18 photos from inside the new Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride
The new Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction opens to all on Dec. 5, 2019, inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios and is promised to be one of the most complex rides created by Disney.
Walt Disney Imagineering combined multiple ride systems to tell the story. The trackless ride vehicles are some of the most advanced ever used in a Disney attraction, with a sleek, low profile and the ability to move in all directions. In one sequence, a new simulator experience gives the sensation of falling from space to crash land on Batuu.
Imagineers created thousands of special effects, from slashing lightsabers and whizzing blaster bolts to exploding walls and massive star fields.
Actors from the current Star Wars film trilogy reprise their roles for new scenes and dialogue in this attraction, including Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) and Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux). Many scenes were filmed at the same time “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” were in production.
Guests enter the ride through the Resistance’s temporary encampment in the forested area along the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost on Batuu.
The gateway to the encampment is marked by a large turret. From there, a pathway leads deeper into the forest toward towering cliffs and the crumbling remains of an ancient civilization. Guests weave through low stone walls, timeworn pillars and tight corridors as they progress farther into the base, hearing military communications chatter along the way.
In a makeshift briefing room, Rey – a hero of the cause – appears via holo-transmission alongside dutiful droid BB-8 to welcome the new Resistance recruits. She shares a plan to reunite with General Leia Organa at an off-planet location that must be kept secret from the First Order.
Guests then board a nearby Intersystem Transport Ship (I-TS) and have to make their rendezvous quickly to avoid a First Order Star Destroyer on its way to Batuu.
When guests board the I-TS, they’ll feel as if they’re lifting off the surface of Batuu and blasting into space alongside Poe Dameron in his signature black-painted X-wing starfighter, Black One. Before the I-TS can make the jump to lightspeed, it’s caught in the tractor beam of a Star Destroyer and pulled into a massive hangar bay.
Guests make their escape from the Star Destroyer aboard eight-passenger First Order Fleet Transports piloted by reprogrammed R5-series astromech droids.
The attraction features grand set pieces – including the hangar bay that is filled with 50 menacing stormtroopers and a docked TIE fighter. At various points, guests dodge blaster bolts from stormtroopers and AT-AT walkers, scurry past huge turbolaser cannons, and stumble into the Star Destroyer’s bridge.
Throughout their journey, guests are hunted by Kylo Ren, who uses the Force in an attempt to pry from their minds the location of General Organa’s secret base. Guests feel Ren’s tremendous malevolent power as they narrowly avoid his attacks.
