Disney Fixes Broken Effect on Star Wars Rise of Resistance We Feared Was Gone for Good.
Do you believe in miracles?! One of the marquee effects in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance that has not worked in years at either Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World or Disneyland has been fixed. This post shares the official announcement along with our commentary.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland have long histories of opening brand-new attractions with jaw-dropping effects only to have these break and never be fixed. Imagineering is capable of making magic come to life, but sometimes its ambitions get the best of it. Effects that perform well in the Glendale offices can’t always withstand the rigors of daily operations in actual theme parks.
In fairness to Imagineers, it’s also often the case that Disney cheaps out on preventative maintenance and refurbishments. Attractions get big budgets when they’re in development, but OpEx is seldom commensurate with CapEx. Then there are the scenarios where no one is to blame. Tough choices have to be made about effects that are problematic and whether it’s worth the downtime, or if having the ride operate with certain features in B-mode is the better bet.
There are countless examples of this, but Indiana Jones Adventure is the biggest for me. This is probably because I never experienced the attraction in its full glory at Disneyland, so I’ve gone down the rabbit hole reading about its many long-lost effects, from the elusive ice machine to moving walls and so much more.
Then there are two attractions I have experienced in their full glory: DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest. I’m less interested in non-working effects on both of these attractions. Admittedly, I also hold two seemingly unpopular opinions when it comes to these Animal Kingdom headliners.
The first is that the Yeti Audio Animatronics was a colossal waste of money to begin with for something that can only be seen for a fraction of a second. In a park that has plenty of problems, is still underbuilt, and is in urgent need of a lot of help, the yeti should not be fixed anytime in at least the next decade. Budgets are finite and that’s a poor use of both (down)time and money. Sorry not sorry.
The second is that DINOSAUR isn’t great even with all of its effects working. It’s a good attraction, to be sure, but it’s not great. And it certainly doesn’t measure up to Indiana Jones Adventure. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I cannot wait for Walt Disney World fans to experience our version of the attraction (which I’ve heard fantastic things about) and see what we’ve been missing all these years. DINOSAUR will be quickly forgotten.
Then there’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. I experienced this during previews, opening day on both coasts, and extensively in the months that followed. I lost track of how many times we did this ride from December 2019 until March 2020, and again in Summer 2020 through 2021.
There was a time when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was the hot topic due to its ever-changing virtual queue policies and its “effects watch.” In fact, our original guide to the attraction strongly encouraged guests to jump through the hoops to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance as soon as possible, as it’s a very effects-heavy attraction and it was possible–if not probable–that some of those would be permanently disabled over time.
And that’s exactly what happened with its cannon sequence. Or so we thought. (Warning: spoilers to follow.)
During the climactic battle/escape sequence during the ride-through portion of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, there are three cannons that are supposed to move back and forth as they recoil from firing shots through the ship’s windows. The prisoner transport vehicles likewise move back and forth as an evasive maneuver, dodging the cannons in between blasts.
When this effect is firing on all cylinders, it adds an incredible layer of immersion. It feels like you’re doing a chaotic dance, for lack of a better term, with the cannons amidst actual battle. It’s a frenzied and frenetic scene, and one that reminds me of the climax of Mystic Manor (totally different, but it feels similar).
Unfortunately, the cannons have not been working in years. (I want to say since around Summer 2021, but don’t quote me on that.) It’s my understanding that they were deactivated as they were plagued by problems, as the timing being off would trigger downtime for the entire attraction.
This was at a time when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was still plagued by frequent breakdowns and Disney was doing regular overnight maintenance on both coasts to improve reliability. And exactly that was achieved by Fall 2021, with the Galaxy’s Edge headliner still having issues, but within the realm of what’s reasonable for such a complicated attraction.
In short, the cannons haven’t moved in over 3 years, and we assumed that their deactivation was permanent. Or would last at least until Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance received a lengthy refurbishment that would give Imagineers a chance to spend time inside the attraction and figure out a fix for the underlying ride vehicle and cannon cadence issue.
So I was shocked when we received a statement from a Disneyland official informing us that, as of this morning, the cannons on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are firing once again! According to Disney, its teams have done lots of hard work to restore this feature and they can’t wait for guests to experience this moment once more.
Honestly, I didn’t ever expect to experience this again.
Disney has spent a lot of money on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and I figured this is something they’d file under “throwing good money after bad.” Especially since it’s been so long, most guests probably forgot about the effect or never experienced it, and this creates the precedent for fixing it again if it breaks again. (Given the timing of when they were disabled at Walt Disney World and the lengthier closure of Disneyland, the cannons might have never been at Disneyland after March 2020.)
Suffice to say, Disneyland’s maintenance teams and Walt Disney Imagineering deserve a huge kudos for this. This scene is good even without the cannons moving, but the motion is one of those “little things” that puts it over the top. Just a top-tier, icing on the cake kind of effect.
No word yet on if or when this fix will be implemented on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Walt Disney World, but we’d assume so. Although Orlando management is notoriously allergic to ride refurbishments and plussings, this has two things going for it. First, it was accomplished after hours, without a ride refurbishment.
Second, Walt Disney World doesn’t have complete autonomy when it comes to Star Wars. If this were an effect on Pirates of the Caribbean, it might be a different story. But if Imagineering or Lucasfilm really want to push and force Walt Disney World’s hand, they could probably get this fix for the cannons implemented at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, too.
We also shouldn’t rule out the possibility that Walt Disney World will want its cannons working. There have been plenty of projects in the last ~6 months that evince an increased willingness to spend on maintenance and other little projects that aren’t necessarily marketable. Maybe this is one of them!
It’s also worth noting that, after a few years of roughness for reliability and ride breakdowns at Disneyland, things seem to be finally turning a corner. It used to be the case that maintenance was always better at Disneyland, but the gap has closed in recent years–and not because of anything Walt Disney World has done. (Quite the contrary…)
The good news is that Disneyland has made a bunch of little fixes in the last few months. They’ve also filed a flurry of permits lately, with the most recent being for Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout during Spring Break. As discussed in the latest update to our 2025 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar, this attraction badly needs it.
Hopefully this trend continues at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and not just in California. We’ve also seen an uptick in refurbishments in Florida since the start of the new fiscal year, which we’ve attributed to Burbank turning on the money spigot after a few years of underfunding the parks. There’s still a lot of deferred maintenance to be done, which is why we’ve warned of more refurbishments in 2025-2026 than the last few years.
This is why “Maintenance & Unexpected Downtime” made the list of Top 10 Guest Complaints About Walt Disney World! Some fans will undoubtedly bemoan more closures during their travel dates, expecting refurbishments to only happen during others’ vacations. In our view, it’s good news that many refurbishments are now being scheduled simultaneously, even if it does come with the short-term pain of multiple major rides down.
Anyway, kudos to Disneyland’s teams for getting this done–I never thought I’d see the day. We cannot wait to get out to the park to check it out. It’s been a while since we’ve seen either version of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance firing on all cylinders, which is a shame, as I truly believe this is the best modern marvel of Imagineering. That’s right, better than anything at Tokyo Disney Resort or any of the international parks!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of Disney and Imagineering finally fixing the cannons on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland? Surprised that this happened? Think the fix will be implemented at Walt Disney World? When, if ever, did you last see the cannons working on either coast? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of this effect? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Delighted to hear that the cannons are back for ROR. Now if they’d only bring back the “fog” on Pirates’ ship scene (which so added to the impact) and get that poor man his banjo back at the start!! Disneyland’s Pirates ride is still great but both details have been missing for a long time for reasons that are unclear to me as they seem like relatively easy fixes
More of a broader Star Wars universe observation, but these are laser cannons right? Why would a laser even have a recoil?
But I learned long ago not to think too deeply about any kind of Star Wars logic and just be content with the awesomeness.
Forget the recoil – My first thought when I rode this at DL in January 2022 was – How the hell are the cannons firing through glass windows??? Oh and yes – I rode RoTR a few weeks later at WDW and the cannons were definitely NOT working. Add to that there were several times when the Wicked Witch of the West … errr … I mean Kylo Ren was not visible and the giant piece of wall that revolves down was already in place to obviously hide a non-functioning AA figure.
I thought it was going to be fixing the final Kylo Ren AA. Others insist he still appears occasionally, but I’ve gotten B mode for every ride since at least 2022. Is there any rhyme or reason to that particular issue?
None of which I’m aware. For whatever it’s worth, I saw Kylo on both coasts in November or December of last year. Not sure when the last time was before that, but I do RotR enough that I’d notice if he were never working. I’d say it’s at least 50/50 at this point.
I’m with you Pat!! I thought is was going to be Kylo A mode. I haven’t seen the A mode for years.
Yay! I know there’s a long history of broken/missing effects, but I was stunned when I heard how long these weren’t working. If they want to charge $20+ for Individual Lightning Lanes, they really need to keep this in “A” mode!
the cannon effect worked in July 4th 2021 in disneyland, and did not work in late oct 2021 in Disney world
This honestly made my day! On our recent trip to Disneyland my husband and I both talked about how much we missed the cannons (lucky enough to experience them at WDW in Feb 2020). The Kylo Ren into cannons into escape pod sequence absolutely blew my mind on my first ride through; I felt like a child again. I cannot WAIT to experience it with the effect working again!
Wahoo! So pleased to hear this. The storytelling on RotR is exceptional… until the cannon room without working cannons, where it makes no sense why your carrier is moving back and forth. I can’t wait to experience the fully armed and operational version!
This article was a great illustration of the problem, as when I read the headline I racked my brains as to what the effect could possibly be (something in the ride queue?) and when I got to the cannons I thought “of course”. And every time I’ve ridden the ride I’ve been a bit disappointed they didn’t move, but quickly forgotten about it as the scene is so immersive.
They absolutely could have got away without fixing this, which is why I’m impressed that they have. Credit where credit’s due!
I am THRILLED about this news. #1 on my list of effects that should be fixed.
The first time I rode RoTR at DHS in January 2022 I am 99% positive the cannons were moving (rode it twice in one day, Kylo was in “B” mode at the end both times).
That first experience riding through the cannon “scene” was incredibly emotional for me. I grew up obsessed with the original trilogy and the “space battles” always captured my imagination more than anything else. The way that sequence plays out, with timing, story beats, music swelling, and sudden realization that you’re IMMERSED in a space battle raging both “outside” and within the ship, just overwhelmed my senses and memories in a way that tears started streaming down my face uncontrollably. I’ve been emotionally moved on other rides but never had anything close to that experience. To me, hands down, the “working cannons” version of that sequence is far and away the best ~15 seconds that Imagineers have ever created.
The next time I rode RoTR (DL, 2023) I couldn’t wait for that sequence — but while still great, something was missing (the cannons). I think the visual and kinetic energy of those cannons is what puts that scene it over the top, because being forced to pay attention to multiple stimuli at once “jams” your brain’s “disbelief pathways.” Kind of like how the windows at Space 220 feel more “real” in your peripheral vision when you’re eating and talking vs. when you’re just staring at what feels like a screen.
Also agree about the Yeti. In fact, let’s just take that AA out of Expedition Everest, paint it white, and re-launch it as a Wampa in a rebooted Galaxy’s Edge.
Absolutely agree! I was grinning ear to ear the entire time my first ride through, but the canons really put me over the edge. I truly felt like I was *in* the movies.
Wow! Agreed – I did not expect this to be fixed, ever.
I agree with you that fully fixing the Yeti probably isn’t a good use of funds but I’m kind of surprised they never came up with a better solution than flashing a strobe light on it. Seems like there has to be some middle ground between closing the ride for a year to cut the mountain open and a cheap strobe light. Personally i think it would be more effective to just shine a fixed spotlight on it so you could at least see the figure. I mean, is the strobe really tricking anyone into thinking it’s moving?? Anyway, great to hear they fixed the cannons, hopefully DHS isn’t far behind. I experienced them in the rides first couple months and they really are a gamechanger.
Did some digging and I’m seeing elsewhere that the cannons were permanently disabled on both coasts in March 2022. Before that, only the first cannon was working (sporadically).
Prior to January 31, 2025, all three cannons last worked on both coasts in July 2021.
I’ll see if I can get confirmation of this from Disney, but I somehow doubt they’ll comment. Regardless, this more or less tracks with my memory/experience. At least at WDW–I did RotR far less at DLR until 2023.
I have ridden this with and without… completely different experience. When I ride it and it isn’t there now – I am a little heart broken. So looking forward to this being fixed at WDW… thanks for the hope.
Most excellent news, even if it so far is only at the little park! While the large ‘windows’ with battle scenes are awesome in their own right, the effects with the moving cannon make it so much better, the technical goofiness in a beam weapon needing to recoil notwithstanding. I haven’t been to DL/DCA in far too long and haven’t ridden ROTR there but definitely recall this effect working at DHS long, long ago, in a galaxy…
Now, they had damn well better finally fix the shaking rocks at BTMRR at MK!
And may they still be working in August! When our first kid was born, we decided that we go to the parks so often that we wouldn’t be missing out on anything by skipping rides our kid was too short/waiting for her to grow up into them while celebrating the stuff she could actually do. She didn’t hit 40 inches until 2023 so I’ve never seen this!
Now they need to adapt one of the ride vehicle’s to load a wheelchair so everyone can experience this ride. Wheelchairs are allowed on the swinging cars of the mickeys fun wheel (my cousin’s, who is quadriplegic, favorite ride) and not even a strap to hold in place, this ride should be easy to fix 1-2 cars to accommodate wheelchairs.
My daughter and I were talking about this a few days ago. We experienced the cannons at WDW in 2022. First ride we were stuck in the cannon room for nearly an hour, had to be evacuated. We were able to ride it several times on that trip after the first time and they were working each time.
Oh wow, I guess I stand corrected as to when they stopped moving.
Was it all 3 at that time, or just 1 that was moving? IIRC, there was one that was functional for a bit after the other two were disabled.
All of them were working and the ride vehicles moved back and forth too.
We too experienced the cannons at WDW sometime in late 2022 or early 2023 — I distinctly remember the time period (we didn’t do WDW in 2021 or most of 2022). FWIW, it was end of the night (told us it was a 70m wait but actually less than 20 to the transport vehicle) and it wasn’t working perfectly, and we had a delay (watching the cannons go back and forth) and we got a LOT of “bonus” audio track in our ride vehicle with dialogue between the guy giving us directions and our droid. Definitely the best RotR of our lives! Looking forward for it to return to our home park!
P.s. Tom, you’ll never convince me that Dinosaur will be forgotten or that an IJ clone is superior.
Fantastic news! one of my favorite effects on the ride!
Same here! And probably an unpopular opinion, but I’ll take these cannons working over a moving yeti!
We were just talking about this on your blog recently! I’m so glad they are working again at least at one coast. Like you said, it really is an effect that adds something to the ride.
Yeah, I remember!
I think I’ve shot down the possibility of the cannons returning on a few occasions. Shocked and very happy to be wrong about this!
Wow! This is great news! I don’t remember the date but I saw the cannons working on my first ride at Disneyland. I have not seen them work in the years since and, like you, figured they would never be fixed due to cost and/or reliability concerns. Kudos to Disneyland for proving me wrong!
Was it in 2020 or 2021?
The cannons were definitely enabled from the time the ride opened through March 2020. The only question for me is whether they were disabled by the time the parks reopened. I don’t think they were–I have notes from June 2021 that they were working at WDW, and I assume they were disabled simultaneously on both coasts.
I’m almost positive the full effect was long gone by 2022.
I checked my Google Photos. My first trip to Galaxy Edge at Disneyland was on May 8, 2021. The cannons were moving then.
Thanks again for sharing the news!
One more thing, my next visit was Feb 22, 2022. The cannons were stationary by then.