I've been avoiding this thread because I hadn't been on the ride yet, and was trying to stay as spoiler free as possible. Thanks to twitter (despite muting key words) and The Imagineering Story, a lot got spoiled anyway. But my experiences:
I went yesterday (Sunday of President's Day weekend) because it was the only day I had free to activate my new Flexpass. It was very, crowded. My husband, who had gone the day before and researched all the tips, was able to grab Group 15 the day before. But on that day, despite all the tips (shutting down all other apps, using data not Wifi, loging in just moments before... he even went as far as to check the data speed in the area we were standing to make sure it was strong), we still ended up with group 130. Pretty disappointed, we figured we probably weren't going to ride it at all, as our original plan was to leave the parks by about 2pm.
But we kept checking progress throughout the day, and by 10:30am or so, they were already up to the 50's. We suspect there was a breakdown around 11am or noon, as it stayed in the high 50's for about 90 minutes, and when we left the park at 1:30, they were only in the 60's. But after we went home to LA and took a huge nap, we noticed the groups were flying by again. At 3:30, they were up to Group 80. By 5:30, they were up to around 112, so we risked it and drove back down to the park. Literally seconds after going through the turnstyle, our group 130 got called at 6:35 and we did get to ride! As far as we could tell, they went up to group 156, which happened around 8:30pm or so, then stopped. So it seems the efficiency of the ride is definitely improving. We figure after that, since groups have a 2 hour window to return and the line is about 30-60 minutes, that takes them through the rest of the night.
Despite our trouble with this and our personal bad experience with the virtual queue, I'd still rather have this than a free for all stand-by line that takes 5-8 hours. Yeah, it's stressful and unfairly random, but at least you know right away and can plan the rest of your day accordingly without wasting half of your day standing in one line. And given that they're all gone in 1-2 minutes seems to hint we'll be stuck with this for at least through the summer, if not the rest of the year before anything changes.
On a side note, are there ever groups 1-9? Never seen anyone grab one of those. Seems like it starts with 11 at best. Also, if you did get a high numbered group that you can't/won't use, is there a way to transfer it to other people?
To me, this is definitely the best ride Disney has done in a long time. Pictures you see online don't do justice to the scale of the ride in person--it's immense and you really feel you are in the environment. While very impressive and enjoyable, it wasn't without it's flaws. My spoiler quibbles with the ride:
- Once you get on the main ride vehicle and the ride begins, I don't quite understand why your first major visual is seeing empty ride vehicles fly by you. I do believe the narrative tries to explain this, but it was too little too late and very confusing.
- It's also odd that the vast majority of the ride is spent going backwards or sideways. So much so, I started to wonder wouldn't it be easier in the context of the story to be going forwards more?
- Also wondered why a droid would be dumb enough to drive right into the main bridge with Kylo right there. That really took me out of the story for a moment. I was like: Really? Why are we here?
- The motion simulator finale, even with the drop, is the weakest part of the whole ride, so it's a bit of a let down that's the final major scene.
- Lastly, why is the ride called Rise of the Resistance, when it's really 80% about the First Order? The Resistance doesn't seem to rise all that much in this story.
My husband also noted we seemed to be seeing the B mode of Kylo, so I can't compare that, but in his opinion, he liked the B mode better. He didn't find the A mode effects all that convincing or effective. I just have to take his word on that one.
Despite my quibbles, it's still a great ride, and one I'll look forward to going on as much as possible. Hopefully we'll get a better boarding group next time, haha.
I also find it amusing that Disney is borrowing the best techniques of itself and Universal rides/queues. Half the queue felt like a blend of Avatar and Hagrid in that it's a series of small, but not too small, rooms. And then a pre-show similar to the elevator in Gringott's (though certainly more intricate and detailed... but it is the same basic premise). An impressive waiting area similar to Smuggler's Run. Then an elevator ride structure similar to Transformers. Not complaining, just seeing the parallels.
But if you haven't done it, it's a great attraction. And when operating efficiently, the queue moves pretty fast. The fact they got to group 156 by 8:30pm is impressive, especially after initial reports.