RotR Planning & Daily Boarding Group Discussion - *CLOSED*

[CarolynFH]

JUSt like 20 feet away and all down the Hollywood blvd as we walked to MFSr CMs were asking if they could help get people in a BG. So impressed with how well run this has been run. No trample running or anything very smooth

Remembering the running of the bulls when TSMM first opened and FPs were gone for the day within a couple of hours of park open, I’m thankful that the technology for VQs exists and Disney is using it, despite the chance that we’ll miss out if we don’t arrive early enough.

 

[Bobby2443]

I find the walk from beach club to be pretty short, if you’re in that area I would just walk

As crazy as this was this morning I actually enjoyed the process. My son (1 yr old) was up at 5am anyways and I had nothing else to do. We got our boarding group then went and ate breakfast while sitting in front of the falcon then we skylinered back to beach club at 7:30. I haven’t even gone on the ride yet (boarding 35) and I still feel like I accomplished something and had a good morning

 

[Nermel9]

I'm afraid that is dependent on your network. I have AT&T since it's generally the best in Philadelphia, Rootmetrics laughable survey notwithstanding. AT&T is also Disney's preferred carrier and back in 2013 they installed a bunch of distributed antenna systems and small cells on property. AT&T is generally solid at the parks, but I bet the other 3 carriers have caught up. I have noticed AT&T is abysmally slow at the new DHS bus stop, regardless of what LTE band I am on there, but blazing fast in Galaxy's Edge (there's a hidden small cell on Docking Bay 7). Unfortunately, I don't remember how AT&T LTE works at the park entrance. I'm still inclined to trust AT&T LTE over Disney Wifi but this post has me rethinking. I can't comment on Verizon or Sprint since I haven't had either in 5+ years at Disney World.

Just want to say, I have AT&T and an iPhone and my app is always weird in the parks. Yet my husband has some kind of Samsung phone and his app always works fine so I think I’ll have him try to get our BG’s!

 

[Tink1987]

For all those worried about the app crashing, WiFi not working etc because of being overloaded we haven’t faced those issues in the 3 times we have obtained our BG’s. Not saying it doesn’t ever happen but I haven’t read of anyone else having those issues either.

 

[Museick]

Definitely have to keep watching how this develops as I plan for my attempt on the day before the Marathon weekend 10K.

Today is hard to evaluate because I suspect that a lot of the people who arrived at 5 were hoping, if not expecting, that the actual opening would be earlier than 6:30. If it becomes the norm that they open the tapstiles 30 minutes or so before official opening, there might be less incentive to arrive that early. The question for me will be how much you gain by arriving two hours early as opposed to one hour early.

We arrived at 6am on Monday and got BG 22 and rode at 7:15am. We arrived at 5:45am this morning and got BG 40 and we are still waiting; however, they are on 33, I believe!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok - let’s all get on board with this folks!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1205131943307816962

 

[wdw&sonny]

10:00; BG 35.

 

[Opie100]

I get wanting to ride early and leave if you’re getting up that early. If it were to trend back towards 2 hours for them to run out though, that lets you get there at 7 and know you’re going to get a decent BG.

I think that would require at least going back to an 8am opening and probably Disney increasing RotR ride capacity closer to what it's designed to do.

I got group 88 at around 7:15. I’m guessing they cut it off at 90.

Thx for reporting. What time did you arrive to DHS?

 

[jcthompson2]

I’m really trying to figure out how to make this work for my fam. We’re there 12/21-12/28, and so far only thinking of 12/26 as DHS Day. It’s our first and prob only trip, so want to try and get in a BG. It looks like we’ll have to get there by 5:30?? I’m wondering if we shouldn’t drop our Epcot fp on 12/23 or something and add a 2nd dhs day.

 

[Opie100]

I’m really trying to figure out how to make this work for my fam. We’re there 12/21-12/28, and so far only thinking of 12/26 as DHS Day. It’s our first and prob only trip, so want to try and get in a BG. It looks like we’ll have to get there by 5:30?? I’m wondering if we shouldn’t drop our Epcot fp on 12/23 or something and add a 2nd dhs day.

Guests got BGs today that arrived at 6:30am. However, with the additional deluge of holiday week visitors it's hard to say yet.

 

[wisblue]

We arrived at 6am on Monday and got BG 22 and rode at 7:15am. We arrived at 5:45am this morning and got BG 40 and we are still waiting; however, they are on 33, I believe!

There are obviously a lot of variables between the two days because of it being the first day of the new official opening time. It also sounds like there was more early downtime today.

Especially with the holidays coming up it’s going to take awhile to discover a “normal” pattern that will help with planning. In the short term I expect a significant amount of variance day to day with ride downtime (when and how long) being a big factor. It could easily end up being like the Hagrid ride at Universal that was still unpredictable when we were there in October, several months after opening.

At least with the BGs you don’t have to hover around the ride hoping to be right there when it opens up.

 

[Museick]

BG 40; 10:20am!

 

[SirBill]

I’m really trying to figure out how to make this work for my fam. We’re there 12/21-12/28, and so far only thinking of 12/26 as DHS Day. It’s our first and prob only trip, so want to try and get in a BG. It looks like we’ll have to get there by 5:30?? I’m wondering if we shouldn’t drop our Epcot fp on 12/23 or something and add a 2nd dhs day.

I think planning to add a 2nd DHS day is a really good idea, maybe you'd be able to ride twice even... but it gives you a greater chance to ride once, as if you get a late fastness you can ride the next day.

However I don't see why you'd need to drop any plans for Epcot. Once you have a boarding group you could easily skyliner over to Epcot, and Skyliner back to DHS when your boarding group came up - I forget how long it took but it was maybe 15-20 mins, and you have two hours once a BG is called to show up.

With the Skyliner DHS and Epcot are really practical to visit as a pair, it's so easy to shuttle between them.

There's also a boat but it makes a fair number of stops so is longer.

 

[yulilin3]

There are obviously a lot of variables between the two days because of it being the first day of the new official opening time. It also sounds like there was more early downtime today.

Especially with the holidays coming up it’s going to take awhile to discover a “normal” pattern that will help with planning. In the short term I expect a significant amount of variance day to day with ride downtime (when and how long) being a big factor. It could easily end up being like the Hagrid ride at Universal that was still unpredictable when we were there in October, several months after opening.

At least with the BGs you don’t have to hover around the ride hoping to be right there when it opens up.

the pattern is "there's no pattern" the only constant and what people wanting to ride RotR have to know is to be there early. You should plan to be at DHS by 5am, 5:30am to guarantee you get to ride it that day. Later arrival will get you a bg but not guarantee a ride since they have not been able to get through all bg consistently

 

[SirBill]

<...>
With the BG, every minute you sit outside the gates is an addition minute to your wait. With the first hour breakdowns you’ve also got a decent chance of getting stuck in line and having to come back and do it again. Granted, that can and does at any time.
<..>

Just a thought here, every minute extra outside the gate is I'd say an additional 2-3 minutes of waiting (because the people ahead of you fill up the queue)... up to some point where you have a BG that gets called after the first breakdown, in which case you've added an hour.

That's why getting there at 5am (which seemed like it was less people today than yesterday) seems like such a great idea, because the extra hour you wait compared to getting there at 6am, will probably save you more than an hour of time.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I want to start off by saying that the updates and feedback have been invaluable for me (trip in mid-January). I really appreciate all the good cheer and insight from those on the ground.

Question - when do the rest of the rides start to open? I have a good feel for the various security check/turnstiles openings (notwithstanding the posted/public park opening times) but the sense I am getting is that other rides (TOT, SDD, MFSR) are open once the park is opened to guests? Is that accurate?

 

[wdw&sonny]

10:30: BG 42.

 

[yulilin3]

I want to start off by saying that the updates and feedback have been invaluable for me (trip in mid-January). I really appreciate all the good cheer and insight from those on the ground.

Question - when do the rest of the rides start to open? I have a good feel for the various security check/turnstiles openings (notwithstanding the posted/public park opening times) but the sense I am getting is that other rides (TOT, SDD, MFSR) are open once the park is opened to guests? Is that accurate?

they've been opening when they open the tapstiles, this is why people ar getting all the major attractions done in the first 2 hours

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

they've been opening when they open the tapstiles, this is why people ar getting all the major attractions done in the first 2 hours

Great, thank you!

 

[birostick]

10.35 bg 43 for me.