Disney Rise of the Resistance Ride: What’s all the Hype?

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The Disney Rise of the Resistance ride is the newest, and some argue greatest, attraction inside the new Galaxy’s Edge land at Hollywood Studios. More than just a ride, ROTR combines interactive experiences with a ride simulator and trackless ride vehicles to create an experience unlike any other. It is something you will never forget. In our Star Wars Rise of the Resistance Review, we will answer all the questions you have, as well as provide insights based on our experiences.

Is Disney’s Rise of the Resistance Ride Open?

With pandemic restrictions in place at Disney World now and the fact that the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride is not always a ride you can just walk on, there are often questions about its opening.

Star Wars Rise of the Resistance in Disney World queue display
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The ride has been, and is currently open, on a daily basis. The ride operates during the usual park hours, but is hard to access by guests who don’t plan ahead a bit. The ride has a standby queue, and a Lightning Lane. Although, if you hope to rides Disney’s Rise of the Resistance ride without an hours long line, you will need to pay to access Lightning Lane, more info below.

Star Wars Rise of the Resistance Review

To fully understand the ride, first, you will need the backstory to Star Wars Rise of the Resistance in Disney World. All Disney rides have a backstory, but this one has an intricate storyline that is integral to understanding and enjoying the ride. (Spoilers ahead!)

Admittedly, I am not a Star Wars fan, so my Star Wars Rise of the Resistance Review will be written for others like me who may not be so Star Wars savvy. Plus, odds are, if you are a Star Wars and Disney fan, you already know the ride’s story.

As you enter the queue, you are joining the resistance against the evil Empire. The “ride” begins with a hologram of Rey explaining that you are to board a transport ship because the current base is no longer safe. Once on the transport ship, which is essentially a mild ride simulator, the First Order captures the ship and boards it.

Transport Ship inside Star Wars Rise of the REsistance in Disney WOrld
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Boarding the transport ship.

You are then moved through the First Order’s ship and separated into interrogation rooms. Soon, the resistance cuts open the wall and breaks you out. A droid operating a trackless ride vehicle is tasked with getting you off the ship, quickly. Unfortunately, the droid has some trouble and takes you the wrong way multiple times.

Your fellow resistance members cutting you our of interrogation.

After running into the weapons room, on the bridge and many encounters with those trying to kill you, the droid finally gets you into the escape pod. A mix of ride simulator and drop ride gives the illusion of dropping out of the ship and flying back down to the ground.

Our thoughts on this ride were unanimously good. This ride is amazing. It is insanely immersive, thrilling, and leaves you feeling satisfied. Rather than waiting in line, hyped up for a 90 second experience, this ride is 18 minutes long. Or rather the experience is 18 minutes long. Technically, a lot of the ride elements are immersive queue sections that disguise the fact you are really in wait for the ride.

All in all, the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride is an incredible experience worth getting up early for to get into the virtual queue.

Rise of the Resistance Ride Drop

The Disney Rise of the Resistance Ride does have a drop in it. Compared to Tower of Terror just down Hollywood Boulevard, the drop in ROTR is miniscule.

While the Rise of the Resistance ride drop is not big, the drop is… surprising. Once, your droid locks you into the escape pod, you will see a  “window” in front, which is actually a screen for a ride simulator experience. As soon as the door behind you closes in the escape pod, you will experience the drop. It only lasts a few seconds and then your ride simulator will mimic the feeling of flying forward and down to the planet Batuu.

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The drop is entirely manageable and fun for everyone. Unlike most drop rides, this one does not have real height involved. The only height you will experience is simulated through the height on the screen in front. It does an excellent job of making you feel high though. Many members of our group have fears of heights, but still enjoyed this experience.

Addressing Rise of the Resistance Motion Sickness

When it comes to addressing Rise of the Resistance motion sickness, its important to understand both my mom and I experience motion sickness ranging from moderate to extreme. Despite this fact, we both rode the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride not once, but twice.

Storm Troopers in Star Wars Rise of the Resistance
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We both experienced some motion sickness on the first ride simulator experience in the transport ship. This experience is mild, but all guests are standing during it, and that can make it feel more intense than it is. I found it helpful to lean against something if I could. Also, you can avoid most if not all of the motion sickness by not looking at the small screens that add the extra feeling of motion.

The next parts of the ride involve actual motion inside the trackless ride vehicles. This experience is quick, has a lot of back and forth, but is incredibly smooth. None of us had issues with this portion as far as motion sickness.

Inside the escape pod is where the real ride simulator portion is paired with a drop sequence. This portion of the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride is very short. Short enough that I did not feel any motion sickness during it. I left Smugglers Run feeling very ill, but ROTR did not leave me feeling that way at all.

Unfortunately for Mom, the simulator made her feel a bit queasy. The good news is that due to the brevity of it, she was able to close her eyes and get through it easily.

How Does Rise of the Resistance Work?

The Disney Rise of the Resistance ride used to have a virtual queue system in the past. With this system, rather than wait in line for hours and hours, you would join the virtual queue at either 7 am, or 1 pm and then join the physical queue when the My Disney Experience App tells you to board based off of your assigned boarding group. This was all done on the My Disney Experience App.

Recently, with the introduction of Genie and Genie+ with Lightning Lane, the virtual Queue has been removed from the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride. The Virtual Queue was also recently removed from Remi’s Ratatouille Adventure. We predict that in the future, this system will return each time a new ride debuts.

Without the virtual queue, you can now board Disney’s Rise of the Resistance ride in the standby line, or using Lightning Lane. It is not uncommon for the Standby line to reach 2 hours of more on a moderate crowd level day. On busy days and seasons, such as Christmas, the line can be much much longer.

The only way to avoid these lines is to utilize thew new paid Fastpass Service called Genie+ with Lightning Lane. Genie+ allows guests to pay a fee to skip the line and return to the ride during a specific time that is booked when you book your Lightning Lane reservation.

While the fee for this service is about $15 per guest for a variety of rides in each park, Disney’s Rise of the Resistance ride is not included in this overall price. ROTR instead, has an individual Lightning Lane cost per guest. This is likely due to the ride’s demand.

The cost to ride ROTR using Lightning Lane is about $15 per guest. Although, prices may vary based on date and demand.

Storm Troopers helping assign you to interrogation rooms.
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Storm Troopers helping assign you to interrogation rooms.

Frequently Asked Questions About Disney’s Rise of the Resistance Ride

Can You Ride Rise of the Resistance Twice?

There are a few ways you can ride Rise of the Resistance twice. The first way is to wait in the standby line two separate times. This is only doable on shorter wait days, but still expect to wait well over an hour each time. If you “rope drop” the ride, you may get in quickly the first time. Then you can wait in the standby line a second time to get on the ride twice in one day.

Note: Rope dropping a ride is when you get to the park early enough to be at the front of the “rope drop” when the park opens. From there, you will have to race other guests to the line of the Disney Rise of the Resistance ride.

Besides waiting out the standby line twice, you can also pay to pay the individual Lightning Lane fee, (mentioned above,) and return to the ride during your designated return time. While you can only use one Lightning Lane pass per ride per day, you can then join the standby line before or after your Lightning Lane return time to ride Rise of the Resistance, or any ride, twice in one day.


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What Is the Age for Rise of the Resistance?

While Rise of the Resistance does not technically have an age limit, the ride does have a height limit which does not allow very small children to ride. To ride Rise of the Resistance, you must be at least 40 inches to ride. This does exclude many younger guests, but it is important for the safety of riders, especially considering the ride does have a drop.

For smaller guests, try Millennium Falcon, which has a minimum height requirement of 38 inches.

Are the Storm Troopers in Rise of the Resistance Real?

No Star Wars Rise of the Resistance review would be complete without discussing the Storm Troopers.

When you are first captured by the First Order, you will be taken through a hangar bay with 50 Storm Troopers staring at you. These 50 are a form of animatronics, not real people. Some of them are animatronics and capable of some more advanced movements, while others barely move, or not at all.

Storm Troopers also appear in projection form throughout the ride as well.

How Long is the Rise of the Resistance Ride?

The actual ride portion inside the vehicle is about 7 minutes long. That being said, the entire experience takes about 18 minutes. This is due to the fact that many portions of the queue are interactive and include things like boarding the transport ship, and being placed in the interrogation room.


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Mother daughter travel bloggers exploring the U.S.

We're Kat and Ali, a pair of mother-daughter travel bloggers exploring the U.S. We're sharing our experiences, tips and insights to help you more easily get out and explore the beautiful landscapes and places of this nation.

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Ali Patton

Ali is a travel blogger for Seconds to Go, where she shares her experiences traveling the U.S. with her co-blogger Mom, Kathleen. She is also an avid Disney travel enthusiast, and with multiple Disney World trips under her belt, is a knoweldgeable resource for all things related to Disney vacations. Ali can be found managing the Seconds to Go social media accounts as well as the famed Double Z Farm pages on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

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