It was Saturday, February 15th and we decided to travel to the Disneyland Resort, and then on to a galaxy far, far away to ride Disney's most ambitious experience to date. Will we be successful? Will we survive? Will we help the Resistance and their fight against the First Order? To find out, come with us on our journey ...
Some backstory: Currently (as of winter/spring 2020), in order to ride Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in either Disneyland or Disney's Hollywood Studios, one must obtain a "Boarding Group". To do this, you must be in said park BEFORE opening to log on to the Disneyland or My Disney Experience app on your smartphone. You will then race against the clock and tap or refresh until the "Join Boarding Group" button is a lovely shade of orange.
This will not happen until the park opens. So basically, every morning a lot of anxious people stand around Main Street staring at their phones, counting down the minutes with their fingers ready. And once that button is no longer orange, that means all the boarding groups have been distributed for the day. This is all a lottery too: if the park opens at 8am, someone who enters when the gates open at 7:30am will have the same chance of getting a boarding group as someone who entered the park at 7:58am. It's all a game of chance, luck and hopefully some Disney magic.
Once you get a boarding group, you will be in a virtual queue of sorts, waiting for a notification that your group has been called. The time you get on the ride all depends on what group number you get, how many groups they can call per hour, and if/how long the ride goes down on any given day. And there's a cutoff too! Depending on the operating hours of the park and any special events, only a certain number of groups are guaranteed to experience the ride. Typically that limit is around group 83, anything after that puts you in a "Backup Boarding Group" and you are not guaranteed to ride. (Technically, Disney says no one is guaranteed admission to Rise of the Resistance but they try to accommodate as many as they can.)
So, that's a little background on how you get to experience this new ... experience. Here is the timeline of our day trying to get a boarding group and on to the ride for the first time:
5am – Wake Up
Michelle is not a morning person so getting up at 5am on Saturday is ... rough.
5:45am – Leave House
We live about 45 minutes from Disneyland with no traffic. We're aiming to be at the Mickey and Friends parking garage by 6:30am and on this morning we had to stop for gas.
6:45am – At Parking Garage
After waiting in traffic on Ball Rd (Anaheim peeps know what's up) to turn into the parking garage, we finally made it inside. Now we're in a slow crawl to the booth where you pay.
7:35am – Parked and at Bag Check
We finally parked and made it down to the security line. They checked our bags, we walked through the metal detectors, and then waited for a tram to take us to the main entrance.
7:50am – At the Main Gate
Made it to the Esplanade (the space between Disneyland and California Adventure's main gates). The end of the line we got in was more then halfway down the Esplanade, past the Monorail track.
8am - Park Opens
We still haven't made it to the main gate and therefore could not yet try to get a boarding group. But the "Join Boarding Group" button is still orange. Time is not on our side.
8:06am – In the Park
We finally made it in! And the boarding groups are still being distributed! But Michelle’s phone/app isn’t refreshing. Chris gets group 145 ... a backup boarding group. :sad face:
8:30am – Breakfast
We decided to take our chances and see how the day plays out, after all we got a boarding group at least. Most days, they only make it to group 120-ish, but rumor is that the day before it was in the 150s. There's hope! As we are getting breakfast, they start calling the first groups, a good sign!
9:47am - A New Bar!
The bar on our status moves, two bars! And a porg!
10am – First Down Time
At Group 38, the ride breaks down for the first time. They are stalled calling groups. The longer each downtime takes, the fewer groups they can accommodate that day. We wait and see.
10:45am – The Ride is Back Up!
They start calling boarding groups again!
11:30am – Leave Park
Disney is extremely crowded since, in our infinite wisdom, we picked President's Day weekend to try this. We decide to leave the park, take a 40 min drive north to Glendora and try the Donut Man. (Check out our review here)
1pm – At Donut Man
While waiting in line for donuts, we keep checking the status of the boarding groups and the numbers keep getting higher! Could we be getting on? We are getting optimistic. We were also on a sugar high from the donuts.
2pm – Group 90 is Called
And new bar on our status! Hope is rising! (Like the Resistance)
3pm – Back to Disney
We head back to Disney! We could be called in a couple of hours!
3:40pm – Ride Down
Back at the park we notice the ride goes down for the 2nd time of the day. It's getting late in the day and we start to worry.
4:00pm – Eating at Hungry Bear
While at the Hungry Bear (the restaurant outside of Galaxy's Edge) we are constantly checking the status of the boarding groups, hoping more groups are called soon.
4:40pm – Back Up!
And our status bar moves again!
5pm – Ride Down, Again.
Stops at group 113
5:45pm – Ride is Up!
A rollercoaster of emotions is happening.
6:40pm – Group 128
We speak to a Batuu resident (Cast Member) on the likelihood of us getting to be recruited by the Resistance that evening. They inform us that unfortunately due to nightly maintenance, the ride will only be operating for the next couple of hours even through the park closes at midnight. But they will try to get to as many boarding groups as they can. They also let us know we would most likely get a notification from the Disneyland app if they won't be able to call our boarding group. We have not received such notice, so we have hope.
7:15pm – On Group 135
And ride goes down for the 4th time and we find out that if the ride comes back up soon, the last group called will be 147. We're group 145. We might barely make it, but the more time the ride is down, the lower the cutoff number gets.
8:45pm – Ride is Back Up!
8:50pm – Group 140 Called
8:52pm – Group 143 Called
8:56pm – Group 145 is Called!
We did it!
BUT
9pm – Ride Goes Down for the 5th Time
While they move us into the stand-by line, the news is that the ride has broken down yet again. They don't know when it will come back up or if we would be riding that evening. We are waiting in the cold Batuuian air, hoping against hope that the Disney Gods take pity on our poor, unfortunate souls. We watch the fireworks through the woods of Black Spire Outpost. We get to know the people in line next to us, enduring the wait. The line ends up moving only inches as people give up and leave, deciding not to wait through the night. We stay, we are determined to see this through, whatever the outcome. We have come all this way. Then at 9:50pm, a Cast Member tells us there's no good or bad news, but hopefully the ride with be up soon. If the line starts moving before he comes back, we are good to go! And before he comes back ...
10:15pm – The ... Line ... Starts ... Moving!
And the line keeps moving! 10:40pm – Pre-Show!
We make it to the room with Rey and BB-8 and our experience starts.
11pm – Finish Ride!
Michelle laugh-cries, Chris is in shock.
Weeks later, still not recovered. We are not going to give you a breakdown of the ride because it's something you need to experience for yourself, but if you really want to know, there are some great ride-throughs on Youtube. We are thankful for the people we met along the way, the cast members who were patient with our questions, and the fact we never gave up. Like watching Star Wars itself, our journey to Rise of the Resistance was filled with moments of joy and of despair, of sadness and of hope. And on Saturday, February 15th, in a galaxy far, far away ... the Force was truly with us.
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