Agreed! I would go so far as to say today was the best day yet. Least downtime and they got to what was apparently the highest BG issued (123) just after 6pm. Leaving 3 hours to cycle through anyone remaining with a BG or FP. I’m assuming they will close it down for the night since they have never issued new BGs in the evening.
Opening day was the only day they have called a higher BG than today - they got to 127 (only possible because they issued 160+) but it took them longer to get that high.
Some observations, which may be helpful. Let’s just say I heard them from someone at the parks and leave it at that. I’m channeling the spirit of the late, great Backside of Magic podcast. Paging @jeremy1002 to the thread.
If not all of your party is there at rope drop to get a BG, it is possible to persuade a CM to add an extra person to your BG party.
If you get tossed from the ride, you get a paper FPP. This is visually checked on your return but not necessarily scanned or taken from you. Which opens up the possibility of using it twice.
Or asking guest services to change the date on it. They will convert it to an electronic FPP that will appear in your MDE.
What guest services won’t do is change the date of the electronic FPP. If, for example, you used the FPP but weren’t asked to tap in and it remained on your MDE and you wondered if you could return on a third day and ride ROTR yet again.
Not looking for judgement.
YMMV.
“I love you.” - Me this morning after waking my wife up at 4am to ride some stupid Star Wars ride.
“I know.” - My wife
She Han Solo’d me. We’re off to a great start!
Updates during the morning
Took Lyft to DHS. 4:30AM arrival. In no bag line
Security open 5:19. Held at taptiles. 10 people back
6:22 open
BG11
Drove ourselves. 5:08 arrival. In the bag/stroller line.
Drew the slowest security guard I’ve ever had at Disney. Through security at 5:30. Am behind the ticket booths.
Through taps at 6:28. BG 26
“Backup Boarding Groups” are a new thing HS is trying to do. Disney Implements New "Backup Boarding Group" for Additional Rise of the Resistance Availability at Disney's Hollywood Studios .
Credit to @brerbeer for reporting this on Lines chat.
Is going bagless an advantage? Or are they keeping everyone-bag, bagless, stroller-in one line?
Today’s issued regular BG go up to 120. Backup BG are 121+.
There’s a separate bag less line
Bagless only applies to the step of going through security. There’s usually one bagless line at HS. Once through, you then get in line at any of the many taps with all the others.
I like this idea! And that fact they are doing it is a good sign. Here’s what MDE looked like when I opened it up just now:
If you get there crazy early, then it’s not. They’ve been calling several boarding groups whenever Rise of the Resistance opens for the day, so there’s no advantage to being in the first group (which doesn’t seem like it’s ever group #1) as opposed to being in some other relatively low numbered group. In the four days I was at the Studios to get Boarding Groups last week, they started by calling 5-9 groups at a time to start the morning and pretty quickly added more groups as long as the ride stayed up.
If you get there later, then the no bag line might get you in front of enough people to move up a couple Boarding Groups, but that’s not going to make a huge difference in when your group gets called. Choosing the right line once you’re through security makes a much bigger difference right now.
We got called at 7:32. Got on just after 9. Finished right around 10.
Things that really helped that I got from this thread. Having a slow security guard can really hamper you. If you’re behind the ticket stands, definitely move to the right as much as you can. We were right along the construction fencing and it helped make up a ton of space/time we lost from the slow security guard. Switch off WiFi. When I got in, I was Disney WiFi because I forgot to switch it off. I was not able to do anything. Switching it off let me grab a BG right away.
Woo hoo! Glad you got to ride and that the forum was able to provide some helpful info.
So would you say you were in line for 40 minutes or so? I hear the ride experience is about 20 minutes, including a little bit of waiting in the Star Destroyer hangar and boarding the main ride vehicle.
Day 12 Timeline 12/16/19
Link to OP
4:45am @tritigger arrives at HS
5:00am Buses reported running
5:18am @TinkerNanc arrives at HS - security open (50 people back at tapstiles)
5:23am Tritigger through security (12 back at tapstiles)
5:45am @carlyking arrives at HS
6:02am @JenniferB1975 arrives at HS
6:08am @mickeymagic1974 through security
6:25am Park opens
6:28am Tritigger throuh tapstiles - BG 12
6:35am Carly through tapstiles - BG 29
6:40am MM74 through tapstiles - BG 40
6:41am @Zipadee through tapstiles - BG 43
6:51am Jennifer through tapstiles - BG 56
6:57am @MouseHaus6 arrives at HS
7:00am Published park opening
7:02am @budpowell through tapstiles - BG 70
7:04am MouseHaus6 through tapstiles - BG 88
7:30am MDE switches to “backup” BGs (121+)
7:45am MDE stops issuing BGs
8:15am Ride down
9:20am Ride back up
12:30pm Ride down
1:45pm Ride back up
2:45pm Ride down
5:20pm Ride back up
Note: First day of “backup” BGs
That sounds about right. I wasn’t paying too close attention to the exact time for when the line ended. I remember it being kind of abrupt and thinking “I guess that was the end of the line.” The post interrogation queue was also longer than I expected.
I bless this content. (Thanks for the info!)
I’m in the same boat. I’ve got 8 adults staying at Kidani and we’ll be in HS on Wednesday the 15th. I’m hoping I can get everyone up and moving in time. If all else fails, it’s going to be me and my father in law riding alone. 
