Everything We Know about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is finally open to the public at Disneyland. And it’s less than two months away from debuting at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Only one of the attractions is available, though. Disney executives held out on the other ride, the one that they’ve described as the E-ticket one. What’s going on with it? Here’s everything that we know about Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
What the Story?
The current trilogy of Star Wars films will conclude in December of 2019. As you know, the premise of these three movies is that The First Order is now in command of the known universe. They’re not benevolent overlords, though.
To the contrary, the brutal authoritarian nature of The First Order has led to a rebellion. Don’t worry, though! Members of The Resistance combat The First Order during the attraction. Unfortunately, you’ve stumbled onto the battlefield and get drawn into the action. This isn’t the time to be an innocent bystander!
The premise here is that The First Order has recently arrived at Black Spire Outpost. While no one’s quite sure why, but members of The Resistance famously hide out on Batuu due to its location close to Wild Space.
You happen to be a guest on Batuu at the time. You’re flying off the planet when The First Order gets involved. You’ll wind up in a Star Destroyer hanger as seen in the films. From there, well, let’s just say that you’re in for the ride of a lifetime.
Do Any Star Wars Characters Appear?
The E-ticket attraction tells the story of the conflict between good and evil. What’s unique about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is that you pick sides over time. You’ll either help the underground of The Resistance or report any rebel spies to the First Order.
The Play Disney Parks app features several missions that guide you toward one side or the other, and those choices may impact Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, especially those of you who (correctly) veer toward the light. The genesis of this ride is kind of a recruiting session for The Resistance, one with many familiar faces.
During the ride experience, you’ll encounter a few famous characters from the movies. Thus far, Disney has confirmed the appearance of BB-8, Rey, Nien Nunb, and Kylo Ren, while Poe Dameron is also rumored to get involved. Others may follow suit. It’s difficult to speculate about exactly who will appear. But we know for sure that they’ll have plenty of time to show up. We know this because…
How Rise of the Resistance Works
The ride experience allegedly lasts more than 20 minutes. Please understand that I’m not talking about the ride itself, which is apparently significantly shorter. Rise of the Resistance is, by all accounts, an unusual attraction in that it has drop-offs points and a walking section.
You depart from one vehicle and eventually get on another one. Disney’s described it as phases. Apparently, you’ll go through four distinct sections of Rise of the Resistance, five if you count the ride queue. Imagineers have stated that it’s the largest, longest ride ever.
In fact, the complexity of the ride is precisely why Disney delayed it. They knew that Star Wars Land would prove popular no matter what. Rather than rush an attraction that wasn’t ready, they delayed Rise of the Resistance to assure that it’s the groundbreaking ride that they’ve promised.
A General, Spoiler-Free Description of Rise of the Resistance
You’ll start in the line queue and then find yourself as an *ahem* guest of The First Order on their starship. At some point, you’ll find yourself on a transport vehicle. In theory, it’s a droid-operated vessel that moves you around the station.
In reality, you’re boarding a ride cart that is unprecedented in the United States. It employs trackless technology to move you around the hangar. Trackless rides have better range of motion and thereby give guests new and exciting views of the surroundings.
Disney’s never built an E-ticket ride in the United States that uses trackless technology. They’re sparing no expense to make this their best attraction ever. You’ll feel it on the ride, too.
In terms of appearance, your ride cart is kind of like the one at Indiana Jones Adventure and DINOSAUR. It has eight seats across two rows of four. The front of every vehicle has a droid built in to reinforce the idea that you have a robot driver steering you from set to set.
What you’ll struggle to understand until you see it in person is the scale of Rise of the Resistance. You’re already familiar with the accurate-to-scale model of the Millennium Falcon. Your first sighting of the landmark hidden within the attraction will blow your mind.
Photo Credit Disney via Barrons.com
Yes, the hangar on Rise of the Resistance is home to life-sized All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) vehicles! These things tower above you, adding to the believability of the ride experience. You’ll know genuine fear as your droid chauffeur drives you straight toward the AT-AT’s giant legs.
Coming Soon!
To Disney fans, all of this exciting news is secondary to what’s important. You want to ride Rise of the Resistance as soon as possible. So, you need to know when it opens.
While I still can’t provide you with an exact date for either Disneyland or Hollywood Studios, I do have some fantastic news. Disney has promised that the attraction will open at both parks in calendar 2019. In other words, your wait will be less than six months for either park!
The greatest attraction in Disney history – and that’s Imagineers, not me, saying that! – is almost here!
PS: When Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker opens on December 20th, don’t be surprised if the movie fills in some of the blanks on Rise of the Resistance.
