Since both the Disney World and Disneyland versions opened back in December 2019 and January of 2020, Rise of the Resistance has been widely hailed as one of the most ambitious experiences Walt Disney Imagineering has ever constructed.
Described by Disney as “a massive attraction with multiple ride systems that is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced,” the attraction features a massive queue portion that winds through a rebel base, space transport, and a Star Destroyer before a trackless dark ride section that brings guests right into a climactic Star Wars battle and face to face with Kylo Ren. So, with all that going for it, what could possibly need to be improved? Well, the answer lies in characters.
One of the reasons Rise of the Resistance’s queue is an integral part of the experience as opposed to a simple line is the close encounters it provides with several Star Wars characters. There’s the hologram Rey, a communication screen with Poe, and an animatronic BB-8 in the rebel base. The ride on a transport with a full animatronic Lt. Beck and Nien Nunb (well the back of his head anyway), the Star Destroyer hanger full of Stormtroopers.
However, once boarding the ride, things change. Sure the experience has a couple of major set pieces involving characters — the AT-AT room featuring projected Stormtroopers and a somewhat static Finn, the bridge encounter with Kylo Ren and General Hux, and the climactic final encounter with Kylo (um, when that animatronic is working) — but those are broken up by large portions of ride through the Star Destroyer’s cavernous halls that feel somewhat… empty?
Sure, the placemaking and theming are on-point, and envelopes riders in the Star Wars Galaxy… until they look around and feel like they’re in an empty warehouse. This could easily be fixed by adding some characters to some of these sequences. Perhaps some rudimentary animatronics or even static — similar to the hangar Stormtroopers from the queue — of further Troopers, or First Order personnel lining the halls. Perhaps even another Finn could be added, increasing the character’s presence in the attraction.
While Rise of the Resistance is one of the best attractions at either of the American Disney Parks (when it’s working, which is another issue Disney needs to continue to address, but we digress) there is still room for improvement, and injecting some more character into the attraction could be just what the Med Droid ordered. Stay tuned to DFB for more thoughts on Disney’s best attractions.
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The post This Simple Change Would Make Disney’s Rise of the Resistance Ride 10X BETTER first appeared on the disney food blog.