December 15, 2020, UPDATE: We are making a slight adjustment to the virtual queue process for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Beginning this Sunday, Dec. 20, the afternoon distribution time will now be 1 p.m.; the 7 a.m. distribution will remain the same. Please see below for more details about the virtual queue, and may the Force be with you!
It’s clear the Force is strong with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Since its debut last year, this spectacular experience inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has proven to be one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World Resort.
To better help guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios plan ahead for their day at the park, we’re piloting a new approach to the virtual queue system for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Starting Nov. 3, 2020, here’s how it will work:
- Guests with a valid ticket or annual pass and a Disney Park Pass reservation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be able to access the virtual queue system and check for an available boarding group starting at 7 a.m. on the day of their park reservation. This can be done before you leave your Disney resort hotel, or wherever else nearby you might be at that time.
- Just as we do today, the virtual queue will reopen daily at 2 p.m. for anyone who wasn’t already able to join a boarding group earlier in the day. Note: Guests must be inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios to access this second virtual queue opportunity, and access to a boarding group is subject to availability and not guaranteed.
This new approach will make a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios more enjoyable and relaxing, as guests no longer need to be inside the park each morning to request a boarding group for the first virtual queue opportunity. As a reminder, you need to be inside the park to request the 2 p.m. boarding groups.
To try to maximize the number of boarding groups we’re able to accommodate while adhering to current health and safety guidelines, we recently added a clear barrier between the two rows of seats on each First Order Fleet Transport vehicle inside the attraction. This enables us to invite more guests to board Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance each day.
The attraction’s virtual queue is only accessible via the My Disney Experience mobile app. To maximize your opportunity to secure a boarding group, here are some tips we recommend you check off your list prior to your day at the park:
- Register an account in My Disney Experience
- Download the My Disney Experience mobile app on your smart device or ensure you’re using the most updated version of the app before you arrive at the park.
- Link and assign all park tickets in your party to a My Disney Experience account
- Have a valid Disney Park Pass reservation for Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the day you’re visiting
- Select one member of your party to access the virtual queue for everyone in your group; if multiple people in your party try to join the virtual queue simultaneously, that may complicate your ability to secure a boarding group
- Remember, virtual queue boarding groups are limited and subject to availability
This new pilot approach to the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue is designed to give guests the best possible experience during a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. We look forward to seeing you on your next trip to a galaxy far, far away.
Comments
You don’t have to be nearby anything for the early drop (7 am now). You can even do it out of state if you were to have a reservation the same day (which would be unusual).
I hate how fast the queue fills up with the lottery system in less than a few seconds, and agree above that it is extremely dominated by season passholders/locals who have ridden it 20+ times when out of staters are looking for just one chance to ride and can’t. Definitely agree with statements above that they should consider priority for those haven’t ever rode before.
Incredibly heart broken. I followed all the rules with buying park passes and park reservations. Logged on right at 7:00 and tried to secure two spots only to be met with “Something went wrong” errors and then 15 seconds later the virtual queue was full and I will have to try again at 1pm. This can’t be the new Disney experience. You should have an opportunity to ride the rides in the park.
So disappointing, definitely killed our joyful mood. Tried at 7 and and again at 2 both times failed to win a spot in the queue for the family. As huge Star Wars fans we had been looking forward to this for months but will have to wait until we have another vacation to Disneyworld.
I logged in a few minutes before 7 am, and as expected, it told me the queue wasn’t open until 7 am. Tried as soon as time rolled to 7. Queue was already full. There has got to be a better way to manage this.
Queue works as advertised, perfectly! Logged in at 7:00am, got queue position #5 for my party of 4. Super excited!!!
Terribly disappointing experience on the first day of the new 7am queue. Got up early, had everything ready as required. As soon as the “join” button appeared, I clicked on it, and the app wouldn’t let me add all of my family members to the boarding group. The app (incorrectly) identified only one of my family members as having a reservation for the park. I tried logging out of the app and logging back in – by which time the queue was full. Tears all around. What a mess.
Hi there, please define “nearby”.
I have been asking in chat and don’t get an answer. I can see the cluster, forming on World De or Buena Vista, with people randomly driving to be on property.
I don’t know why this is so complicated. Someone from Tampa, has enough time to make it over by 10. I’m in Four Corners and can easily make it by 10. Am I “nearby”??!!
I would like to see something in place so that you are guaranteed to ride if visiting from out of state. We will be coming in February and it will be the 3rd time since it opened and have not been able to ride it yet. Extremely irritating to spend money on tickets and not be able to join the queue.
Good start, but I think priority should go to resort guests first, then to all other guests at the 7am window. Like magic hour for virtual queues, since that benefit is gone, and so is park hopping. Just my $.02
I think that “or wherever else nearby you might be at that time” means anywhere you internet access as long as you have a ticket for Hollywood Studios for that day.
Plexiglass is not a substitute for distancing. Recent studies have proven that. WDW’s website states that social distancing is in place, so why is this being changed? Can people who want to maintain a safe distance still do so upon request?
I love this concept. 7am is perfect don’t change it. Flying from out of state. I would rather wake up early, then go to HS and be disappointed that I paid $555 And lost my one shot to ride ROTR since I only purchased one park per day. If I could change my park days based on this i would feel like a had a fighting chance. For some this will be their 1st experience.
I don’t think this goes far enough. They need to prioritize those who have never ridden first….then dole out the rest.
It is nonsense that vloggers and locals dominate the park
Are we able to get clarification on nearby. I go to the parks twice a month with my family and we live 2 hrs away. Thank you in advance 😊
Thank you for listening to us and trying to make this process less intense and high stakes. I think this is a very welcome change and will make morning transportation much less stressful as well. While some here have said make it later, I actually think 7 AM is good. It’s enough time to allow you to try and make a last minute breakfast reservation, change your park reservation to a different park if you’d prefer (before it opens), and plus you will know before everyone is dressed. If they did it at 8 you’d have to be up and dressed already so that if you get boarding group 1, you can head over to transportation with the morning crowd and not worry you might miss your window.
Agree with some of the others. While this is a plus, please consider moving to 8am since the park doesn’t open until 10am. We are staying at Swan next month and specifically chose it so we wouldn’t have to get up so early and could just walk to Hollywood Studios.
I’d like to know how people with a lot of “friends” on their MDE will be addressed. With the last update, when you went to join a queue, only those that passed the turnstiles would be selected so you just had to press join which eliminated a lot of frustration. How will the MDE know what your current party is with this new system without having to manually select everyone (and having absolutely no chance)?
Would like a clearer explanation as to “nearby” we live 45 minutes away!
What is nearby. I live 1 1/2 hour drive away.
I’m with everyone else askingbfir a more definitive definition of “nearby”. I am 18 miles away and having this info would help. I do love that this option is available because the park right now is not a full day park with so many things not available and having the opportunity to do this from him me, if that’s an option close enough to your “nearby” would help from then going to do ROTR as well as other attractions without having to be there all day. Thanks for any clarification
Actually, I really don’t see a difference, 7:00 AM vs 10:00 AM. All the virtual boarding passes will be distributed within .5 seconds at the 7:00 am time slot, just like it is now at 10:00 AM with everyone on the park.
I guess ppl never heard early bird gets the BG. Happy with this new program. Also partitions on the ride vehicles will really help get more ppl on the ride! Keep up the good work!!
Thank you for trying to address this situation. In September, right at 10:00 and 2:00, we tried to get a BG. No luck. We are going back in November and staying on property. We don’t mind waking up at 7:00!!! Yes, we’re on vacay, but we’ll go have some breakfast or go back to sleep. Find the good, not the bad!👍
I just called Disney, and you will be able to access the QUE from where ever you are on that morning as long as you have a valid ticket or pass as well as a park reservation.
Again, how far is “nearby”? AP 2.5 hours away.
I would like to see some sort of restriction to the first boarding groups of the day, maybe each person can only get one per ?week, after that they can join a standby boarding group. Just to give all of us, especially those like us, that haven’t done it before.
Adding to the desperate chorus of “how near is nearby”. I live an hour away. Is that “nearby”?
At least we’ll know that morning if we made a BG or not, so maybe we’ll switch to a different park if available. EP probably always has room during a non-holiday week. This solves the dilemma for parties who keep striking out and held captive needing to keep returning for full days at HS with no guarantee of a BG. Hopefully they could change parks and try again. Keep in mind it’s a pilot.
I agree with those who would prefer a later time (8:00 vs. 7:00), but I guess they made it so early so people can plan their day. I’m still planning to get to the park early to ride as many rides as possible! 😁
How close is nearby? I live 63 miles away and an an annual pass never going quite often. Would I be close enough to make a reservation from home or would I have to leave my house at 6am to get “nearby” at 7 and then just sit in a parking lot for a few hours? Thank you for the info in advance.
Please make the time closer to park opening, such as 2 hours before would be great. Then I don’t have to wake up so early (3 hours before park opening currently).
PLEAST clarify “nearby”. 5 miles, 10 miles, within an hour from the parks?
This kind of looks like favoritism toward resort guests and annual passholders are going to have to find a new game to play. I can only imagine the parking lots, roads & areas of Disney property filled with AP holder vehicles as they try to get boarding groups & then sit there waiting for the parks to open.
Please make it for a closer time to park opening, like 2 hours, so 8 a.m. ET instead of 7 a.m., would be better.
I still think first some first service is the best policy. Now that we can’t park hop and after we were denied a second time even after having a cast member help with the second try at 2. We just left we had already rode all the other rides we wants to. No reservations to any restaurant were available and I didn’t want to order online and eat outside in the sun. Not a fun trip this year. Wouldn’t have come, but we had DVC points that were expiring.
Who wants to wake up before 7:00am on vacation? Ugh.
Will guests be able to drop their HS reservation that same day and switch to another park with availability should you not secure a boarding group at 7am? This might help reduce crowds and disappointed families.
I wonder how close you have to be
Please define what “nearby” means. Is that 5 miles or 50 miles away from the park?
Can you define “nearby”? Is it anywhere on property? Even so, this early window might as well just be exclusively for hotel guests, because I’m not about to drive onto property before 7:00 to try and get a time and then have to wait around for 2-3 hours before I can go into the park.
This is so exciting and will certainly reduce the stress caused by everyone racing to enter the park by 10 a.m. Thank you!
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