Star Wars Rise of Resistance at Disneyland Strategy Guide
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is Disneyland’s most popular attraction, with California locals and tourists competing to buy Individual Lightning Lane access or waiting in long lines. This ride guide answers frequently asked questions, with step-by-step strategy for the Galaxy’s Edge E-Ticket. (Updated March 28, 2022.)
As we cover in our spoiler-free Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Review, this is one of Imagineering’s all-time greatest feats. It’s also far and away the most popular attraction at Disneyland, with the longest waits in the park by a wide margin and the most downtime/breakdowns. It’s also absolutely worth the effort, frustrations, and cost or long waits.
We update this guide regularly based on the latest changes. Late last year, Disneyland announced that it was “pausing” the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. They left the door open for bringing it back at a later date when crowds increased, but that didn’t happen during the busy Christmas and New Year’s travel dates, so we assume the virtual queue is now gone for good…
Instead of the virtual queue, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance now uses a traditional standby line and is Disneyland’s only Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) attractions. (Disney California Adventure has two: Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure in Avengers Campus and Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land.)
On average, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has the longest wait time at Disneyland, significantly ahead of Space Mountain and Indiana Jones Adventure. On a normal day during Spring 2022, you could expect to wait 83 minutes for the Star Wars E-Ticket, versus 63 minutes for Space Mountain and 57 minutes for Indiana Jones Adventure. (Several other rides average ~55 minute waits.)
When it comes to the easiest way to beat the crowd at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, that’s paying for front of line access via the Individual Lightning Lane. Daily prices for this attraction are typically $20 per person–more expensive than any of its counterparts at DCA, which usually range from $7 to $18.
With that said, if you’re only going to purchase Individual Lightning Lanes or Genie+ at Disneyland Resort, we’d recommend Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance out of the trio. For advice on that, consult our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland & DCA.
There are currently no extra hours at Disneyland Resort for on-site guests or anyone else, so everyone else has an equal shot at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance once the park opens.
As with pretty much any attraction, the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge headliner has its shortest lines of the day right at rope drop. You’ll need to do it first in order to benefit from those low waits–within ~30 minutes of park opening, its wait times spike. Despite this, we do NOT recommend rope dropping Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The reasons for this (lack of) recommendation are covered in our Disneyland Park Opening & Rope Drop Tips.
Wait times are fairly constant–if not slightly increasing–throughout the morning and early afternoon. There’s no lunch lull or other sweet spot to target Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. You either want to do it first thing or wait until much later in the day.
Speaking of which, wait times tend to fall in the last 2 hours of the day, with the biggest drop off in the last hour. That will probably become even more pronounced once Disneyland Forever Fireworks, Main Street Electrical Parade, and Fantasmic all return.
One big asterisk when it comes to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is that the blockbuster attraction currently closes before the rest of Disneyland–usually at the same time as the fireworks. Meaning that “last 2 hours of the day” is not 2 hours before the park closes, but 2 hours before the ride closes.
Wait time data indicates that its line is shortest about 60-90 minutes before the attraction closes. You’re still looking at about an hour in line, perhaps more when it’s busy, but that’s the best time to line up if you’re going to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance via standby.
The one other wildcard is ride breakdowns, which are still semi-frequent with this complex attraction. Breakdowns earlier in the day can create a backlog of Individual Lightning Lane guests at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Disney prioritizes those “paying guests,” and this means standby will be slow later in the night when the ride has a “bad” day.
The other risk with downtime is that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will have problems towards the end of the night and simply not reopen. A breakdown earlier in the day is one thing–you can always come back later. If it’s the last hour of operations, there are no second chances, unless you have another day at Disneyland. As such, assess your “risk tolerance,” how important Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is to you, and plan accordingly.
That wraps up our revised strategy guide for riding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland as of Spring 2022. We’ll keep you updated with what you need to know for doing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
In any case, what follows is information about the regular, pre-test virtual queue in case Disneyland reverts to that system…
Disneyland’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue has two openings: at 7 am and at 12 pm. For the 7 am distribution time, guests must have a theme park reservation for Disneyland.
This is before the park opens, so obviously you won’t be required to be inside Disneyland–you could be literally anywhere on earth, the only requirement is that you have a valid theme park reservation for Disneyland. Guests with Disney California Adventure reservations are not be eligible for the 7 am distribution time, regardless of whether they have Park Hopper tickets.
At noon, the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue opens again–this is usually the easier of the two to join. In order to be eligible for the 12 pm distribution, guests must have already entered Disneyland or Disney California Adventure and have a Park Hopper ticket (if in DCA).
Even though Park Hopping guests are eligible to join the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance queue at noon, they won’t be able to Park Hop into Disneyland until 1pm. Entering one of the parks “unlocks” the second drop, so if you leave for a midday hotel break or lunch in Downtown Disney, you’ll still be eligible so long as you already scanned into one of the parks.
With that out of the way, here’s strategy we recommend to join Disneyland’s virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, followed by answers to frequently asked questions about the attraction. The first section assumes some prior knowledge about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, so if any of it is over your head, start with the FAQ.
In addition to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, there’s one other “difficult” attraction at Disneyland Resort. Read our How to Ride WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure Guide for tips on how to beat the crowds at that new ride in Avengers Campus, the Marvel Land at Disney California Adventure.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Boarding Pass Dash
This section will offer a couple of the best approaches for scoring a boarding pass to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland. To start with, make sure every competent adult or child who has a smart phone downloads the latest version of the Disneyland app.
Following this, everyone needs to add in all tickets among your party members to their account. To do this, go to the “Tickets & Passes” button on your profile page, click the plus button, and scan. Be sure to delete any tickets for friends or family who have not scanned into Disneyland the day you’re trying for a boarding pass. Deleting is critical–you can always add them back again later.
Next, it’s time to optimize to ensure your timing is accurate and your phone and internet connection are as fast as possible. This might sound like overkill, but milliseconds matter. We’d recommend doing a quick speed test a few minutes before it’s time to join. Anything at or above 50 Mbps should be sufficient, but the higher the better. If necessary, move around to get away from other people or increase your speed to that threshold.
Make sure your phone is fully updated and force close all apps, including the Disneyland app shortly before it’s time to join. Double-check the time on your phone or watch against time.gov, which is what Disneyland uses. These three simple steps can often be the difference between success and failure!
Everyone in your party should now attempt the following strategy. Start by hitting the hamburger button on the lower right corner of the Disneyland app.
At this point, you’ll see the following screen:
You’ll have the option of confirming your party starting at 6 am, or an hour before the queue opens.
Click the blue button to confirm your party, ensuring that everyone visiting with you is selected. So long as tickets are properly linked and everyone has a Disneyland park reservation, this process should be smooth sailing and self-explanatory.
Once you confirm your party, you’ll see the above screen until 7 am.
Use the strategy above to get the timing right, and then either hit the refresh button or pull down to refresh at 7 am on the dot. You’ll then see the “Join Queue” button. Tap that and you’re done!
You’ll then receive confirmation that you’re in the queue…or it’s already full.
Alternatively, if several members of your party were all trying and someone else was successful, you’ll see a “Not So Fast! Already in Boarding Group” error message or a red banner across an otherwise all-white screen.
There is absolutely zero downside to everyone in your party trying to join a boarding group so long as the steps are properly followed here and they add everyone in your party. It’s all upside–whoever has the fastest fingers and app will secure your party the lowest boarding group!
We prefer these strategies as opposed to simply waiting for the “Join Boarding Group” button to turn red (which is Disneyland’s official recommendation) because there’s often a delay in waiting for the app to passively refresh. Based upon our experience, it’s slightly staggered with some guests seeing it several seconds before others. You could get lucky via this route, but you are more likely to be unlucky–and miliseconds make a huge difference here.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance FAQ
What is the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?
This is a same-day reservation system like Genie+ Lightning Lanes, but it is the exclusive method for experiencing the new attraction, and can only be booked via the Disneyland app. The ride does not have a standby line.
What are boarding groups for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?
Boarding groups are how Disneyland organizes guests into groups when it’s their turn to ride. Think of these as akin to FastPass/MaxPass return times, but minus the fixed window.
For example, rather than having a set 1-2 pm return time, you might be in boarding group 30. Your return time is not specified in advance, but rather, based upon how quickly the attraction cycles the guests through who are in front of you in the queue. (Plus how many or few times it breaks down.)
What time do we need to arrive to Disneyland?
Due to the new 7 am distribution time, this question is no longer relevant for the purposes of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. You can score a boarding pass from home or your hotel room.
For reasons unrelated to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, we still recommend getting to Disneyland at least 30 minutes before park opening. It’s always good to beat the crowds by rope dropping Fantasyland!
Do we need to be inside Disneyland to join the noon drop?
Also no.
You only have to enter the park–you don’t need to stay. Proximity is irrelevant. After you’ve entered, you can go over to Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, back to your hotel, or wherever. If you want Starbucks, you’re better off leaving and walking to one of the other locations because the line will be far shorter.
Should we use Disneyland’s WiFi to book boarding passes at noon?
Definitely not.
Disneyland’s WiFi is about as reliable as AOL dial-up from the 90s, and whatever cell data provider you have will work better. That’s right, even AT&T.
Is there anywhere in Disneyland that’s typically better or worse for cell service?
There are a few dead zones in Disneyland; most notably deep in Tomorrowland, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and parts of Adventureland. Also, several queues (Indiana Jones Adventure, Soarin, and Space Mountain are the biggest offenders).
We’d also avoid being around too many people when attempting to join. Service can become spotty in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle when that area is congested.
Which day(s) of the week are the best and worst for doing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?
Now that the Magic Key pass program has launched, Mondays through Thursdays are the best days to visit, followed by Fridays. On all of these days, you’re more likely to encounter a smaller crowd and one that skews more towards tourists. The second part of this is important because many tourists won’t do their research and will be clueless about how to do this.
Saturdays and Sundays are when Disneyland locals are more likely to visit. They are generally much more savvy, and as such, are more formidable “competition” in the boarding pass dash.
Is it possible to join both the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance queue and Web Slingers: Spider-Man Adventure queue in the same day?
Yes!
Read How to Score Same-Day Star Wars & Spider-Man Boarding Groups for more details.
Can we get more than one Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance boarding pass per day?
No.
Can we leave Disneyland once joining the queue?
Yes.
You could walk over to Disney California Adventure, or even drive to Los Angeles or Laguna Beach while waiting for your boarding group. (We’ve done all three!)
How do we know when we can return?
If your phone has push notifications for the Disneyland app enabled, you’ll receive an alert that your boarding group has been called.
Failing that, the “My Status” screen on the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance screen displays the same information.
Should we buy Park Hopper tickets?
If you’ve read our Money-Saving Disneyland Park Ticket Guide, you know that we always recommend Park Hopper tickets. Due to Disney California Adventure and Disneyland being a stone’s throw (literally) from one another, walking between the two parks is incredibly easy.
This is doubly true with the queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Park Hoppers enable you to try the Rise of Resistance boarding pass dash every single day of your trip, rather than just the Disneyland days. It’s an attraction you’ll want to do more than once!
Can we just skip all this and wait in a regular standby line for half the day?
No.
Given that the attraction is currently breaking down multiple times per day, a standby line would be 5-6 hours long and would include multiple (yes, really) breakdowns where you’d be stuck in the same spot for 70 minutes.
This virtual queue doesn’t seem very guest-friendly, what if I can’t get to Disneyland until after work?
No system is going to be perfect, but we view this as the most equitable system considering demand, operational realities, and the current unreliability of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This system favors tourists, which is clearly by design. (Hard to fault Disneyland for that.)
If you’re a local who is used to going after work, you’ll have to revise your approach here. As with tourists, you have the option to take a day off work or go on a weekend. The simply reality is that demand far exceeds supply for this new attraction, and there are going to be winners and losers regardless.
Does Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance accommodate Disability Access Service (DAS) card?
Yes, but you still need a place in the virtual queue–there’s no loophole here.
To take advantage of DAS, go to the FastPass return line once your boarding group is called.
What about Rider Switch?
Yep, same process as above.
When will Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance switch from a virtual queue to FastPass/MaxPass and standby?
Nothing is official.
We anticipate that the virtual queue will last until the ride reliability and uptime issues are resolved. That could take until 2022.
Should we just wait to experience Rise of the Resistance until it offers FastPass/MaxPass?
No. It’ll have the same supply/demand issues, just in a different format.
Additionally, this is a very complex attraction with a lot of practical effects, some of which may not exist forever. Just ask anyone who rode Indiana Jones Adventure the first year it was open how the original ride compares to today.
When will this all die down?
Maybe 5-10 years from now.
Seriously. Look at how popular Radiator Springs Racers was for the first several years it was open (and still is, to some extent). Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is significantly better than Radiator Springs Racers. It’s going to be the “hot ticket” at Disneyland for the next decade, at least.
Is California better than Florida?
In general? Yes.
Specifically for experiencing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Also yes. If more elaboration is desired on either of these two responses, we’d be happy to provide that in a follow-up post. Just let us know.
Ultimately, riding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance requires added effort beyond the additional Disneyland attraction. However, by arriving early and following the steps here, you should be able to experience it without issue, and will not have to sacrifice hours standing in line. For a blockbuster new ride, it’s pretty easy to do, so long as you’ve done your homework.
It’s also worth it. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is one of the top 10 Disney attractions in the world, on an epic scale that’s only rivaled by Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland. Whether it has the same longevity as all-time greats like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean remains to be seen.
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you planning on visiting Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge now that Rise of the Resistance is open? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of opening day at Disneyland? Which boarding group were you in? Were you able to experience the attraction? Did you have any downtime? Are you a fan of this system, or would you just prefer a really long standby line? 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.
Hi Tom. Thank you for all of this info. Very helpful!!
I am a group leader of 42 people and I have made all of the plans through my MDE account. 40 of the 42 will be attending DHS on Friday of Presidents Day week but maybe only 20 of the 42 will be trying to get ROTR boarding passes. Since everyone will be using their park tickets that same day and all have fast passes booked that same day, I have been trying to figure out how to best deal with the “people not in the park” for a while.
Do you still think there might be an option to delete tickets for those who are not trying to get ROTR BD and then add them back immediately after? Or do you think multiple people in our group will just have to try to thumb past the “not in park” error messages as quickly as possible. I know seconds matter and figure that this process could add about another 15-20 seconds to our process. Thanks for any thoughts you have on our situation!
The situation is not quite as dire at DHS as it is in Disneyland. That is, while Disneyland boarding groups are gone within as little as 1 minute after park opening, boarding groups aren’t disappearing quite that fast at DHS. You should still be there at park opening, but you don’t need to have the fastest fingers in the east.
If you want to avoid “this person is not in the park” messages at DHS, you would need to remove all those people from your friends & family list in MDE. That’s easy, but you’d then need to add them all back into your F&F list afterward, which would be a huge pain. I would THINK (though hopefully Tom will chime in here too) that the easiest thing would be to try and get a boarding group for everyone, then when you’re prompted with “oops, these people aren’t in the park,” quickly uncheck all those people. That should be easier than going thru your whole F&F list and manually unchecking everyone who isn’t there (as in your haste you risk unchecking someone who IS there).
Once you get your BG, make sure eveyone who’s supposed to be in there is in there. Some people have been affected by a glitch where MDE doesn’t register them as being in the park (even though they are), and with a party your size it would be easy to NOT notice having been affected by that glitch. If 20 of you are there, make sure all 20 of you made it into the BG. If you didn’t all make it in, go to one of the guest services folks RIGHT AWAY for help. If you wait until your BG is called to explain the situation, the CMs will assume that the 19 of you are just trying to smooth talk the 20th one into the ride. Good luck!
Awesome. Thanks for your reply Andy! I have been practicing at 7:00am the last 2 days and yesterday I saw backup groups being assigned at 7:01 and today at 7:02. So with the additional crowds during Presidents Day week, those fast fingers/thumbs better work for us during the 7:00 minute. Thanks for mentioning the possible glitch situation that might present itself. I will try to camp out near a Guest Service umbrella that morning just in case.
I’m planning on going to Disneyland this Saturday. I plan to buy our parties tickets (3) Friday night using the Disneyland app. Will I be able to link the tickets Friday night on the app, or can I only link them after we get scanned into Disneyland on Saturday?
Thanks in advance!
You can (and should) link them on Friday night. Don’t buy thru the Disneyland app, though! Buy thru Undercover Tourist or Get Away Today and save a few bucks, you’ll get your tickets delivered instantly via emailed PDF, and can link thru the app just like Disney-bought tickets.
Thanks Andy, much appreciated!
If you’re staying in a Disneyland Resort Hotel, is it advisable to ride the monorail into the park if trying for RoR, or enter from regular entrance?
It depends on when the monorail turnstiles open up. You are considered “inside the park” and virtual-queue-eligible as soon as your ticket is scanned to enter the monorail station. From the perspective of RotR, as long as you can get into the station by park opening, it’s a wash.
That said, if you’re rope-dropping the park and planning to hit attractions right away, using the main entrance and waiting for rope drop on Main Street will get you to your first attraction faster than the monorail will.
While understand most of these tips, I’m not sure I understand why app needs to be rebooted seconds before Park opening. Why not just have it open in the last minute and hang out on the home screen until clock ticks over and then click the find out more? A few seconds of that app loading slow or crashing before opening could mean you miss your chance.
Tom, first of all, THANK YOU! I’ve been reading your emails and articles for months in preparation for our trip and your advice was INVALUABLE. We had a great trip!
Second, I wanted to let you and the readers know our experience. We went to Hollywood Studios on Friday 1/24. We got there by Uber (we were staying at an All-Star hotel and the buses are crowded) for $8.00 in less than 15 minutes. We entered the property about 6:30 a.m. and processed through entry/security. They held the crowd near Frozen until 7:00 a.m. My husband and I both had our data on and Wi-Fi off. Somehow he got our queue for Rise of the Resistance slightly before 7:00 a.m. We were in Group 32. We went straight to Smuggler’s Run and waited there less than an hour then our boarding group was called for Rise. In summary, “rope dropping” Smuggler’s Run and virtual queue for Rise got us through both rides by 9:15 a.m. Perfect strategy for us!
Thank you again for all of your advice! Through all 4 parks (and Universal), we did almost everything that we wanted to do each day.
Hey Tom! Thanks for the incredible strategy guide!
I do have one question that it doesn’t look like you touched on yet.
My wife and I are headed to Disneyland / DCA for a one day B-day trip on Friday July 17th. We’ll be checking in to a hotel (either Park Vue or Paradise Pier) VERY early on the 17th, and then staying the night after the parks close before heading home mid-morning on the 18th.
Since we are only going for one day, do you recommend staying at Paradise Pier to get the EMH at 7am for DCA on the 17th? Or will we want to utilize that time waiting for the 8am rope drop at Disneyland and trying to get our Rise of the Resistance boarding pass? I know a lot could change between now and then (like RotR going to FastPass), but just curious if it might be worth the extra $$ to stay on-site at Paradise for that extra DCA hour, or if that will be lost anyway trying to get a boarding pass for RotR?
The other potential plus of Paradise is that if we decided to extend our tickets for one more day for the 18th (which is an EMH morning at Disneyland) in case we couldn’t get into RotR on that Friday. Thoughts?
Any and all info is truly appreciated! Thank you again for the amazing guide and blog!
I personally hate Paradise Pier Hotel, and think it’s way overpriced for what it is (worth noting that it was not built as a Disney hotel–they bought it from a third party and decorated it like Paradise Pier).
I do like EMH at DCA, but don’t think it’s the end-all, be-all of park touring. I’d personally recommend buying MaxPass and Park Hopper tickets, tapping into Disneyland and then getting a Radiator Springs Racers FastPass, and saving the money by staying at a cheaper (and closer!) hotel.
Thank you Tom! I appreciate your honesty and advice. Your insight and recommendations totally helped make our Honeymoon at WDW back in Dec. 2018 even more magical than it was already going to be!
I think I’ll just keep my reservation at Park View Inn and then get the single day park hopper with Maxpass on Disneyland.com for the 17th. I’m going to schedule a surprise for my wife at the Grand Californian on the morning of the 18th at some point before we leave. My parents will be watching our 10-month-old (at that time), so we wouldn’t utilize an entire second day since we’ll need to get back to the little one. If we miss out on RofR on the 17th, we could always add another day to try again that following morning if we thought it would be worth the cost/risk/time investment.
Thank you again for all your help!
Hi Tom,
Do you need to go through the gates at Disneyland to get in the queue or can I go in through California adventure and get in the queue there?
Thanks!
@Rachel: you need to physically enter Disneyland park in order to be able to enter the RotR virtual queue. That said, you can do WHATEVER you want after entering the park. If both parks are opening at 8am, you can enter Disneyland well before 8, then immediately leave the head to DCA to rope-drop attractions there.
Only having entered DCA will NOT make you eligible for the virtual queue.
Thanks for all of this great info, Tom. What happens if our boarding group gets called during the time we are in our reserved lightsaber experience?
You have 1 or 2 hours (it varies) to show up to RotR after your boarding group is called, so it *shouldn’t* be an issue (Savi’s is close by to RotR and isn’t THAT long of an experience). That said, if you’re in Savi’s and can’t make it, just explain your situation to the RotR folks and they’ll take care of you.
Hello Tom, Thanks for this detailed info…Just wondering on average how many boarding groups do you think Disneyland can take in a day, without a major break down on the ride, can they see 100 boarding groups or more or less.? Do you see Disney having any perks for hotel guests in the near future like say this May!!? Will definitely follow your advice and fingers crossed it works for me!!!
On the Disneyland 2020 February guide it says that for Presidents’ Day weekend you expect Saturday to be less crowded due to AP blackouts and here it says Saturday is more crowded despite blackouts… I’m going Friday and Saturday and curious which is a better bet for Disneyland. Also I would love to read your article on why California is better even though as a Californian, it is obvious 🙂
I need to update all of the crowd calendar posts (again) because this supersedes those. Normally, weekend days would be less crowded during tourist times due to the more than offsetting blockouts. However, this changes the equation–especially now that those SoCal resident tickets are being offered.
Do we each need our own account to utilize the “everybody try for a ticket” method or can we each sign in to the same account on separate devices? We are coming in from Denver on Sunday and currently only have one account with everything on it, but we’ll have three smart phones to try from. Thanks! This was all very helpful!
I have this same question as well….Can each member of our party (3) use my login or do they need to have their own?
I’d recommend everyone have their own account, but the same idea applies regardless–you could all theoretically try from the same account.
Thank you!
Thanks Tom!
If I had to speculate based on my own personal bias, I would guess that it’s in part because of the flexibility you have to do other things while waiting for your boarding group to be called. With DHS making all of the attractions Tier 1 on FP+ (until Feb. 19) and the crowds of people flooding the park at rope drop in the standby lines for the few attractions that are there, it seems like the options in Florida are to try and keep occupied with the shows at DHS or hop over to Epcot, which also has limited FP+ availability for the top tier attractions. Unless you have a really high boarding group, it seems infeasible to hop to other parks while you wait.
By contrast, in California you can easily bounce between the parks and experience all the attractions you want while you wait or go back to your hotel and easily walk back when your group is called.
I’m also interested in why Tom thinks the California version is superior to the Florida one. For those for whom WDW is their “home park,” isn’t it still better to allocate your time to experience the attractions that either aren’t in WDW (Indiana Jones, RSR) or for which the DL version is superior (Fantasmic, PotC), versus RotR or Star Wars Land in general? Sort of the same logic as skipping TSM at DisneySea–the atmosphere is superior to either U.S. park, but not worth the time commitment that would otherwise go towards Journey, Tower of Terror, etc.
We are currently at WDW and have done the ride twice now getting up early to be in the park by 7AM. First time we got boarding group 62 and today boarding group 15. The day they didn’t start calling boarding groups till around noon. Today with boarding group 15 they opened the ride right at 7AM and our group was called at 7:15. We were able to to Slinky Dog Dash and Rise of the Resistance all before 8am. One thing I have noticed is the back up boarding group starting numbers have varied from day to day starting in the 70’s to 99 today. Ride is still being plagued with break downs though.
Hi Tom! Just to add to this…if you have party tickets linked to your account, they’ll show up on the app and you’ll have to in-check them. Unfortunately, you can’t unlink them via app & have to call them. I called 714-781-4636 option 3 and the cast member took them off for me. They didn’t come off of thre app right away and because I’m impatient, I deleted and reinstalled the app and that took care of it! Just thought I’d share in case anyone else has this issue.
Is this process the same for Disney World? Going in March and want to be properly prepared.
Dan – read this post of Tom’s – https://www.disneytouristblog.com/star-wars-rise-of-resistance-rope-drop-report/ and it will give you more pertinent info for DHS. Suffice it to say, the strategy is similar but given the multi-park options at WDW, it’s not as dire as at DL.
awesome thank you!
Tom
To clarify the-strategy about opening the app from a completely closed position 4-7 seconds until park opening time…e.g if the park opens at 9am that day i am literally counting down the seconds once my phone clicks over to 8:59am? and then applying strategy at 8:59 and roughly 55seconds??
That’s correct.
I’d recommend having the Disneyland app open prior to that (just to make sure you’re logged in and tickets are properly linked), then close the app at 8:58 and reopen at 8:59:55 (or so) to apply the strategy.
I am confused by your noted requirements to get your boarding time for Star Wars Resistance. Disney World rep said only one member of our party had to show up and be outside the gate to get a time on my app. The other parties did not have to be there or enter gate to get a time. Times are assigned outside the gate before it even opens.
Are you talking about just the Calif method in this article?
@Lk: The article above describes the process for riding Rise of the Resistance at BOTH CA’s Disneyland and FL’s Hollywood Studios. I don’t know what that rep was talking to you about, but it’s NOT this ride.
They don’t assign “times” to ride, they assign boarding group numbers, which are your place in a virtual line. In order a person to get into that virtual line, s/he HAS to have entered the park that day. You can’t just send one person to sign everybody in your family up, the whole family has to scan into the park. The virtual line does not open until the park officially opens.
People who don’t get to ride RotR are basically subsidizing the higher ticket prices for those lucky enough to get a BG. I know they can still get to see Star Wars Land but that isn’t what many people are going for. I also know that there is an extent to this in other instances but this seems to take it to another level. I think they should have had RotR or even the whole land as a separate paid experience given how hard it is to get to ride RotR and how much prices for everyone have gone up.
To be fair, ticket prices haven’t increased on either coast since Rise of the Resistance opened. I’m sure they will increase soon, but at the moment, your thesis lacks evidence.
Just wanna shout out you and Sarah for doing all this research, and for choosing to opt out so others can ride (the ultimate selfless move)!
In all honesty, it’s not totally selfless.
We both absolutely love Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and want it to remain a special, powerful experience. Some other attractions have lost their impact because we’ve done/did them so much. Plus, even with the boarding pass system it takes a lot of time for the full attraction experience, and there’s so much other stuff we wanted to do in California!
came down here to make a similar comment, thank you for giving others a chance. nothing irks me more than people claiming on twitter the dozens of times they’ve ridden it (my favorite was the “i rode 3 times on new years eve!” claim)
Thanks for the helpful tips! Just to clarify, if my wife and I both download the app and link each others ticket, once we scan our ticket to get into the park, we would each have the ability to try and get a boarding pass on our phones?
Correct.
My husband has his own login with his ticket linked and I have my login with my ticket linked. I had no problems selecting me and him to make fast passes this way. But I can’t add his ticket BC it’s linked to his account. Not sure what I’m missing here 🙁
@Maddie: If both of you can already book maxpasses for each other, then you’re good. You have already linked each other’s tickets to your account. Within your account, huband’s ticket is still husband’s, but by linking it you can make plans/fastpasses for him.
Haha. I definitely want to know why you find the California experience better than the Florida one!
Samesies!
Make that another +1.
Only as it applies to RoTR though…highlighting California’s obvious superiority over Florida writ large would make for some boring reading.
Sorry, but if I do write such an article, you can be assured that it’ll be peppered with pro-California propaganda.
I would loooove to hear why I should choose CA over FL. They are equally far for me; I pretty much must fly either way (it’s a two day drive – full days). I have gone to FL many times. Now I wonder if I am missing something amazing. Please talk it up!
@Kathleen, if you want to get beyond the theme parks California is pretty incredible. I prefer Disneyworld for a “Disney bubble” vacation with our kids the age they are…but there is so much to see and do in California (just SoCal) alone…it’s amazing.
I’m sure Mr. Bricker can do a much better job than I ever could promoting it, but I’d definitely look into tying some real world California (San Diego is a favorite for me) into a trip to Disneyland.
i for one much prefer Disneyland park over magic kingdom for a whole host of reasons.
Me too, please share!!
Agree, please elaborate on that!
If I had to speculate based on my own personal bias, I would guess that it’s in part because of the flexibility you have to do other things while waiting for your boarding group to be called. With DHS making all of the attractions Tier 1 on FP+ (until Feb. 19) and the crowds of people flooding the park at rope drop in the standby lines for the few attractions that are there, it seems like the options in Florida are to try and keep occupied with the shows at DHS or hop over to Epcot, which also has limited FP+ availability for the top tier attractions. Unless you have a really high boarding group, it seems infeasible to hop to other parks while you wait.
By contrast, in California you can easily bounce between the parks and experience all the attractions you want while you wait or go back to your hotel and easily walk back when your group is called.