Just saw this confirmation that Boarding Groups will be used at Disneyland when RotR opens there January 17th for those (like me) interested in the west coast iteration:
I’m actually really hoping that they’ll start letting people through the tapstiles at 7 for the 8am opening days. I’d love to be able to arrive around 7:15 or 7:30 and still get a boarding group. I’ll show up earlier if I have to, but I won’t be happy about it.
We showed up on Monday at 9 and got BBG 187. We still got called. But the park was so crowded, we only got 4 other rides in, 2 on FPP and 2 SB. We had a hard time getting another Tier 2 early in the day. To be fair, Monday was supposed to be our Kennedy day but we went on Friday to watch the launch. And we rebooked those FPP on Thursday.
If you don’t care when you are called, a later arrival seems okay.
On Wednesday, December 18th, we got a BBG and got called around 5:30 pm. However, we got on all the rides, plus ToT and TSM 2x.
Thank you for this. I don’t mind leaving HS and then coming back when I am called but I do need to be called before 6pm. I think arriving near park opening and not ridiculously early will work out ok for me.
Today BGs were open for longer than they have been lately - 8:30am for initial and noon for Backup. They got up to 165, which is not a record but is very good.
I have added a link to Steve’s post with BG data to the lead post above. There’s some data he tracks that I don’t but other stuff I have that he doesn’t, so I’ll keep going with this for now.
Important Strategy Update: @MOJoe reported on Chat this morning that he was able to access a BG more quickly by pressing the “My Status” button rather than “Join Boarding Group.” Apparently the app refreshes the data for “Join Boarding Group” every couple of minutes but by selecting “My Status,” you are forcing an immediate refresh to Disney’s server. Using this method he was able to access BGs at exactly 7:00am. I recommend trying this until further data proves otherwise.
Over the 21 days, Boarding Group reservations on average are gone within 1 hour and 16 minutes. The slowest was 2 hours and 14 minutes and the fastest was 15 minutes.
Boarding Groups: on average, 9.39 BG/hr are being called. The slowest rate was 5.09 BG/hr and the fastest was 14.59 BG/hr. The table below shows the minimum BG that was called, the maximum BG that was called and the average BG that was called at each hour and half hour over the past 21 days.
TIME
MIN
MAX
AVG
6:00
0
0
0
6:30
0
8
0
7:00
0
22
6
7:30
0
26
17
8:00
0
30
21
8:30
0
34
24
9:00
0
42
27
9:30
0
46
31
10:00
13
53
36
10:30
14
60
40
11:00
15
64
45
11:30
19
74
49
12:00
27
80
53
12:30
30
83
57
13:00
34
93
62
13:30
39
98
65
14:00
43
108
70
14:30
43
113
74
15:00
46
120
79
15:30
50
133
84
16:00
54
140
88
16:30
58
143
92
17:00
61
155
98
17:30
65
163
103
18:00
65
165
108
18:30
65
171
112
19:00
68
181
116
19:30
72
192
119
20:00
82
192
122
20:30
82
192
123
21:00
82
192
123
21:30
82
192
124
22:00
82
192
124
22:30
82
192
124
Backup Boarding Groups: tend to move differently and we only have 10 days of data to play with. On average, BBG tend to start reservations at 7:47am. The earliest they started was 7:16am and the latest they started was 8:30am. On average, the reservation window for BBG lasts 1 hour and 53 minutes. The quickest they were gone was 17 minutes and the longest they lasted was 3 hours and 35 minutes.
They start calling Backup boarding groups to the ride on average at 4:35pm. The earliest they have started calling them was at 2:35pm and the latest was when they were not called at all on Dec. 16.
The last Backup boarding groups to ride have started their 2 hour window on average by 7:26pm. They have reached the last group as soon as 5:35pm and as late as 8:05pm. It looks like they are trying to stop Boarding groups 2 hours before park close or if they run out of groups. Which ever comes first.
The rate that they call BBGs is on average 14.65 BBG/hr. The slowest they have been called is at a rate of 7.24 BBG/hr and the fastest they have been called is 20.0 BBG/hr (this rate looks like an anomaly).
Not sure if the BBG size is smaller than the regular BG as they tend to move through the ride at a faster rate 8 out of the 9 times we have data for.
Wow! More amazing data to have! (Thinking ahead to trying to book a non-conflicting Jedi training on our visit after we have our BG.). This forum rocks!
Today was the first day with a 6am official park opening. Initial BGs were gone within 15 minutes but Backup BGs were available for two hours.
Apparently there was an issue where people were not recognized as being in the park after tapping in because today they decided not to scan fingerprints. Lots of angry people at Guest Services complaining that they couldn’t get a BG due to the technical issue. They will probably fix this somehow before tomorrow, but I recommend stationing yourself near a CM at park opening just in case (and keep your whole party together so you can prove you’re all in the park).
I saw reports of people arriving as late as 5:25am and still getting through the tapstiles well before 6am, so you should still be safe arriving between 5:00-5:30am as I previously advised for a 6am opening. You could have arrived as late as 7:30am and still had a decent shot at a Backup BG that will be called.
Now that Steve is tracking all the data I have been, I’m going to stop updating the table at the top and refer back to his thread. I may still comment here on the general trends, and will continue to update the lead post with the latest advice.
Today ALL BGs ran out by 6:15am! Initial BGs were gone in 4 MINUTES! These early open CL 10 days are going to be insane. I expect things will quiet down the week after New Year’s, but for now, make sure you are there 30-60 minutes before scheduled opening.
I just got notice from TP that the first full week in January has moved from 8 am to 7am opening. I am so bummed. We are doing HS on Tuesday the 7th and my family was OK with a 7:15-7:30 time frame, but I haven’t broken it to them about 6:15 to 6:30. I may be going on my own.
Have them still show up at 7:15am. They might still get an evening BG and you could ask a CM to switch yours to their time if you’d rather wait and ride with them.
thats a great idea. I may even be able to get them there at 7. we are staying at CBR and was hoping to take advantage of the skyway to get there without a lot of hassle
How many people are in a BG? I’m going tomorrow with my family and I am scared out of my skin that we won’t get to ride after dragging them there at 4:30. Did everyone who was in the park at 6AM today get a BG?