My Rise of the Resistance boarding pass experience

The Rise of the Resistance boarding pass system requires some research beforehand to ensure success. Here’s how I secured boarding passes twice on my trip.

Rise of the Resistance is the newest hot attraction, sending people to park gates before official opening time in order to have a chance to ride it. The hype for the ride has brought a new wave of people eager to check out Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The introduction of the ride at Disney World in December came with the implementation of a boarding pass system, which has carried over to the recent opening in Disneyland.

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The system is fairly simple … if you know what you’re doing. Luckily, I had done my research before going in mid-January and was able to get a boarding pass twice.

For those of you hoping to secure a Rise of the Resistance boarding pass, here’s my experience. Also, make sure to check out this extensive boarding pass FAQ that answers key questions surrounding the system.

Rise of the Resistance boarding pass: Day 1

My partner and I woke up around 5:30 a.m. and were out the door by 6. We missed the first bus from All-Star Movies to Hollywood Studios, so we decided to call a Lyft instead of waiting, thinking it would be faster — it was not. We watched a second bus come for Hollywood Studios while waiting for our driver, which was a sign that we made the wrong decision.

We called the Lyft around 6:15 and didn’t get picked up until 6:40. The ride was fairly quick, but then we caught another snag: dropoff lines. Many people had also called a rideshare service that morning, which led to backups. I watched the clock slowly creep towards 7 a.m, park opening time that day, and died a little inside with each passing minute.

Finally, we were dropped off around 6:52. That meant we had eight minutes to get through security and scan into the park. Our next mistake was going through the security line for people with bags, when we weren’t carrying any. This was on us, being Disney rookies, and slowed us down considerably. It hit 6:59 as we finally got through security.

You not only need to get through security for a boarding pass, but you also have to be physically scanned into the park. When we finally scanned into the park, I opened up my phone and dread set in: it was 7:02.

I quickly opened the Disney World app in a last-ditch attempt to get a boarding pass. From there, I clicked “Find Out More” on the Rise section of the app, then “Join Boarding Group”, selected my partner on my friends/family list so we’d be grouped together, and … secured boarding group 95! Better yet, guaranteed groups went up to 110 that day, so we knew we’d get to ride Rise.

We spent the day exploring Hollywood Studios and got a notification that our boarding group was called around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.

I was disappointed in the morning given the few snags we hit, but it all worked out in the end. Even better, Rise of the Resistance absolutely lived up to the hype.

Rise of the Resistance boarding pass: Day 2

Our experience getting a Rise of the Resistance boarding pass on a second try was completely different than Day 1. We woke up around 5:15 a.m. that day and were out the door by 5:45. We ended up being the first people in line for the bus from All-Star Movies to Hollywood Studios, easily boarding it this time.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 6:35, and since buses have their own dropoff areas, we didn’t hit the snag we previously hit when waiting in rideshare lines. We quickly shuffled to security around the corner and learned from our mistake on Day 1, finding the “no bag” line that zoomed by in comparison to the bag line we sat in on Day 1.

After security, we found a short line and scanned in around 6:42. Instead of joining the mass of people heading to Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land, we found a spot near the entrance to sit down and wait for 7 a.m to roll around. The wait wasn’t too long, and at 6:59 I was ready to open the app. As soon as it struck 7 on my phone’s clock, I opened the app, clicked “Find Out More”, then “Join Boarding Group”, selected my partner on my friends/family list, and … got boarding group 23!

Our group was called around 8 a.m., so we headed on over for our second experience. However, after getting through the first part of the ride, we were required to exit because a later part of the ride was broken down — what was broken down, we don’t know.

After being escorted out and back to Galaxy’s Edge, Disney cast members scanned our MagicBands and gave us a FastPass to come back. I asked when we’d know to come back, and one of the workers advised to keep an eye on the app to see if boarding groups were being called.

So, we went and found breakfast. Around 9:30, boarding groups were slowly moving again, so we scanned our MagicBands at the FastPass entrance and ended up right at the beginning part of the ride. The second time through we experienced no hiccups at all.

Hopefully my experience, and the snags I hit along the way, help you to plan your Rise of the Resistance boarding pass attack plan.

Have you been able to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding pass? Let me know your experience in the comments.