Rise of the Resistance Tips

My family had the opportunity to return to Walt Disney World this past week. After our last trip which was around New Years 2020, I was determined to do my research and snag that elusive prize of a boarding group to Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios. During our 2019/2020 trip, we were required to be in the park when it opened to join the virtual queue. It was the heaviest crowd I had seen at any Disney park, the ride had only been open for about a month, so as you could imagine I was not successful. I should say I did actually get a boarding group that trip, but it was too high and we were not called back. This time, I was able to get early boarding groups twice and am going to share my tips for success.

Luckily, Disney changed the virtual queue process at some point during the year which allows guests to join a boarding group from anywhere at 7AM. They also have a “second chance” join time at 1PM but you have to be checked into the park for that day. If you are not familiar with the Park Pass Reservation system, due to COVID capacity restrictions, WDW has you reserve each day at a certain park. In order to ride ROTR, you have to have a Park Pass for Hollywood Studios for that day. You cannot park hop to Hollywood Studios at the 2PM timeframe and hope to get a boarding group. The day’s reservation must be for Hollywood. 

I was not taking chances this trip and reserved two separate days at Hollywood Studios. I would recommend doing this even if you don’t intend on spending two days there. With the popularity of Rise, Hollywood books up fast with Disney still limiting capacity. We have no clue what the next few months will hold for Disney Parks although Disney has said it is “slowly” increasing capacity as the CDC has eased restrictions centering around vaccination rates. Other parks are easier to change to so for example, if you get ROTR on your first day, you could change your second day to Animal Kingdom or Epcot which usually stay available longer. 

I also did research and watched several videos on tips. Many of them have the same basic principles but they all had some differences that I was able to combine into my own tips list. These made the most sense to me so that’s why I didn’t just copy their full strategies. For example, several tips suggested having multiple members linked to your account try to get the boarding groups to increase chances. I did not want to slow my data with others pulling from the same tower. I also did not want to wake my family up any earlier and get a chance to see Disney villains up close. So here are my tips, again this was the first time I used these and was successful on both of my Hollywood Studios days. I will also note that I have an iPhone 12 Pro and have AT&T as my cellular carrier. 

1. Test internet speed - most of the time using cellular data over Wifi is best and was for me. I used an internet speed test app and my cellular download was roughly 15mbps vs Disney WiFi at 5-6mbps. 
2. Make sure the My Disney Experience App is the newest version - check for updates the day prior to ensure the app functions to its full potential. 
3. Find a location away from people for best signal - I went just outside the entrance of the hotel. They now allow you to be anywhere outside of the park for the 7:00AM queue. Be ready to go by 6:58AM.
4. Set alarm early enough for step 3 
5. Use a second device for a clock that will show seconds - The boarding groups will literally fill in seconds so every second counts. If you wait five seconds to join you will not have luck. I used my son’s iPhone clock app and put his in airplane mode to stop signal interference. 
6. Turn off phone’s Bluetooth and any location services on apps - this will improve speed of the device. 
7. Force close all background apps - again to improve speed and for iPhones involves holding your finger down at the bottom of your Home Screen then dragging up. This will display apps running in the background. To close them, swipe each upward. 
8. Open the MDE app at around 2 minutes prior to joining the queue - 6:58AM 
9. Click on the lower right “kabob” (3 lines) icon at the bottom of the main screen. 
10. Click on the “Virtual Queues” box. 
11. Refresh the app a couple times prior to time - iPhones use a hard pull down (grab the top of the screen with your finger and drag downward about halfway on the screen). I did it at 60,30, and 15 seconds prior to 7:00AM. 
12. Toggle by clicking the “Join Virtual Queue” button early a couple times - a back and forth to keep the app refreshed. This also kept my fingers fresh lol. Think like a runner jogging in place before a race. I have to keep my joints limber these days. Nerves also made me a little shaky so keeping myself busy and alert helped. 
13. Speed! There are 3 clicks so know where they are. First Screen: “Join Virtual Queue” towards the top of the screen. Second Screen: “Join” about midway down. Third/Final Screen: “Continue” which will be all the way at the bottom. Click the first “Join Virtual Queue” as soon as you see 7:00AM. Don’t wait for it to turn blue but don’t click too early as you will have to hit the back button and lose precious seconds. 
14. Make sure everyone is linked to your party in MDE even if they don’t want to ride. They are automatically selected as long as everyone has a Hollywood Studios Park reservation for that day. Don’t waste time trying to select at that screen just hit “Continue”. HINT you can hit the continue button even before it turns blue so hit it as soon as you see it. I hit it when it looks like the screen still hasn’t loaded. The button appears “ghosted” out but it still lets you push it!
15. Practice! I can’t stress this enough. Do these steps as many days as you can prior to the park day. You will get comfortable with the clicks and the process. It’s like taking a practice test that doesn’t count for a grade. You will be allowed to get to the last screen’s “Continue” click and basically it will tell you “no park reservation for this day”. If you see this message congrats, had you had a park reservation you would have received a boarding group in the first half of that day. If you get a red pop up at the bottom it means you weren’t quick enough so keep trying each day. 

Once you get your boarding group, it will give you your estimated return time. It is important to note they give you a one hour window to return so plan accordingly. The only catch to getting an early boarding group, i.e. groups 1-12, is they called us back before the park officially opened. During COVID, the capacity wasn't the only thing reduced. The park hours have been shortened for a while and Hollywood Studios was set to open at 9:00AM. Our boarding group's hour window started at the 8:30-8:40AM timeframe which gave us until 9:30-9:40AM to return. COVID made bus transportation a little more challenging than in the past with roughly 30 guests allowed to board. You really need to give yourself plenty of time to catch the bus and get into the parks. We made both our boarding groups without issue, but we did have to hustle getting ready each morning. 

NBA Experience at Disney Springs

My son is big into sports. When I heard about a new NBA experience located at Disney Springs, it was definitely something I wanted to look into.

Where to begin? You have two options: buy the tickets ahead of time or choose to purchase them at the experience. 🔑 Get them in advance! They are good for a year and when we arrived there was a decent line waiting to get in. The price is $34 for an adult (10+) ticket and $29 for a child (3-9) ticket. Kids under 3 do not require a ticket. Tickets can be used any time. Go to Disney’s website to order and assign to the guests participating. Keep in mind a child’s ticket must be accompanied with an adult ticket. For kids who fall under the adult ticket range, a parent can still accompany them without a ticket. We did this option so I could go with him, I just couldn’t participate. You just link the ticket to your magic band or card and use it like you would to get into any park or ride. It took us a minute to figure out you don’t have to stand in line. You just walk up to the cast members inside the entrance and you’ll see the magic band scanners.

What’s it like? There’s not really a time limit so you can spend as much time in there as you’d like. I’d recommend at least an hour. There are 13 stations you can experience in whatever order you’d like. 🔑 The better ones are upstairs. On the main floor we did the draft combine first which measures your wingspan, vertical leap, and shooting. There are low key stations like visiting the locker room where you can see player jerseys and gear, as well as a theater showing a 10 minute video (we skipped it). There was also a trivia section. Upstairs you’ll find stations that allow you to dunk, teach dribbling, a beat the clock shooting station, arcade shooting games, and a slingshot basketball game. The dunking area allows you to lower the rim but my son still struggled 😂. He’s small but mighty. Anyway, the other stations on both floors have picture opportunities where you can hold the Championship trophy,  MVP trophy, and a draft pic with the NBA Commissioner. The cool thing about each experience is you scan you magic band/card at each station and it automatically captures pictures and stats...even action shots! These pics will go to your Memory Maker if you purchase it. 🔑 I’ve always found buying it useful for our trips.

Was it worth it? If you have a kid who’s a basketball 🏀 fan, absolutely! It is definitely a fun addition to the Disney Springs area of Walt Disney World. 

Feel free to comment below and ask questions. Like this page! 

*no copyright infringement is intended for pictures*

Disney Transportation Tips

Magical Express 🚎 
Disney’s Magical Express is the bus system that takes your family from airport to resorts and back to the airport. You can only use this transport from the Orlando International Airport (MCO). It doesn’t run out of Sanford. Express is only available for guests staying at a Disney Resort. There are plenty of signs upon arrival but it can be confusing if it’s your first time....or even fifth time for me 😳. You’ll go the side B of the main terminal and it’s located on Level 1. You’ll have to take the transit from the boarding gates to the main terminal. Last time we went  the was decked out to like Galaxy’s Edge! The transit places you on Level 3 and you’ll likely have baggage to claim which is on Level 2. Depending on your airline you could be on either side A or B of the main terminal. Once you arrive at the Magical Express at least one person will need to have your magic band or card ready. There is no need to call ahead or set a time for pickup. You’ll be placed in a line based on your resort. You’ll likely have a couple other resort stops riding with you. For your departure, you’ll confirm your flight number and departure time with Magical Express a day before leaving. Don’t worry though, they will call your room to collect the info and then place an envelope on your door. You MUST have the travel paper in the envelope to hand to the driver at pickup. Pickup locations are clearly marked and are at the same place you are dropped off upon arrival. The drivers handle the luggage as well so people usually throw a tip in. I usually do because our bags are never light 😂. My family has utilized this transport each trip and they always do a great job.

Map of MCO

Park/Resort Bus Service 🚌 
Another great excuse to leave the car behind is the free bus service Disney provides from Resorts to Parks. KEY 🔑 -use your My Disney Experience App, under My Resort, you’ll find the bus schedule and a map to all bus stop locations. Most resorts have more than one stop. The schedule is a best estimate and keep in mind buses typically run every 15-20 minutes. The first bus is supposed to run roughly 45 minutes prior to park opening and for about 2 hours after park closure. Pay attention to the stop number where you’re dropped off at the parks since this is where you’ll likely return to catch a bus back to the resort.

Monorail 🚝
The Monorail is one of those unique items for WDW. It runs from select resorts and connects with Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It makes for a quick park hop between MK and Epcot or an easy trip from the park to a resort dining reservation. The monorail runs roughly 30 minutes prior to park opening and for about 1 hour after park closure. There are three lines that run on a loop:

Resort Line - from Magic Kingdom
1. Disney’s Contemporary Resort
2. Transportation and Ticket Center (Epcot exchange)
3. Disney’s Polynesian Resort
4. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
5. Magic Kingdom

Express Line
1. Transportation and Ticket Center
2 Magic Kingdom

Epcot Line - from Epcot
1. Transportation and Ticket Center
2. Epcot

Boat Transportation 🚤
Water taxis are another great option depending on where you’re staying. It’s another connection option from resort to park or Disney Springs. KEY 🔑 The My Resort option in your app is also useful here for boarding locations around your property. Times are subject to water conditions and weather so try to check ahead if it’s a questionable forecast.

To/From Magic Kingdom

• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Villas
• Disney’s Polynesia Resort
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge including Boulder Ridge, Fort Wilderness, and campgrounds 

To/From Epcot/Hollywood Studios 

• Disney’s Boardwalk Inn and Villas
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Villas
• Disney’s Yacht Club
• Disney’s Swan Hotel
• Disney’s Dolphin Hotel

To/From Disney Springs 

• Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter 
• Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside 
• Disney’s Old Key West
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs 

Uber/Lyft/Taxi/Minnie Van 🚕🚗
If you can’t wait on the Disney provided schedule or decide to travel outside of where their transportation takes you, you still have options. Uber or Lyft are commonly used within the parks and resorts so they should be relatively easy to catch one. We’ve not used them there yet, mainly because I read where they’re not required to have a car/booster seat. If they show up and don’t have them they can refuse the ride. My thought is around Disney they should know enough to be prepared but we’re not risk takers. KEY 🔑 They do make travel booster seats if that fits your child’s needs. They fit inside a large purse or backpack, it’s just the matter of having it with you all day. . I’m considering looking into this due to the fact that Uber/Lyft is cheaper than taxi service. That being said, we’ve used the MEARS Taxi service and it’s relatively easy. You can schedule your pickups and request a car/booster seat. Cost for us averages around $40 one way. KEY 🔑 Obviously, these services have their own apps which makes it easier to schedule, track, and pay. We’ve not used the Minnie Van service that operates through Lyft within Disney property. It’s way more expensive than a typical Uber/Lyft but would be more accommodating to your child seat needs. So if you just like the looks of them, which they are pretty sweet rides, have at it!

Disney’s Skyliner 🚠

The newest transportation option at WDW is the Skyliner. A gondola system operating between Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and select Disney resorts.

1. Disney’s Riviera Resort - Newly opened 
2. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
3.  Disney’s Pop Century Resort
4. Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

We did not get a chance to ride this but feedback is very positive. They each have unique designs and give a higher outlook over the parks and properties. The Skyliner Map shows Riviera  as the Epcot hub and Caribbean Beach as the Hollywood Studios hub. I couldn’t find anything on hours of operation but they should be similar to bus/boat services.

More posts to come. Please like, share, and comment below!
* No copyright infringement is intended. Some pics from D23 and Disney.go

My First Galaxy’s Edge Experience

I’m new to the whole blogging thing and by no means do I consider myself a Disney expert. That being said, I’ve been to Walt Disney World a handful of times and wanted to share my experiences and keys to having a great time. I follow other Disney blogs and wanted to give more of a novice approach from a dad’s perspective. I chose to start the blog with the newest addition to WDW, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, the planet of Batuu located in Hollywood Studios. After our trip, I got a fair amount of questions and requests for my opinion so here’s a summary. My Disney tips are labeled as KEYS.

My family of four chose to travel to Disney around New Year’s this year....despite all my efforts to pick a different timeframe, it just wasn’t doable. In the past, we’ve always gone a week while the kids were in school. Disney has never been “dead” then, but in most cases, the crowd level has been moderate to light. I was recently introduced to the online crowd calendars (KEY) that show expected traffic for a given day that year. You hear about the holidays being extremely busy and even reaching capacity limits so I was worried. The New Year’s week predictor showed so much red you could taunt a bull with it but....challenge accepted.

~Cries of the Resistance 😢
I planned our Hollywood Studios day on Friday, January 3rd since it was our last day that week and the farthest from the holiday. The night before, we agreed we would get to the park when it opened to try to get on the newest ride, Rise of the Resistance. This new immersive ride had just opened about a month before on December 5th. So far, Disney is trying something different to avoid high wait times called boarding groups. Think of it like a virtual line. When your party arrives at the park, you sign into the My Disney Experience app (a KEY must have!) and when the land officially opens, you can select “Join Boarding Group.” The park opened at 7AM that day, but they let guests in before that time (pic below at 6:45AM). I have no idea how early they let guests in, but I will say for Rise of the Resistance that there is no added benefit to show up early. They don’t allow you to join a boarding group until the land opens, so as you can imagine at 7am right around when my family got scanned into the park, everyone and their cousin was trying to join a group causing the app to drag. You’re waiting for the grayed out button to turn red. You are at the mercy of your phone’s reception and data speed. My page wouldn’t refresh so as my wife is pushing our stroller, I asked to try her phone. It let me get a little further, and eventually around 7:10AM, I got in (after it made me enter my password again 😡).  I was placed in group 174. Anything above 125 that day was considered a “backup” boarding group so getting to ride was not a guarantee. Each day the threshold for backup groups is different, but it will tell you if you get in. I didn’t get my hopes up and knew we wouldn’t be out until closing this day. Fortunately, they sent a text alert around 2PM stating that they apologized, but our group would not be taken that day. Bummer, but at least I didn’t have to worry about being called back after leaving. Plus, it gives us an excuse to return sooner rather than later!

~Smuggler’s Line
So we got up at the crack of dawn and no Rise of the Resistance. The other reason for the early arrival was to get ahead of the lines and high wait times for Smuggler’s Run. I had been seeing 2-3 hour wait times on the app days before. The path I mapped out to get to the land quickly was for nothing because Disney ropes off one pathway which everyone is forced to go. Here’s where that plan got me:

By the time we got into Galaxy’s Edge, the wait time for standby had jumped to 180 minutes. There was no way I was spending that much time of our last day in line. We looked around the land taking in the sites I was excited to see and regrouped. My son had seen advertisements for the Disney Play app and how you can interact with the land. I told him I wasn’t keen on having our heads down in a screen when there was so much to see. Since the rides were a bust, I figured why not. We had a blast! We ran around Batuu looking for panels, scan keys, and antennas. You unlock achievements by completing puzzles. You can also accept jobs to perform and play for the Resistance or the First Order. Quickly, my phone battery was down to 48% and it was only 9:30AM 😬. We walked by the Smuggler’s Run entrance and noticed an empty-looking Single Rider line. I asked a cast member close by what the details of that line were. He asked how old my son was. I said 10 and he said ok (this is the minimum age for an adult ticket). He explained the single rider line can’t estimate a wait time so it could be quick or hours. They use this to help fill in groups boarding the ride so you never know when there will be a need. He also said you have no choice in the position you’re given. The ride holds six people and each are given a position in the cockpit of the Falcon: two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers. With single rider, you’re most likely to get engineer and from what I read it’s hard to see because you are in the back two seats and you only have one small role in the entire run. The last catch with single rider is that you’re not guaranteed to be in the same group during the ride if you enter that line together. Another dad overheard me talking and told me he’s used those lines before and in most cases they try to make sure you board together if you’re with a younger child. I asked my son if he wanted to try it so we could at least see the ride while we were there. He said sure so we went in. We waited 25 minutes, got called to the ride in the same group, AND he got a pilot position and I was a gunner!

The ride was a fun experience but not sure it’s worth the standby line wait time of more than 90 minutes. You get your score at the end and those credits get added to your Play app! I received Hot Shot status with 52%! Pilots are scored based on how well they avoid hitting things. My son was the left to right pilot and the other pilot controls up and down. Let’s say I hope the Falcon has more than liability coverage 😂. If it’s not too long a wait, definitely do this ride. We missed several sights not going through standby so there’s more for us next trip.

Do Droid Depot
I reserved several experiences when they first became available. I recommend reservations anytime they’re available at WDW (KEY). The standby line was a 90-100 minute wait! They can be reserved through the website where the app will redirect you. Savi’s Lightsaber workshop, Oga’s Cantina, and Droid Depot. I didn’t necessarily intend on doing all 3 but wanted to keep options open. We decided to pass on Oga’s this time because it was mainly drinks and the “lunch” listing was two snacks. Savi’s is on my list but given the $200 price tag I passed on it as well. My kids have always like Build-A-Bear Workshop and this is basically the droid version...and way cooler!! The kids got to pick from a BB or R unit. They both picked the R units which ended up being a better choice for kids in my opinion because the BB units use a magnet to keep the head attached....with kid play, it falls off in occasion. They pick from colors and styles of the head, body, and leg pieces with a couple accessory pieces that go on the body and legs. Normally I don’t go for extras but what the hey it’s Disney, right? So we sprung for the personality chip and carrying bag. They got to pick from 3 different chips that were specific to the Resistance, First Order, or Scoundrels (think Han Solo, kinda work for themselves). The chips make the droid interact in certain ways within Galaxy’s Edge as well as other droids. If you don’t choose the back packs you still get a box with handle. We did our reservation at 12:40PM so the money for an easier transport was well worth it in our case. We’re down to an umbrella stroller now so in some ways we miss the cargo basket under our double stroller. Then again, I don’t miss it going through the airport lol. Another plus was they have an open flap option so the droids were visible during our travels. Anyway, they go to a station, use a power drill to screw in the leg pieces, place their personality chip, then place them in the activation hub complete with lights and sounds! They are remote controlled to turn the head, go forward/backward, spin, and make sounds.  Outside the depot look for the red canopies and there’s a section where droids can be played with. It is the only place this is allowed. It’s kind of like a droid dog park. The droids will “talk” to each other while they’re on and use Bluetooth in the park. It’s important to turn them off at night so the batteries don’t drain. A huge win for our trip!

Other random things I enjoyed were some of the unique items only found in Batuu. The blue milk is a must! It’s a coconut/rice milk combo and it was fantastic. I wasn’t sure about going with blue vs green, but the cast member said she like blue when I asked. Plus, the original Star Wars had Luke drinking blue milk so it seemed like a good start. I also loved the details of the other drinks. The Coke products are designed to look like they’re from another planet. Cool collectibles!
Overall, there was way too much to see in one trip so I definitely plan on going back with lighter crowds. More Keys 2 Disney to come! As they say goodbye on Batuu, May the Spires keep you!