Finally made it home after a long, exhausting, but fun weekend at WDW! I was pretty nervous since prior to the trip, regular boarding groups were getting filled up in 30-45 seconds, so I figured President's Day weekend would tighten the window even more. Because of that, I wanted to maximize my chances of riding so I decided to get the Park Hopper add on, rope drop Hollywood Studios 3 days in a row, and not make any dining or other reservations/appointments. I was absolutely shocked to find out each morning that I had gotten the first boarding group of the day (BG5 on Sat 2/15, BG9 on Sun 2/16, and BG12 on Mon 2/17). I'm not here to brag - I just want to share my experiences and some thoughts in the hopes that it will help someone! At the end of the day, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for being successful - it sounds like people have been successful with wifi or with data, with android or with iPhones, and with refreshing vs. force closing. However, I was able to consistently get the first BG of the day during a busy holiday weekend, so maybe there's something I'm doing right that can help?
First some general info:
-I was a solo traveler with no one else on my friends & family list
-My phone is a Pixel 3 and I use GoogleFi as my carrier
Steps I followed each morning:
1. I lined up at the tapstiles between 6:40AM and 6:48AM each day, staying to the far right next to the green fence because I wanted to RD SDD.
2. Each day, as soon as the tapstiles opened at 7AM, and I scanned in (no fingerprints), I walked briskly and lightly jogged to Toy Story Land and was in the pre-filled queue for SDD by 7:10AM.
3. When it was almost 8AM, I turned off wifi, and turned on data
4. I force closed the app
5. I opened the app 1 minute before park open and didn't touch any buttons
6. I had my clock app open and 5 seconds to 8AM, I switched to the Disney app
7. After I saw my phone clock hit 8AM, I hit the RotR picture on the home screen (not necessarily the "Find out more" button, any part of the picture is clickable
8. I waited 1 second to see if "Join Boarding Group" turned red. If it turned red, I immediately clicked that, and then continued with the process
9. If it didn't turn red, I hit "My Status" and clicked "Join Boarding Group" from that page.
10. If that is also greyed out, my plan was to force close and restart the app
I took a video of my 2nd attempt, in case anyone wants to see these steps live. As you can see, my button never turned red, so I went to My Status instead:
A few thoughts on what I think helped:
1. I think what helped the most was following this thread and doing several practice runs at home, as well as having a plan for what you're going to do. I knew that if my button was still grey after 1 second, I was going to hit "My Status". If that button was still grey after 1 second, I was going to force close and retry. Every second you spend reading the instructions, or deciding what to do next is another 5 boarding groups you're getting passed by.
2. Second most helpful thing I think was being a solo traveler. A lot of people seem to have trouble with their Friends & Family lists showing up correctly or waste several seconds scrolling to select only the members in their party. Unfortunately most people can't do much about being in a larger party, but there are a lot of great tips in this thread, including removing everyone from your list who isn't going, renaming your party members so they show up on top, or getting anyone you can a BG, and adding everyone else through GET
3. Next most helpful thing I believe was being on data, followed by force closing the app, and not pressing any buttons until 8AM. I know there are a lot of reports of people doing the opposite and being successful, but this personally worked for me. And for what it's worth, I was standing next to a family who had tried 2 times unsuccessfully, and they tried this method on Day 3 and finally got BG24.
4. Finally, I was lined up in Toy Story Land each day, which had a low crowd density due to the pre-filled queue but I don't think that matters too much
Finally, I just wanted to provide a trip report for my experiences. This probably will not help anyone strategy wise, so this is just for fun
Saturday, February 15th:
6:39AM: Get into line for tapstiles, staying to the far right
7:01AM: Gates open and line moves forward, I walk quickly to SDD
7:10AM: In line for SDD
7:50AM: I turned to the gentleman behind me, Mike, and asked him if he was here for Rise of the Resistance. He said yes, and that his son was a Cast Member so he wasn't able to join him. I told him I was super nervous since this was my first time, and he told me that he had ridden the ride before and it was excellent.
8:00AM: I got BG5, and for some reason, Mike's app was not registering that he was in the park. Knowing that people in this thread have been successful getting family members added to their BG, I offered to do that for Mike
8:15AM: Waited about 15 minutes in a constantly moving line before boarding SDD in the back row. What a fun ride! Definitely has some thrilling moments in the back row
8:20AM: After we got off the ride, we walked up to two different CMs with iPads and they weren't able to help us. Each time they said only the GET under the blue umbrellas could help us with Boarding Groups.
8:30AM: We decided to get in line for the Guest Experience Team right outside Rise, and it was a pretty long line, but I didn't mind. I was definitely getting on Rise today, and I had gotten to ride Slinky! Star Tours also went down that morning, so my 8AM FP got converted to an anytime experience FP, and I still had a 9AM ToT FP to look forward to. I was having an amazing morning, so I didn't mind helping my new friend out!
8:58AM: We finally talk to GET. Even though we look completely different and aren't linked on our F&F list, I simply show her my screenshot of BG5, and she gives Mike BG18. She wasn't able to give him a BG that was already called, so that's why he got 18, since 5-17 had been called.
9:01AM: By the time we finished talking to GET and walked 50 feet to the entrance of Rise, BG18 was called! We entered the queue for RoTR and I couldn't believe it was happening!
9:31AM: After about 30 minutes in a pretty constantly moving line, we got to the beginning of the experience. I just felt nervous the entire time, because I knew at any time the ride could break down and we would be evacuated.
9:57AM: We exit RotR with all effects working, and I say farewell to Mike as he goes to meet his son.
Sunday, February 16th:
6:43AM: Get into line for tapstiles, staying to the far right. While in line, a mother behind me is telling her son that he needs to be patient because they have a 1 hour and 15 minute wait before the park opens. I tell her that not only will the tapstiles open at 7AM, but since she's on the far right, she's in the best line of the day! Two people next to me Elizabeth and Brenna start striking up a conversation with me, asking if I knew the "Stay right" strategy from watching a recent TimTracker video. I said I heard about it from a DisUnplugged forum but that I loved TimTracker. Elizabeth said she listened to DisUnplugged and actually met Pete Werner before! Obviously from then, we had a lot of mutual interests to continue talking about!
7:00AM: Gates open and line moves forward. Elizabeth, Brenna, and I are crazy and start lightly jogging to Slinky Dog Dash. Along the way, we hear a girl tell her family, "Why are we walking!?!?!?"
7:10AM: Line up for SDD in the pre-filled queue across from Woody's lunchbox. Turns out Elizabeth has done RotR before, but Brenna has not.
8:00AM: I get BG9 and Elizabeth/Brenna get BG16. We decide to ride together since our BGs are so close!
8:15AM: We're on board our slinky in 15 minutes, and again request the back row
8:55AM: Arrive in Galaxy's Edge but Rise is down
8:58AM: We decide to grab a bite at Ronto Roasters and it seems like EVERYONE waiting for their Boarding Groups has the same idea. I place a mobile order, and apparently they weren't alerting people when their orders were ready. I had to wait in a 20 minute line and show them my order number to get my food.
9:49AM: We head to RotR since the BGs went up by 2, but it's down again
11:03AM: It looks like the BG numbers are going up again so we get in line for Rise. The line is backed up and is moving slowly.
11:45AM: We end up getting stopped for 20 minutes in one spot when water bottles start coming around. No chips or chewie in sight!
12:01PM: Line starts moving pretty quickly! They're not calling new BGs but the line is moving so we're happy
12:47PM: After 1 hour and 45 minutes in line, we begin the experience!
12:57PM: Halfway through the experience we're told we are going to be evacuated and given same day return FPs
The CMs break character to give the announcement and apologize. We're in the middle of the experience so it was cool to see a secret door that led to a very plain hallway that led outside.
1:03PM: Received FP for Rise of the Resistance and I park hop to Animal Kingdom because I managed to refresh and find a Flight of Passage FP. Elizabeth and Brenna decide to wait for me to come back before riding. We've been through so much today that it wouldn't feel complete until we finished the ride together!
3:37PM: We meet back up at the entrance to Rise and it's back up! We get to use the FP line, and we wait 7 minutes before starting the experience.
4:13PM: We finally finish the ride with all effects working and we say our farewells. It feels like we've been through a lot together and we finally accomplished something big!
Monday, February 17th:
6:48AM: Arrive in line, behind the planter
7:00AM: Turnstiles open
7:10AM: In line for SDD, and meet Michelle, the mother of a family who has tried 2 times already to get a BG and hasn't been able to ride. She's super fustrated and has talked to GET. They told her they couldn't do anything but if she was unsuccessful a third time, they would see what they could do. I feel so bad for her, and offer to wait in line for GET with her, if she still get's a high number. Maybe they can add her to my group like I was able to add Mike! In the mean time, her husband and two kids join her, and I tell them they should use data instead of wifi and trim their F&F list cause that's probably really slowing them down.
8:01AM: Michelle gets BG29 and their kids are SO happy and are jumping up and down. They say I'm now an honorary member of their family, and tell all the CMs they have 5 people in their party when they ask as we go through the SDD line. She asks for a picture of me with her family, and we ride SDD together before parting ways.
9:34AM: Today there was a long morning downtime, so the ride didn't open until very late. They let me go through the FP entrance because I guess I was one of the first people there and I walk right into the beginning of the experience.
9:59AM: Rise breaks down and we're stuck for about 30 minutes.
10:28AM: We're finally evacuated off Rise we're given a recovery FP+ to come back later. I park hop to Animal Kingdom where I get get lunch with Elizabeth and Brenna, and we watch the Up Bird show, and did Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris together! It was fun hanging out with other Disney fans. It was also great that I was pretty flexible so I could just park hop and hang out with them for a bit!.
6:09PM: Finally, I returned to HS and got a full ride on RotR with all effects working before heading to the airport. What a great way to end the trip!
