i think its less the RD crowds — everyone gets in — but more the dependence on quirky technology, and the 1 minute window do-or-die.
i have no idea how to improve it. but its not fun
3 Likes
Well, they are essentially one and the same.
Due to the fact that in order go obtain a BG, you have to be there at RD, it means that all those folks who want to ride ROTR MUST be there at RD. This has driven up RD crowds moreso than usual because other RD crowds are just trying to be first in line, but ultimately people know there will be a wait. With the BGs, they have to RD, and then if they get one (or even if they don’t) they are now in the park, and must now RD something else in the park. This has made the chaotic RD crowds far worse than they used to be…so much so that Disney has now started the unprecedented pre-loading of the SDD queue in order to get people out of the pathways.
The current BG method is forcing EVERYONE to arrive at RD now (who hopes to get on ROTR), PLUS the usual RD crowds.
If they spread out the “awarding” of the BGs throughout the day, however, it would be reason a lot of people would say, “Well, I’ll try later,” and avoid the RD crowds. Ultimately, this gives all the benefits of BGs, and even gives some level of advantage to those who DO show up at RD, but encourages folks to spread out their arrival time to something more normal.
2 Likes
I know!!! I meant the stress. The stress is the one-minute-chance and IT unreliability.
3 Likes
That’s why I asked about what don’t you like in the process. The stress could probably be fixed by having a lottery which you could enter after entering the park (online or at a kiosk) and that distributed BGs at 15 minutes after opening. But that wouldn’t fix the RD crowds, and would create more uncertainty (you have less control of your destiny 
)
1 Like
Done!
1 Like
Ok how about this:
If you have attempted to get a BG for RotR, what was your success rate? (ie, what percentage of attempts where you were in the park and had MDE ready on time resulted in you getting at least a BBG? Exclude times you were late or didn’t have your phone open.)
- 100% of attempts
- 75-99%
- 50-74%
- 25-49%
- 1-24%
- 0%
- Haven’t attempted or wasn’t on time
0 voters
5 Likes
Thanks!!
1 Like
I started a thread to collect stories, but maybe a poll would do a better job. Could you add the poll to the thread I created? I am afraid it is going to get lost here.
Someone beat me to it but I added a link to this poll. They are each asking slightly different questions so both are worthwhile.
1 Like
Now we just need to get people to share 
1 Like
This is controversial, I understand… but with the scarcity of availability, I’d suggest that once you’ve ridden, you are ineligible to grab a boarding pass for a month or longer.
5 Likes
That may work for locals or people that can get there multiple times a year, but there are some families that only show up once a year to once every 5 years.
Limiting what they are able to do would be detrimental to Disney.
1 Like
That may work for locals or people that can get there multiple times a year, but there are some families that only show up once a year to once every 5 years.
But that’s the point. Make sure that more people get a chance to ride instead of allowing people to ride multiple times and keeping others from riding it once.
Maybe the timeframe needs to be extended to longer than a month, but the point is to allow more people to experience the ride. I know my travel agent rode it 4 or 5 times the first month.
4 Likes
I like playing devil’s advocate. 
Ok, let’s frame it another way.
Is it right to tell your child who is a massive star wars fan that he only has one opportunity to ride it? And we wont be able to ride it again for another year…yikes! That family may not come back for 2-4 years because of cost and bitter taste Disney left in their mouth.
What about those children that are obsessed with rides like Peter Pans Flight, 7DMT, FoP, SDD, etc… Would you impose the same type of restriction for them? These rides tend to have long waits and high demand as well.
What is stopping it from moving to every attraction in the park that has demand? Imagine going to WDW and being told that you are not allowed to ride anything but these 5 attractions that you have not visited in the past year.
I understand trying to make it fair so everyone has a chance to experience it, but until the ride starts running at full capacity, without breakdowns , for the entire park day, the true demand will never be known. We all may be surprised to find the hype will die down and they will be able to accommodate everyone that is still interested easily within the day.
I do not think Disney will move in this direction. They are ultimately a business trying to please their shareholders. If an inconvenience of trying for a BG on RotR gets more people in the park spending money, they are very happy!
…taking off devil’s advocate hat now… 
4 Likes
I’ll play with you. 
True story, to my children:
“So we got to ride RotR on Tuesday and just scored another BG. Should we ride again or cancel it to give someone else the opportunity to do so? There are still more fun things to do at Disney than we’ll have time for. ” Unanimous decision. BG immediately cancelled (it was on a day BBG were open several minutes, so hopefully it made a difference to someone else).
I think most kids will understand the concept of “we had our turn” if that’s how it’s presented to them.
13 Likes
Wow!!!
Thanks for trying to get a real answer to my question.
I look forward to seeing what kind of responses you get.
3 Likes
WDW website still says 8:00 AM - 8:30 PM?
The 2nd half of March was still at 9am until today. So, now the whole month (?) looks like 8:00AM to 8:30 PM. At least until the next set of changes. 
1 Like
That was a very thoughtful, selfless and a great lesson for your children. It puts a smile on my face. I just wish everyone was as kind. It is almost certain that many would not be so generous.
3 Likes
Yeah, it just sort of happened. We had scheduled 2 mornings at HS as a contingency plan because we really wanted to ride RotR and decided on the 2nd day to aim for park opening to get an extra ride on TSM, not trying for a BG knowing how coveted they are. When I realized we tapped in right before opening, I tried to grab a BG just out of curiosity (liners need data!) and was surprised I got one.
All other rides, it’s a matter of whether someone wants to ride bad enough to do SB. They just don’t have that option on RotR so it felt like the right thing to do.
I do like imagining that someone had a brilliant time in our place though!
5 Likes