Question about ROTR

From what I have been told by cast members and guests, all members of your party must be through the front gate in DHS for you to check them into a Rise of the Resistance boarding group.

Now, once they are in a boarding group, everyone is free to leave the park until your boarding group is called. From that point, you have two hours to present yourself at the attraction entrance.

Disney is opening the park to day guests and allowing people to join boarding groups in advance of the park's posted opening time. Disney is opening the park to hotel guests at 6am, but not opening boarding groups until later... usually simultaneous with opening the gates to day guests. That does give hotel guests a short head start in getting into boarding groups, as it takes people time to tap in at the front gate.

All boarding groups for the day tend to be assigned within an hour of so of them opening, which can mean that Rise is booked for the day even before park officially opens.

The TL;DR here? Rise early. (Sorry.) If someone isn't willing to get out of bed and to the park early, they're not getting on this ride.

I'm at DHS today (11th).
I arrived around 5:15 and they let us thru the bag area at 5:30. No bags has a big advantage to get to the gate quicker obviously. It wasn't crazy busy at 5:30 but it wasn't quiet either.
I was about 12 back in my line when they let us in at 6:30. It was very busy by then. The lines looked to be backing up to the bag check area.
It took about 2-3mins for the app to know I was thru the gate. I have boarding group 14, so not too bad.
From what I saw with the app taking a few minutes to register me in the park, I can't see you being able to get into a group before you swipe in.
There were no hotel guests being prioritized. It was definitely first come first served.
It worked very well. No great panic rush like Hagrid's.
Robert is spot on. If you like a lie in you are not getting on ROTR this side of Christmas. I'm sure it'll calm down in January.

Update ... I've just been called to join my group. I have now 2hrs to go over to SWGE and give it a try. Its 7am.

As Makorider has noted, all of the guests in your party MUST be tapped into the park in order to join a Boarding Group. It was reported over the first days of operation that if you had a MagicBand that could be recognized by proximity sensors near the park entrance, you could join a Boarding Group from the entry plaza outside of the gates. However, it sounds like Disney has closed that loophole as guests were bringing the MagicBands of family members still sleeping in their rooms with them to the gate, joining a Boarding Group and then coming back to the park with the entire family when their Boarding Group was called. Disney now forces you to be tapped into the park BEFORE you can join a Boarding Group, but they have been opening the gates well before posted admission times to limit crowding outside the entry plaza.

Also, from reports, it sounds like MDE recognizes your entry into the park faster if you are connected to the park's WiFi instead of your provider's broadband connection. So, if you want to give yourself the greatest advantage, show up at the park as early as you can (at least 2+ hours prior to advertised park opening, which is NOT the same as posted park opening since Disney has been publicly stating that they are trying to open DHS 30-60 minutes ahead of the time they've posted on their website and front gates), and be connected to the park's WiFi signal before you walk through the gate with your entire party in tow. Anyone who's not with you will be on their own for joining a Boarding Group as the system will not allow you to join one if even a single member of your selected group has not tapped into the park.

Also, for guests who are staying on-site and don't have a car (relying on Disney Transportation), the buses and Skyliner will likely NOT get you to DHS early enough to guarantee that you will arrive at DHS in time to join a Boarding Group. Typically, buses start running 60-90 minutes prior to the "official" park opening times, and while there have been some reports of buses running between resorts and DHS as early as 6 AM (a few random reports of even earlier), if you want to ensure that you are at the park gates by 6-6:30 AM, your best bet is to use a ride sharing service.

I entered the queue just before 7:30 and was walking off the ride at 8:15. It's nowhere close to a MFSR queue line for the 'wow' factor but what I did like, especially for an ole timer like me, there were plenty of areas to sit down on the way thru.

As for the ride ... well you guys know me by now and I say it as I see it.

It's OK ... but just OK.

I have zero desire to go back on, and how anyone can say it's the best theme park ride in the world, is way beyond my comprehension. I get it if you're a Star Wars fan, but .... well, I dunno.

Give me MFSR and/or SDD any day of the week.

Oh ... and all the groups were gone before 8am this morning.

@ Makorider, glad you got to ride it.....and now for the bigger questions, lol.

While trying to be as spoiler free as possible, what is it about the ride that you feel makes it was just "OK"?

The actual ride? The entire experience? Was it the hype going into it?

I haven't experienced it yet (Disneyland'er here), so obviously my thoughts are just based on what's been publicly released, but it sees on the surface that it's a fairly "plussed" attraction (and it's a dark ride, lol)

I'm also guessing you probably won't be alone in your assessment of it just being OK, but just curious as to what you think would make the attraction "better"? I've heard some reviews that it's not as "exciting" as they hoped, but it was still fun.

Just curious about your thoughts!

@Jay R .... as spoiler free as possible !! Tricky, but I'll warn you once I get to the semi-spoiler part.

Hype with any new ride is for the most part, well ... over-hyped. I'm a coaster person. When I go to a new park, I rarely do shows, and most flat rides I stay well away from. I like the Maxairs of this world, but that's about it. As with Fury325, it's going to take something extraordinary to take that ride away from being my #1, and in the case of ROTR, it's up against FofP. A tough ask. MFSR is great because of the interactivity, but it's still a long way from making that #1 non-coaster spot.

I had seen some pictures of ROTR, so I went in with an open, but critical mind, in the hope it was going to wow me as it has for a lot of people. I have read zero reviews of the ride, so I have no idea what the general concensus of opinion is for ROTR. Will it make SWGE more complete? absolutely. It's what the land needed, but I just felt it lacked that certain something, that little extra that makes a good ride an extraordinary ride. Take FofP for instance .... to have the wind blowing onto your face and getting sprayed with water as you dive under the breaking waves, are the small things that makes a good ride, great, even awesome. I've ridden it so many times now that I've had no wind and no water, and it makes a big difference. The sense of 'flying' on the back on the banshee is lessened by not having those 2 things happen. ROTR does not have any of that. It's all a matter of fact, and away we go.

I know we have been spoiled by the queue line for MFSR, but the line for ROTR makes Hagrid's look positively superb. It's blah, and that could be the reason for all the seating areas. Yes, if you listen carefully to what's being said over the speakers it helps 'set the scene' but come on. Brown walls and more brown walls does not constitute a good queue line Disney (same goes for you Universal for Hagrid's ride)

The initial set up (1st room) for the ride is good. In fact I think that was my favorite part. The stirring music, and the call to action is great, but then it all goes pancake shape.

**Maybe spoilers for hardcore ROTR fans from here** ..... BE WARNED,

You get trundled into the transporter, and I felt very disconnected from what is playing out in front of you, on what I might add is a very small window. Why not have a MFSR sized window to look out of ?? We then find ourselves in the room with the storm troopers. And NONE of them move !!! Give me a break. Come on Disney, at least get a few CM's in some suits and have them harass, shout and move us along. There is no wow factor there either. If you want an example of what a 'wow' factor should be like, go to KSC and do the Atlantis walk thru. Now that's a 'wow' factor. So anyway, we now have CM's dressed in black trying to intimidate us. Bit of a joke really. Couldn't intimidate my 14 month old grandson. Walking upright with your hands behind your back doesn't cut it for me. Sorry.

Then there's a looooong wait to get to the ride bit. It sorta-kinda reminded me of the penguin ride at Sea World in all honesty. It was good to hear the Star Wars music blasting thru the speakers, but all in all, a definite over-hype in my mind.

** End of spoiler part ** .......

Now having been on ROTR, I stand by my prediction that MFSR will have longer lines once the initial ROTR opening effect has blown over.

Repeatable .... ? Maybe for the hard core Star Wars people, but for the general run-of-the-mill tourist who visits DHS, it's a one and done ride for sure.

@makorider - I'm not sure if you had time to use the Datapad while in the queue, but I'm wondering if there are some activities there for guests to engage with while they're waiting in line. It sounds like the flow of the line itself is more like a movie-style attraction where guests move up in large groups instead of a constant flow like you see on MFSR. For me, this makes the Datapad features and "missions" within the MFSR really annoying, because you're never in one spot long enough to finish what you've started, while a line that moves more in fits and starts would lend itself to those types of activities.

I appreciate your honest and frank assessment of RotR. I won't have a chance to ride it for another 6+ weeks, but it's good to hear some criticism of the attraction aside from the way Disney is managing the queue. I've had similar concerns watching videos of the attraction in action in that the transitions between rooms were too stark, lacking energy and continuity, and the final segments were not as thrilling as some people are making them out to be, though a physical drop and external motion base combined with a pretty standard dark ride vehicle has to be more thrilling than pretty much any dark ride on the planet since they offer more dynamic forces than what even the most souped up motion base dark ride vehicle could produce on its own.

I've always wanted to really feel that drop on Spiderman and Curse of DarKastle (RIP), but those were simulated visually with subtle motions from the ride vehicle to make you think you were falling (similar to Mission Space spinning up during launch and slowing down once you reach orbit to make your body think its weightless because of the differential in g's). Here, Disney gives you a real drop, and while it sounds like it's pretty small (looks to be no more than 10-15 feet), the sensation is more realistic than what other rides have been able to create by simulating a drop/fall.

I think those of us that are roller coaster fans are always going to be let down by designers touting that a dark ride is "thrilling". Nothing can really simulate the feeling of a 300+ foot drop, the weightlessness at the top of an airtime hill, or the intense and highly variable g's during various inversions. I think Universal found a good formula with Spiderman and Transformers, but others that have employed motion base dark ride vehicles never seem willing to crank the intensity of the motions up as high as Universal does.

I do think there's a lot of fan service in this attraction, much more so than MFSR, and the CMs will be the key to really selling the experience, even more so than the rest of Galaxy's Edge.

The ‘drop’ is nothing like that on Verbolten or Hagrid’s. Once that drop is made the ride is over in a blink of an eye, and I felt that part was very disappointing. I didn’t see anybody really excited when they got off the ride either, something you would expect to see with a new ride. Everyone was exiting the vehicles and just walking away. No “OMG” that was awesome type of conversations. All very weirdly low key. The most excitement I saw was when they started to let us in at 6:30.

I can’t recollect many people doing the phone scan thing like they do on MFSR, so I’m not sure if that’s available on ROTR. The line shuffled along quite well, due to the use of the boarding groups, and the longest we actually stood still for was waiting to get onto the ride portion. Once the standby line is utilised, I can see that wait being mind-numbingly boring.

I’m not saying I’d never ride it again, but it’s going to have to be a FP+ walk-on for me next time.

To be fair to Disney, they did have all the other rides up and running at 6:30. A full 90mins before the official opening time, so there was plenty to do. Although when I walked past SDD on my way to ROTR, the standby line was at 60mins. That’s with no FP+ line of course. MFSR settled down at 30-35mins for most of the morning, after the initial rush to get on.

I always enjoy your posts, Makorider, but this review is sort of insane and I'm tempted to call it unfair and not meeting the ride on its own terms. ROTR is not a thrill ride. It is the centerpiece of the entire Galaxy's Edge addition and thus must be accessible for everyone. I don't think the marketing has really misrepresented the experience, either. The hype around the drop came from leaks and fans ginning up excitement, not from Disney itself.

Russell, gathering your taste from reading your reviews on here, you're going to be blown away. The setpieces are awe-inspiring, particularly the hangar bay and the AT-ATs, but the prison cell breakout and the Kylo Ren chase sequence are astonishing as well. The vehicles move with a power and zip that I didn't expect, and while they aren't nearly as viscerally thrilling as the SCOOP vehicles, they keep the pace suitably high throughout and there is only one moment where I felt the ride didn't transition quickly enough, which is when it drives onto the escape pod. The drop and motion simulator finale is probably the weakest part of the entire experience, so I understand why a thrills-only rider would be disappointed, but it's not like it isn't fun or surprising and it's a worthy cap to the attraction. I'm with Robert and the other various glowing reviews, we finally have a ride worthy of being compared to the very best of the Asian parks.

It's also just a dream for a Star Wars fan, and really pulls SWGE together as a centerpiece experience. The John Williams score thumps throughout, the iconography and sound mix is perfection. I especially love how it acts as a call to action and a bridge from TLJ to TROS; in the wake of Luke's sacrifice, the Resistance is quite literally rising up against the First Order, and we are now implicitly part of that fight. I get what the Imagineers meant by "being seen" now, and the rest of Galaxy's Edge plays much better as a supporting experience for Rise of the Resistance than as something that has to carry the weight of the expectations for the addition.

1. We scanned our tickets before we entered the gate. We were not able to join the queue but once we were all tapped into the park our group was already compiled and the guy holding the ap was able to enter us all into the queue.

2. Mako writes: "Once that drop is made the ride is over in a blink of an eye."

I Respond: No. Wrong. Absolutely inaccurate.

@evanW ….. great to hear your thoughts on the ride. You mentioned you’d been, so I was wondering about your impressions. As you’ve seen from a lot of my posts I can be overly critical with my reviews, and of course it’s only my take, but I just wonder what the feelings of the everyday tourist are. Are they really wowed as much as the hard core Star Wars fan, like yourself? When I get the chance to ride new coasters the excitement is there to see when people get off the ride. They are shouting, chatting loudly and clambering over each other to get back on. I’ll never forget the first few rides on the then new Millennium Force, it was like a rock concert. I did not see that with people getting off ROTR. And yes, I stopped a while at the exit taking photos and seeing the reaction of people. I agree, we coaster driven enthusiasts are a different breed to the any-type-of-attraction person, but as I mentioned, to see people exiting and just walking away quietly, was surprising. Maybe they were awe-struck ?? Who knows? Even now, when I get off FofP, and I’m with tourists who have just ridden it for the first time, they are blown away. Maybe when I get back on ROTR, I will see that more. I will very happily ride FofP as many times as I can in a day, I’m still not convinced I will do that with ROTR. MFSR for sure. Different strokes, for different folks, but that’s what makes our ‘community’ so awesome :)

I can tell you I was a bit speechless coming off of it, all I could say was "that was awesome" over and over again, haha. I will never forget being totally unable to control my jaw when I stepped out of the pre-show vehicle into the hangar bay, or when the Resistance broke us out of the holding cell, or being shot at by the AT-AT. The ride is complete sensory overload in the absolute best way. I definitely feel you about it not being a thrill ride and having that disappointment (I'm a coaster enthusiast too), but at the same time, DHS already has Tower of Terror, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Star Tours, and Millennium Falcon, while offering very little in terms of attractions for families with younger children.

As for it not appealing to non-Star Wars fans, well, there are a lot of Star Wars fans out there! I also think the ride is overwhelming enough to appeal to just about anyone, particularly kids.

"while offering very little in terms of attractions for families with younger children."

Well, if you equate youth to height, RotR has the same height restriction as MFSR, ToT, and Star Tours (40"). I think that may be why some people are criticizing the underwhelming thrill elements on the attraction. You get a better and more intense drops on ToT, way more intense motion simulation on Star Tours, and more interactivity from MFSR. While RotR is a culmination of all of these elements, it sounds like each individual element is toned down a bit to serve the overall impact of the attraction. The 40" height restriction means that kids that can't ride Star Tours, ToT, and MFSR, are similarly unable to ride RotR.

Yeah, I'm with you there, the height requirement for Rise of the Resistance is ridiculous. Its power comes from its sensory overload and impressive story continuity, not from its thrill elements. It's far tamer than even Millennium Falcon as a motion simulator and the drop is brief and not super fast, though it is convincing as an ejection from a Star Destroyer. But any kid that isn't frightened by watching a Star Wars film would be fine on Rise of the Resistance, and I don't think it has any issues for guests who are physically unable to ride some of the true thrill rides the park offers, either.