Star Wars Rise of Resistance Ride Report: Closer to Normal
It’s time for another try at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. This Walt Disney World ride report details our success scoring boarding passes, changes in health safety protocol on the attraction, how it’s getting back to normal, and demand on a fully booked day to start the summer season.
As always, if all you care about is strategy, consult our Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance for the ins and outs of the virtual queue–including our tips to improve your speed–rather than reading this report. While there are differences to share about the ride experience, there have not been any recent major changes to that ride guide. The strategy is still 100% accurate. We followed our own “fast finger” strategy, not even pausing briefly to try for a higher boarding group.
This is because demand and competitiveness continues to increase for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue, driven by more awareness of its existence and possibly a higher attendance cap at DHS. For both drops, all boarding passes are consistently gone within seconds. There are guests who are trying at 7 am and 1 pm on the dot who get shut out on a daily basis. Our ride guide sees a bump in traffic at around 7:05 am every morning, which we assume is people who did everything right wondering “what did I do wrong?”
While we’ve been defenders of the virtual queue system for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, seeing so many people lose out on the headliner is undeniably sad. Some readers who have been shut out of the virtual queue have indicated that they would’ve preferred the opportunity to wait in the standby line for a few hours to be able to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
As we’ve noted previously, Walt Disney World did not start using a virtual queue with the Galaxy’s Edge headliner due to its popularity. That’s a misconception. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted with a virtual queue during normal operations because it was (and still is) unreliable and prone to prolonged breakdowns. At that time, the normal FastPass+ system was thus not viable because it was not sufficiently dynamic to handle the aforementioned downtime without a backlog of guests in the hours after the ride returned.
Having a standby line would entail guests waiting in line for several hours, potentially enduring one or more ride breakdowns and resets. In the past, our perspective has thus been that the virtual queue and boarding pass system is imperfect, but the best option under the circumstances. When it comes to a standby line, the grass is arguably greener on the other side. With an unreliable attraction like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, a virtual queue is the ‘lemonade out of lemons’ approach that causes the fewest headaches for guests.
However, we do wonder whether that’s still the case. Beginning in mid-December of last year, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance’s reliability improved. The nature of the change is unclear, but the attraction has been processing more boarding groups per day on average, so we’re confident it’s an actual upgrade/fix for problems plaguing the attraction. (See above, via Thrill-Data.com.) Further corroborating that is data showing shorter and fewer breakdowns per day for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
As such, it’s no longer unreasonable for Walt Disney World to offer a standby line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Perhaps 25% of the attraction’s daily capacity could be set aside for standby, with the rest going to the virtual queue. With that allocation plus the reality of breakdowns and demand, the minimum posted wait time might be around 180 minutes. Honestly, waiting 3-4 hours for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance wouldn’t be a terrible idea given the lack of shows, other things to do, and operating hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
However, it should go without saying that most guests would not be willing to wait that long. At least having the option might make people feel better about being shut out of the virtual queue–and it would probably increase guest satisfaction scores for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Making the choice to skip a ride because the wait is too long is going to be perceived as superior to having no opportunity at all. As we’ve seen over the course of the last year with health safety protocol, perception is paramount.
This isn’t something that’s immediately viable due to the remnants of physical distancing still being in place, but as you’ll read in this report, that is quickly on the way out. In the coming weeks, it’s likely Walt Disney World as a whole and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in particular will see enough changes that introducing a standby line would likely be possible. Of course, only if Walt Disney World wants to offer a standby line–and there’s no reason to believe that’s the case.
Moving along to the substance of our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride report, we headed to the about 10 minutes before our return window was going to expire, and found the attraction was down. We hadn’t thought to check My Disney Experience prior to that, so I’m not sure how long it had been down. It had to have been less than 40 minutes, though.
We made one lap of the park, checked My Disney Experience, and saw that the ride was loading again. Returning right when an attraction reopens can be a gamble–if you beat the rush, that’s great. We suspected that would be the case here since we were nearby, so we raced over to the entrance.
None of the outdoor queue or overflow queue was being used, which is always a good sign. I’m guessing we arrived right after the surge of guests lingering outside the front had been processed, but before more boarding groups had been called.
Our decision to jump in line when we did was later vindicated, as the outdoor queue was full and there was a Cast Member holding a “line starts here” sign when we exited the attraction.
We met up with the line in the indoor queue, which is pretty consistent with our past several experiences doing Rise of the Resistance.
As you can see in these photos, the “Please Wait Here” markers are still in place for now. We would expect that to change within the next week or so, as they’re already being removed elsewhere. Regardless, the vast majority of guests are ignoring these markers.
While we try to keep our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance posts spoiler-free to the greatest extent possible, they’re unavoidable for the remainder of this post. While there won’t be any photo spoilers of the ride experience, there are a few of the pre-shows.
It’s best to go into Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance knowing and seeing as little as possible, so consider closing the browser if you’ve yet to experience the attraction. The salient point you’ll be missing is that plexiglass has been removed from the pre-shows and physical distancing has, essentially, ended.
Last chance. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
In the first load area, the group markers are now gone. Previously, Cast Members directed each individual group to a marker that they’d follow throughout the next stages of the attraction.
Now, Cast Members advise guests to “please proceed all the way forward.” The practical result is that guests cluster around doors prior to loading and then again in the best viewpoints for each pre-show.
This is good or bad, depending entirely upon your perspective. If you’re keen on physical distancing, it’s more of an issue in the line itself, where you have little control over how closely the people behind you stand.
During the pre-shows, it’s actually easier to seek out a spot away from others now. Most people congregate in certain areas, so simply stand in the back or off to the side.
If you’re less worried about physical distancing and more about good show, this is a marked improvement.
Previously, there were plexiglass barriers throughout the pre-shows. Parties were positioned in spots that offered objectively bad–or no–view of the substantive scenes. This is significant because these contain some impressive how’d they do that?! moments.
While all of the circular markers have been removed during the pre-shows, the “Please Wait Here” markers make a return in the hangar bay and final queue area before loading.
One quick tip that I’m not sure we’ve mentioned at all (or at least not recently): don’t be afraid to linger in the hangar as long as the First Order will allow it. There’s no rush to be the first party into the next queue area; it offers little to no advantage. In fact, often everyone else will choose one side of the queue, and you can simply enter later and bypass them by choosing the other side.
In the grouping area, parties are arranged and told to stand on various lines and then on dots ahead of the final pre-show room. One big change here is that it’s no longer one party per row, but rather, one empty seat per party.
In practice, this has minimal impact. Each ride vehicle has 2 rows of 4 seats, so this really only means two solo travelers might be put in the same row or a group of 5 might have one guest from their party in the same row as a couple. There are a lot of parties of 2 right now, which means 4 guests taking up an entire ride vehicle remains common.
Moreover, plexiglass barriers are still installed between the front and back row on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance–for now. These aren’t the worst thing–and we were strongly in favor of them when it meant increased ride capacity.
However, they’re no longer “needed” so we’d love to see them go. Same goes with all of the “Please Wait Here” markers. Given the highly immersive nature of the experience and practical reality that most guests are ignoring them, they’re more of a hindrance than a help at this point.
Ultimately, our experience on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was flawless. The pre-show process was timed perfectly, very single effect was working, and the ride’s climax was in A-mode. It’s really nice to have it operating closer to normal, as that dramatically improves the pre-show experience. For those who are able to score a boarding pass, this ride is incredible.
However, efficiency woes and reduced capacity still hamper the attraction’s overall numbers. Setting aside downtime, our guess is that the attraction is only operating at around 75% capacity due to physical distancing. So if you were wondering before where Walt Disney World would get the added capacity for a standby line, dropping physical distancing protocol on the ride-through is your answer. Hopefully that happens in the near future, as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is one of Imagineering’s greatest achievements ever, and it’s really unfortunate that so many guests have the experience tainted by the stressful virtual queue.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you experienced Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in the last few weeks? Was the ‘protocol’ similar to or different from what happened here? How do you feel about the idea of a standby line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? What about eliminating physical distancing in the ride vehicles? Thoughts on the 7 am and 1 pm virtual queue releases? Will you be attempting to join the new/modified virtual queue on your next trip to Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
First off, I’d like to tell you how unhappy my small family was not getting on Rise of the Resistance this past end of April this year. How can a company have their guest pay for admission and then be told your not getting on, even when I went to management, the saddest response from two separate managers we’re, there is no guarantee everytime I return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
I think that’s a repulsive response, especially I explained that if I just flew down here. Spent thousands of dollars “Staying” in your hotels on property, we should have a guarantee during our vacation, even if you assign the day and time.
Until they appreciate the people who are staying with them, like for example. they used to have extra magic hours for their guest who were at their hotels. Unfortunately we will not be returning until they can fix this problem. We were coming every year.
Great post, and just a couple comments.
You’ve mentioned time and time again how a stand-by queue would simply not be practical with a ride that is this unreliable and prone to breaking down. You may remember, as I do, when Indiana Jones opened up in CA many years ago. I was young, but I still remember waiting in that line for 3-4 hours, sometimes through multiple breakdowns. It was awful. Ultimately worth it to get to ride, but a terrible guest experience. I don’t think we ever waited less than 3 hours, and each time, through at least one lengthy breakdown. So your assessment is spot on. The virtual queue is a great solution for this. Perfect? No. But the alternative is infinitely worse.
Second, I’m glad to hear that the attraction is getting closer to normal in FL. Meanwhile, over here in CA, it is even more-so “not normal” than it ever was in FL. Guests skip the entire indoor queue and first pre-show. And there is no lingering in the hangar or the waiting area outside the detention cells. You’re quickly rushed through and into the cell with essentially no interaction with the cast members. Totally understandable with the 15 minute indoor restrictions here in CA, but it really takes away from the experience in my opinion. Suffice to say, if anyone reading this has not been on Rise of the Resistance before, DO NOT go on it in CA right now. For your first time through, it’s worth waiting until such time that you can get the full experience. And all signs point to that time being sooner than later. Your patience will be rewarded. 🙂
I don’t know of I’ve just been very lucky or what, but we’ve been to WDW 7 times since reopening. We attempted and were successful at getting RotR passes each time at 7am (and once when you had to be in the park). That includes once for a party of 7 and once for a party of 9. As far as I know I’m not doing anything special, I wonder how many people try and don’t get on?
I do not like virtual cue at all. I did everything right. I shouldn’t have to watch numerous videos on getting a pass. I did everything I could to get a pass yet still did not for 7 am.
We did get the 1 pm pass but the group was vey late on the day which was tough for a disabled person.
There has to be a better solution but virtual cue is not it.
I was able to ride it last summer- got group 9 on my first try! Back when you had to be in the park to get it. I’m assuming I’ll be able to this summer as well as I didn’t have my kids with me last time and I really want them to be able to experience it. Maybe I’m over confident but I also got my Savi’s reservation with no issue so I’m hopeful! I have two DHS reservations so I have 4 chances at it at least. I would love it if they did a drop for onsite guests, right now there is very little advantage to staying onsite.
What is your favorite ride out of every park?
I’m sure that I’m in the minority, but I was a little disappointed with both RotR and the Millenium Falcon ride. I was able to ride both during our visit in Dec 2019, so maybe I’ll appreciate them more if I’m able to ride them again during our trip later this year. I was a big fan of Star Wars when I was a kid, so maybe I went in with expectations that just could not be met. Don’t get me wrong, they are both entertaining, but if I had to choose going on the Star Wars rides or Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest, I’d choose the latter.
Thanks for posting the pre-show photos! While using rider switch, I missed all of this. I admit, I was a bit confused and unsure of the story line upon entry. I think this effected my overall view of the ride. We were there last week and I was actually seated next to a separate party with no empty seats between us or in the vehicle.
I’ve thought about how to fix the virtual queue distribution a lot over the past year, and it seems to me they’re pretty close. As an engineer, the way I’d fix it is to have everyone who wants a slot submit a request between 7-7:05am. Then take the total number of requests, allocate 75% of them to on-site guests who have their hotel booking hooked to their My Disney Experience account, and pick randomly from the pool of eligible candidates. Assign the remaining 25% to off-site guests. Everyone receives their boarding number at 7:06am.
Then, at the 1pm drop it’s everyone for themselves with no advantage to either group.
This seems like it would provide a serious advantage to on-site guests while not completely blocking out APs or standard ticket guests. Plus, it gives people five minutes to get their name in the hat if something goes wrong in the morning the first time you try the system. It’s also a pretty simple thing to program, though I don’t know what the Disney IT infrastructure is like.
As much as I appreciate your trying to avoid spoilers, I wanted to tell you that I find RotR effectively spoil-proof. I had watched ride-through videos a bunch and was still SHOCKED at every turn of the ride. Then, after riding once, I watched another ride-through, and was still surprised when I rode again five days later. There is just so much to take in and it’s all so magical I’d have to ride it myself several times to feel like I knew what was coming next.
Your blog has taken me through this pandemic. I can’t thank you enough.
I really hope more people are able to experience this ride, and in a way that doesn’t involve a fast-finger contest for us olds. My blood pressure can’t take much more of that. To me, Rise of the Resistance is a must for any park visit and I’d feel like I was missing out big time if I didn’t manage to secure a group. I’d also miss going up to the end of the overflow queue and asking a random guest, “Is this the line for the Star Trek?” And maybe they can remove the plexiglass soon, too, so when Kylo Ren appears, I can tap the shoulder of the person in front of me and whisper knowingly, “That’s Darth Maul.”
I’m glad to hear that “Closer to Normal” is better than I remembered before closing.
It looks like it’s approaching 200 boarding groups a day, which is much better than the historical 12 group/hour average Tom saw previously. I’d need to see what the final potential max capacity is before I could propose other ways of giving out those slots. (Do we know what the Imagineers thought it could be before opening?)
I feel like any efficiency gains from filling every seat would be immediately eaten up by increased attendance caps in the park. It does seem like it might be time to offer a standby option, with the caveat that they keep a one ride per day limit in place to try and spread the love.
They probably could guarantee all on-site guests a boarding pass, if it’s a date and time assigned by Disney during a multi-day trip. (Stay at least 4 nights, guaranteed a boarding pass, but at a date and time within those 4 days chosen by Disney).
At a minimum, you could do a system like that for on-site deluxe guests.
It would certainly encourage on-site bookings but implementing such a system would likely not be simple. (possible — yes. Simple — no).
Hi Tom,
Just wanted to see if Pin Trading has started back up with the Cast Members? My husband, son and I are coming down with my step-daughter’s family for whom this is their first trip. My son loved pin trading and his niece and nephew (5 and 9), my grandchildren, would probably love it too.
Thanks for all the information that you provide all of us.
Tom,
Were you aware that Rise of the Resistance was down the entire day on 5/20/21 at Hollywood Studios? Also just this past weekend at Disneyland on 5/30/21, the ride was shut down the entire day as well. First thing in the morning in the app, there was a message that ride will not be available and no queue was available.
Yeah. Those are separate issues from the general daily ride reliability. There were/are issues with various ride system components that cause it to go down throughout the day. A full day (or even multi-day breakdown) is a different matter. That kind of thing also happens with other attractions from time to time, it’s just less noteworthy.
More than six attempts later we have given up on seeing this attraction. I don’t know what the answer is but this lottery system isn’t it. I’ve literally seen children in tears, and their parents not far behind. Yet some people manage to get on multiple visits. Walt would not be happy. No much magic for most people.
Interesting that Thrill-Data omits May 20th from their data sets. The only reason that stood out to me was because that was Day 1 of our last trip and Rise was down the entire day. It never opened up or even provided boarding groups at 7am or 1pm. Thankfully we had scheduled an extra Hollywood Studios day for the trip in lieu of a rope drop day at Epcot.
Guaranteeing on site guests a boarding pass seems like it would be among the easiest perks to provide given the erosion of all the other on site advantages.
Having one boarding pass drop time that’s only for on-site guests would be a great perk, and is the best/most practical way of implementing that idea. (Disney could not guarantee every on-site guest a boarding pass–at least, not with every hotel open and high capacity numbers.)
My hubby and I r hoping to Experience RISE OF THE RESISTANCE in September.
I plan to wake up to try for Virtual Queue. We can’t wait to FLY THE FALCON.
Still have fingers crossed that Dining plan will return