I Keep Riding Rise of the Resistance in Disney World, and They Still Haven’t Fixed This Annoying Problem

If you’ve ever stepped into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you know just how immersive Disney Imagineering can be.

From piloting the Millennium Falcon to sipping blue milk in Black Spire Outpost, it truly feels like you’ve landed on Batuu. But the most popular attraction of the land is, without a doubt, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance — a massive, multi-part attraction that blends ride systems, massive sets, animatronics, and screens into one of the most ambitious theme park experiences ever created. And yet… years later, there’s still one VERY noticeable problem Disney World hasn’t fixed.

Since Rise of the Resistance opened in 2019 at Hollywood Studios (and in 2020 at Disneyland), there have been a few elements that haven’t consistently worked as designed. Translation? Some pretty major effects go down and sometimes stay down.

One of the biggest losses has been the giant Turbolaser Cannons near the end of the attraction. These cannons are supposed to move back and forth as they “fire” at your transport vehicle while you dodge them on your way to the escape pods. Originally, the cannons would swing outward and inward in sync with your vehicle’s frantic movements, making it feel like you were barely escaping an epic battle aboard a Star Destroyer. When it works, it’s incredible. But in Disney World, those cannons have been stationary for AWHILE.

Instead of bobbing and weaving through moving blasters, guests glide past cannons that are locked in place. The ride vehicle still moves, but without the cannons shifting around you, the scene loses a huge amount of energy and immersion. If you rode it in the early days, you KNOW something is missing. And if you never experienced it working properly, you don’t even realize what you’re missing out on. But, here’s the kicker: Disneyland has fixed theirs. The cannons are officially moving again out in California.

Disney has never confirmed why the cannons stopped moving in the first place, but there have long been rumors that the motion created technical complications with the trackless ride system, possibly contributing to more frequent breakdowns. That hasn’t been officially verified, but given how often this attraction experiences downtime, it’s not hard to connect the dots.

And the cannons aren’t the only issue. Rise of the Resistance is notorious for going into what fans call “B-mode.” If something isn’t functioning properly, Disney will swap in a modified version of the scene so the ride can keep operating instead of shutting down completely. We’ve seen this happen frequently when riding Rise of the Resistance.

Here’s where things get even more frustrating. Rise of the Resistance is not included in Multi Pass. It’s a Lightning Lane Single Pass attraction, meaning guests pay an additional per-person fee to skip the standby line. So imagine this: you pay extra to guarantee your ride time on one of Disney World’s newest attractions, and key elements aren’t working. When you’re paying extra, it’s fair to expect the full experience, especially when we know that full experience currently exists at Disneyland.

The fact that Disneyland’s cannons are moving again gives us hope; however, that was over a year ago, and Disney World is still not fixed. These are the same Turbolaser Cannons, the same scene, and the same ride system concept. So technically? It can be done.

For more Disney World news and updates on what’s happening inside the parks, be sure to follow along at AllEars.net.

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Do you think Rise of the Resistance is justified to be a Lightning Lane Single Pass if it still has broken pieces? Tell us in the comments below!

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