Friday, January 17, 2020 – The Toy Story parking garage opened at midnight (or so they said, they actually never closed it). Ten minutes to six they opened the gates of Disneyland. Crowds of Star Wars / Disney lovers swarmed Main Street. Disneyland wouldn’t officially open until 8 AM that day but thousands had swarmed the House of Mouse before the sun rose. They were hoping this early morning strategy would help their chance of obtaining a coveted spot on Disneyland’s newest ride: The Rise of the Resistance.
At 8 AM it was finally time. Cheers of happiness could be heard throughout the park from those in the crowd who had successfully reserved a boarding group. My husband yelled out gleefully about his own victory at 8:02 AM. By 8:03 AM all the boarding groups were taken. By 8:07 AM all the back up boarding groups were taken as well. The park wouldn’t close until midnight, but if you showed up after 8:07 AM, you weren’t getting on that ride.
What is a Boarding Group?
The Boarding Group is a virtual queue system. The system opens at the same time that Disneyland opens each day. Any guest that has scanned their ticket into the park can use the Disneyland App and attempt to join a boarding group. The number of your boarding group (from lowest to highest) determines how soon you’ll be able to enter the ride. Disneyland guarantees that the first 81 groups will get to ride. They continue to allow bookings up to group 140. Boarding groups 82-140 are known as back up boarding groups because they will not be guaranteed a spot. However, since the ride will of course be running until the park closes, barring any maintenance issues, Disneyland will continue to call up groups after the initial 81 boarding groups all the way up until the park closes.
Why all the fuss? What is Rise of the Resistance anyway?
According to Disneyland’s own blog, Rise of the Resistance (ROTR) is the most ambitious, advanced and immersive experiences ever undertaken by Walt Disney Imagineering. They weren’t kidding. There are so many different experiences and types of ride systems within ROTR. Ride-inception you might call it!
Section 1: The caves of Batuu and receiving your mission
It is a scene reminiscent of the line queue at Universal Studios’ “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”. Gone are the wrap around chain linked line queues that are common place in Fantasyland. Here at Rise of the Resistance, the line queue itself gives you much to look at. And it culminates in a hologram of Rey and a “real” BB-8 recruiting you to a secret Resistance mission. While the line currently moves pretty fast through this area due to the boarding group set up (which is only temporary while the ride is still new), the Imagineers have even carved benches into the “caves of Batuu” to allow many guests a place to sit when the lines inside ROTR become longer in future years.
Section 2: Fly into space aboard a transport ship… but not without some complications from the First Order
You’ll board a transport ship headed for Bakura. Picture an area reminiscent of the shuttle rides you take at the airport to move between terminals. However, this ship isn’t just for looks, it actually moves in addition to providing awesome realistic visual graphics. Emily received quite a bit of stares when she loudly proclaimed that this was “the best ride ever!” and yes, the real ride hadn’t even begun yet.
While riding along in the transport ship you’ll be captured by the First Order. And I don’t just mean by graphics of the First Order. Cast members board the ship and march you into Storm Trooper Palooza! Think mass squadron of Storm Troopers all standing in ready attention and looking at you.
Section 3: Escape from the First Order in one of the most technologically advanced ride experiences ever
After getting your fill of pictures with storm troopers (we don’t have any as Emily was scared of them), it’s time to head onto the fast-paced action part of Rise of the Resistance. You’ll enter your ride vehicle, set up with two rows of four seats and an R5 droid to navigate. Trackless technology, amazing state of the art animatronics to gape at and motion simulation of drops and turns makes this 15-20 minute ride one you CANNOT miss.
How did my family get one of the coveted golden tickets… errrr boarding groups to Rise of the Resistance?
Maybe you’ve heard the stories of the bleary-eyed guests showing up at the gates of Disneyland before 5 AM in hopes of getting a pass. Is that our recommendation? Is that what my family did? Heck no. The flight that my family took from Honolulu didn’t even land until 5:40 AM on Friday morning. Then the group of 8 had to navigate through checked bags, a shuttle ride, a hotel check in and breakfast… all before making it to the park (and their hotel wasn’t very close to the park). Truth be told, only my husband and daughter made it through the park before 8 AM on that Friday morning. And so only my husband and daughter got to go on Rise of the Resistance on Friday.
So how did he do it? With very little prep time and no other person available for fast finger help? He played it smart. “Where in Disneyland would there be a strong Wi-Fi signal?” he thought. A place with very few other people clambering to get online at 8 AM? He came up with a theory and spent the 15 precious minutes between when the lands all opened and the line queue went online to race to the spot he picked out. He checked their Wi-Fi capability. It turned out he was right. So here is his secret that worked for him 2 out of the 3 days: the Tea Cups at Fantasyland have amazing Disney Wi-Fi and not a huge spot for the ROTR crowd.
Is this approach foolproof?
Unfortunately, no. On day three Disney Wi-Fi dropped right before 8 AM. By the time he got through he was in boarding group 110. That would have still been okay on day one when boarding groups all the way up to #114 were called back. But unfortunately on Sunday Rise of the Resistance went down with maintenance issues for almost three hours. It was even unsure whether the 81 “guaranteed” groups would get to go. Oh well, 2 out of 3 days is still a pretty amazing feat if you ask me.
Things to keep in mind if you want to score your own boarding group to Rise of the Resistance:
What to do before you the virtual line queue opens
- Most importantly, download the Disneyland App (its icon is blue with the Disney castle and a firework above the left side of the castle).
- Set up an account on the Disneyland App and log in.
- If you are managing the account for anyone else you in your party (i.e. a small child), make sure they are set up as your guest.
- Scan and link all Disneyland tickets / passes to the app by scanning the barcode or manually typing in the ticket number.
- If you want to ride with anyone else that has their own account, make sure that they are linked to you in the “Family and Friends” list.
- All guests that want to ride ROTR need to have their park tickets / passes scanned and be inside Disneyland park before the boarding groups can be obtained. No ifs, ands, or buts.
- Since currently these boarding groups are getting filled within minutes of the park opening, make sure you are inside before the official opening of the park. This is key!
OMG the virtual line queue is open! Now what?
- Open the Disneyland App. (Actually, do this before the line queue opens. It automatically refreshes itself when the time comes.)
- You’ll see a “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – Access By Boarding Group” section. Click on “Join Boarding Group.”
- In the boarding group section of the app, you’ll be able to check all the members of your party that want to ride the attraction.
- Once you’ve checked everyone in your party to enter a boarding group, you’ll get your boarding group number.
One thing to note: I’ve heard different stories about groups. I’ve heard that the larger your party the harder it is to get an early group number. But then I learned that my husband was number 67 when there were only 2 people in his group and number 44 the next day when there were 8 people in his group. I heard that everyone with smart phone capabilities in your group should try to get the boarding passes and the app will simply lock the others in the party out from the app once they pass goes through from your fastest fingered party member. And then I heard that if you do that you run the chance of having everyone in your group be put on different boarding pass groups.
I’m a fast finger Disney god / goddess that got a boarding group number. What should I do next?
Anything you want. Seriously. You don’t need to stay at the park. My daughter went back to the hotel and took a nap on both days. You can jump over to DCA like my husband did. The world is your oyster. Just keep checking your phone.
Boarding groups will be sent a push notification when it is time to enter the attraction. You will have 2 hours once you are notified to return to the ride. Please note that only the person with the reservations will get the push notification telling you it is time to enter the ride. That being said, anyone can see what groups are being called. For example, sitting at my desk in Honolulu I can use the app see that they are currently boarding groups 41 – 46.
Additionally, there are signboards around the park indicating which boarding groups are currently being called.
I don’t have a smart phone. Am I out of luck?
Yes and no. There are Rise of the Resistance FASTPASS kiosks next to the Splash Mountain FASTPASS in Critter Country or next to the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters in Tomorrowland. That being said, on the first three days at the park, boarding passes were gone in minutes due to those using the Disneyland App. I think it’ll take months if not much longer before the FASTPASS kiosks actually become a viable option.
Rider Switch, FASTPASS, Single rider options?
As of opening weekend, only the Rider Switch option was available. FASTPASS and single rider options are planned and built into the ride, but not available yet. However if you want / need to use Rider Switch, you are in luck.
Tell the Cast Member at the attraction entrance that you would like to use Rider Switch. The group (minus the adult that is staying behind with the child) will enter the regular line queue and ride the attraction. When the group is done with the ride, the left behind adult will be able to enter the ride through the FASTPASS line. While FASTPASS isn’t being used in the normal sense, it is being used to facilitate Rider Switch.
May the odds be ever in your favor!
Hawaii Girl Travels…
Check out Destinations to see all the other places I’ve talked about. For other posts about Disney, read up about our experiences at Aulani’s Painted Sky and Aulani’s Pau Hana Room and Menehune Adventure Trails. For other California-related information, read about my San Diego trip that wasn’t.