8:35am app lists boarding groups 13-33
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@Jeff_AZ Thank you so much for updating this thread regularly. This is a godsend to me
So we are staying at POFQ Saturday and from this thread I’m gathering getting to the bus at 6am cause that’s when they seem to start to run and I should be at the park by 6:30 at the latest? Which should mean we get an early BP.
Also say I tap in to get a BP and it gives me a high number (and we know we can’t come back late afternoon, evening for it cause we have MK reservations which I don’t want to lose), can I cancel the BP giving someone else a chance? I don’t want to hold on to a BP I know I won’t use in that case
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Yes you can cancel the BG in the app. Theoretically I guess you could get a really early one but, if one wanted a later one, drop the original BG and get another.
Not sure when buses unofficially start though, might be closer to official park opening (which has been much later than actual park opening).
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If you had arrived by 6:30am today, you would have been there at park opening and secured a morning BG. I can’t confirm buses were running at 6am but if anyone has confirmation, let me know.
BGs ran out sometime between 8:15-8:30am. If anyone can confirm that as well, I would appreciate it. BGs are moving much faster today than usual. Already up to 38 at 9:10!
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Anyone know how many people are in the boarding groups? And how quickly they call the next group?
I’m curious to know if we can figure out actual ride capacity from this data.
I did read in an article that the ride can handle 2000+ riders per hour…but I’m wondering about the “+” part of that. Let’s say it is 2000 riders. Then in a day that has, oh, 16 operating hours, that means it can handle around 32000 individuals. I’m not sure what total max capacity at HS actually is.
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Day 5 Timeline (12/9/19)
Link to OP
5:08am @merrilys arrives at HS
5:40am @Jlh12495 “15 people back” at HS; “about 300” people outside entrance
5:48am @ThorKat arrives at HS
6:28am Park opened; merrilys through tapstiles - BG 15
6:29am ThorKat through tapstiles - BG 16
6:30am Accepting BGs 1-12; @kdcat through tapstiles - BG 17
6:40am @Razsav through tapstiles - BG 30
6:43am @Mcfudge through tapstiles - BG 34
6:45am @Curiouser through tapstiles - BG 37
7:03am @GeekByExample through tapstiles - BG 46
7:18am ThorKat joins queue (BG 16) - no wait
7:44am ThorKat completes ride
8:00am Published park opening; Accepting BGs 1-27
8:25am MDE stops issuing BGs
8:30am Accepting BGs 13-32
9:00am Accepting BGs 14-37
9:30am Mcfudge (BG 34) completes ride
10:00am Accepting BGs 28-45
10:05am Geek joins queue (BG 46)
10:55am Geek completes ride
11:00am Accepting BGs 37-56
12:00pm Accepting BGs 46-66
12:30pm Ride down
1:00pm Accepting BGs 49-70
2:30pm Ride back up
3:00pm Accepting BGs 66-77
4:00pm Accepting BGs 70-87
5:00pm Accepting BGs 80-96
5:25pm Ride down
6:00pm Accepting BGs 89-100
6:10pm Ride back up
7:00pm Accepting BGs 96-114
8:00pm Accepting BGs 97-115 (highest issued); No further BGs issued or called
9:00pm Published park closing
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We are at SSG this week and hoping to do ROTR either Thursday or Friday. I was on MDE and tracking whether BG were available. They were gone by 8:36. I think they had been available as late as 8:25.
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I haven’t seen good confirmation but my hunch is 100 per BG. It’s a nice round number. They have gone through at least 1 BG per minute at park opening, which I think 200 people entering per minute seems a bit much?
Up until last night, they had been averaging 7-10 BGs per hour. But then last night they called 14 BGs per hour for the last two hours. And today has been going pretty fast - already 38 BGs called in 2.5 hours of operation. 15 BGs per hour. So seems to me they were operating at 1000 capacity per hour and now as high as 1500 with potential to reach 2000 in ideal conditions?
Again, all just conjecture.
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Thanks - I’ll go with 8:25. They were all gone when I woke up and immediately checked at 8:30am eastern.
Gives me a bit of hope that as the ride becomes more reliable and efficient, they will be a be able to accommodate more BGs…perhaps eventually even drop the BGs…although, I’m thinking they should keep the BGs for a while…at least through the chaos of Christmas, if not longer!
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9:30am- BG groups 23-42.
Have to assume the boarding group system will be around for a while- at this point my only complaints are that it feels like you need to Uber or drive to get to HS by park open- and they don’t exactly tell folks when the BG reservations open.
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According to Josh from EasyWDW:
“My guess is that there are around 200 people assigned to each boarding group”
The article also contains a chart showing the current boarding group being called, on average, over the first three days that Rise of the Resistance has been open.
I’m going early March 2020 and from what I’ve seem, I do wish that BG remains until then,
If BG aren’t in use at that time, I can’t believe we will have RotR, MFSM and MMRR running without FP+. What a mess it would be to fit all those 3 during your day, in addition with SDD if you can’t secure a FP+ for it…
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Yeah, that’s the question for me. We are going in April and I really would rather not deal with chaos to ride one ride, but I am also not missing it.
I have been pretty confident that things will be different by then, but what will have changed between then and now? Fewer people trying to ride it? Not likely. Disney being unwilling to open the park two or three hours indefinitely? If they are solving for some crowd control issue, and that issue remains, then what do they do?
There is probably some segment of the population riding it now that will not be trying to ride it in April, but I don’t know whether removing that segment changes things significantly four months from now. Ugh.
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That’s the park I’ll disagree with. I prefer no FPs at all. I really don’t like the FPP system, and wish Disney would do away with it. But, if they use FPP, then obviously you have to make use of it in general.
But with the build up of rides as HS, it is definitely a park that takes more time than it ever used to. Our May trip will be the first trip we’ve ever done 2 days at HS!
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I think January will be a far better indication. I knew it would be chaos the first week or two…but then we are running into Christmas, so really, we won’t start to see any semblance of normal operation until January.
It will impact my game plan for our Star Wars day at HS if they keep the BGs in May. I was planning on us holding off going into the parks until after lunch, and then expecting to wait in long lines for ROTR and MMRR (and MFSR)…because I wanted to stay until night to see the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular…but if they have BGs, that changes everything. 
I only have one morning to ride ROTR. January 6th. I was originally hoping to just get in line on January 5th in the evening and wait but now that may not be a possibility. The 6th has regular park hours, NO emh. Posted park opening is 9 am. What time do you think I will need to get there to hopefully get a morning BG? 7am? It’s a Monday. Any insight is much appreciated.
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As an early riser (and the rest of the family too), I see BG as a free FP for the most “in demand” ride at WDW.
And not being forced to RD RotR allows to RD elsewhere at HS, which is perfect with all those “Tier 1” Rides.
Following Josh on Twitter (from EasyWDW), he finished all 9 rides at HS before 9:45 on december 6th (park opened at 6:15).
However, I do agree that we will have breaks in the afternoon if we want to hang in the park some evenings…
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I’m going in October and expect that things will be relatively similar to the situation going on now (other than park opening which I think will be 8 am or 9 am in October). If the ride is a good as the reports, it’s going to be a mess for at least a year or more.
At some point after RotR become reliable without all the shut downs, I suspect WDW will offer some sort of upcharge experience for RofR whether it be EMM, Paid FP or something else. With all this demand, the opportunity seems too “good” for WDW to pass up.
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I can certainly see it that way. Earn a free FPP just by getting up early! My issue is that my DW, DS, and DD would probably rather give up the ride than wake up at 4 AM and I will absolutely not. The burden of being the only Star Wars fanatic in the family, I guess. But I could sell them on getting up that early and spending half the day in the park and leaving the rest unstructured (for naps or whatever).
I guess what’s really bugging me is the uncertainty. My FPP 60 days out is 60 days out. I just hope for some clarity by then.
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I would get there by 6:30am. Things might change by then though, so keep checking back.
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