Rise of the Resistance Is Still a Mess in Disney World — Just Not in the Fun Way

When Rise of the Resistance opened, the ride was hailed by many as the best theme park attraction on the planet. However, the technological marvel has been suffering from technical issues since before it even officially opened, and they’re still plaguing the Star Wars ride to this day.

In the 7+ years I’ve been writing about Disney theme parks, no ride has opened with more fanfare than the bicoastal Rise of the Resistance, which debuted at both Disney World and Disneyland in 2019. However, there has also been no new ride that has faced the same kind of technical issues and scrutiny.

Rise of the Resistance is one of the most complicated theme park attractions. The experience consists of an initial queue through a Resistance base, an initial simulator, a further queue on an expansive Star Destroyer set with in-character Cast Members, all leading to an immersive trackless ride through said Star Destroyer that features encounters with Stormtroopers, a pair of AT-ATs, Kylo Ren, and some massive cannons before an escape pod drop.

Suffice to say, the ride is a lot, and when it’s all working, it’s one of the best executed themed experiences on Earth. However, everything working is the key, and unfortunately, that’s not always the case. 6 years after the ride’s debut, both versions are still dealing with technical issues almost daily.

For example, over the last year, the Hollywood Studios version of Rise of the Resistance went down 273 separate times over 178 days. This means that the ride experiences significant downtime roughly every other day over the last 12 months.

That downtime, combined with the ride’s popularity, led to Rise of the Resistance carrying an average wait time of 63 minutes over the course of the last year, one of the longest at Walt Disney World.

So, what’s a rider to do? Well, at the very least, it’s probably wise to bite the bullet and purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass for Rise of the Resistance. While that won’t guarantee getting on the ride if it goes down, it will at least mean you won’t waste a long chunk of time on line before the ride goes down. Plus, you’ll likely be able to get a replacement Lightning Line if Rise goes down for an extended period.

Rise of the Resistance is arguably one of Disney World’s crown jewels… when the Star Wars mega-attraction is working, that is. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Disney World’s attractions.

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Have you had issues with Rise of the Resistance lately? Let us know in the comments below.