Disney World definitely looks and feels a little different now than it did back in March before the historic closures began. And while the only constant at Disney is change, one thing has seemed to hold steady. Rise of the Resistance is just as popular as it has ever been!
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
This highly immersive attraction is STILL running out of those coveted Boarding Groups in seconds each and every day. So if this ride is at the top of your must-do list, you won’t have an easier time getting to ride, even with limited park capacity! Here are three things you need to be aware of if you’re visiting Disney World in the near future and your travel must-dos include riding Rise of the Resistance!
Estimated Wait Times
Back when Rise of the Resistance first opened in Disney World last December, receiving a Boarding Group gave no indication as to WHEN you would actually be called back to hop in line. Over time, folks have been able to “guesstimate” when they could be called, provided the ride was operating smoothly. However, it was still anyone’s guess for how long you would have to wait.
Rise of the Resistance Boarding Groups Sign
In a recent update to My Disney Experience, Guests can now see an estimated wait time according to their Boarding Group number. This feature is not 100% accurate, nor is it exactly like a posted wait time like any other ride. But this addition provides an additional convenient planning tool for parties to use when visiting Hollywood Studios!
Screenshot of Boarding Group
For example, if your estimated wait time is only 10 minutes, you may want to think about heading back to Galaxy’s Edge if you aren’t in the area already! With a shorter return time of one hour, you don’t want to miss your window!
Find out what happened to us when WE missed our return window for Rise of the Resistance!
Updated Boarding Group Distribution Times
Originally, Rise of the Resistance distributed all of its Boarding Groups right at rope drop. This caused quite a commotion every morning in Hollywood Studios, as crowds of Guests were scanned into the park before opening!
Hollywood Studios, back in December before park opening!
Once the parks reopened, Disney made a MAJOR update by providing additional distribution times, lessening the demand for everyone to be in the park at 10AM. Back when the park first reopened, those distribution times were 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM.
Rise of the Resistance
Since then, however, Disney has updated the distribution times AGAIN, and now provides two options for Guests to obtain their Boarding Groups. Currently, they are distributed at 10AM and 2PM.
Screenshot of My Disney Experience App
So if you strike out the first time around or you don’t make it into the park in time, you still have another opportunity!
Click here for more tips on securing a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance!
Automatic Party Members Added on MDE
The third new tip you should be aware of is a small but significant change in the actual process of obtaining a Boarding Group. Since its earliest days, you needed to manually add each party member to your Boarding Group so you could all ride together.
Screenshot of My Disney Experience App
Now, that step happens automatically! On My Disney Experience, each of your eligible party members will be added to your Group, with no extra tapping required! Keep in mind that each member of your party MUST be scanned into Hollywood Studios, and their tickets must be linked to your account.
My Disney Experience App
This is an especially useful tip if you’re traveling in a larger party, as you can now save valuable seconds while you try to secure a Boarding Group!
Read more about the recent updates to My Disney Experience when getting a Boarding Group!
While getting a Boarding Group is still one of the more tricky feats when visiting Disney World, there are more tools at your disposal now than there ever were before!
From a streamlined My Disney Experience process to helpful tools to plan the rest of your day around Rise of the Resistance, Disney seems to have taken note of the stress-inducing reality of getting a Boarding Group and have done what they can to make it a bit easier! We will continue to keep you posted on Rise of the Resistance and its future updates. And if you have any more questions about snagging a Boarding Group, please let us know!!
Disney Park Reopening Details and Info
Click HERE for the All Latest Updates
Click HERE To See FULL LISTS of the Rides, Attractions, Shopping, Entertainment, and Restaurants Opening in Disney World!
TUTORIAL: How To Use Disney World's NEW Park Pass Reservation System
ALL Disney World Reopening Procedures
Disney World Hotel and Ticket Booking Information
We’re Visiting ALL the Reopened Disney World Hotels and Have All the Need-to-Know Details
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Everything You NEED To Know About Wearing Masks in Disney World
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Have you visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios since the park reopened? Share your Rise of the Resistance experience with us in the comments!
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This is not breaking news. It’s been this way for weeks!
Has Disney amped up their WiFi for increased use of the app? We went in March 2019 and we lived by the app, however it was often slow and spotty. Very frustrating. Now since the park reopened the app is more important than ever. We are scheduled to go this November. If we don’t get on ride of the resistance we will be extremely disappointed, as I’m sure others have been. We have 2 days of park reservations at HS.
Arrived at Hollywood Studios, got in line for Mickey’s Railway and made our boarding pass request at 2pm while waiting in line. I used my data feed and was able to obtain a pass as soon as I clicked on Join Group. We had no issues and received boarding pass 59 at an estimated 75 minute wait. The wait time ended up being 120 minutes and boarded approx 4pm.
Question…there will be 12 of us in my group in December, will I be able to try to get 2 or 3 different boarding passes putting different guests on each one? And will I be able to do that by having more than one of us sign onto my mydisneyexperience account???? I don’t want to do all 12 at one time because I am sure I won’t get a boarding pass for 12, so if I break it up into 3 groups of 4 that will work better but wasn’t sure if I will be able to do that. Any ideas or thoughts?
Stephanie, because Boarding Passes are first come, first served, the team thinks you’re better off trying for everyone all at once. If you split the group, you may end up with passes only for some members of your party, and certainly you wouldn’t be able to ride together (which it sounds like you’ve already considered). The team suggests that the key is how fast can you click to get the pass in the app — and all members of your party should be automatically selected when you get to that screen in the process. Just be sure you’ve got a good wifi signal, your location services are on, and then go for it. Good luck!
Julie, we recommend folks use their data when at all possible because the wifi can get overloaded (in our experience), particularly when folks are trying for boarding passes.
I am going to Disney in 1 week! I have the app and have been doing everything with it that I am able to from home. How do I get to the area to request a boarding pass? I was last at the parks 6 years ago and we didn’t use the app for anything at that time.
We went to Hollywood Studios on Sept 1st and I am glad you said before to turn off Disney’s WiFi to get in a boarding group for ROTR. I did what you said and I had no problem getting in a group. We did however have a lunch reservation at the same time. We took a screen shot of the lunch reservation just in case but we didn’t need to show it because we were given an hour after they called the group to go to ROTR.
Small tip I found and used to get on ROTR back in Feb. Find an atomic clock website…when it hits the 51st second of the minute before the passes are distributed, go back and refresh your app. I got boarding party 11…the person I found this from got an early spot as well. By no means a guarantee but it worked for me.
“Now, that step happens automatically! On My Disney Experience, each of your eligible party members will be added to your Group, with no extra tapping required! Keep in mind that each member of your party MUST be scanned into Hollywood Studios, and their tickets must be linked to your account.”
Does being “eligible”, in this case, means that they have to be scanned in and linked to your account? Just wanted to clarify what it qualifies to be an eligible party member because if the app brings up your whole list of family and friends, it would equate to the same or even more clicks because you have to take the time to remove people from your party, if they are not the same people who are currently with you in the parks.
Vannary, it should be guests who are scanned in and part of your family/friends group.