Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Ride Review
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is not not the best attraction at Walt Disney World. In this spoiler-free ride review, I’ll explain what I mean by that, offer comparisons, and other thoughts & commentary about this new Hollywood Studios (and upcoming Disneyland) multi-phase attraction.
When I say spoiler-free, I mean it. Aside from one photo of a scene that (unfortunately) has been shared so much by Disney that you couldn’t help avoid it, there are zero spoilers here. Certainly not a scene by scene ride breakdown, no on-ride photos–not even a basic outline of the plot or attraction premise (beyond its name). If you’re here for the photos, you might as well close the browser now. Aside from that one image, everything here is of the queue before the first pre-show or random areas of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
With that said, I won’t be coy about it or bury the lede–Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is an excellent, world-class attraction. It’s the home run that this land needed, and clearly the flagship E-Ticket of the two in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Moreover, Rise of the Resistance instantly belongs on any top 10 list for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or even the world…
My reasons for skirting whether Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is the best attraction at Walt Disney World are three-fold. First, insufficient experience. There’s a ton to see and let sink in, and it’s thus too early to make a definitive proclamation. This is a sensory overload in the best way possible, and my attention was pulled in multiple directions. There was definitely stuffed I missed for that and other reasons.
Second, and this is something we’ll cover in greater depth in a separate upcoming post offering a Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening day report, but the attraction experience is presently inconsistent and unreliable. My review is based on a smooth and seamless run-through. I could see my opinion shifting over time if/when I have ‘bumpier’ experiences.
Finally, and to that point, after publishing my Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Ride Review, I found myself second-guessing my first impressions. In doing that attraction countless additional times over the course of many months, there are new things I like, dislike, and no shortage of ways I now disagree with my own review. (And that’s even with my relatively tepid review that didn’t even put it in Disneyland’s top 10!)
This is hardly uncommon for me. On the one hand, I’m almost always coming off of the initial high and excitement of something new, causing “grade inflation.” On the other hand, there’s a certain raw authenticity about a (roughly) contemporaneous review shared shortly thereafter. It’s how the vast majority of the general public will approach a ride–without time to let the cynicism of social media seep in, and without revisiting ad nauseam to find ways to nitpick.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is an attraction deserving of multi-ride throughs and some time for reflection. Keep in mind, though, that it’s deserving of more rides and reflection to determine whether it’s the best ride in the world. Don’t let the restrained tone and excessive prefacing of this review thus far fool you–this isn’t a question of whether the attraction is good. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is mind-blowing.
What makes Rise of the Resistance so mind-blowing, in large part, is massive set pieces and a slew of how did they do that moments. I may not be ready to call this Disney’s best attraction, but it’s certainly Imagineering’s most ambitious and most impressive of the modern era. WDI pulled out everything in their proverbial bag of technical tricks, and executed them all flawlessly.
The result with Rise of the Resistance is something epic in scale. (It’s really a shame so many spoilers are out there–with Disney leading the charge–as it’s best to go into Rise of the Resistance with as much of a blank slate as possible.) Everything in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance congeals perfectly, too.
There are a ton of Audio Animatronics–but also a lot of screens. The two, among other effects, are married in such a way that the average guest will never notice. Every piece of bleeding edge tech is seamlessly integrated with practical effects. The end result is that complete suspension of disbelief is achieved in guests.
In fact, due to its multi-phase approach and that sense of grandiosity, Rise of the Resistance feels a bit like being an active participant in a fully-finished, experiential film. By this, I mean that it’s like you’re in the midst of a movie’s action for 18 minutes or whatever, complete with special effects and no peeks behind the curtain.
Don’t get me wrong, this has all of the familiar beats of a theme park attraction, and that’s what it unmistakably is. However, it’s also much more engaging and polished than almost anything you’ve experienced before. It’s interactive but not in the “gamified” sense that’s all the rage right now (including with Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run).
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is still a passive ride, but it’s something engrossing, immersive, and non-viscerally thrilling. From the Cast Members perfectly executing their flaws to the plotting and encounters, the tension, pacing, and suspense are also exceptional. Accordingly, you might walk out having trouble articulating what makes Rise of the Resistance so special. (As I’ve found, a stupefied “wow” will suffice.)
To that end, I have a tough time drawing comparisons between any existing attractions and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. If forced to choose, I’d probably pick attractions with the best conceivable queue and pre-show that you’d never want to skip and pair those with trackless dark rides and thrilling motion simulators.
For everything before you buckle up in the Rise of the Resistance ride vehicle, I’ll go with Haunted Mansion mixed with Tower of Terror mixed with Flight of Passage’s queue (NOT THE INTERMINABLE VIDEOS!) mixed with the Harry Potter rides. For the final ride experience, I’ll go with any of Disney’s major trackless dark rides mixed Indiana Jones Adventure mixed with Transformers: the Ride mixed with just a dash of Shanghai Pirates.
Already, that’s probably sounding like some nonsensical mashups. (Although I think anyone who has been on those and this can at least see where I’m coming from with each of them.) If I had to choose one single, “clean” comparison, it would be Indiana Jones Adventure. From the queue to pre-show to ride experience and the same type of interactivity, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is like Indiana Jones Adventure but with ~25 years of experience, new technology, and a different approach.
Even with that comparison, the problem is that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has no clear analogs. It’s a multi-phase attraction that feels like certain parts were inspired by other things, but only as loose inspiration or on a technical level. Otherwise, Rise of the Resistance is its own thing entirely, and that’s a large reason why guests are going to have trouble putting its essence and quality into words.
I’ve used the term “multi-phase attraction” now a few times, and you’ll probably see that or something like it elsewhere. Admittedly, it’s a bit meaningless–every attraction has at least an entrance, ride, and exit, thus making it multi-phase. Here, what that more or less means is Rise of the Resistance is utilizing different ride systems and approaches in what Imagineering would define in the core attraction experience.
As noted above, this worked for me as my “run” of Rise of the Resistance was fluid and smooth. As such, I’d agree with Imagineering’s statements that the core attraction attraction duration is over 15 minutes. For the sake of being vague to avoid spoilers, I’d count all of the “stuff” beginning in the first room after the queue as an essential component of the attraction, and that’s where I’d start the clock on its runtime.
Unfortunately, the practical reality is that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is not currently running smoothly. I don’t want to fixate on this too much as we’ll have a separate opening report and I’m hopeful all of this is ironed out.
However, right now there are a few problems with Rise of the Resistance: downtime, unreliability, and scene back-ups. Downtime and unreliability are obviously bad, but they don’t impact the core attraction experience–just whether you can do it at all.
Scene back-ups, on the other hand, impact it significantly. Based upon our conversations with other guests, these are occurring with regularity, so they’re worth bringing up here. If you experience X scene, then wait 20 minutes in what feels like a line, then Y scene, then wait, then Z…that sure sounds like a queue with pre-show scenes, and not part of the “core attraction experience.” I can’t disagree with that sentiment.
As far as critique, that’s it. Something that can, should, and hopefully will be resolved with a few more months of test and adjust. I could probably nitpick a few more things if forced to do so or once I have another dozen ride-throughs, but the same could be done for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Ultimately, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance belongs in the conversation with those (and other) greats as one of the best Disney attractions of all-time. Calling it not not the best ride at Walt Disney World means it’s not necessarily the best, but doesn’t foreclosure the possibility that it is–the jury is still out for me. This is everything I wanted it to be and more, elevating the rest of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and (at least partially) helping it to deliver on the promise of being a place for you to ‘live your own Star Wars story.’
Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but Disney would’ve saved itself a lot of media critiques, fan second-guessing and questions as to whether the land is a “failure” if both they waited to open Galaxy’s Edge until both attractions were ready. Unfortunately, the same could probably be said about waiting to open this ride until it was fully tested and working reliably. Those are both other stories for other days, though. Suffice to say, when it’s firing on all cylinders, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is an all-time great–maybe the very best.
PSA: If you’re planning on visiting Walt Disney World in the next few weeks (in other words, sometime before 2020 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend), you need to read our Virtual Queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Tips & Info post. Showing up at the scheduled opening time of Disney’s Hollywood Studios will not get you on this attraction!
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
Your Thoughts
Have you experienced Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? What did you think of the attraction? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Would you like to see a review with spoilers and photos? What about a Rise of the Resistance strategy & planning post? 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! (Please avoid spoilers if replying before 2020.)
As always, I agree quite a bit with your thoughts. We rode it twice yesterday. The first time it had technical difficulties, so we had to wait a bit longer. Even the second time we were stuck in the “escape room” for a while with a fidgety stormtrooper. The ride is amazing, no doubt about that. Maybe in my top 5 with Haunted Mansion and Soarin’, that will depend on how it is over time.
Where does it rank with Journey, Mystic Manor, and Pirates in Shanghai?
Having not experienced any of GE yet, I’m extremely excited for the full onslaught during my DL trip 1/22-1/25. Any word on whether DL will deploy the virtual queue?
They did virtual queue today and were no longer accepting new riders for the day around 11am.
As always, THANK YOU TOM! Did Hollywood Studios really not open today until 8 am or did they start letting guests in earlier? I’ll be there right after New Years and wanted to know if I can trust the posted opening hour (9am) or if we need to plan to arrive much earlier like 5-6 am for a 9 am opening?
I opened the app when I woke up this morning at home. it would have been 6:30 Florida time and there was short waits for the toy story rides and millenium falcon. They all got longer as it got closer to 8am EST. I wanted to see what wait times would be like for RotR, but they were never posted today as they were doing the ride boarding pass system instead 🙁
I think Tom mentioned once before, the best way to know when the park will be opening is to ask a cast member at your resort when buses will start running. This will give you a better idea of when the park will actually open. That’ll be fun to ring in the new year with some Star Wars though! have fun
Thank you so much! Great advice from you and Tom. Yes, I’d seen that about the buses and thought that was a genius way to know! Like you, I checked for RoTR wait times today on the app too and was surprised to see nothing posted. I didn’t check at 6:30 like you did to see if any of the other lands were open! Smart :)) Thanks for the reply!
They told us the night before buses wouldn’t start running till 7am. We took a lyft around 4:30 this morning and were through the turnstiles and in a virtual boarding group by 5:30.
That’s smart Becky. Crazy to think about getting up that early on vacation, but it looks like they’re running out of boarding passes quickly, so better to get there early, get a ride and go back to sleep after than to not have an opportunity at all.
I have to wait til May for my chance to ride 🙁 oh well, it’ll be here soon enough! 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your vacay!
Asking cast members didn’t help my family. I spoke two cast members the night before, call Disney at 400am and again at 630am and each time was told that buses would start at 815 for 900 opening even after we told the last person that there were wait times being posted for HS. So we left our hotel room and amazing as it sounds, a bus going to HS pulled up. Driver told us she has been in since 430am to start runs to the park. We were able to get to HS right before 700am and get on ROTR around 130pm; however, very disappointed and frustrated that 4 people in less than 12 hours, and one 10 minutes before we stepped on a Disney bus, lied to us about the opening. You just don’t have the staff on hand for an opening at that time without knowing hours before they were going to open. Lesson learned: get there early. Good luck getting on the ride. It was amazing.
Do you think the ride is plus-size friendly?
Yes I can say that it is plus-size friendly for sure. We had three Pooh-sizes guests (one of whom is very, very large) and we all rode without issues. It was AMAZING and I hope you get to ride it soon!
Thank you SO much for the response! I have been so stressed about that… my family and I are taking our first Disney vacation for a week around Christmas and I was really hoping to be able to ride most things.
Thanks for posting your take, I was really looking forward to reading it.
We’ve got a year to wait to get to experience it, but hopefully that gives them time to work out the bugs.
Nice seeing you at the rise
What were the wait times like? It’s not showing on My Disney Experience.
Can anyone comment on what this attraction is like for those with mobility issues? My mom is a paraplegic and uses a walker to ambulate. She has to have something to hold on to in order to stand/walk, but has no problem getting into and out of ride vehicles (i.e. Dinosaur), but obviously stairs and wheels don’t mix!
I’ve researched this question, but I can’t seem to find much about the ride’s accessibility. I was hoping to know if she will she be able to enjoy all phases of the attraction (without giving away spoilers, of course!) Thanks in advance!
hi! my husband drove ecv scooter through entire queue. no problem.
This is exactly the type of review I was waiting for, thank you for keeping it spoiler free!! Hopefully they’ll have all of the kinks worked out by the time of my next trip in May =)
I’ll be there in May too! week before memorial weekend. I’m excited to experience the new land.
Hi there. Thanks for the review. We are heading to Hollywood studios this Saturday dec 7. Will there be extra magic hours? Are they doing the virtual cue? How do I do it? Thanks for help
Hello- EMH are published on Disney’s website and you can check those there, although they’ve stated that Rise of the Resistance will not be available during EMH, so that may not help you out in that regard. The virtual cue, up until now, has been used when there’s been enough demand for it. It’s a virtual reservation you make through the My Disney Experience app. Tom posted instructions when the land itself opened back in summer. I’m sure if you google “how to use Star Wars land virtual queue” you’ll get a quick run down. Odds are this Saturday there’ll be the demand and if it were me, I’d try to get to Hollywood as early as I could to get into a virtual queue group and enjoy the park while waiting my turn to (hopefully) ride RTR.
Thank you so much! I’ll do more research on how to do the cue.
A group of four of us rode it this morning. I was in absolute awe. Once the ride was over, I literally wanted to cry. It was… amazing. My mind can’t comprehend the Imagineering that took place to come up with this. For me, it was great from start to finish. I haven’t rode any other trackless rides to compare to. I’ve only been to WDW. I think the boarding pass worked great. I would absolutely do it again!
$1B can get you one heck of a ride, apparently!
Thank you for delivering on what I’ve been looking for (spoiler-free & honest). I always appreciate your reviews and this one didn’t disappoint (as unfortunately many Instagram reviews have over the last few days). Here’s to hoping the “kinks” are worked out for Disneyland and that the initial frustrations of Galaxy’s Edge fade. The fact that this ride exceeded your expectations speaks volumes for me!
Great review, but a bit wordy. It also seems you were a little harsh on reliability when the ride has been open less than 10 hours.
Looking forward to the ride… and not watching any POV videos beforehand.
“It also seems you were a little harsh on reliability when the ride has been open less than 10 hours.”
Unfortunately, there have been rumors about reliability/uptime on this attraction for months; in speaking with those at the media preview the last 2-3 days, the ride has been breaking down with regularity.
We shall see what uptime is over the course of the next couple months. Hopefully it runs smoothly, nullifying my only criticism!
How dare you speak about the failures. You ruined its future!
We were there the 4th during the preview, in 3 rides we were evacuated each time, had to go through some of the preshow elements multiple times to get back in. (We actually meet Tom our first time through, thanks for stopping to say hi!)
I’m sure they will get it sorted out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a little rough at first. It was interesting to see a bit backstage and how well the cast members handled it, but does disrupt the story a bit.
I feel that this ride is not for every-one it has all ready cut out some adults with health problems and pregnant woman. I am sorry this ride does not cover all unless you are a Star Wars Fan. Disney would have been better following the Disney theme which would have covered all ages I have seen Star Wars back in November but it is a one time experience.
i heard there is a drop somewhere in the ride, can someone elaborate how substantial it is and how violent/jarring?
I read that it’s kind of like tower of terror but much shorter – like a second or two.
Yes, it’s short and quick, and straight down like Tot.
We rode today, and I agree with what Lauren said. It is not a violent/jarring drop.
I came away from it really positive too. I was lucky enough to have a clean run. The hype leading up to it made me concerned that it world be shrouded in 15 layers of impenetrable back story and “Star Wars Universe” stuff, which I have no doubt it was, but more importantly it was really accessible. I also have no qualms about re-ridability, which FOP already suffers from (I often just can’t be bothered with the pre show videos there!). I don’t feel I have any substantive criticism to make, and that’s the highest praise I can give, given my lack of interest in SW!
Thanks for the initial thoughts, Tom! Any thoughts on the suitability of this ride for pregnant women? Is it possible to participate in some of the ride/experience and then duck out before it gets too rough?
Can’t wait to see your full opening day report! We were there this morning but since we only had a half day before we had to catch the tragical express we decided we didn’t need to get up and try to ride. We did walk through the land and fangirled a little when I spotted you and Sarah!
Tom, do you think this is an all ages ride? I have some nervous nellies in my group…one of whom also felt sick after Star Tours…
There’s a 40″ height requirement, but Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is absolutely an all-ages attraction. Sarah is not particularly keen on Star Tours (or almost anything at Universal) and she had zero issues whatsoever.
Awesome! As always, thanks so much!!
That is great to hear; we are going in January, and I have a special needs daughter who gets nervous along with a wife who isn’t a motion ride fan. I was hoping at least to do the walk through and “child swap” like I did for the Harry Potter rides. If it truly is all ages that will makes my life easier.
How do you think the WDW opening will impact the opening in Disneyland? We plan on going down for the opening and have never attempted being in the park for a ride opening like this and are a little curious on what to expect. Thanks!
It’s too early to say–I don’t think the two have much impact on one another, as they’re largely pulling from different pools of guests.
I was thinking more along the lines of “bugs” to be worked out. Any benefit to us west coasters, in that things may run smoother for RotR in Disneyland? Will Disneyland be ready prior to the Jan. 17th open, and maybe have time for more soft opens runs?
Tom,
Would love to See an article on your top 5 or top 10 Disney parks right now that Rise of the Resistance has opened.
Mine would be in no particular Oder:
Radiator Springs Racers
Pirates of the Caribbean battle for the sunken treasure
Flight of Passage
Mystic Manor
Soarin’
Honorable mentions: Tron, Poohs Hunny hunt, big thunder mountain DL Paris version
“Rides”
And haven’t been on Rise of the Resistance so cant add that potentially to my list.
Thanks! I was waiting for this today – I wanted a general impression of the ride wihtout spoilers or even pictures and this delivered. ‘m glad you enjoyed it and hope they get the kinks worked out quickly (if I recall, Frozen Ever After was horrible for a month or two then smoothed out). Even the venerable PotC moves down several notches in ride quality when the boats back up into the burning village scene, so I hope they don’t have those types of problems here.