For months, getting a boarding group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance meant waking up ridiculously early to be in Disney’s Hollywood Studios as soon as the morning boarding groups were released.
Rise of the Resistance
But, recently Disney announced that a new boarding group sign-up process would be put in place for the release of morning boarding groups. We shared a list of top tips and things you NEEDED to know about this new process, and today it finally went live! Check out our experience with this new system.
First, we should note that yesterday we spotted this message on the My Disney Experience app, letting us know that we can request to join the virtual queue at 7AM prior to park entry with a valid Disney Park Pass reservation, or try again at 2PM from within Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Screenshot from the My Disney Experience App
So, we set our alarms (we set quite a few, just to make sure we didn’t sleep through it!) and got up extra early to make sure our tickets were linked and the members of our party were all set up in the app and ready to go. We hadn’t even had our Mickey waffles or coffee yet, but we opened up our My Disney Experience app and tried to be “one with the Force” to see if that would improve our luck at all.
Rise of the Resistance
Just before 7AM we had the attraction screen up ready to roll…
Attraction Screen
And, when the clock struck 7AM…
GROUP 1!
Group 1!!! We must have gone faster than we thought! Basically, the process was exactly like it was prior to today but…from the coziness of our bed. Super simple, just make sure you have a Park Pass for Hollywood Studios and a valid ticket or Annual Pass for you and everyone in your party and you should be all set!
After all of that excitement, we couldn’t get back to sleep, so we had some breakfast and got ready for a magical day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We made our way over to the park to be there as soon as it opened, and saw a sign indicating that the morning boarding groups were already sold out, and that Disney plans to release more groups at 2PM. A quick reminder — you must be INSIDE Hollywood Studios in order to sign up for the 2PM boarding groups.
Boarding Groups Sign
We also saw a rather long line of guests waiting to speak to Disney’s Guest Relations team. We heard some guests indicating that they had issues with the boarding group system this morning. While we didn’t experience any problems personally, we definitely will keep an eye out in case any changes are made to the system in the future. One of the biggest tips we can give you is to take screenshots of any boarding group confirmations or any issues you experience with the app. If the app gives you a strange loading page or error message or anything like that, be sure to screenshot it so you can discuss it with a Cast Member later and show them what you experienced.
Line in front of Hollywood Studios for Guest Relations
Shortly after we made it past the park entrance, our boarding group was called…
Screenshot from My Disney Experience
…and we made our way over to Rise of the Resistance to hop in line!
Let’s Ride!
We went through the entrance…
Rise of the Resistance
…the queue…
Rise of the Resistance
…and onto what is by far one of the most impressive rides in Disney World.
Rise of the Resistance
We were seated in a vehicle with another party, but we were divided from one another by plexiglass.
Rise of the Resistance
Here’s a look at the plexiglass on the attraction vehicles from the side.
Rise of the Resistance Vehicle with Plexiglass
We spoke to multiple Cast Members that confirmed that, as far as they had been informed, the new 7AM boarding group sign-up system should work anywhere! There’s no limit to how close you have to be to the park. So you could be over 10 miles away (like we were) or 100 or 1000! As long as you plan to make it to Hollywood Studios in time with your Park Pass to experience the ride, you should be fine! We’ll let you know if we spot any changes or modifications to this 7AM boarding group release system, and let you know if there are any updates.
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There’s a glitch in the system. Several of my party were not allowed on. It said they had no park’s reservation when the do. I saw that this happened to several families
Wow!!!!!!!! Just wow!! This is awesome! Thanks for always being the first to report o things. You guys rock!
If you have ridden it once in a month? It should lock you out. Give people a chance that have no luck getting a boarding group. I’m a FL resident Passholder. We have been to HS 3x since reopen. No luck.
We had the same experience as Vera. Guest relations was able to help us out though.
We were able to get on from about 9 miles away, refreshing constantly right at 7 got us group 57
7am I live 15 miles away from the park boarding group 5 no issues
We are going in early December. Our daughter and her family will be at a different resort then my husband and I. It is the first time we have stayed at different resorts from each other! We have linked as family and friends in MDE. Will this be enough for us to all be in the same boarding group? Or is there something else we need to do?
One change I would like to see is to the ride itself. The droid that drives your shuttle is tall and needs to lower during the ride. For children and shorter adults, if you are seated in the front row, your view can be limited by the tall droid.
I agree Talia! I am also an AP and have tried three times and have not been able to get on yet! But all these groups get on several times!
When you have the App open before 7am, do you have to refresh it at 7? Or will the Get Boarding Group button become available at 7?
We were ready to join the Rise of the Resistance at 2:00. At 2:00.02 it was showing full. We saw closed signs on half the venues and extremely long lines for everything g that was open. Long waits for restaurants, no Fast Pass! What a waste of money.
Do you hit refresh at 7:00am? Or once you are on before 7:00 is will recognize? You got group 1! How lucky is that? I want to know how you exactly got the app going? Thanks! 🙂
Tried getting a boarding pass at 7:01 and it was already full. Tried a few times more until 7:30 just to see if it was a mistake, all with the same result, all boarding groups were full. I was at boardwalk villas at the time.
We were SO disappointed. We were a group of 8 on Monday, November 2, 2020. My daughter, standing with all of us, was “not in the park” according to the app. By the time she removed herself, and we tried again, the queue had “sold out”. I know many others have experienced the same, but to travel across the country with one of our main purposes being to be able to ride this ride, and then be told one of our group wasn’t in the park was incredibly frustrating and depressing.
Was there yesterday too. A few minutes prior Nd refreshing constantly. Nope. Gone almost instantaneously. Our friends got group 62. Tried again @ 1:58…got in but in the 2 seconds it took to look at the party it was gone. No tech difficulties. My one friend gave her pass to my daughter & right before they were to ride it broke. They waited an hour to be fixed.
Is there a limit to how many people in a party? There are 11 of us!
MarieShedsky
You said guest services was able to help you. But if you weren’t able to make the Virtual Que reservation then what did they do? Can you elaborate? Thanks.
Debbie, no limit as far as I know!
Mel, our reporter tells me that she just goes back and forth from the home screen to any other screen, and as soon as the Join button appears on the homepage, she clicks it. She says you can also often drag down to refresh the page as well, but play around with MDE before that morning so you know how you want to do it. But essentially, yes, you do have to refresh somehow.
AF, we refresh!
Dorot, as long as you’re all linked in My Disney Experience, you’re all set.
If my toddler (under 3) is linked to my reservation and listed in my party, will I have to remove him before getting a boarding pass? Since he doesn’t need a ticket he doesn’t have a park reservation and I’m worried we will get that error. But the one extra click to remove him would slow me down enough that I don’t think we’d score a boarding group. Any insight on this?
Haley, one of our onsite reporters tells me it’s better to just go for the Boarding Pass with your toddler on the list rather than the extra clicks to remove him.
We tried for a boarding pass on Monday last week with no luck. On Saturday I woke up, hubby opened his phone app. I opened the Disney app. We counted down the seconds to 7. Success! Boarding group 6.
We were there two days ago. Didn’t get the first booking at 7am from my condo but was able to get in a standby group at 2pm. Boarding group 102. We got called at 6pm. Standby doesn’t guarantee a ride. Only if the ride doesn’t break down and they get through everyone else. So grateful we got on. It was an amazing ride.
I got up at 645 this morning. Grabbed all 4 phones. I followed your tips and with one try I got us boarding group 26. Thank you for all of your great information. I have been able to navigate the new Disney with ease.
Heather, thank you for sharing this!
We tried both days of our visit there. Up at 6:30 to be sure to be ready. Refresh the second it turned to 7:00, clicked on join and it was full at 7 and 2 seconds. We have not been able to be successful and are very frustrated with this. We are convinced we will never be able to ride it.
Currently the que times are seven and one. We enter the park about 1230. I set an alarm for 12:50. I got on waited for the 1 PM to open up and literally at 1 PM the screen changed saying that all boarding groups were full for the day. I am completely confused by this I don’t understand what we did wrong or what we were supposed to do it’s sad to get on at 1 o’clock we got on at 1 o’clock and literally it was full at 1 o’clock on the dot there was even an announcement made over the speakers inside the park stating that the boarding’s were full for the day at 1 o’clock on the dot