Share your story from visiting DHS’ SWGE!

Sorry this is a couple of days late but I figured sharing my experience from this weekend would help some people figure out their HS and GE strategies. In the end, we basically rode RotR as a walk-on. It took quite a lot of rigmarole and jumping through hoops, but was worth it in the end for the experience we had.

The ride is as incredible as the hype suggests, so if you're a Star Wars fan it's definitely worth the effort. But it was a TREMENDOUS amount of work just to get on the ride, and it definitely requires a level of commitment that's not for everyone. If you want a relaxing vacation, this isn't for you. Here's my story!

Our trip for Dec 4th-10th was planned many months ago and booked in March, way before anyone knew when RotR would open. And then BOOM - Disney announced the new ride would open during my trip. Very exciting, but also very nerve-racking as I had no idea what to expect in terms of chaos and crowds. We had planned Sunday Dec 8th as our Hollywood Studios day, but now I was nervous that visiting on a weekend would be a mistake, as crowds would be increased by locals wanting to experience the new attraction. The park hours had been posted as 8am-9pm and stayed that way until the night before, when I got a notification on my phone via the app that morning extra magic hours were being added from 6am-8am. If you didn't get this notification, I have no idea how you'd know. Everywhere else (including the in-room WDW today TV channel) still only had 8am-9pm listed for the park hours, so these were like "secret" extra magic hours. We set our alarms for 3:30am Sunday morning and hoped for the best.

By the time we got there from our cabin at Fort Wilderness and made it through security and the gate, it was 6:30am when we were in the park. At that point I already knew about the boarding groups from reading the reports online from Friday and Saturday. Upon entry to the park, CMs were passing out fliers with instructions on how to enter the boarding groups which would only be available starting at 7:50am. This means if you were only entering the park at 8am (because you didn't know about the secret extra magic hours), you were basically out of luck already. I set an alarm on my phone for 7:45am and prayed for good luck. At precisely 7:50am I logged into the MDE app and snagged a boarding group - #98, estimated ride time in the evening. Hooray! I was thrilled.

At this point we were so exhausted from being up so early I had to ask a CM to ensure that if we left the park for a nap I wouldn't loose my spot in the boarding group. She assured me that leaving the park wouldn't affect my boarding status and we thankfully had the chance for a nap and a swim. We had a 7:15pm FP for Slinky and an 8:35pm ADR for Oga's Cantina so weren't planning to go back to the park until later in the evening. As the day wore on, the boarding groups slowly moved up only a few at a time each hour. I was getting nervous as the time got later and later. By the time we returned to the park they were only up into the 60s or 70s. I was starting to worry if we'd get in at all (MDE has a message that being in a boarding group does not guarantee entry into the attraction), despite all my efforts and jumping through all of Disney's hoops. Finally the numbers seemed to get moving despite their slow start. I knew the attraction had been down a few times and people who had been on the ride when it broke down had been given FPs to return later, also slowing down the flow of boarding groups. I was worried that our boarding group would come up, but we'd miss our Slinky FP and/or our Oga's Cantina ADR (and be charged for a no-show ADR). My brain was filling with anxiety of worst-case-scenarios. I finally got a notice from the MDE app (I think it came up while I was waiting to get into Oga's, around 8:30ish) that my boarding group would not be able to be accommodated. OMG PANIC!!!!!!!! But, I was reassured when I kept reading, because the notification also said that we would receive a freebie FP to ride again the next day, along with a comp upgrade to a park-hopper pass. Now, this worked for us because we were still staying a few more days. But I wonder what Disney would have done for people in this situation who were leaving the next day or couldn't come back? Please share your experiences if this happened to you.

In other words, I secured a place on the "queue" at 7:50am, and by 9:00pm I still wouldn't have gotten into the ride... this is the equivalent of standing on a 13+ hour line and still not being able to ride. I can't even imagine what a disaster it would have been at HS if they hadn't used the virtual queue/boarding groups. A lot of people were out of luck.

The FP we received was listed as "Multiple Experience" (or something like that) at "Multiple Parks" and would be valid on any attraction we wanted. Obviously we wanted to use it on RotR!

Ok, so now I'm satisfied that I've at least secured by chance to experience the ride. Monday is our Magic Kindom day and we're having fun doing our thing until I check the MDE app again and it lists our multiple-experience FPs as for 1 guest only. What happened??? There were 2 of us and I knew I had done everything right. We ended up going to guest relations (shout out to CM Julia at the Liberty Square ticket office!) and they figured out that my "multiple experience" FP had accidentally been used on Big Thunder, which should have been a normal, scheduled Fast Pass. It took a little time but she got it sorted out (took a phone call to HS guest relations).

In the end, here's what happened: After finishing up our afternoon at MK, we took the bus back to HS around 5pm-ish. We headed straight into Galaxy's Edge and to RotR. We scanned our magic bands and strolled into the FP queue... which had like 2 other people. I couldn't believe it! When we actually rode, it was stress-free and easy and FREAKING AMAZING! even made some friends on the ride! But holy crap, what it took to get there. I had conversations with other guests, some told me that when their boarding groups were called, they still had to wait on a 1 hour line. Even though it took a ridiculous amount of strategy, sacrifice of sleep, and huge headache, in the end I think the experience we had on the attraction was worth it. Would I do another major headliner ride it's opening weekend? No way! But this time was crazy and fun and I'm glad we did it.
 
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In other words, I secured a place on the "queue" at 7:50am, and by 9:00pm I still wouldn't have gotten into the ride... this is the equivalent of standing on a 13+ hour line and still not being able to ride. I can't even imagine what a disaster it would have been at HS if they hadn't used the virtual queue/boarding groups. A lot of people were out of luck.

Except it's unlikely a 13 hour wait (I'll never say never about an opening day though) would have ever materialized because many many people who chose to wait in the virtual queue because they aren't tied to a single spot would never have elected to stand in a line like that. Yes, it would likely be the longest queue ever experienced at WDW but not consistently13 hours by this point.
 
Just back from our Disney vacation Dec. 8th through Dec. 13th. We had booked Beach Club these dates earlier in the year not knowing when Starwars would open. The opening day just so happened to fall a few days into our scheduled trip! The announcement of opening day for RotR initially caused panic at the possible crowd size; however, the excitement of being some of the first few thousand people to ride quickly set in and we were here for it!

We followed the RotR boarding guidance thread and also contributed our experiences multiple times daily while at DHS on Monday, Dec. 9th. That day, we arrived bright and early via Lyft at 6 A.M. and got BG 22. The crowd was very tame and excited about riding. We unsure if a precedent had been set of park opening at 6:30 A.M. in the short 5 days the ride had been opened especially since Sunday was an EMH opening at 6:00 A.M. but so exicted when DHS opened at 6:30 A.M. on Monday, Dec. 9th! We were off! There were CM's holding signs pointing (LEFT) to Galaxy's Edge and (RIGHT) to Toy Story Land which was extremely helpful. We choose to move directly to the Falcon as a walk-on after securing our BG. As we were walking back to RotR, the CM's at Oga's were begging customers to come in for a quick breakfast or drink because the park had opened earlier than the reservations and the place was semi-empty for a bit. With no reservations, we strolled into Oga's to have a quick cinnamon roll and some refreshing Jabba Juice at the bar!

Immediately after riding the Falcon and stopping at Oga's our BG 22 was called for RotR! We were off the rides by 7:30 A.M. and what a ride it was! Amazing and the best ride to date at any of the Disney parks with Avatar following second for us. The whole experience is so immersive. The sounds, the rides, the characters interaction all awesome! Like a hearty stew, I think over time the characters, CM's, shops, merchandise and land will meld and grow together mixing into the perfect blend. I think a Mandalorian ride (and merchandise) would be perfect in SWGE!!! By the way, Slinky Dog and Toy Story Mania were almost walk-on at 20 minutes each after we finished with Starwars. We had finished everything at DHS including lunch at ABC by 11:30 A.M.! A three hour nap back at hotel then out to Epcot to eat dinner. The perfect day!

We were scheduled for Animal Kingdom all day on Thursday, Dec. 12th; however, we could not divert our attention to the fact that we only had one last day to get another ride in on RotR!! We decided we wanted get up at 5 A.M. again and go for it one last time!!! On this day, we arrived via Lyft at 5:45 A.M. and the crowd was over double in size just before security. We were about a 100 back, both times deciding on moving about 4 turnstiles in from the far right. We were crammed in like sardines and saw multiple people sliding through the crowd to cut in line. This crowd was more restless and less friendly than on Monday. I would recommend getting there at 5 A.M., or around, from now on until the crowds die down which I think will not be for a while. They opened the park around the same 6:30 a.m time and we were fortunate enough to snag BG 40. Since we were only in Batuu to ride a second time, we skipped all other rides and dipped into Ronto Roasters for a less than five minute wait for a couple of Ronto Roaster morning wraps. Delicious and hit the spot! After this, we went a little crazy buying multiple Resistance shirts, some hats and maybe one of those BB8 drinks... Our BG was called around 10:15 A.M. on Thursday, Dec. 12th and once again had an amazing uninterrupted ride. We were so glad we rode again because we got to experience both sides of the ride which have little differences. All in all, an amazing experience and would not have missed it!! Disney hit it out of the park and we are looking forward to seeing how the Land grows over time.
 
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A little more about my first trip to Batuu: I saw Smuggler's Run was down to 15 minutes the evening of December 5th so I headed back to HS from Boardwalk. The boat had already left for Epcot so it would be awhile before it came back to go to HS so I walked, not bad on an evening at maybe 55 degrees. By the time I arrived at Galaxy's Edge the single line was closed as the standby was 10 minutes, yay! The view of the Falcon from the queue was nice and Hondo was entertaining, then it was time to get our assignments. After a zillion years working as an engineer I got...engineer. Star Tours lets you watch all the action but on this ride I was too busy flipping switches and pushing buttons to watch all the action in front. It was fun and I will certainly ride it again but please not as an engineer. ;)

Galaxy's Edge is beautifully lit and even nicer at night than daytime. It was getting late but next time I plan to take a lot of time photographing the scenery.
459062
 
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A little more about my first trip to Batuu: I saw Smuggler's Run was down to 15 minutes the evening of December 5th so I headed back to HS from Boardwalk. The boat had already left for Epcot so it would be awhile before it came back to go to HS so I walked, not bad on an evening at maybe 55 degrees. By the time I arrived at Galaxy's Edge the single line was closed as the standby was 10 minutes, yay! The view of the Falcon from the queue was nice and Hondo was entertaining, then it was time to get our assignments. After a zillion years working as an engineer I got...engineer. Star Tours lets you watch all the action but on this ride I was too busy flipping switches and pushing buttons to watch all the action in front. It was fun and I will certainly ride it again but please not as an engineer. ;)

Galaxy's Edge is beautifully lit and even nicer at night than daytime. It was getting late but next time I plan to take a lot of time photographing the scenery.
View attachment 459062
Great photo! I'm now using that as my desktop background.
 
Just got back from our trip. Even though Vader has possibly "altered the deal" with RotR, so the data is much less reliable. I still wanted to highlight our mammoth 16-hour day at DHS as I followed the RotR planning thread very closely.

Alarm 4:55a

Called Minnie Van at 4:59a for ECV van and phone lines opened at 5:02a. No hold time.

Booked for 5:40a (mistake #1... should have been earlier)

Get to AoA porte cochere at 5:36a. Driver already there. About 10 minutes to load two ECV.

Get to DHS about 5:56a. Another 10 minutes to unload. CMs were wonderful though.

Get in line about 6:11a

20191216_061241.jpg

We ended up in the middle (mistake #2)

Had to maneuver around a planter.

Our line seemed slow. And maybe people were squeezing by our scooters.

Didn't tap in till about 7a, but gf's dad was at least 3 minutes behind us.

Get BG 86 at 7:06a.

Sign up for Jedi training for gf's cousin, 2:20p.

Wander GE a bit. Get a couple of "bomb" cokes.

Debate on a standby ride. Times getting big close to 7:30a. Either Saucers or TSMM. Pick TSMM. 30 min wait entering. Bumped to 40. Took about 30. Get lucky break with re-ride because no one in disabled ride loading queue.

Go back to GE. Bump into Rey with Chewie. Since gf's cousin was dressed as Rey, she was able to get a pic with her.

Get more photopass pics at GE. Seeing MFSR get up to 120 min. Yikes.

Make an audiable to do droid Depot at 9:45a instead of our rez at 6:45p. Genius move. Gf's dad gets R unit, cousin gets BB unit.

Move Voyage of Little Mermaid to Muppetvision at 10:50a. Window browse.

ABC Commissary 11:45a.

SDD 12-1p with FP+. Gf and cousin re-ride with ride swap. Fun ride! I liked hearing Slinky Dog speak instructions in Spanish. Lol

Gf's cousin realizes a minnie doll is missing. Ugh. Gf files lost/found report.

Star Tours FP at 1-2p.

Jedi Training 1:50-2:40p.

At 2:40p RotR, running swimmingly at BG 84, figured we would ride before 50's Prime Time at 5p since we're BG 86. WRONG. Stalls at 84.

Go to launch bay about 3:30p. Pics with Vampirina, Vader, Chewy, and BB8.

Eat 50's Prime Time. BG opened 5:27p. Not a bad result. But we get a slow as hell waitress. So we actually don't get in line until about 7:05p.

Off ride about 8:05p. Awesome experience. Now late for Oga's, and gf wants to ride MFSR since standby was 35. They move our res to 9:15p (last seating at 9:30p).

I really enjoyed MFSR too. Liked there is a scoring mechanism, which cast member verified is intended to be accurate.

Get back to Oga's at 9:15p, 20 minutes for a booth. Gf's mom must sit. Crap. We need to pick up droids at park entrance by 10p. We peek in and get res cancelled. Ugh. I had been looking forward to a "Bad Motivator" IPA most of the day.

Doll not found. But "tinkerbell magic" issued to get it replaced.

10p, skyliner home.

Fin.

Will I bother to do this again? *Shrug*

I was beat to say the least.
 
Just got back from our trip. Even though Vader has possibly "altered the deal" with RotR, so the data is much less reliable. I still wanted to highlight our mammoth 16-hour day at DHS as I followed the RotR planning thread very closely.
Called Minnie Van at 4:59a for ECV van and phone lines opened at 5:02a. No hold time.
Booked for 5:40a (mistake #1... should have been earlier)

Get to AoA porte cochere at 5:36a. Driver already there. About 10 minutes to load two ECV.

Get to DHS about 5:56a. Another 10 minutes to unload. CMs were wonderful though.

Get in line about 6:11a

View attachment 459407

We ended up in the middle (mistake #2)

Had to maneuver around a planter.

Our line seemed slow. And maybe people were squeezing by our scooters.

Didn't tap in till about 7a, but gf's dad was at least 3 minutes behind us.

Get BG 86 at 7:06a.

Sign up for Jedi training for gf's cousin, 2:20p.

Wander GE a bit. Get a couple of "bomb" cokes.

Debate on a standby ride. Times getting big close to 7:30a. Either Saucers or TSMM. Pick TSMM. 30 min wait entering. Bumped to 40. Took about 30. Get lucky break with re-ride because no one in disabled ride loading queue.

Go back to GE. Bump into Rey with Chewie. Since gf's cousin was dressed as Rey, she was able to get a pic with her.

Get more photopass pics at GE. Seeing MFSR get up to 120 min. Yikes.

Make an audiable to do droid Depot at 9:45a instead of our rez at 6:45p. Genius move. Gf's dad gets R unit, cousin gets BB unit.

Move Voyage of Little Mermaid to Muppetvision at 10:50a. Window browse.

ABC Commissary 11:45a.

SDD 12-1p with FP+. Gf and cousin re-ride with ride swap. Fun ride! I liked hearing Slinky Dog speak instructions in Spanish. Lol

Gf's cousin realizes a minnie doll is missing. Ugh. Gf files lost/found report.

Star Tours FP at 1-2p.

Jedi Training 1:50-2:40p.

At 2:40p RotR, running swimmingly at BG 84, figured we would ride before 50's Prime Time at 5p since we're BG 86. WRONG. Stalls at 84.

Go to launch bay about 3:30p. Pics with Vampirina, Vader, Chewy, and BB8.

Eat 50's Prime Time. BG opened 5:27p. Not a bad result. But we get a slow as hell waitress. So we actually don't get in line until about 7:05p.

Off ride about 8:05p. Awesome experience. Now late for Oga's, and gf wants to ride MFSR since standby was 35. They move our res to 9:15p (last seating at 9:30p).

I really enjoyed MFSR too. Liked there is a scoring mechanism, which cast member verified is intended to be accurate.

Get back to Oga's at 9:15p, 20 minutes for a booth. Gf's mom must sit. Crap. We need to pick up droids at park entrance by 10p. We peek in and get res cancelled. Ugh. I had been looking forward to a "Bad Motivator" IPA most of the day.

Doll not found. But "tinkerbell magic" issued to get it replaced.

10p, skyliner home.

Fin.

Will I bother to do this again? *Shrug*

I was beat to say the least.
Wow! Long and busy day! Thanks for sharing !
 
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We just got back from a Christmas week trip, and our first day at SW:GE was Monday, 12/23. We got on the bus from Coronado Springs shortly after 6:10 am, and it was a short trip to DHS. After all the worrying and planning, such as Uber vs. Disney Bus, the Force was with us and we got BG #20. On Christmas Day, it was our sleep-in/Disney Springs day, but kept checking and saw backup groups were still available so close to noon. We tapped into DHS a little before noon go get BG 189, but was notified about 3-4 hours before park closing that no more BG would be admitted after BG 165. The BG seemed to be being called at a good rate, but it was a minor bummer for our third attempt on RotR. We were able to actually enjoy the land at night without much of a crowd on Christmas Day evening, got to pilot the Millennium Falcon, saw Oga’s had a walk-ins available are around 9 pm, and got to take photos with some Stormtroopers. We didn’t let missing another RotR ride get us down too much, and had fun with back-to-back-to-back 5 minute walk-on rides on Toy Story Mania for the last hour of the evening.
 
Our Ultimate Disney Christmas Adventure was December 21-26. I actually arrived one day earlier solo and rode RotR boarding group 62. After a little time at Baseline Taphouse, road for the first time at 2:30pm or so. Just amazing.
After my family arrived on the 21st, we hit Batuu on Sunday morning and scored BG 10. Prior to riding, we stood in queue for SR and did that followed by the family run of RotR. Even my wife was uber impressed.
During our stay we also:
  • Enjoyed blue and green milks (blue WAAAAYYY delicious)
  • Oga’s twice and found Batuu Bites were quite tasty and the drinks fun but very low alcohol
  • Used the Play app for quite a bit of fun in line scanning crates and taking jobs
  • Really had fun interacting with First Order Officers
  • Had lots of snacks - Ronto Wrap is good, Popcorn is meh, Dock 7 mobile ordering easy peasy
  • Built a lightsaber and thought the “secrecy” of that was cool and worth the $$. It is really cool
  • Found we could have stayed in Dok-Ondar’s all day looking for Easter Eggs
  • The weather was not so great but lots of rain meant a VERY cool outfit for residents of Black Spire (you’ll see)
  • The soundscape is pretty awesome, especially DJ Rex (get the tunes on Apple Music)
  • The Smuggler’s Run line was INSANE. Fortunately we rope-dropped and had a shorter wait of 35 min. We saw as much as 220 min for that ride
All in all we were lucky to ride multiple times on both SR and RotR. It was a BLAST. Feel free to ask questions. Happy to help.
 
Just Back--I'll try to keep it short. We went to DHS on January 1. Began waiting for the bus at 6 am (Coronado Springs), arrived with no bags in plenty of time to tap in before opening. We managed to get BG 11, and were finished with ROTR before 8 am. Since everyone else makes a beeline for MFSR, we were able to explore the shops and "village" area with relatively few crowds. Waited just a few minutes for 9:55 ADR at Oga's, although we were in a very long line. Crowded, but fun. Enjoyed our drinks a lot. Rode MFSR as single riders because the Stand-By line was as high as 180 minutes. Single rider line was about 30 minutes, from start to walking off the ride. All 6 of us were engineers. We saw lots of Stormtroopers, Rey and Chewbacca and Kylo Ren walking in SWGE.

We returned at about 8:30 pm on January 3, for an ADR elsewhere in the park and were pleasantly surprised to see a very short single rider line again for MFSR, we waited less than 15 minutes, while the Stand By line was 90 minutes. It was pretty to see everything lit up in the evening.
 
Just Back--I'll try to keep it short. We went to DHS on January 1. Began waiting for the bus at 6 am (Coronado Springs), arrived with no bags in plenty of time to tap in before opening. We managed to get BG 11, and were finished with ROTR before 8 am. Since everyone else makes a beeline for MFSR, we were able to explore the shops and "village" area with relatively few crowds. Waited just a few minutes for 9:55 ADR at Oga's, although we were in a very long line. Crowded, but fun. Enjoyed our drinks a lot. Rode MFSR as single riders because the Stand-By line was as high as 180 minutes. Single rider line was about 30 minutes, from start to walking off the ride. All 6 of us were engineers. We saw lots of Stormtroopers, Rey and Chewbacca and Kylo Ren walking in SWGE.

We returned at about 8:30 pm on January 3, for an ADR elsewhere in the park and were pleasantly surprised to see a very short single rider line again for MFSR, we waited less than 15 minutes, while the Stand By line was 90 minutes. It was pretty to see everything lit up in the evening.
How were the buses in general from CSR? We are staying 2/8-2/13 and hope buses will arrive early enough to rope drop FoP on 2/8
 
How were the buses in general from CSR? We are staying 2/8-2/13 and hope buses will arrive early enough to rope drop FoP on 2/8

The busses were full. We were never on one that wasn't SRO. We did get to every park by rope drop, but I was always anxious that we wouldn't make it. There were definitely times when some families at the bus stop had to be left behind because the bus was full. Bus drivers were excellent. They worked very hard to make sure as many people as possible could fit on the busses.
 
o we parked REALLY close at 5:45 yet we had to stand 10 feet or more back from the Hollywood Studios sign. I guess everyone in front of us was from the resort because the parking lot was pretty empty. They opened gates at 6:15. We got through at 6:30. We had gotten there so early to be front for Mil. Fal. We weren’t there nearly early enough to do that. We were by Star Tours. There were tons and tons of people in back of us, but a lot of people in front of us as well. Thanks to our son, he got boarding group 16.

They let us go probably 7:05 so that people could get BG and not have people trampling over those on their phones. We walked shoulder to should down the street to Me. Fal. It was horrible. At 7:20 we were nowhere close to the entrance. We were only 4 across at that point. Son looked on phone and the wait was already 120 minutes. And we were not near the entrance yet. We didn’t think we would make our 2 hour window, so we got out of line. I read that someone yesterday got there later than us and yet made it through Mel. Fal in an hour…I do not understand how they did that unless they elbowed their way through or something. Maybe as a single. But with 5 of us not willing to run over the lady in the wheelchair and multiple strollers, yeah, wasn’t happening. We looked at the stores, kids building robots ( first thing is the time to do it btw. When we returned later the crowds were horrible.)

Our group was called at 7:30. We only had maybe 50 people in with us in the group.

Thanks so much for this. I hope to go on Friday or Saturday. I'm curious though, do you have to be in star wars land to log in to get your boarding group? Or do you just have to be in the park? and were you able to try for the boarding group right when you went through the gates or was that at 7:05 that you got the boarding group
TIA
Anne
 
Thanks so much for this. I hope to go on Friday or Saturday. I'm curious though, do you have to be in star wars land to log in to get your boarding group? Or do you just have to be in the park? Is there a benefit to being "in the front" for Millenium falcon if ultimately you have to sign in via the app? Still trying to understand how it all works.
TIA
Anne
You won't be inside swge before opening time, they don't open all the park before opening time. You just have to be inside the park
 
You don't "sign in via the app" for Millennium Falcon ride. Only Rise of the Resistance new ride - You sign in and get a boarding pass and depending on your #, hope they get to you. We went the week of Thanksgiving and went to Millennium Falcon ride immediately after Jingle Bell Jingle Bam show. It said 30 minutes, but we were on in about 20. We were told by the cast member earlier in the night when it was over an hour wait, that you will get on as long as you are in line before park closing time. That's when they shut down the line.
 
So it's been about a week since my GE experience BUT it was a great time.
Got there about 5:45 a.m. and thankfully without a bag was able to get somewhat close to the tapstiles (Was lined up just under where the ticket booths are just before the tapstiles.
Tapstiles opened at 6:20, tapped in and before heading towards GE I confirmed with a CM that MDE was recognizing me in the parks as I know that was an issue people were sometimes having in the days prior.
I headed to the "rope drop" on the GE side and was actually somewhat close to the rope. Kept refreshing the app in the My Status, but ended up when 7 rolled around refresh did nothing so I went back and there was "Join Boarding Group" in red. Got BG 15.
So I went with the queue on rope drop to Smuggler's and being on my own I was able to weave around people to get ahead. Ended up as Engineer (silly me volunteered as single rider, oops but was my first time and didn't know the tricks of the ride) but still found it a very enjoyable ride regardless.
My BG was called while in line and grabbed one of the thermal detonator shaped Cokes then headed to RotR and really enjoyed it.
After that, went for a short visit to Oga's and tried the Mustafarian cinnamon roll (delicious!) before heading over to build a droid (my very own R2 <3).
I then went to Savi's and built a Peace and Justice lightsaber with a purple Kyber crystal then bought blue, green and red crystals as well (was hoping for black one but I know the chances are slim).
Overall a great experience and I really hope to go back soon. If you get a chance to, do it even if you don't get a BG. There's a LOT to do even outside of Rise and just the land itself is incredibly crafted and awesome.
 
I visited on January 10th & 11th. I arrived in Florida on the 10th, so no way to get a boarding group by the time I made it to the park, but my sister who was there running the Disney races had gotten a back-up pass (boarding group 121) after finishing the 10K that morning, getting to the Studios about 8:30 am.

When her group was called around 5:30 pm, I walked with her to the queue, which was backed up into the tunnel, and then went and explored. I walked all the way through to Toy Story Land, then back, finding the Falcon/Smugglers Run. I decided to ride the single rider line and was advised by the CM that I would not be allowed to choose my position in the single rider line. I agreed, and had a 10 minute wait before being assigned a position as an Engineer. I did get a rush as I saw the famous round game table! I enjoyed the ride but felt there was so much going on that I would need to ride many more times before I totally understood the story.

I then went to ride my FP for StarTours. There was no need at this time of night- standby was posted at 15 minutes but was a walk-on. I enjoyed the Rise of Skywalker themed elements.

Guessing that my sister might be done soon, and wanting a bit of food before we went to the Cantina, I browsed through the open air market shops before settling on Docking Bay 7. I had the ribs, and my sister met up with me and had the chicken- we both were very satisfied. I asked for a no-spoiler review, and she said Rise of the Resistance was amazing and worth it.

We checked in at the line for Oga's about 10 minutes before our ADR time of 7:20. Park was scheduled to close at 8. We were given the rules, including that we could only stay for 45 minutes once inside. We only waited 10 minutes in line before we were called and got a standing spot at one of the tables. She tried the Fuzzy Tauntaun- which makes your mouth tingle in a very unusual way, I had the Bespin Fizz and the Yub Nub (minus the glass) and both were fruity and delicious! By the time we were able to get our bill paid, it was closer to 1 hour that we were inside. Loved the spirit of the CMs- it was similar to Trader Sam's in terms of interactivity with the crowds.

Since we left after park close, we asked if we could leave through Toy Story Land- one CM told us they didn't know why not, but when we got past the milk stand, we were told we had to walk back through GE to get out of the park. No problem, but could have saved ourselves some steps if we'd known.

Saturday morning, after cheering for my sister at mile 4 and 7, I grabbed a bus to HS to try to get a boarding group. Because of all the road closures, it took a while, and I got to HS about 8:10 and got boarding group 117. I left immediately to meet my sister at the half-marathon finish line and drive us back to the hotel for post-race hot-tub time.

We went to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon, and I was keeping a pretty close eye on the boarding groups, so when they got past 110, I decided to start heading to HS, since it was about 2:30 in the afternoon. My group was called at 2:55, giving me til 4:55 to join the queue. It took about an hour to get from MK to HS and to the queue- I joined about 4pm. On Saturday when I got there it wasn't all the way to where the CMs were checking people in, and they had already gotten to groups in the 130s. The line moved slowly but steadily until I got inside and in one of the rooms where there was a water fountain in the corner. At that point, the line stopped, and one of the CMs said that there was something that was being fixed that would likely take around 15 minutes. It actually took longer- the people in line behind me were watching the Vikings/49ers game and we made it all the way through the 2nd quarter and into half time while we were waiting to move again.

We started moving again, and made it to the room with the weapons and into the small alcove between that room and the flight suit/helmet room when everything came to a stop again. We watched most of the 3rd and part of the 4th quarter while waiting to move again. It was around 5:30 before we made it to the first pre-show room and almost 6 pm when I finished and headed back out to MK to meet up with friends who live in Florida who I rarely get to see.

Rise of the Resistance was amazing, but it sucked up so much time that could have been spent doing other things. It messed up FP plans for me and my sister on both days, and made it very difficult for my friends to figure out when I could join up with them and what they should do when. If you're going to risk the back-up groups because you can't/don't want to be there at park opening, I'd recommend planning to stay in the HS area all day, or maybe a quick hop to EPCOT. Because I was only in town for 3 days, I didn't have that luxury and I don't think I enjoyed the ride as much as I could have because of all the time spent on getting the boarding group and then getting back and forth when it was called. 4 hours of travel time back and forth and 1.5 hours in line to ride the ride is way too long for my preferences.

On the plus side (literally)- I had no issues as a Pooh-sized person with either Smugglers Run or Rise of the Resistance. Since I'm unable to ride FOP because of my body shape/size, Rise of the Resistance clearly wins for me.
 
Hi All!
MY Dh and I did RotR on Saturday, January 11th. We arrived at the parking lot around 6AM - Parking in Minnie 301. We had no bags and were in line behind the DHS ticketing windows. The turnstiles opened around 6:20AM and we were in the park by 6:30 or so. We weren't planning to do anything else so just waited. I did get in the line for starbucks but was still not near the front when 7AM rolled around. We ended up with BG 53. We checked with two cast members about return time. The first would not budge off of the party line, "There's no way to tell" Really??? The CM at the exit said probably 2-3 hours (if "she cooperates" = - meaning the ride). We live close so went home and back to bed. At around 9:45 I THINK I got a text, because my phone dinged, but I didn't see anything. I checked the app and decided they had not called us. However, at around 10:15, I checked the app again and they were calling BG 26-53 and showed a last possible return time of 11:45. We got up and headed to the park, this time parking almost at the back of the Buzz area. We got into the queue at 11:24. At 11:50 they announced that there was going to be a delay. Then they told us we would be offered water and snacks. A little while later Chewy and and another character wandered through and stopped occasionally for pictures. then we got our choice of a banana or potato chips. We never did get offered a beverage. And we noticed from trash seen after the line restarted, that some people got popcorn. The queue restarted at 12:13. - so it was a 23 minute delay. We went into the ride pre show at 12:25. So even if there had not been a delay, it would have been about 40 minutes.
DH liked the ride more than I did. Very good theme-ing and guest immersion, but I expected a little more "thrill" It will have to have a fast pass before I do it again (unless a visiting relative really wines :).

Enjoy!
 
Up at 5am
Lyft at 5:55
At DHS by 6:10
Tap stiles open 6:15
In at 6:30
Boarding group 20

Had to go to guest relations as we could not group the party and we were all in separate groups. They took care of that for us and grouped us with no issues. 7:25 and boarding A2S
 

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