hours at Epcot after joining the virtual queue? If you’ve done RotR in the last week, 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!
We are going to be in Disney on February 25th and 26th. We had planned to do MK and HS, but I am now rethinking that decision. Since this is a short trip, I don’t want to spend most of our day waiting in lines at HS. Do you think the crowds will be insane that week?? Wondering if we should switch our HS day to Epcot. We aren’t doing hoppers, so switching between the parks won’t be an option.
We got there today on time, got through bag check, only to get screwed by incompetent nitwits who couldn’t use the touch points. We need passholder bag check and entry lanes.
I totally agree with the notion of passholder bag check and entry lanes!
If you get to the park 30 min before opening, this sort of thing shouldn’t pose a problem, right? We are going at the end of March and plan to bring no bags.
We were there earlier than that. Between the Uber and handicap parking line getting backed up, bag check and touch points backed up with amateurs it wasn’t good enough. Today we went more than an hour earlier just to be sure. Got in way early, got boarding group 45 at 8.00.05 aaaaaand they were all gone before 8.01 again. It was a little nerve wracking with a late start but we were finally up at I think 2.15, but then it was broken down and we waited an hour plus to get in. Finally, though! It’s awesome. Go at least an hour early!
Yikes, that makes me nervous! We went to HS end of Jan on our big family trip and didn’t even try because the park opened at 7 and we had a 6 and 2 yr old with us. We are going back for a conference end of March but we only have one park day – one shot to make it happen.
We were there yesterday 2/15. We had the app ready on two phones. My husband’s app crashed as he refreshed the page at 8:00. On my phone the button did not turn red so I refreshed and got in just as my husband said his crashed. We got group 75…backup group. We were bummed but still hopeful. The lines were so crazy long everywhere, we went to get a picture with Darth Vader. Then wandered to Galaxy’s Edge to basically check it out. We had a reservation at the Cantina at 10. The line for Millennium Falcon was past the cantina. We went ahead and checked in and did that (fun…cinnamon roll was delicious). After that about 10:30 we just couldn’t take the crowd and took skyliner to Epcot. We came back to DHS for Slinky Dog fastpass at 5. We got our boarding group called at 5:30. We had a dinner at 5:55, so ate quickly and made it to Rise about 6:40. We stood in line for 90 minutes and finally got in when ride went down half way through. Park was closing at that point. We were given a fastpass to ride today. We were going to be driving home but figured we’d try again. We went through fastpass line this morning and ride went down mid way through again. Needless to say it was very frustrating. We went to guest services and waited there to see if the fastpass they gave us again could be used on a future trip. Which they did do.
Where is a good place to try to secure a BG? Over near Tower of Terror of with the crowd advancing to Galaxy’s Edge?
I was there yesterday (came for a conference and snuck to HS in the am)- I have been a lifelong Disney fan but was so disappointed by how overly packed the park was yesterday. Really takes the fun and magic out of it.
As the old saying goes, “You’re not in traffic – you are traffic.”
The Face of that Poor Cast Member Holding the End of Line to TSM just about Says it All!………Mass OverCrowding Has Ruined any Chance of Having a Disney Magic Kind of Day! Very Turned Off over all of this, Especially Disney Over Selling Attendance and Driving this Gridlock for the Sake of Profit!
We have No Plans of Returning this’ll Year. So Sad!
We were there a week ago (9 February) and this is the strategy we followed. We took the bus from Boulder Ridge and we were in Hollywood Studios by 7:30 and at 8:00 we got lucky and snagged Boarding Group 8 (we were on Rise by 8:15). After that we had breakfast at Docking Bay 7, did a little shopping, and then bailed out for EPCOT Center on the Skyliner (a game changer for park hopping between EPCOT and Hollywood).
Later that night I went back to Hollywood to ride Smuggler’s Run and only had a 20 minute wait in line.
The thing to understand is that Rise of the Resistance has turned the standard Disney strategy of getting to the park early and knocking off a few rides on its head. In this case the park gets mobbed to the point of being uncomfortable early and then starts to calm down in the late afternoon. I tracked the ride wait times all five days we were there and things definitely started getting better after around 4:00pm.
My advice is to get your boarding group and if it is early ride Rise and then bail out or if it is later, just bail out and come back when it is time.
How did you get BG 8? Super fast cell service? Preferred carrier? Thanks for your review.
I have a question… being that the process to get a boarding group is only via the MyDisney app, why do you have to be IN the park? Can you only book from certain locations? I originally thought I read some think regarding how your WHOLE party had to be present for a booking group? was that an old process? Why can’t one just roll out of bed at 7:59am and jump in the app in their PJs? Thank you all
Due to the extremely limited number of guests that can ride each day, Disney is requiring guests use a park ticket in order to obtain a shot at a boarding group. It’s just a calculated move on Disney’s part to obtain a commitment from guests when they may not give that commitment back, as evidenced by the total of main boarding groups being scaled way back in recent weeks. Anyone that wants to ride has to be in the park in order to be eligible for a boarding group.
Your location and your party’s location is tracked via Magic Band. It will not let you enter a Rise of the Resistance boarding group unless you have entered the park.
Got ay the park at 6 am. 5 Of is tried to get tickets and got #22 BUT someone forgot to select all in the party so we only had one pass. BUT guest services helped us out as one ticket was also not registered being in the park. We all got 22 and got on about 12:15 after 2 ride breakdowns. Great ride but Stressful process Thanks KEN at guest services!
I am still confused on the process to get a ticket to this ride.
After our visit in mid January my opinion is that the current virtual queue system leaves a pretty high percentage of unlucky guests on any given day feeling stressed, frustrated, disappointed, and even downright angry. Doesn’t exactly make WDW “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Why not go to a FastPass system that only has enough FastPasses for the equivalent of say 70 boarding groups, then instead of a standby line, open up the virtual queue throughout each day for “backup” boarding groups, depending on how the ride is functioning that day. Don’t even have a standby line. Use a “backup group” virtual queue instead. At least park guests would have about 30-60 days to “get over it” and make dining and other FastPass reservations accordingly, without going into the park tired, anxious and wondering if they’ll have to ditch their well laid plans. Granted, this would give on site guests the big advantage, but don’t they deserve an advantage when they’re shelling out big bucks for their long awaited vacation? For most who only visit WDW once a year or less, pre planning is vital. Depending on drastic last minute adjustments to the FastPass and dining reservations and adopting a “go with the flow” attitude will just not work.
We were there the same day you were. We arrived at 6:50 walked all the way back to Slinky dog And waited. At 8:00 we opened app it wouldn’t load. Ended up with boarding group 59. But hey not too bad until you realize they only gave out 70 and then the ride itself didn’t start operating until around 11ish. We stayed at DHS and our boarding group was called at 6:22. We got directly in the line because he had already done everything else. We boarded the ride at 7:35. All the lights went up sorry folks please exit the vehicle. Here come tears from the boy :(. It was a stressful day and we were 45 minutes for an ADR that I couldn’t cancel because the hold time was over 69 minutes. They gave us fastpasses to return the next day. But with the ride being so unreliable we didn’t know if we should even bother. We monitored the app the next day and Skyliner over to the park and were able to ride. It did kind of mess with our morning plans. But it’s done.
Question, do you think it’s better to use Lyft to drop you off at Epcot (since there’s a back-up at DHS) and then get over to DHS? We are going in three weeks and for the 1st time not staying on property. Trying to figure the best strategy for transportation.
We were there 2/14, we pulled into the Studios parking lot pretty quickly, we arrived at around 6:45 for 8:00 park opening. I would think you would have trouble getting to Hollywood Studios from EPCOT that early in the morning.
Iit’s so stressful this virtual boarding with no guarantee. On Monday we got boarding group 97 within seconds of it going live at 8am and didnt get called. I went back today got BG 89 and rode around 3pm as no issues. What was interesting was they only guaranteed up to BG 47 today whereas Monday was 65. Are they trying to manage expectations?? I’m with Virgin Holidays Galaxy’s Edge Star Wars Experience trip and we get 1.5 hours special access tonight just our plane getting the run of Galaxy’s Edge.
Thank you for the info!
Lyft dropping you off at Epcot would put you at the main entrance with no way to get around back to the walking trail. You could get a ride to the front of the boardwalk hotel as that would be the closest point to the walking trail that takes you over to HS. However, the walk over would probably take longer than whatever backup is encountered in the drop off line at HS. Maybe have the driver drop you off near the tennis courts just south of the hotel. I’m not familiar with the area, but it looks like it should work.
Thank you Erik!
I went with my sons 2/14. We got there a little after 6 because my older son didn’t want to take any chances and we are morning people anyway. Gates opened around 7. We headed towards Sunset and were in the very front of that group. We met some nice people and cast members. They started walking us towards Rock N Roller coaster at about 7:40 and then held us there. My older son and I both had our phones ready and my younger son had his iPod on a countdown. We helped an older couple navigate to the correct spot for logon.We both went on about 10 seconds prior to 8. My “ join boarding group” illuminated, but my son’s never did. I got group 38, the other couple 45. They didn’t start calling groups til after 8:30 ish. Our group was called at 12:10 . The kids loved it. The First Order officer interactions with my young son were great.
We had set up all our Fast passes for AK evening and even had time for a 2 hour hotel break in between. It was an amazing day but I am glad we do not have to go through that again this trip.
Thanks for the great information. My question is is your sons account on the My Disney Experience App under him( you made him his own separate account) or did you log into the My Disney Experience App on both your devices using your account.
If you both have individual accounts, how to you link them both to your confirmation number ( link how fast passes and restaurant reservations are linked?
I have a question regarding the My Disney Experience App. I am traveling with my 2 sons 13 and 15. I see that most people in groups are using the app to try to book a boarding pass for their group at the same time. If I add the app to their phone, do I make them their own accounts , or do I log them into the app on their phone with my account? Since I am the only adult and the trip is booked under me, would they be able to link things like boarding passes, or even fast passes without my(our) confirmation number? Or can I put our confirmation number into all 3 accounts if I make them their own?
You’ll get a lot of variations on how this should be done, but it works just fine having multiple devices logged into the same account.
Our family was there on 2/13. I opened the app just seconds before 8:00. Got boarding group 41. Two families around us (in the sea of humanity for Slinky Dog Dash) got groups in the 100’s seconds after me. Maybe at 30 seconds after 8:00 or just under. It only went to 70 that day. The ride was down for about 4 hours of the first 6 hours after park opening. Do not ride Slinky Dog Dash first! We waited just over 2 hours. It was down to about 50 minutes after sunset, and Toy Story Mania was down for around 20 minutes. Do anything in the park that’s not in Toy Story Land or Star Wars Land at opening and come back to those late in the day. We did Smugglers Run with about a 25 minute wait late in the day when it had been astronomical in the morning. So for those going soon, that’s my advice if you’re staying in DHS for the day and trying to get something done amongst the crowds.
We were at DHS twice this week and got primary boarding groups (39 and 54) both times thanks to your advice! Keeping the app closed until right before worked! Thank you
Seriously? Frozen Ever After? I’ll never waste a FPP on that, nor wait more than maybe 10 minutes for the ruins of Maelstrom.
To each his own! Especially if you have a little girl with you! Change that “o” in Nico to an “e”
Tom,
I’ll be there in 4 weeks. HS is set to open at 9:00 that week. Do you think there is any hope opening time will be set to at least 8:00 to help accommodate Spring Break crowds? I love your blog, by the way!!! So helpful and entertaining to read!
Park hours were already changed to 8 pm – 8 pm that week. I will be there too. Also MK hours were adjusted to close later every day as well.
Is it just not showing yet on the app? I just checked again, and for Monday, 3/16, Hollywood Studios says 9:00-8:30. I sure hope it’s 8:00 AM opening!!
Hours have only been changed through March 14 so far. It’s likely they will change beyond that but seems random when they announce new hours and for how long they’re changing.
Bag or no bag? We are coming for spring break week beginning March 14th. Staying at Pop Century. Debating if it would be better to go over and get our boarding group without bags, then returned to the hotel to finish packing up for the day.
Also trying to determine best transportation from Pop Century to Studios. Normally would do Lyft. Worried about back up at parking toll booth. Would be Skyliner be too much of a Gamble?
Had this debate w my wife yesterday and today while at HWS. The bag line didn’t impact us either day; we tried bag less and bag – regretted leaving the bag…the car line added 5 minutes more than usual…the drop off for Uber/cabs was quite long…
If I understand correctly and completely you need a boarding pass just to enter galaxy’s Edge even if you are not riding anything?
No. Only for RotR
You only needed the pass to enter Galaxies Edge the first day it was open
I completely agree with this. The kinds of flexibility you need to have to take advantage of this virtual queue simply aren’t available for the typical WDW guest.
Well, hell. I don’t know why this posted twice. Sorry about that!
We have our first trip to wdw coming up we have park hopper tickets and up to 4 days we can spend in a combination of EPCOT and DHS parks. I’m hoping we can ride RoR once using your strategy’s. Knowing my luck they will change the boarding group and I will have to change other plans super quick
Tom, your plan sounds terrific IF you visit Disney World every month, as you seem to have the option of doing. But for those normal tourists that visit once a year or less, they have already made Advance Dining Reservations, Fast Pass+ reservations for all the headliner attractions, and may very well be traveling with a party of 5 or more. If you want the best dining venues, as well as the guarantee to ride the Tier one attractions, planning for a family of 4-6 people really requires you to plan far ahead for the long-awaited vacation, and reserve those things at the earliest possible time. Being able to score a same day Fastpass for Slinky-Dog Dash or Smuggler’s Run at the spur of the moment is pretty slim for a family of 5. We just returned from WDW in mid January, and I really hate the current virtual queue system. Would rather just be able to enjoy my day knowing ahead of time whether I’ll be riding the ROtR, rather than participating in the chaos and stress that the current system creates.
Rise has 2 major problems with it, one was kinda foreseen, the other to be expected.
First, rise has a very low hourly ride capacity rate, even if it was operating at 100%, it could never churn through the guests that would want to ride it via a standby line.
Second is that the ride is extremely unreliable. Therefore, Fastpasses with a set return time just doesn’t work very well.
While the first can’t be fixed…unless they add a second track like they did for Toy Story Mania and probably not as easy with Rise…the second can be fixed and they are working on it, however, the issues they see during the day aren’t happening when they’re testing at night, so it’s making it difficult to pinpoint the issues. Once the reliability issues are fixed and the ride becomes more stable, then FP’s will be introduced for Rise, but at two months in, it’s really hard to say when the issues will be ironed out.
I completely agree with this. The kinds of flexibility you need to have to take advantage of this virtual queue simply aren’t available for the typical WDW guest.
Why can’t an average WDW guest be flexible? Even with ADRs and FastPasses you always have the choice to opt out of doing something in favor of something you care about more. The 2 hour return window for Boarding Groups gives you plenty of time to finish something you’re in the middle of before heading to RotR, and the entire resort is aware of the issues with the ride and was very accommodating to people when I was there this past week. If you run into a conflict just explain the situation to a cast member and as long as you ask nicely I bet they end up being able to accommodate you.
Jared: For a lot of reasons, but mostly because, when you have a lot of people in your group, you’re much less likely to be able find last minute ADRs or FastPasses to switch to, and having young kids and/or a large number of people makes it much harder to reach any kind of consensus last minute, and splitting up increases the confusion for non-regular park goers exponentially. Add in the fact that the stakes are higher when you are only visiting once a year (or this is the only trip you’re able to afford in the foreseeable future) and people will naturally take fewer risks.
So, when you have this level of unpredictability (not knowing what number boarding group you’ll get PLUS wildly not being able to even ballpark what part of the day your boarding group will be called), you end up basically where we did – stuck for 12 hours in Hollywood Studios, not knowing when your ride will be called.
I understand that this is how Disney is dealing with a technically complex ride, I get why they are, and I get why Tom is recommending this strategy. But I bet a lot of his readers don’t have the flexibility that he does, and I would love to hear his advice for those of us who don’t. I’m sure there’s a solution I haven’t thought of!