Virtual Queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Tips & Info
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is using the virtual queue system, unlike other Walt Disney World attractions that use FastPass and/or standby lines. Here, we’ll offer info, tips, screenshots, strategy, and everything you need to know about the My Disney Experience app boarding group system that Hollywood Studios is using.
If you have any questions, please consult our regularly-updated Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That includes answers to 40+ questions that were frequently being asked by readers in the comments to this post and others about Walt Disney World’s new flagship attraction.
You might recall that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge used this same virtual queue on the day that it opened to the general public at Walt Disney World…but never again. It could be a similar scenario with Rise of the Resistance only using this for opening weekend, in which case everything that follows is moot and irrelevant. However, that seems unlikely for a number of reasons…
First, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is the flagship attraction of Galaxy’s Edge, and it’s opening to rave reviews (including ours). Even in the off-season, it has remained very popular with high demand. “Competition” to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will remain intense for a long time.
Second, the physical standby line at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is not that long. It’s certainly not as long as the queue at Avatar Flight of Passage, and I don’t even think it’s as long as Smugglers Run’s line. Even if temporary switchbacks were added outside the entrance (a potential logistical nightmare given the attraction’s location near the land’s entrance), there may not be enough of a physical line to contain everyone who wants to be in line.
This wouldn’t be a problem with FastPass+, as Walt Disney World can manipulate the ratio of FastPass (the other form of virtual queue) to standby guests to bump up the posted wait time. Higher posted wait times then act as a means of discouraging more guests from entering the standby queue, thus meaning fewer guests in that line. However, there’s no FastPass+ for Rise of the Resistance, and it’s likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Third, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is currently not particularly reliable and there have already been issues with uptime. It typically breaks down multiple times per day, usually going down for about 25-70 minutes at a time.
Unlike Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, which has had a great uptime record, things will be a bit more touch and go with Rise of the Resistance. As such, using a virtual queue to act as a ‘faucet’ on the stream of guests–with Disney controlling the flow and having the ability to turn off completely–into the physical line makes a lot of sense.
When Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance breaks down, this prevents Disney from having to dump an entire queue full of people and having disgruntled guests who waited two hours or longer for nothing. Instead, it means flushing a significantly smaller number of guests who can be given paper readmission vouchers.
It also minimizes the impact and “reach” of downtime issues. By confining the impact of a ride breakdown to the smaller number of people in a few boarding groups, it’s less likely to make waves on social media. Other guests and boarding groups in the virtual queue who didn’t already scan in to the attraction will likely never even know the ride went down.
Finally, per the Tampa Bay Times, Walt Disney World representatives have indicated that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is expected to allow reservations via Virtual Queue through the next few weeks; it will then accept FastPasses and have a standby line.
Of course, “expected to” is the operative language here. We have enough experience covering Disney to know those wiggle words when we see them. Expectations change, and it thus shouldn’t be surprising to see the Virtual Queue used for more or less time than the next few weeks.
That’s the ‘case’ for my belief that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will use the virtual queue at least until at least March 2020. In the interest of full disclosure, prior to the opening of Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland opening, I also predicted the park would “deplete its daily supply of boarding passes by 10 am” every day for the entire summer. In actuality, the land used the virtual queue once for like two hours…
To use the virtual boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, download the My Disney Experience app before arriving at Walt Disney World and be sure you’re updated to the most current version. Functionality for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue and boarding pass system was actually added to the app code this summer, so if you’ve updated in the last few months, you’re good. (If you don’t have a smart phone, see the Guest Experience Team at the front of DHS, and they can assign you to a boarding group.)
Joining a virtual queue boarding group is as simple as launching the My Disney Experience app and clicking the “Find Out More” button under “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – Access by Boarding Group” window on the home screen.
From there, this will show you the status of the land (it’s always open now) and provides options to check “My Status” or “Join Boarding Group.”
If you haven’t already joined one, “Join Boarding Group” is the button you want. From here, you select party members and click confirm. This process works like selecting people for making a FastPass+, and you can only add people if they’re in the park.
After that, when you click on “My Status,” you’ll see this screen. Those green bars do progress, but it’s still pretty much meaningless until you’re actually called.
(Note that this screenshot was taken immediately after we entered the virtual queue–we were inside the park at 6:06 am on a morning that Disney’s Hollywood Studios officially opened at 8 am.)
We highly recommend enabling push notifications on your mobile device for the My Disney Experience app so you will be notified when it is time to enter the queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
When it was our time to enter today, we received notifications on our Apple Watches and phones.
If you don’t enable notifications, you’ll need to incessantly refresh or check the “My Status” screen in the My Disney Experience app or digital signage in the park to see when you’re up.
Once your virtual queue boarding group is called, you’ll have up to two hours to enter the physical line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
To enter, you simply walk up to the Rise of the Resistance entrance, which is just inside the land itself.
There, you’ll find a sea of Cast Members with iPads will scan your MagicBand or linked park ticket. Neither of our MagicBands worked, as we had to scan our physical APs. (YMMV.)
I’m not exactly happy that Disney plowed forward opening an attraction that seems like it could use more test & adjust time, but that was the risk taken when the opening date was set way back over the summer.
I’m also not a fan of Walt Disney World not offering Extra Magic Hours at Rise of the Resistance. One way or another, big-spending resort guests should have an advantage with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and that’s not currently the case.
However, I’m a huge fan of the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It’s really a case of Walt Disney World Operations ‘making lemonade out of lemons.’ Setting aside all of the above issues, this eliminates further potential guest frustrations and minimizes guest headaches. For the most part, tourists can go about their day as normal at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, rather than this new attraction eating up their entire day.
Additionally, as someone who is both an early-riser and a huge fan of same-day FastPass (rather than booking 1-2 months in advance), this system is ideal for me–I hope it continues indefinitely. Basically, it’s like a digital return to legacy FastPass, except with a 2-hour return window instead of a 1-hour window.
It’s also great in that I now don’t have to totally overhaul our 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary. The only new step is “join a boarding group immediately upon entering DHS.” Then, instead of waiting two, three, or seven hours for a ride that may go down several times while you’re there, you can simply go about your touring plan as normal and return to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance mid-morning or so.
Some added strategy and answers to FAQ:
- Get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios well before posted park opening. It’s likely the park will continue to open at 7 am until at least March 2020, regardless of current official park hours.
- Until further notice, the optimal time to arrive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is ~6:30 am.
- If you’re in an early boarding group and are called back while wait times around the park are low, take your time returning. Do Slinky Dog Dash and other headliners while lines are shorter.
- If you arrive late (in other words, any time after 8 am), consider park hopping to Epcot while awaiting your evening return time. This virtual queue will inflate wait times around DHS, as now the line for every other attraction is effectively a “waiting room” for Rise of the Resistance.
- Boarding groups are called without specific intervals. This is especially true later in the day, and after the ride has broken down. Don’t simply linger around the attraction entrance for hours, thinking you’re almost there. (I say this speaking from experience!)
- Once you’re in line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the wait time should be minimal. Even if the physical line is totally full and backed up to the ride entrance, the wait time shouldn’t exceed 30 minutes (unless something breaks down).
That should answer every question about the virtual queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Walt Disney World. It’s a painless process, and intuitive once you’re inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so don’t fret or stress out if you’re still confused. Unlike a lot of Walt Disney World IT, this actually works really well.
Just be advised that the Virtual Queue is distributing all slots very early. On most days, primary boarding groups are gone within minutes and backup groups are fully distributed within the first hour or two that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is open. This is why we currently recommend arriving by 6:30 am. Walt Disney World transportation should be running by then, but you might just be better off taking a Lyft or Uber if you’re visiting during the next few weeks.
We’d also advise you not to worry about the virtual queue too much if you’re visiting at some point beyond Summer 2020. As noted, there’s a lot of speculation and guesses here, and you should expect this to evolve and change in the weeks to come. It’s possible that Walt Disney World will continue using the Rise of the Resistance virtual queue for the next several months (or beyond), but it’s also likely that they’ll switch to FastPass+ at some point or make some other arbitrary change that renders everything I’ve typed here irrelevant. Either way, we’ll keep you posted!
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 Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you planning on visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge now that Rise of the Resistance is open? Do you agree or disagree with our preliminary strategy for using the virtual queue? Are you a fan of this system, or would you just prefer FastPass+ or 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!
So there is no stand by line of an kind? You can only ride the ride with a boarding pass?
Correct. And you have to be at HS at 6:30 a.m. with everyone that wants to ride or you cannot get on. And if you get a low enough number. They overbook so you may not get to ride if you’re there later.
In theory, could you reenter the virtual queue after you have ridden the attraction if there was boarding parties left for the day? Gonna attempt EMH on Sunday but I feel like I need to get there at 5am. 🙁
You could previously but disney closed that loophole. Only one ride per day.
Well, we are going in May and I have a feeling that virtual que will still be in play and I am going to have to call Uber to take me to the gate at 4am to wait LOL
Nah, no way the virtual queue sticks around for half a year. I have to think that, come May, there will be a fastpass ‘A’ tier of RotR, MFSR, and MMRR.
Once the reliability of RotR improves, there’s less risk in letting people wait in a 3 hour line to ride it. The issue now is that, because the ride is so breakdown-prone, they don’t want to let a big physical queue form.
I have a May trip planned as well. I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes and ears open to any changes made. I wouldn’t mind seeing the VQ still up and running at that point, but I am planning 2 days in HS, so I can get a guaranteed Slinky Dog fast pass at the end of my trip. If the Star Wars rides have fast passes at that point, I should be able to get Slink for my first day and star wars the second day I go, so that will be even better, then I’ll just make the second day a star wars day and only do the star wars attractions.
Can you get more than one boarding pass at a time? Or have you just lucked out at getting one? Thanks! We are headed to Orlando tomorrow for our honeymoon. 🙂 Tuesday is our Batuu day!
No, you sign into the virtual queue and are assigned a boarding group, and that’s it. You can’t join multiple boarding groups.
I checked for boarding passes at 8:55 this morning before the park opened at 9 and it said there were no more passes for the day. How is that possible? There weren’t any early morning extra magic hours.
The park is opening well before its announced opening time. That’s why, in the article above, Tom advises getting to DHS by 7am regardless of official opening time.
If there is a mob waiting outside of DHS with enough guests to fill the virtual queue for the day, Disney’s plan is to just get it over with and let them in. No point waiting until 9am for an even bigger mob to form when they know the queue will be full within minutes.
i think this is wrong for disney to do, i’m sorry. i would be livid if i planned my day around a posted opening time and lost out because they opened earlier than announced. that simply isn’t fair. not enough people know about it to justify it being fair. guest relations is probably getting a lot of complaints, and rightly so in my opinion. why bother having a posted opening time if it’s completely irrelevant? i read these blogs so if i was there i’d know to go, but not everyone does. arrival by 7 for a posted 8am opening time should be more than fair but it isn’t, and that’s not right.
we are going in January
we are staying at a Disney Resort and have a 1 day Park Hopper pass and magic bands. I have FP for the afternoon but plan on Hollywood first thing.
When can we join a boarding group?
You can join a boarding group as soon as you have scanned all of your tickets into the park. However, keep your eyes on this website, as we have no idea if the virtual queue/boarding group system will still be in use in January. Things could definitely change by then.
Where are your fastpasses? A 1-day park hopper is an awful lot of money to spend on a single day at WDW. What is your plan for the day?
Fast Pass for Animal Kingdom Bug, Dinosaur and Flights of Passage all in the afternoon. We have been many, many times but plan on Hollywood first thing.
If time permits EPCOT in the early evening.
Arthur, please tell me you’re planning to round out the day by watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks show at night! Haha, that’d be one heck of a day. But yeah, get to DHS as early as you can, whether the queue is still being used or not. If it is, get scanned in as soon as possible then open the MDE app and join a boarding group so you hopefully get in a morning boarding pass time. If no Queue, then you’ll really have to hurry to get near the front of the RotR line, then do MFSR right after.
Do you know if its possible, after getting in the virtual line, to leave and go back to a hotel that is not on Disney property?
Once you are in the virtual queue, you could head to the airport and fly to Baltimore and back. Your ticket media has to have scanned into DHS that day before you can join a boarding group, but beyond that, your location is not tracked in any way. Once your boarding group is called, you have 2 hours to show up. Whether you walk to RotR from Tower of Terror, boat from Epcot, or drive from your hotel doesn’t matter, as long as you make the 2 hour window.
I not only agree with this post, but would suggest that every attraction should do this by capping the maximum physical-presence-required queue time to (say) 60 minutes.
Out of curiosity, do you have any guesses as to what the queue time would have been without this system? Similar to FOP opening waits, or higher?
The problem with this “solution” is that it displaces guests to other areas of the park, and other attractions. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is quite literally the worst park for this to happen in, since it’s the smallest and has the fewest rides. It’s a solution that’s workable in a pinch here, but wouldn’t scale.
It’s hard to say what waits would’ve been without this. I was prepared for a 3-hour wait even with arriving at 6 am yesterday. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, but my guess would’ve been a peak of around 300 minutes. So hard to say with breakdowns, though. Capacity is pretty good when it’s running.
So, if the park officially opens at 9, how early can you actually enter and book your boarding group? I just looked at the app and all groups are booked already — one hour after opening. (we go in 10 days and I’m planning ahead!0
Hey Angela, just remember that right now, the park is opening way earlier than posted. It usually opens at least 30 minutes early anyway, but now it’s opening an hour or more early to allow guests to get through the scanners. Once you’re scanned in, you can join the virtual queue. Good luck and have fun.
I asked a Guest Experience CM:
1) Do all members of your party who you want to add to the virtual queue have to be in the park when you add them? – Her response yes, they all have to be in the park.
2) Once you join the virtual queue do you have to stay in the park or can you leave? – Her response, yes you can leave, as long as you are back within 2 hours after your boarding group gets called.
So this seems somewhat different than what others in the comments posted they were told, but hopefully others can help confirm or deny what they were told/experience themselves.
*Technically speaking,* all members of your party don’t have to STILL be in the park when you join a boarding group, they just have to have already entered DHS that day. Your party could scan into DHS, immediately leave, and join a boarding group while riding on the FriendShip boat to Epcot.
It’s about your ticket media status, NOT about your phyiscal location.
Interesting, good to know. I wasn’t sure if it went by scanning into the park, or by tracking your location, or both. Thinking about it this makes more sense.
So once you have entered yourself into the virtual queue you are free to leave the park until it’s time for your boarding group? We have a toddler who will need to leave the park for a nap but we still would like to be able to ride!
You are free to do anything and go ANYWHERE (Epcot, Universal, Miami) once you join the virtual queue, as long as you show up to ride within 2 hours of your boarding group being called.
I guess one benefit for resort guests will be during EMH-they will be able to enter the park earlier and grab the early boarding groups! Like the way guests at Disneyland can start making Maxpass selections when they enter for EMH/magic morning.
Not exactly. It seems that Disney transportation doesn’t open before people are all ready lining up and the park opens early. Disney transportation opens one hour before the park does but the park has been letting people in earlier than that. So if you really want a spot, you need to Uber or drive yourself.
When you join the virtual queue do you have to select the names of the guests that will be in your party or just the number in your party?
I was there this morning (opening day) and it had me select my party from my friends & family list, like I would for fast passes.
Based on what I heard this morning from a CM, your virtual queue place in line will be deleted from the system if you get in the queue and then leave the park. That’s what I was told at least. Also, regarding early bus times, another CM (a bus driver) told us this morning that they look at the bus stop cameras early in the morning to partially determine when to send drivers out on routes, implying they if you show up, a bus should be routed soon thereafter. Not sure if this is the case but it’s what I heard.
We got virtual queue and left the park to epcot and came back as our queue line got closer. Not a problem at all.
I would caution against relying on the bus stop camera information. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we waited at Saratoga over 40 minutes for a Hollywood Studios bus and barely made it to queue up for bag check by the start of morning extra magic hours…
Do you know if they have rider swap for families with young children?
I don’t know, but the return window is 2 hours and the max total entrance to exit experience is under an hour right now.
Yes, they have rider swap, and you should use it in conjunction with the virtual queue. Once your boarding group is called, let them know you need to do rider swap. That way, the second half of your party can enter through the fastpass queue and save some time.
Tom,
Can you still have a FP+ in another park and get in the virtual que? For example: can we show up at HS and enter the park and (hopefully) get assigned to a boarding group while already holding FP+ at DAK?
Yes, the virtual queue is its own stand-alone thing, not connected to FP+ system in any way.
I see you recommend gettin great to HS by 6:30 or 7:00 AM – will resort transportation be up and running by then? We’re staying at Pop Century so we’ll be dependent o. The sky liner or bus system to get us there. We visit on 12/13. Thanks!
No, the Disney transportation only opens one hour before the park does. If you want to guarantee a spot, you’ll have to Uber or drive. People have been waiting in line from 4:30 on and the early numbers are gone by 7 or 7:30. You can supposedly get a number at 8 but it’s a high number and doesn’t guarantee you’ll get on the ride. We did that, got the spot but still couldn’t ride. We’ve tried three times now and have still not been able to ride.
Tom, given what you’ve said about the minimal que space, so you foresee Disney having some “downtime” between the virtual boarding pass system and FastPass? Or do you think they’ll always have something in place to manage the crowds?
Visiting at the end of January and I’m afraid they’ll have done away with the boarding pass, not be using FastPass, and it’ll be a chaotic free-for-all. With 2 5 year olds in our party, I don’t think that’ll be an option for us!
If my minimal queue space theory is correct (and I think it is, but I guess they could always extend it on a narrow path out of the land and into the Muppet Courtyard) then they’d pretty much go from the Virtual Queue one day directly to FastPass+ the next.
However, I could see them not using FastPass+ until Runaway Railway is ready to open…and that’s still several months away from now.
So how long did you have to wait in line once you actually scanned in? The experience itself is 17-18 minutes or so, right? But how long did you wait once you arrived, before the true start of the attraction?
We waited about 15 minutes, but we saw the queue back up more than that for the earlier boarding groups. In talking to others, 15-25 minutes sounds like it’s about the norm.
Just to add additional info, I was there this morning and we were boarding group 24. (I can’t believe we beat you Tom! 🙂 Once our group was called we checked in pretty quickly and waited in the actual line about 40 minutes.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow for park opening. What time will they really let people in to get in virtual queue??
Would having a reservation for Oga’s Cantina be a way to bypass the virtual boarding group?
Definitely not. That only worked for entering the land–this is for entering the Rise of the Resistance attraction queue.
What time does resort transportation start going if the park opens much earlier than the listed time?
Kinda curious about that (unannounced opening times), also. In Sept, with announced openings at 6AM, buses were picking up @5—maybe earlier, but I was on a bus at 5 several days. We’ll be back during 12th-15th. I’ the early riser so really appreciate the info that one can grab for the entire party.
@Tom, thanks, AGAIN, for great info.
It’s still only an hour before official opening time. That’s the problem. The park opens unofficially before Disney transportation even starts. Many have had to Uber or drive themselves to actually get a decent queue number.
It was just after 6 am.