You’ve got all of your tickets linked in My Disney Experience, you’ve got all of your family members’ accounts set up and ready to go in the app, and you’ve stretched your fingers and practiced tapping at a super fast speed, but when the Boarding Groups for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are released you only get…a backup boarding group.

“Backup” boarding groups are assigned to guests after the day’s official boarding groups limit has been reached. Guests with a boarding group may get the chance to ride this incredibly popular ride IF, and only IF, all of the official boarding groups are already called, the attraction is still operating (without technical issues), and the park is still open.

So, you may be wondering — “what are the chances that I get to ride Rise if I only score a backup boarding group?” Here’s what we’ve found out.

First, let’s go through a quick recap. Right now, you can sign up for a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance at two points during the day — 7AM from outside the park and 2PM from within the park. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Afternoon boarding groups are now being distributed at 1PM each day.

When you sign up, there are a few things that could happen. You could get a regular boarding group — hooray! You could get nothing, where the app will indicate that all boarding groups have already been issued for the day. Or, you could get a “backup” boarding group.

Boarding groups fill up VERY quickly, so it’s possible that many of the groups will simply fill up during the 7AM spot. The afternoon boarding group release is highly dependent on the attraction’s downtime during the day as well.

So, at 1PM, you may have the chance to get a boarding group, or you may encounter that all of the groups are backups, or that all of the groups have already filled up. Backup boarding groups are NOT guaranteed to ride the attraction.

Our own team’s experience with getting a boarding group, in general, has been quite varied. One of our team members has never had success getting on the ride at all. We know some of you fall into this category as well.

Other members on our team have tried and failed to get a boarding group during the previous 10AM slot, but were able to get a regular boarding group during the new 7AM sign up process. 

One member of our team noted that they’ve never gotten a backup boarding group during the morning sign-up — they’ve only ever gotten a regular group or nothing. That same team member also told us they’ve tried 3 times to join at the afternoon time (back when afternoon groups were being distributed at 2PM) — 1 time was unsuccessful, but the other 2 times they were able to get a backup group.

During the successful times, our team member got called to board (generally) within the last 2 hours of the park being open.

Another member from our team was able to get a backup boarding group in the afternoon (back when they were being distributed at 2PM) and it was called towards the end of the night. They had to wait an hour to get on the ride though! A Cast Member they spoke to said they were calling back a lot of people because guests prefer to be called back and wait an hour, rather than not be called back at all.

So, basically, it’s been a mixed bag! But, of all of these experiences, two of our team members have been able to ride Rise of the Resistance with a backup boarding group.

We reached out to you all via Instagram to see what your experience has been. We already know that 77% of you all have not been able to ride Rise of the Resistance in general based on a previous poll.

In terms of backup boarding groups specifically, though, over 5,000 people responded and 64% said they have not had their backup boarding group called.

So, while 36% (2,112 people who responded to our poll) have been able to ride Rise of the Resistance with a backup boarding group, the majority of people who responded (3,705 votes) didn’t have as much luck.

At the end of the day, backup boarding groups are NOT guaranteed to ride. If riding Rise of the Resistance is a MUST-DO for you, you’ll DEFINITELY want to try to get a boarding group at the 7AM sign-up time.

If you get a backup boarding group then or at the afternoon sign-up time, the “best” policy to adopt may be to anticipate that you won’t be able to board (considering the majority of our respondents have not been able to get on with a backup boarding group), but remain in the park or close by so you can rush to the ride if your group IS called. If you are not called, then it’ll lessen the disappointment a bit if you already were not expecting to ride. If you are called, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Whether boarding groups are called will vary depending on whether the attraction experiences any technical issues, how many individuals are being included in earlier boarding groups, and other factors. It’s really almost impossible to tell early to mid-day how many groups could get through that day based on all of the variables that are out of Cast Member’s control.

Disney has added plexiglass to the attraction vehicles, allowing more guests to ride at one time, which should help with capacity concerns but doesn’t alleviate any of the technical difficulties the attraction may experience. In short, being able to get on Rise of the Resistance may be one of the hardest things to do during your Disney trip, but it’s not totally hopeless. Call on the Force and hopefully, the Jedi of the past will guide your path!

Didn’t get a boarding group at 7AM for Rise of the Resistance? Here’s what you can do!

Have you been able to ride Rise of the Resistance with a back up boarding group? Let us know in the comments!