Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Announced alongside the land's official announcement at the 2015 D23 Expo in Anaheim, the attraction was originally described as guests "being placed in the middle of a climactic battle between the First Order and the Resistance". On November 17, 2018 at a Destination D event, the attraction's name was announced as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

Film actors Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, and Kipsang Rotich reprised their roles in the attraction as Rey, Poe Dameron, Finn, Kylo Ren, General Hux, and the voice of Nien Nunb, respectively.[5][6] James Arnold Taylor provided the voice for Lieutenant Bek.[7] Industrial Light & Magic created the CGI sequences for the attraction.[3]

The construction of the attraction posed unprecedented technical challenges. Not only does the ride contain 65 Audio-Animatronic figures, but the ride building itself required the largest concrete pour in the history of Disney Parks. More than five million lines of code control the various aspects of the ride. It has been called a "technical masterpiece".[8]

The attraction was originally planned to open with Galaxy's Edge on opening day, but on March 7, 2019, it was announced that it would open later than the rest of Galaxy's Edge for "phase two".[9] On July 11, 2019, the opening dates for Rise of the Resistance were revealed with Disney's Hollywood Studios' version opening first on December 5, 2019, followed by Disneyland's version opening on January 17, 2020.[10]

A media event for the attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios was held from December 3–4, 2019 in which guests attending the event were able to experience the attraction.[11]

The attraction is located in the area of Galaxy's Edge known as the ancient ruins on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost, which includes a Resistance encampment. Its entrance is marked by a turret that leads guests — acting as new recruits — to a path heading into ancient caves that house a Resistance control center where they are given a mission by BB-8 and a hologram of Rey to rendezvous with General Leia Organa at an undisclosed planet. The briefing also includes Poe Dameron, Nien Nunb, and Mon Calamari Lieutenant Bek, all appearing on video screens. Guests then walk past ships, including Dameron's X-wing fighter, and board a resistance CEC Intersystem Transport Ship for the first portion of the ride. On board, Bek speaks to guests as Nien Nunb pilots the ship, which is escorted by Dameron and other X-wings. Dameron is forced to go for help when the transport and fighters are attacked by a First Order Star Destroyer which appears to capture the guests' ship and pull it inside a hangar bay filled with stormtroopers. The recruits then are brought into a cell where Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux discuss their interrogation. Then with help from Finn, disguised as a stormtrooper, the recruits board a hijacked First Order Fleet Transport (an eight-seat ride vehicle) piloted by an R5 unit to travel to an escape pod.

The ride begins with Finn explaining how to get to the escape pods. The two transports exit the loading station where they pass two other empty transports heading into the loading station, with Bek speaking to the riders through the transports' radio. They enter another room where a probe droid nearly spots them. However, when about to reach two lifts, two stormtroopers spot the guests. The stormtroopers attempt to blast at the transports, but fail as the transports escape. They enter the next room which includes two AT-ATs. The door leading out of the room closes before the transports can pass through. The stormtroopers spot the transports again and attempt to blast at them. An audio-animatronic Finn in a stormtrooper suit helps the guests as the transports split up and enter two lifts. Finn tells them to go down, but they go up instead. One of the vehicles is spotted by an AT-AT pilot and is almost blasted.

In the next room, audio-animatronic figures of Kylo Ren and General Hux are seen atop the ship's bridge discussing the situation. Suddenly, a Resistance ship fleet appears and Ren notices the transports. The riders attempt to escape, but Ren jumps down in front of them and ignites his lightsaber as the transports enter two lifts, though the doors close in front of them before he can get to them. As the lifts go down, Kylo's lightsaber suddenly cuts through the ceiling as they escape. The riders then enter a room with three cannons firing at the Resistance, which they pass under and make it into the next room where an audio-animatronic Ren uses the Force on the transports, demanding that they tell him the whereabouts of the Resistance Base. Suddenly, a hole is blasted into the wall and Ren is almost blown out into space as debris falls over him. If the animatronic of Kylo Ren is not working, an alternate ending is triggered. Ren instead appears through the windows in front of the transports in his TIE Fighter and threatens to blast them if they don't give him information on the Resistance Base. All of a sudden, a Resistance X Wing shoots down Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter and the transports escape. The transports enter the next room and enter the escape pods, where the ride turns into a motion simulator. After two other pods eject, the riders' pods undergo a sudden vertical drop and escape back onto Batuu. The transports exit the simulator and enter the hangar, where an audio-animatronic Bek is seen in his escape pod, having just crash landed in the base. They then enter the unload station where the ride ends.[12]

The ride has received widespread acclaim. During its reporting of its fiscal first-quarter 2020 results on February 4, The Walt Disney Company announced that attendance rose 2 percent at its domestic theme parks during that quarter. Moreover, spending at the U.S. parks was up 10 percent. Disney CEO Bob Iger reported that the twin debuts of the Rise of the Resistance attractions in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland have contributed to an increase in per-capita spending in the parks.[13]

During its first month of opening, the ride's technical challenges caused several ride breakdowns; on January 26, 2020, the attraction broke down three times over the course of an eight hour stretch.[14]

Due to significant guest demand, Disney implemented a system of gaining a place on the ride via their respective Disney park smartphone app, as opposed to their usual "fastpass" system. Guests are required to register for a boarding group on their phone or at in-park kiosks in order to gain access to the ride, which has garnered mixed reactions from park attendees in both Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Early on, guests found that boarding groups filled for the day within minutes of the park opening, requiring guests to arrive to the park at its opening time in order to secure a place in line to go on the ride.[15] As guests must be in the park to apply for a "Boarding Group", Disney has taken the step of opening the main hub of the Hollywood Studios park early to implement this new system.[16]

• Disney's Hollywood Studios Website
• Disneyland Website