I doubt it is harder. But if you break it up you risk only some getting BGs and others not…and those that do may be at widely different times.
If there is space for 15, it would be best, in my mind, to try for all 15 at once. If there isn’t space for 15, then at best you will only get some of you.
No. Large parties have had no problems getting a BG any more than small parties. I would pick a few people who are familiar with the process to attempt.
Sweet. Thanks peeps!
I wanted to test this to ensure all my folks are automatically selected already. I read somewhere that we all should be selected. However, I tried without an APR yesterday, and only I was automatically selected. I did get the ‘Not So Fast’ message, which I believe means I would’ve scored a BG if I had an APR.
If you have an APR, will the whole group be selected automatically? Can I get a confirmation from someone out there who’s done it? I tried this morning and between clicking the initial Join (at 06:59:59.5 and trying to ‘select all’ for my entire party, I got the message that there were no BGs left. These milliseconds apparently matter greatly.
Only those who have park reservations for that day will be selected automatically within a group.
Also, don’t do it .5 seconds early. That is a mistake. You must wait until exactly 7:00:00! Going even a smidge early actually will slow things down because it will require an extra screen to pass through (extra click).
Theoretically correct, but is there a certain internet speed threshold, where if you’re below a certain level on a speed test just before, that it is actually better to click early to compensate for that?
I think it is a risk.
I did it three times by waiting until exactly 7:00:00 and no earlier, and I managed to secure BG 2, BG 12, and BG 8 (or 5…I keep forgetting which it was now). But when I was practicing, and I tried to do it a TAD early, I ended up frequently hitting too soon, and it took me to the page where you had to hit “Join” again…but by the time this page loads and you click, you are now a couple seconds behind.
Thanks, because there’s conflicting info on this forum where folks were saying start the process about a half a second before 07:00:00. I’ll wait right till 0700 on the button as anecdotally you’ve done it 3 times successfully.
Does the ‘Not So Fast’ without an APR indicate I would’ve scored a BG?
I did this in January 2020 while in the park on two separate days and it was a whole lot easier with loads of time (comparatively) for error margin.
Not guaranteed, but is a good indication. It would depend upon how fast you are on the subsequent click. If you had an APR, then you should see a screen with the party members. You then quickly click once more to confirm. If you hesitate too long on that screen where you are confirming your party, you could still lose out. This is why the general advice is ignore whether or not the party selected is actually correct or not and just GO as quickly as possible. (Most of the time it will be right, anyhow.)
I think this advice REALLY comes from HOW you end up counting down the time. Most phones will only show hours/minutes while in the app, so if you wait until you SEE the clock change on your phone screen and THEN click Join, you are actually clicking late. What I do is have the MDE app open, but have my phone switched over to the clock app (on Android, BTW) until there are about 5 seconds left. Then I count down in my head while I switch back to MDE and press “Join” exactly at 7:00:00 without any reactionary delay. Hope that makes sense. Another option is to use a second phone to display the time for an even more accurate/less stressful wait to countdown those final seconds.
Yeah that’s safe. I similarly was looking at my watch that displays seconds, but warning if you do that, even though it’s a smart watch that’s supposed to sync to official time, I checked beforehand and saw that my watch was about 1/3 to 1/2 sec slow, so I did try to compensate for that just slightly when I clicked Join, and I think I got BG8.
Many numerous people hit join from the home page at 6:59:59 and succeed. There was even one report of 6:58:58.
Here is the proof from when I practiced. Notice the time while displaying the blue join button. (Technically this should not happen)
Hmm. That’s not proof. That’s the page you will see if you are trying to join too soon! Not sure that helps much.
No, that’s step #2 in the 3-step join process.
You don’t need step 2, actually, if you wait until 7:00:00! 
(Or alternatively, you can wait on Step 2 until 7:00:00, and then click Join! But if you click Join on step 2 before 7:00:00, you end up back at Step 2.)
I know some people have started out on the virtual queue page and not the home screen, is this how you did it?
I’ve done it both ways. But whether you are on Step 1 or Step 2, if you click “Join”, it will take you right to Step 3 as long as it is 7:00:00 and not any sooner. If it is sooner, and you are on Step 1, it just takes you to Step 2. And if you are on Step 2 and you click Join, it will take you back to Step 2. So, Step 2 isn’t really any progress at all. It is only when you see Step 3 that you are actually making progress.
