Drama in an Epic Disney Star Wars Ride: Rise of the Resistance
Not a backdrop! That’s 14 acres of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
I recently visited the “most magical place on earth,” also known as, the place “where dreams come true.” These are some of Walt Disney World’s slogans for a reason. The designers of the 4 amusement parks in Orlando, Florida know that story is important—and not just viewing a story, but being in a story. So it is magical that a deck of cards and a plastic monkey are taller than you in the Toy Story Mania line. It does feel like magic that you can fly on a banshee over Pandora or interact in real time with a cartoon sea turtle you’ve seen from a movie. Your dreams of going to space can come true when you almost throw up on your flight to Mars which simulates G-forces.
#4 in “What’s the ride like” below. We’re on a ship that is under attack! I don’t know if our pilots can save us…
What a unique experience it must have been for those first guests of Disney World to see living Mickey and Minnie walking among them. We take it for granted now, but the idea of putting you, the passive viewer, into the story, is a unique and wonderful thing. As actors, writers, directors, designers, technicians, managers—we know this because we do this every time we add our part to the theatrical world. But even on the set of a movie, there are breaks, there are camera crews; in theater there are lines to memorize or dances to get down. What if you were immersed into a dramatic world where you were not just “on set” for a show, but you were actually interacting within that world, no lines, no blocking, no backstage behind the set? And what if…Kylo Ren were trying to interrogate you?
This is what Disney does in its latest ride in the new Hollywood Studios’ land, Galaxy’s Edge. And it has struck a major cord. The ride, Rise of the Resistance is hot, folks. Like, hot enough people would get up at 3am on vacation to camp out at the park’s entrance, in the hopes of scoring a pass to ride this thing. This is not your grandmother’s Jungle Cruise vibe. It’s the vibe of getting a backstage pass to see your fave musician or a shot at a coveted new i-tech product circa 2005.
And why? Why is there such a craze for this ride? How do you get to actually ride Rise of the Resistance? What is the ride like? And how does this relate to theater, friends (‘cause this is no Disney travel blog!)?
Why is there such hype for Rise of the Resistance?
Have you ever been this close to AT-ATs before? I hadn’t either—until now!
There’s hype partially because hype begets hype. When I started planning my family’s trip to Disney I had never heard of this ride. When we returned and told our tales of riding it, most people still haven’t heard of this ride. But once you enter into the Disney or Star Wars world for a bit, you start to hear, and hear more, and hear more and more and more until you’re pulled into this competitive “I HAVE to do whatever I can do ride this thing” mentality! So, the blogs and buzz and videos—all this matters because it always matters. A little. But just a little.
The more substantial reason there is hype is because this ride is, as they say, like nothing else Disney has ever done. Avatar: Flight of Passage is another ride that received a tremendous amount of hype, as well, and this is also warranted because the ride is sensational. It takes you above the land of Pandora on a banshee and you feel the wind and waterfalls; your stomach flips and flops as your banshee takes nose dives. It’s gorgeous and you can feel like you’re flying over and in a magical world. You are part of the story. A bit. For a few moments. And this is incredible.
Rise of the Resistance takes this about 90 steps farther. You don’t wear 3D glasses, as you do in Avatar, because nothing is virtual here. Everything happens around you and to you. That means holograms, lasers being shot at you, bad guys, good guys—they’re all interacting right with you and you can’t just sit there. You have to play along, walk, move, go from place to place. Rise of the Resistance is not a mere 2-5 minutes long, as most Disney rides are, even the best ones. This one clocks in somewhere around 18 minutes, but that includes the entire “experience”—not just the time that is on the trackless vehicle itself (which is probably more like 5 minutes of the total time).
So this is why there is hype. This ride is unique, immersive, long, and truly unique. It warrants the hype.
What is the ride like?
I’m not going to give you a detailed rundown of the entire story here. Many blogs have already done that, so if you want to read the whole thing, you can check out one version here. But I’ll give you the basic structural rundown, as it will help you understand how this immersive experience deserves this hype.
One part of the line, a rebel base in Batuu.
That’s Po’s x-wing behind us, which guided us to…well, I guess the Star Destroyer. But it wasn’t on purpose! And he makes up for it. :)
Hologram Rey gives us our mission in the Briefing Room.
Yikes! We’re captives on a Star Destroyer!
We made it back to our rebel base, at Batuu!
The line: You begin by ambling through the line, which has been constructed to resemble a rebel base at Batuu. Disney knows the lines see the most action for guests, so they make them as intricate as they can. This is no exception, complete with laser maps, tunnels, a waterfall, space crew uniforms, old machinery.
The briefing room: Our first main stop of the experience is a briefing room. Our boarding group is shuffled in here, where we stand and hear Hologram Rey and BB-8 inform us Batuu is no longer safe (along with lots of other details).
Outside: The briefing room doors fling open and suddenly, we are outside in the sunlight again! We see Po’s x-wing fighter ready to help us out, and we’re hurried on board some sort of transport ship.
Ship: We stand for this bumpy ride and find ourselves looking at screens in the back and front of the ship, while our pilots (Nien Nunb and someone else) try to find off TIE-fighters. It doesn’t work though because…
Star Destroyer: Our ship ride stops and doors are opened once again. This time, there is no sunny outdoors greeting us. Instead, we’re being herded off by…uh oh…First Order Officers! We’re in a large abyss-like space filled with…oh, no…it’s worse…about 50 storm troopers. Where are we?
Line for cell: We move down a hallway and First Order Guards tell us to line up and be quiet. While we stand in our groups, they continue to interact sternly with us about whatever they can improvise.
Interrogation cell: We’re led to a room where we board cars and learn more about who the First Order Guards really are (Taaah-wist! Did you think you’d really be sent to prison?)!
Trackless car ride: From here on out, we embark on the wild trackless car ride. The ride twists us, turns us, sends us backwards to escape enemies, under AT-ATs, drops us down quickly, tower-of-terror style. We’re being shot at constantly, threatened, but at last, with the “good guy” Star Wars music at our back, we have a rough landing and make it back Batuu and safety.
Batuu: We have returned and are greeted by Nien Nunb once again, as well as additional rebels, helping us off the ride and to safety. My son, trying to envision how on earth we moved around so much and where were we, in terms of Disney location, asked, “Where did this ride take place?” To which a rebel said, “Space!” (My son politely smiled and rolled his eyes. “But I really want to know.” “I think in that mountain. We can google it later.”)
For us, this ride was thrilling. I didn’t totally know what was going on all the time, but it was awesome to be in the moment and just experience. It was fun to see those GIANT AT-ATs moving toward you! It was awesome to see that lightsaber cutting through the ceiling. It was cool to be in the way of danger and then suddenly darted away from it. It was neat to have live person interacting with you. It was exhilarating to be in the story.
How do you actually get to ride Rise of the Resistance?
The “line” waiting to get into Galaxy’s Edge, at Hollywood Studios. This is a Tuesday morning, the first week of February (supposedly a slow time), and it’s 1 hour before the park even opens.
The method seems to change periodically, so check Disney’s website and app for the latest, but as of our trip in early February 2020, here is how to do it:
Make sure you have the Disney app downloaded, updated, your account information accurate and linked. The only way to board this ride is to enter the “virtual queue” on the Disney app on the day of your entrance. If you get into the queue, it will give you a boarding group number, then later send you a notification with the time you’re allowed to enter the ride. It’s not a FastPass, but has a similar idea. Boarding groups are limited and fill up super fast, which is why the rest of these steps are important.
Be inside Hollywood Studios by opening. This means, you need to be beyond security and beyond the ticket entrance, so leave plenty of time. The park typically allows people to enter the main area 1 hour before “rope drop.” You won’t be able to get inside Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land, for instance, but you can line up at either one of these lands, or get some coffee, go to a gift shop, and take in the sights. It makes no difference where you are in the park, as long as you are past the gates. We went in early February 2020, arrived 1 hour before rope-drop, along with thousands of others. We got through security and the entrance in about 10 minutes, so then we had 50 minutes to stand in lines and wait. We didn’t need to come that early, but “everyone” had told us we should, and we didn’t want to risk it.
Have your entire party with you. This means, no one should be in the car getting their forgotten wallet, no one should be sleeping in at the resort (unless they don’t want to ride this). Everyone has to be scanned and past the entrance, or they won’t be able to get a pass.
Say a prayer, wear your lucky socks. You can do what you can, but some of this is just luck of the draw.
A minute before opening, be prepared with your app. My husband and I both had the app on our phones and we figured if we both tried, hopefully one of us would get a boarding pass. We had heard different things from different people, like, “don’t open the app until precisely 8am” (opening time for us). “Don’t keep trying to click on the boarding group.” “Do keep trying to click on the boarding group.” “Don’t keep refreshing.” “Do keep refreshing.” I don’t know what worked exactly, but my husband got in, and within about 20 seconds, he had reserved us into Boarding Group #29. A person next to use got into Group #59. Many people did not get into any boarding group and within 1 minute of opening, all slots were filled.
Once you have your boarding group, make sure alerts are turned on, and check your phone for the time window alert. You’ll receive a time window in which to ride Rise of the Resistance. For Group #29, I think we were called somewhere around 10:30-11:30am, but I don’t recall exactly. The first time we tried to ride it, the ride broke down, so we were given FastPasses to come back when it was up and running again. As of early February, it is not uncommon for the ride to malfunction or break down. We were able to return about 2 hours later and skip the (already very fast) line in the FastPass section.
How does Rise of the Resistance relate to theater?
Part of Galaxy’s Edge…
Disney already knows good drama is at the heart of its parks. After all, Magic Kingdom was created with reverence to a cartoon mouse from films, and honored stories from its inception. Theater is magic. Walt Disney knew that. The four parks embody that. Script writing is a big part of any of the rides, and it’s fun if you take the time to listen to the actors and videos. I rode DINOSAUR twice, at Animal Kingdom, and the second time around, I listened better to the silly scientist in the briefing room and laughed out loud a few times. The Rise of the Resistance tries to up the ante on storytelling and give us a much longer, more intricate script. The characters and actors involved in the story are also complex.
What’s additionally cool with this ride is that it goes above and beyond the script and recorded acting by allowing for improvisation. This is where acting and writing meet and are joined by us, the guests. There are no ride attendants at this ride. It’s only Rebels and First Order Officers and they take their roles seriously. This is the kind of role I’d like if I were working at Disney! But as a guest, it’s super fun to be in the movie. Even if we’re just extras.
Of course, if you’re looking for a bit more Star Wars Theater, you can also check out my new 1-minute children’s comedic monologue, I Don’t Wanna Be A Jedi (excerpt here).
So…
Whether you make it to Rise of the Resistance at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios or not, this seems to be opening some doors for future rides. I’ve heard Universal Studios’ Harry Potter ride/experience has a similar immersion, and undoubtedly, with the hype from these rides, other parks with follow. With this new leaning, there is increased room for some theatrical storytelling, whether it’s in the writing, acting, design or production. So, whatever way you get on board, enjoy!