My Experience of the Star Wars “Rise of the Resistance” Ride

15th June 2023

So we went on the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride during our latest trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. This is a totally new ride for me and we simply had to blog about it on our Exclusive Private Villas site as so many people ask us about it. I’m not going to cover how we recommend you get on it though (apart from joining the 2 hour stand by line) as this is changes day by day. It’s still kinda weird to think that Disney owns Star Wars, but the ride was cool, so I’ll give them a pass on that.

Like quite a few of the rides at Disney World, the emphasis on the story is pretty heavy, which is fun if you’re a fan of the films like I am. The first thing you should know about this one is it is the most popular attraction in the park (according to most), so you might have to wait a little while. We paid $25 each to ride this as we needed the blog, but honestly, it was worth it considering what was to come.

So, what’s this all about? Well, buckle up because I’m going to tell you Star Wars lore. The ride takes place chronologically just after The Last Jedi, which was the middle episode in the trilogy that Disney made. As a time period, this one isn’t great for the good guys. They lost the big battle at the end of the movie, and so everyone’s a bit scattered. Most of the Resistance (like the Rebels from the original trilogy) are in hiding with Princess Leia, although she’s now a general.

Everyone’s being hunted by the First Order, who are led by Kylo Ren, who is Leia’s son. He’s played by Adam Driver. Anyway, a bunch of rebels have made an outpost on a planet called Batuu. Your group for the ride are the newest recruits. However, when I tried to join the Resistance, it didn’t go so well.

I’m getting ahead of myself a little, though – the buildup to the ride is half the fun! You make your way to the camp for the Resistance on Battu. They’ve built this amazing outdoor section that you explore on your way into the ride, which is all forests and cliffs and some ruins. It’s so cool to see the level of detail. If there’s one thing I love about rides here, it’s how much fun you get to have with everything. There’s about a five-minute walk to get to the ride, which is pretty good for a single attraction, in my opinion.

Anyway, when you get into the sort of main control room type thing, you get a cool video briefing from Rey, who’s obviously one of the main characters. It was actually Daisy Ridley in the video, which was neat. Disney is pretty good at this sort of thing – most of their rides and attractions feature original actors in some fashion. She welcomes us as new recruits and tells us all about how we’re going to meet up with Leia at a secret location.

Once you’ve had the briefing, it’s time to get on the transport ship and head to the rendezvous point. However, even though the ship itself is great (feels really authentic), disaster strikes because you’re found and captured by the First Order. As I said, this is a pretty immersive ride. It’s also a pretty whirlwind experience too. I’ve been a rebel for less than 20 minutes, and I’ve already met one of the greatest heroes in the galaxy and been captured by the bad guys.

Once your ship has docked inside the enemy transport, you step off and wind up in the hanger bay. It’s absolutely incredible because it genuinely looks like the set of a Star Wars film. There were actual stormtroopers in front of me. How cool is that? The cool thing about this room is that you can stay here for as long as you want. There’s plenty to photograph, so I definitely recommend spending at least 5 to 10 minutes looking around. However, once you are ready to move on, you can join the rest of the group and make your way further into the transport.

Now we’re getting into the cool stuff. After you wait a little bit, you get put in prison cells. Obviously, because you’re a rebel, you’re now wanted, so you’ll be threatened by some high-ranking members of the First Order. However, you probably won’t be in your cell for very long because your new rebel friends will come to break you out. It’s time to get to the escape pods and get off this transport, which is where the ride starts.

The ride is a lot of fun. It’s a fast, exciting, and visually engaging experience. There are lots of characters and special effects happening. Kylo himself will turn up to try and extract the location of the secret base from you using the Force. This is one of those rides that I really recommend you try at least twice because there’s just so much going on that you probably won’t be able to appreciate all of it on one ride.

As a ride, this was probably one of my favourites. Star Wars is a franchise that has had a few ups and downs over the years, but this attraction takes all the best parts of the new Star Wars films and creates a ride that you’ll definitely enjoy. It’s very good at immersing you in the world, and for a few seconds, it really felt like I was on the set of a Star Wars film. The attention to detail was fantastic, so for a fan like me, that made all the difference.

All things considered, this was a really good ride. I’d definitely recommend it to you. You should try and do it at least a couple of times to really appreciate everything because you’ll most likely discover something new each time you do.

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