Boarding groups - Any thoughts/rumors on when this might end?

[lovethesun12]

I've searched these boards for this and I'm sure it was discussed at some point but couldn't find anything.

I'd love to try RotR but have kind of resigned myself to the fact that's not going to happen (the chances of a) making it to the park on time with two young kids and b) not staying at a resort within walking distance along with c) my lack of skill on cell phones and d) being in the park when the BG is called (again, young kids), are slim).

What is everyone's opinion on when these may be eliminated? I know some people like them and I respect that and if they are necessary it's great they can be enjoyed that way but at the same time I'm kind of in the "hope they go to FP+" camp

 

[KayMichigan]

They're going to have to do something, because they can't have huge crowds showing up every single morning from now on. If it's bad now, it's going to be utter chaos in the summer. Somebody's going to get hurt.

I know a while ago they asked for visitor input as to an alternative. I imagine if they make any major changes, it'll be before the summer crush hits.

 

[buzzrelly]

I've been following and watching all the shananigans going on at DHS with great interest since I am heading downing in a few weeks. Honestly, it makes me super tense and wish they would put an end to all of it ASAP. I think it's horrible that people and whole families are getting up and getting to DHS for opening and then NOT getting a BG. At least if they went to FP+, you would know ahead of time that you weren't getting on. People may even choose not to go to DHS if that was the case and at the lines for all the other rides wouldn't be as bad.

Ugh. I think this has been an epic fail for Disney.

To be clear, I'm referring to the process, not the ride which I actually went on opening day and thought it was beyond amazing

 

[lovethesun12]

They're going to have to do something, because they can't have huge crowds showing up every single morning from now on. If it's bad now, it's going to be utter chaos in the summer. Somebody's going to get hurt.

I know a while ago they asked for visitor input as to an alternative. I imagine if they make any major changes, it'll be before the summer crush hits.

Since we are going in Summer, I love this response!

Yeah the huge crowd thing makes sense. If you just want to try for a chance on the BG you have to bring the entire family.

I've always planned out an MK day, then Epcot day, etc.

This method is making me plan every day with an HS morning (until we ride, I will be ecstatic for just 1 ride the entire trip), then hop to Epcot then MK if we don't get a BG.

 

[Krandor]

When I went in January I found the BG process pretty easy though I wasn't bringing a bunch of kids either. I was able to get in on 3 separate days which wouldnt have been possible with FP. The bottom line is they have to get the reliability of the ride better before they can get rid of BG. With BGs if it breaks down from 2-4 the just stop calling BGs. If people have timed FPs during that time period it becomes a lot more problematic.

 

[mcurran]

My biggest complaint is there is zero advantage to being a wdw hotel guest vs off-site or local. My second biggest complaint is I am expected to plan my days 180 and 60 days out and then have this random chaos drive my day the morning of. 100% silly.

 

[loves to dive]

They do have a FP line so I'm guessing they were expecting to go that route at some point, it's anyone's guess as to when. I will say, I didn't think the crowd at rope drop was any different then the crowds at rope drop at AK even now when FOP has been open for more than a year. We did the BG thing and got into group 30 when we went in Jan (the coldest day of the year I might add). Because the ride tends to go down a lot, our group didn't get called until 1:30. Estimates are that they call 10 groups every hour, park opened at 7 am. In theory our group should have been called at around 10 so we hung out. The ride had been down the night before so everyone who wasn't able to ride were given priority FPs and it went down a few times that morning so people in the earlier groups were given priority FPs as well, thus causing all the other groups to get called later. The pre-shows actually weren't working when we rode it, we just rode the ride but had no pre-show, walked right through both rooms. It was a one and done for us, my son said he loved the ride, even without the pre-shows but no way was he getting up that early and dealing with that kind of crowd ever again. We don't normally rope drop any of the parks, we were staying at Dolphin and walked over and got there around 6:30 for the 7 am opening. We actually don't mind standing in lines if we really want to ride something, we've never had a FP for FOP and have ridden it three times, once with a 2 hour wait.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

They're going to have to do something, because they can't have huge crowds showing up every single morning from now on. If it's bad now, it's going to be utter chaos in the summer. Somebody's going to get hurt.

I know a while ago they asked for visitor input as to an alternative. I imagine if they make any major changes, it'll be before the summer crush hits.

Summer crowds won’t be any worse than Thanksgiving/Christmas and boarding groups worked fine then. I don’t see the logic of “someone will get hurt”. Moving to FP with the option for standby would only increase the flux of people arriving earlier to be at the front of the RD pack, as well as the stampede of people when they open the park rushing to the line.

Not to mention getting a FP for the ride will be nearly impossible unless you have at least a 6-7 night stay. I’m not saying boarding groups are perfect, but FP would definitely have issues too.

 

[vinotinto]

They will go to FP+ when the ride is working reliably. They know it’s very frustrating for guests. Right now, it will have a day with minimal downtime and the next day, it will have hours of downtime. There’s no way that they can release FPs for a particular time frame until they can reliably move x amount of guests each hour. Which is why no one can say *when* they will start FPs, because they’ve been trying to get it to operate reliably, and have not yet been able to do so. When we start seeing weeks of reliable operations, I would then pay attention for FPs to start.

The only rumor I’ve seen is that Disney recently moved all morning EMH at DHS to the evening through the end of August. This indicates that Disney is currently planning on continuing BGs in the mornings through at least the end of August.

 

[hertamaniac]

Ugh. I think this has been an epic fail for Disney.

To be clear, I'm referring to the process, not the ride which I actually went on opening day and thought it was beyond amazing

I am going next week and have already decided to not attempt a BG. I am in the camp that the ride appears amazing (yes, I cheated and watch videos for the onboard experience). I am eager to ride it, but not now. What Disney did right is make an incredible attraction that pushes technology limits; I applaud them for that.

What Disney may have done wrong is underestimate the excitement and wave of guests trying to experience it. If it were me, I would not have opened the ride until it's reliability was at a threshold that could handle a FP/stand-by option. Yes, I know that some are in the camp that they would rather have a chance to ride it knowing the reliability is an issue; I just lean towards it still being in technical rehearsal mode.

 

[blistex]

When I went in January I found the BG process pretty easy though I wasn't bringing a bunch of kids either. I was able to get in on 3 separate days which wouldnt have been possible with FP. The bottom line is they have to get the reliability of the ride better before they can get rid of BG. With BGs if it breaks down from 2-4 the just stop calling BGs. If people have timed FPs during that time period it becomes a lot more problematic.

The process was working much better in January. We went last week and when I started watching the BG thread in December, it seemed like aside from a couple of terrible days right at Christmas, if you were able to get to the park within the first hour of opening and were also able to get to the park at any point during the day your BG was called, you had a high chance of riding. We had hoppers and were staying at BC with very flexible plans, so we tentatively planned to do it.

By the end of January things took a turn. I don't know if the ride got less reliable or the crowds got worse when they moved to 8 AM openings or a combination, but suddenly ALL BGs, regular and back-up, were gone in just a few minutes (or less!) every morning. We tried twice - once we didn't make it through the tapstiles until 3 minutes after park opening and BG ran out 2 minutes after park opening. (my fault for sure, though I think it was colossally stupid for them to be fingerprinting at 7:59 with those kind of crowds/stakes and without fingerprinting we would have been tapped in in time). The second time, we were there in plenty of time but my phone app glitched and I could never get the join button to show up, and joining through the blue umbrella teams isn't really an option when all BG are full in under 4 minutes and there are 100 people in the GET line.

I'm not sure what a better option is with current ride reliability, but I will say that if all BG are running out right at opening like that with no allowance for realities, it doesn't seem like the BG process is working super well either. We are "lucky" - I *really* wanted to go on Rise, but it wasn't something I planned my trip around because my family aren't big into it, and we were able to make the most out of not getting on. If I'd planned my entire trip around getting to do this, I would feel really differently, as it's a huge money and time investment.

 

[disneylover102]

I really hope they stop the BGs before summer. I went to Disneyland the first 2 days that ROTR was open. The first day was fine because we got group 73 and we got to ride but the 2nd day was the biggest emotional roller coaster I’ve ever had because we got group 120 and they had gotten to 114 the day before so we knew there was a chance we could get on but it was also likely we wouldn’t. They ended up getting to group 117 that day and it was about the most disappointed I’ve ever been. At least we got to go on it once but plenty of people don’t get to go on it at all even if they’re willing to get there at 2 AM. This BG thing is a lottery, not a first come first serve thing like it should be and how it is with every other ride.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not sure what a better option is with current ride reliability, but I will say that if all BG are running out right at opening like that with no allowance for realities, it doesn't seem like the BG process is working super well either. We are "lucky" - I *really* wanted to go on Rise, but it wasn't something I planned my trip around because my family aren't big into it, and we were able to make the most out of not getting on. If I'd planned my entire trip around getting to do this, I would feel really differently, as it's a huge money and time investment.

Thats just it. There really is no better option right now.

Also the last three days have been pretty good for the attraction. The back up boarding groups were open for 40 minutes after park opening today. They are already done with regular boarding groups for the day.

 

[blistex]

Thats just it. There really is no better option right now.

Also the last three days have been pretty good for the attraction. The back up boarding groups were open for 40 minutes after park opening today. They are already done with regular boarding groups for the day.

I saw that! I wish that had been the case earlier this week, we could have easily worked with that. Hopefully things are headed back in that direction, seems a lot more reasonable.

 

[DisSurfer878]

Summer crowds won’t be any worse than Thanksgiving/Christmas and boarding groups worked fine then. I don’t see the logic of “someone will get hurt”. Moving to FP with the option for standby would only increase the flux of people arriving earlier to be at the front of the RD pack, as well as the stampede of people when they open the park rushing to the line.

Not to mention getting a FP for the ride will be nearly impossible unless you have at least a 6-7 night stay. I’m not saying boarding groups are perfect, but FP would definitely have issues too.

Not if they release FP one day at a time. You can only book exactly 60 days in advance.

 

[starry_solo]

I figure not for a year or two....they want to keep the hype up!

 

[fla4fun]

I have resigned myself to waiting a year or two to ride, because I am not getting to the park before rope drop for just a chance I might get to ride. So unless/until they offer FP, I will just have to wait.

 

[han22735]

I'd rather take my chance with the boarding groups and still have my pre-booked 3 FP's than have to use the tier 1 on Rise. And summer crowds have been on the decline the last few years so the craziness this past week is probably worse than the summer time.

 

[GoingSince1990]

The sooner they get rid of BGs, the better. It’s a horribly frustrating and kludgy system that meshes very badly with Disney’s existing system of FPs and ADRs. It’s reassuring to see that the infrastructure to make it more normal is all in place, like the signs that will show wait time and current time for FP, ready to be turned on when it becomes reliable enough.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Not if they release FP one day at a time. You can only book exactly 60 days in advance.

Not true. If staying onsite you can book your entire trip at 60 days. So there is a huge FP advantage for people with longer trips. ROTR FP will likely be impossible without at least 6 nights.

I'd rather take my chance with the boarding groups and still have my pre-booked 3 FP's than have to use the tier 1 on Rise. And summer crowds have been on the decline the last few years so the craziness this past week is probably worse than the summer time.

Agreed!