Rope Drop Dilemma: Star Wars Rise of Resistance Report
After last week’s “frustrating foray” with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, I wondered if our late arrival strategy might be more of a hassle. We thus set out for Walt Disney World at the crack of dawn yesterday, opting to fight the rope drop crowd at Hollywood Studios. In this ride report, we’ll share our experience and attempt to resolve the dilemma of whether an early or late arrival is the best approach.
We got to the front of Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 6:25 am, where there was already a long line for security. This was the first time we had encountered any line for security at DHS since Rise of the Resistance opened; I’m not sure if it’s an anomaly or lower staffing is the new normal now that peak season is over. Either way, it still only took 10 minutes to get through bag check.
By the time we advanced to the turnstiles, guests had already been entering the park for a few minutes. While even our modest wait at bag check felt interminably long due to the slow/inconsistent pace (seriously Disney, get baggage scanning machines), this was a breeze. The tapstiles were not requiring fingerprint verification, so even though we were initially backed up beyond the ticket booths, we ended up inside the park and under Crossroads of the World by 6:40 am…
At this point, we could’ve continued forward as far as we could to the holding area in front of the stage (in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre). This would’ve been the ideal approach if we wanted to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash or Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run.
However, the crowd up there was already massive, the area looked cramped, and also very bright thanks to the illuminated stage screens…and we hadn’t yet had our morning coffee. Plus, it was a foggy morning, and I felt that’d be perfect for some ominous photos of the Hollywood Tower Hotel:
After that, we waited for what felt like ages but was really just like 15 minutes. We could’ve arrived about 20 minutes later, but the problem with that is things could’ve taken longer. It seems like our existing advice of getting to the park 30 minutes before the official park opening time remains the best course of action if you’re planning on doing rope drop.
At around 6:58 am, we both began refreshing the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Virtual Queue page on the My Disney Experience app incessantly to see if it was live yet. It went live the instant our phones rolled over to 7 am, and we both tried to join boarding groups (for both of us–not individually).
We had zero issues with this process, and scored a boarding group instantly–within maybe 5-7 seconds of the clock striking 7 am. Yet, we were in boarding group 43. Others around us reported higher groups (we heard someone say something as high as the 60s) and lower (in the teens).
That range should underscore the luck of the draw involved, and illustrate why this is a hybrid first-come, first-served and lottery system. While everyone inside the park yesterday at 7 am received a primary boarding group, the return times on those would’ve ranged from the morning hours until late afternoon.
The whole point of us arriving so early was to see if 45-60 minutes spent earlier in the morning meant no park hopping or wasted time later in the day, so we decided to stick around. We thus immediately headed back to Toy Story Land, where Slinky Dog Dash already had a 60 minute wait by 7:05 am.
About 10 minutes after that, the line for Slinky Dog Dash already stretched back to Walt Disney Presents and had ballooned to 80 minutes. The line for the attraction peaked before 8 am at 100 minutes. In other words, the longest posted wait of the day was not in the afternoon, but in the early morning. Same for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run.
Elevated wait times were consistent among all headliners at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it’s safe to say that the early morning advantage in doing these attractions as walk-ons or with minimal wait has all but evaporated. Had we been at the front of the pack, we probably could’ve done Slinky Dog Dash with an under 20 minute wait, but that would’ve been it.
No more “riding the wave” of the crowd through Disney’s Hollywood Studios, doing everything with a minimal wait before returning to your Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding group. Now it’s essentially a matter of picking one E-Ticket (at best), doing that, and then encountering the longest lines of the day everywhere else.
To compound matters yesterday, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance did not open and begin accepting boarding groups with the park. Still, our goal here was to avoid wasted time by park hopping, so we waited around until 8 am.
At that point, Rise of the Resistance still wasn’t open, so we decided to cut our losses and head out. We also had to get update photos from Epcot, so it’s not like leaving was a tremendous inconvenience. It turned out we made the right call, as the attraction didn’t start accepting boarding groups until around 8:45 am.
We continued watching the return progress in boarding groups, and saw that they were breezing along. So, at around 11 am when boarding group 41 was called we headed back over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even as we entered the park, we noticed it had been stalled on 41 for a while.
Nevertheless, we headed back to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and saw that a slow trickle of guests were still entering. It wasn’t broken down! Eventually, boarding group 42 was called…and almost immediately thereafter, rope was put up around the entrance of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which had just broken down.
Knowing we’d be in for at least a 70 minute delay plus a surge of guests when the attraction came back online, I opted to take the Skyliner over to Epcot again. The smart move would’ve been doing MuppetVision or some other supporting attraction that didn’t have a long wait, but I still needed photos from Epcot.
Not long after arriving in World Showcase, our boarding group was called. We met back up at the front of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance around 45 minutes later and did the attraction with an average wait. Everything was smooth and firing on all cylinders–no broken effects or unnecessary queue. So that was a plus!
It’s worth noting that nothing we experienced yesterday (the ride opening late or breaking down midday) is out of the ordinary. However, had Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opened with the park and had everything been running smoothly, it would’ve taken roughly 2 hours for our boarding group to be called.
Meaning that in a best case scenario, our boarding would’ve been up by ~9 am, and able to return until 11 am. While that wouldn’t have been sufficient time to do multiple headliners, we could’ve done Slinky Dog Dash plus maybe Toy Story Mania and definitely Star Tours.
Or, we could’ve done one of the three before heading over to Epcot to rope drop Frozen Ever After or Soarin’ Around the World. (We did not do this, but I’m guessing with Test Track currently down for refurbishment, the rope drop crowd is now slightly larger at these two attractions.)
This ‘best case scenario’ also assumes we would’ve been in boarding group 43, and not a better or worse position. True best case scenario would’ve been a group in the teens, and out of the park before 8 am. True worst case scenario would’ve been a crashed app and boarding group in the 80s. A boarding group in the 40s is about middle of the road.
Even though word has gotten out about the park opening and boarding group process, many guests still arrive at 7 am or shortly thereafter. Which, as you know, is too late. This means that until around 7:15 am, there’s still a steady flow of guests into Disney’s Hollywood Studios, all of whom are likely ending up with boarding groups in the 80-100 range, depending upon the day.
Following this, there’s a prolonged lull. Fewer boarding groups are distributed between 7:15 am and 8:30 am than are distributed in the first 15 minutes that the park is open. Meaning there’s usually minimal difference in arriving at 7:20 am or 8:20 am.
Both are likely getting backup boarding groups in the low to mid-100s. In both scenarios, it’s total luck as to whether either or both of those groups are called. Some days, we’ve seen Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance get well above 150. Other days, it doesn’t even hit 120. Obviously, your odds are better with a lower-numbered backup boarding group, but the point is that an hour difference later in the morning is not as significant as mere minutes right when the park opens.
The dilemma is thus whether arriving 30 minutes before park opening for rope drop is still the smart move, or if compromising on a late arrival is smarter. Sadly, the answer remains “it depends.” Is that extra hour of sleep critical to you? Are you staying at a Skyliner resort and wanting to use that to get to DHS? Do you have multiple days to try for a boarding pass? The dilemma remains unresolved because results are inconsistent and thus it really depends upon your preferences/priorities.
Overall, this marks the second consecutive “unlucky” experience we’ve had with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but it’s worth emphasizing that our fortunes could’ve been much better on a different morning or with better/worse success in My Disney Experience. Just as our luck could’ve been worse back in December when things went so smoothly for us multiple times in a row.
On a final note, more than a few readers have asked us to “pick our side.” We share our ride report results not because we have some agenda–we don’t. One challenge in covering anything Star Wars-related is that many fans have made their minds up one way or another on literally everything before it even happens, and want our posts to fit with their agenda. Some cheered last year when we reported low crowds at Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland because it squared with their narrative. Others cheered at the large crowds for Rise of the Resistance, as it matched theirs. When it comes to Disney’s handling of Star Wars, we don’t have a dog in the fight. We’re simply sharing our firsthand experiences, for better or worse.
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
Which is your preferred Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance strategy–getting up early to make it for rope drop or sleeping in a bit and taking your chances? If you’ve done RotR in the last few weeks, what time did you arrive, which boarding group did you receive, and when was your return time? (More data points helps other readers make informed decisions!) 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 heading to WDW in a little over a week with a party of 7 (4 adults & 3 kids ages 10, 6 & 4).
I am hoping that maybe someone could help out with a few questions.
1. Does everyone have to be at HS to be assigned to a boarding party?
2. Has anyone gone with a larger party and gotten on the same boarding party together or should we split up into smaller groups?
Thanks!
Everyone has to be scanned and in the park. As far as i can tell, there have not been any issues with group sizes. The best advice I have heard is to get to the park 30 minutes before its scheduled opening since BG’s get assigned right at scheduled park opening and then have multiple people trying the 3 different methods on the MDE app:
1) Have app fully closed, then launch it as the clock ticks :00
2) Stay in the app and keep toggling between the “My Status” page.
3) Keep fully closing and opening the app over and over again
Once the first person gets in and books a group, the others will show that they have already been booked so it cannot be duplicated
Thanks! Our 10 year old granddaughter has autism and that long of a day with transportation would be tough. I guess we will try our luck with a later entrance time.
We followed the same strategy one day before you. We ended up with boarding group 65. Got into the ride just before 1 p.m. . I have to say if this is slow season at Disney I would not want to be there during a busy season. We’ve been here for six days in all the parks and it’s possibly the busiest we’ve seen it ever. And we’ve probably been here 15 times or so over the years
We are going towards the end of May and have reservations for Oga’s cantina in the early afternoon, do we still need to get there early to get boarding passes?
BG’s are only used for Rise of the Resistance. Those get distributed right at scheduled park opening (Disney opens parks approx 30 mins prior with no rides open to help disperse the crowds) To guarantee a spot at Oga’s, you should make a reservation just like you would at a restaurant
Could you share how you arrived at Hollywood Studios? We are staying at Art of Animation and hope to go 1/27. We are rope drop people with young kids but are weighing skyliner v bus. Right now Posted opening time is 8 am since hours go back that Monday. Should we expect Skyliner to be available at 7:45 that morning and plan to take the bus instead?
Fwiw, I would be surprised if that opening time isn’t moved to 7 AM EST & soon.
Headed there the day after MMRR opens so really curious how this plays out. There weren’t FP+ listed yet and I don’t the system can handle 2 virtual queues. It crashes too much as is.
We arrived yesterday at 6:15 and opted to not bring any bags with us. We only had one day at the parks, so our day was largely going to be decided on our boarding group! It was already packed and we were set back pretty far when they started letting guests in around 6:30. After scanning our bands, we passed by large crowds of people by walking along the outside and we made it to nearly the front of Toy Story Land. At 7, I joined a boarding group immediately and received Group 17 (this was perfect as we hoped to rope drop Epcot after the ride). We then chose to ride Toy Story Mania over Slinky Dog, but could have easily walked on either. When we got off, Slinky Dog was already over 60 minutes so we went on the Swirling Saucers, then joined a long line to get coffee and breakfast. We were notified boarding was being delayed so we chose a 25 minute wait for Star Tours over the 45 minute waits at Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Our boarding group still had not been called so we decided to tour Star Wars land and our hopes of rope dropping Epcot were slowly fading. Around 8:35 we sat near Rise of the Resistance when we noticed a lot of movement by cast members. Sure enough, at 8:45 they began boarding and our group was called at 8:48. We walked on the ride immediately and we were off to the Skyliner by 9:15 to get to Epcot. We were able to get there within 15 minutes, entered the park rather quickly, and joined a 25 minute line for Soarin’ around 9:50. Leaving the ride, the new posted wait time was 75 minutes. We had lucked out! Thanks to your wonderful blog and advice we were able to hit all 4 parks and still ride many of our favorites with even a nap in between!
I wonder if we will see the Boarding Group process used during the opening of Mickey’s Runaway Railway? I like the system and would have no issues with it becoming the new normal whenever Disney opens an e-ticket in the future.
I doubt it and hope not.
The boarding pass system is more of a necessity here. Rise of the Resistance is not reliable enough to use FastPass with preset return times, so the virtual queue allows Disney to offer return times on the fly based upon what’s actually happening in terms of up/down-time with the ride.
If Runaway Railway opens with the same reliability problems (and I haven’t heard anything to suggest any issues there), that will be incredibly disappointing.
It took us over 20 minutes to get through the bag search yesterday. We were boarding pass 93. Called at 4.15 and arrived at 6. Waited 90 minutes in a very long line then it was closed. We were given a fast pass for today and a Hollywood studios ticket. On Sunday it took 5 minutes to get through security and boarding group 70 was called at 11.30. No queue before the ride. Heading back soon for the fast pass. Prepare for the worst is now my motto.
If Hollywood studios is not set to officially open until 9am….like it is set for during the first week of February, would 6:30am still be the time advised….or is it simply 30 minutes before opening. How does your advise (which I plan to take) work when the park hours change? Thank you for all the updates!!
I have the same question, we are going in Feb and park hours is showing 9am. Will this change closer to the date? Do we arrive at 6:30 still?
We are going there in July, and staying at a resort, so i will have options for booking fast passes two months ahead in May. I have been keeping up with your updates of course, and preparing myself for this process, but I’m so curious to know how things will be looking in this land in 5-6 months time. Do you have any predictions? Is it really just this process with no goal to change that for the future? At first the boarding group process made sense to me because its a new ride, but once the ride is no longer really “new” it seems like it would be time to add fast passes to it, especially since there is a fast pass line for the ride built. Do you think we will see a revamp of the structure for this que soon, maybe the ability for fast passes? I look forward to your updates and thank you so much for the comprehensiveness off them!
Tom, how were wait times for the non-headliners in TSL in the first hour or two after open yesterday? I am wondering how much we can get done next week after rope-dropping Smugglers Run and while working around our first two FP windows at 7:30 (Star Tours) and 9 am (Slinky).
Thanks, love the blog!
If you have FastPasses for Star Tours and Slinky Dog Dash, I’d personally rope drop either Toy Story Mania followed by Alien Swirling Saucers or Rock n Roller Coaster followed by Tower of Terror. The amount of time you’ll save with one of those approaches is greater.
Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run has literally its longest line of the day at rope drop. Unless you’re at the very front of the pack here, you’re better off doing it later in the day.
We were in DHS at 6:30 am on January 7, and arrived at 7:30 am on January 9.
The first morning, I lost my wireless connection right at 7 am, and did not get my boarding pass until 7:01. As a result, our boarding pass was 107. When we arrived an hour later, our boarding pass was 113. Not much of a difference. However, it did make a big difference in when we actually rode, because the ride was down on several occasions on Thursday.
As for early morning strategy, we found the best best was to hit tower of terror first, and then the single rider line at rock & roller. We managed to get both rides in by 8:30 am. We waited for smuggler’s run until the afternoon on both days, and it paid off, with the line about half as long as it was early in the morning (90 minutes the first day, 45 minutes the second day).
We rope dropped Rise of the Resistance the day after Christmas and it was an adventure! I wrote a blog post of our whole experience (from Riviera to Hollywood Studios to boarding: https://mickeyshus.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/rope-dropped-rise-of-the-resistance/), but to answer your questions succinctly:
We woke up at 4:20AM for a 6AM park opening; we were staying at Riviera, but the Skyliner wasn’t open until 7AM and it was unknown whether buses would run by 5/5:15AM, so we opted to use Lyft. We arrived at 5:30AM and security was fully manned and no lines, but a massive crowd was already waiting at the ticket booths. At 5:45AM, we were all let in and slowly trickled onto Main Street, but at 6AM, many realized that there was a glitch in the scan-in process and many were not correctly identified as “in the park.” We scurried to find a Guest Experience team member and was promptly scanned in and snagged a Group 45 boarding pass. We returned for the ride at 10:30AM, but our boarding group could have started entering at 9:30AM – we had another FastPass+ reservation to get to. Our wait time in line was about 30 minutes and with rope drop, we were able to do Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Saucers, and Toy Story Mania all in under an hour. We also waited in line for Smuggler’s Run and only had a 60-minute wait in the morning!
During my WDW trip last week, I did one day rope dropping and one day as a late arrival.
On Wednesday the 8th, we arrived at HS parking around 5:50 AM and were at the gates soon after. We were let through the turnstiles at 6:20 and queued at Echo Lake. Right at 7 there was a big announcement and we scored BG 48 within the first 40 seconds. BG was called at 10:52 and the queue was short. But we got stopped in one of the supply cage rooms for a while and CMs came through to pass out bottles of water and bananas (space bananas?) Chewbacca even came into the queue to distract us for a while. When things finally got moving, we went through the first half of the experience but got a walk-off during “processing.” (Even the walk-off was accomplished in-character!) We were given fastpasses to return later the day when it was up and running again and skipped the entire queue when we returned around 5pm. All show elements were working perfectly during this ride.
On Saturday the 11th we showed up at HS around 9am with no expectation of riding. But we grabbed a BG (133) anyway. Ride was moving smoothly that day and our BG was called at 4:28pm. We were at Epcot so we took the Skyliner back to the Studios and got in the queue around 5:36pm. Queue started by the FP+ stanchions and it took us 81 minutes (20 min of which which was dead standstill) to get to the briefing room. The big show scene you mention was running in B-mode, which was a bummer because we knew what it should have been, but you’re right that a first time rider wouldn’t notice. But I do think it really adds to the overall experience. Our CMs weren’t as good during this second ride because they didn’t perform in-character. That, more so than the b-mode, lessened the experience.
I’d recommend fist timers rope drop the attraction. And, if you’re going to rope drop, you might as well get there nice and early so that you can be on Smuggler’s Run and get a Ronto Wrap for breakfast we enjoying Batuu before the sun begins to beat down. Plus, sunrise over Echo Lake was gorgeous!
“(seriously Disney, get baggage scanning machines”
THIS^^^^^^^ i cannot believe that with all of the refurbishment of park entrances this hasn’t been implemented. i get there would be a cost, but the benefit FAR outweigh the cost for bag scanners like at the airport. you have everyone putting all bags onto the belt, you have much greater flow, you take out much of the human variance element, and overall, you have greater security. often, i feel like bags get a pat down on the outside and barely looked at inside, and other times every single zipper, button, pouch must be painstakingly opened and all contents dumped out. it completely varies from guard to guard. i had one question half the contents in my bag “why do you have batteries?” “for the stroller fan and my camera.” “why do you have glow sticks?” “um, for my kids?” it was ridiculous, and the only one who questioned anything, but in doing so, made the process at least twice as long. bag scanners get rid of all that variance and make everyone safer, not to mention would be SO MUCH FASTER. place your bag, keep the line moving, go through the metal detector (also a place of far too much variance, random checks solve little), pick up your bags, be on your way.
btw, GREAT pictures of the ToT with the fog!
Arrived yesterday at 7:30 and had boarding pass 128 never got a call back 119 was last group called back. Arrived today at 6:50 but my daughter got stuck in bag check. Got boarding pass at 7:04 we have boarding pass 97.
Ouch, that stinks, but thanks for sharing your experience.
Looks like things are running much smoother today so (knock on wood) hopefully you’ll be able to experience it by this afternoon! 🙂
Also we are staying at Pop and the Skyline doesn’t start until 7:30 and with the bus schedule being limited to HS it has been a small hassle to get to the park for rope drop.
Thanks for the report. Why are the crowds still insane with long waits so early in the morning? I thought the “slow” season has begun. What is your prediction on lower crowds? With the anniversary coming up, will there be no lower crowd weeks in the foreseeable future? Tom, do you have a crystal ball? I have no idea when to plan my next visit and lower crowds are the #1 priority followed by weather. Thanks for any predictions
I suspect this is the new normal at DHS, with longer lines elsewhere in the park because there are more early-arrivers than back in early to mid-December and fewer guests arriving post-opening.
The longest lines of the day at headliners were all observed before 9 am. That’s not normal, but it’s probably what we should expect going forward (and by that, I mean for the next year-plus) at DHS.
Thank you so much for your all your time and energy in writing these reports! Since the wait times are so high in the mornings at Hollywood Studios at Toy Story Land, how would you change your touring plan for a day at Hollywood Studios? Go to Rock n Roller Coaster at rope drop? Or just stick it out and wait in the long lines at Toy Story Land at rope drop? I will be going end of March 2020 so I imagine crowds will be high with other spring break families.
Thank you very much for the detailed reports and updates. As a reader, I find these extremely helpful, particularly since you keep testing on different days and finding the best strategy for us as things keep changing. I don’t think any other Disney bloggers have tested strategies over time as much as you, nor have they shared in detail about their experiences. I am so grateful for yours and Sarah’s hard work. You are so dedicated to helping us score RotR passes, while also maximizing sleep and minimizing wait time, and in general helping us all plan a great vacation. Thanks a million for all you do!!
Thanks for the kind words–you’re welcome!
Other than as a cost cutting measure, I don’t get why the Skyliner isn’t running to match the realities of getting to the park earlier enough to score an early boarding group. That would/will frustrate me if that’s still the case during our next trip.
Thank you so much, this answered a lot of my questions. In essence, my plan of dragging the kid out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and hoping to do HS early while waiting for the boarding group to be called WILL NOT WORK. This is helpful. Now I know that it will be better to do HS in one half-day and Epcot on another half-day, rather than trying to do it all in one short day (because it won’t be short). Which means I can skip buying the park hopper. There is one question left you have not answered – is the ride appropriate for a 5-year-old? She is tall enough and has seen the original three movies, but she is scared by graphic violence so we generally don’t think Star Wars is her thing right now. We can ride separately, of course, with one person staying with her, but if it is a fun ride without, say, people’s hands being cut off or being strangled to death in front of her, I think she would love to go on it. I am trying to avoid spoilers…can you give this ride a violence rating?
The ride has tension thanks to its storyline and there’s some blaster action, but I wouldn’t call it violent or graphic. If anything, I’d say it’s empowering and has a reasonably good message for kids.
I’d have no hesitation in taking a 5 year old on it, but I’m not a parent and probably have a more relaxed attitude towards what is and is not appropriate for kids than most.
Thanks! All I’m concerned about is graphic violence. I showed her SW when she was 4 and wow…I had not remembered how graphic the scene was in which Luke’s hand is chopped off, or when Vader strangles that guy…made me really worry about this ride. Sudden movement and blaster sounds is fine!
I think a 5 y.o. Star Wars fan would be okay with Rise of the Resistance. As Tom said, there are blaster noises, and some quick movements, but nothing gory.
My five year old loved it! And there was a girl younger than him, probably 4 who was behind us in line who rode it. There was nothing graphic that I can recall.
My five year old DID think everything was real, and loved every minute of it.