Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is one of the most immersive creations from the Disney parks in ages. Although known for bringing hundreds of guests to the galaxy far, far away, recent developments at Walt Disney World show that one of its most impressive attractions was altered after a massive influx of guests.
Visiting Galaxy’s Edge is truly like stepping onto another planet, as it should be. Travelers can explore the marketplace, build at the Droid Depot, and have a drink at the cantina, but they might also have a run-in with the First Order and have to escape the clutches of the Dark Side.
Related: Disney World Officially Backtracks on Major Lightning Lane Changes After Guest Outcry
Rise of the Resistance is easily one of the most intense and immersive attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as guests are plucked from a Resistance mission at the Black Spire Outpost and captured by Kylo Ren and his First Order enforcers. However, recent developments show that the experience has been altered to accommodate growing crowds.
Fall of the Resistance at Galaxy’s Edge
Single-rider lines are a great way to get around the crowds at any park at the Walt Disney World Resort, and popular rides and attractions like Expedition Everest, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, and the recently closed Test Track all use them to help the queues move along faster. However, Rise of the Resistance just got a new single-rider option that might cut down on the wait time, but it also eliminates half the ride.
Related: New Toy Story Land Restaurant Will Outrage Fans
For those of you who haven’t been on, Rise of the Resistance is essentially a two-part attraction in which Guests depart from Batuu in a Resistance shuttle before being captured by the First Order, where Finn, Poe, and the other heroes rescue them while being hunted by Kylo Ren and his First Order troops.
It’s all very immersive and easily one of Disney’s most impressive dark rides, but the new single-rider option essentially cuts the wait time by cutting out half the attraction (as seen below).
@attractions Walt Disney World is testing a single rider line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Here’s a look at the path the guests take. The test is expected to last a couple of weeks. We hope it sticks around after the test. It’s a great way to ride if you’ve ridden before. We don’t recommend it for your first ride, as it skips part of the show. Read more about it at https://attractionsmagazine.com/disney-is-testing-single-rider-for-rise-of-the-resistance/ #starwars #hollywoodstudios #disney #wdw #instadisney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #disneygram #orlando #florida
The footage from Attractions Magazine shows the POV of a rider following a cast member through the single-rider pathway into the heart of Rise of the Resistance. The rider wanders through corridors and tunnels before being brought right on board the Star Destroyer portion of the attraction, bypassing the entire shuttle sequence and the story-heavy portions of the ride.
Related: Aerosmith Termination From Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: Disney World Ride To Reopen
While this does jump to the heart of the action in the experience, it completely removes a great portion of the immersive elements of the attraction. Sure, guests might only have to wait 20 minutes to board one of the Star Wars land’s more popular features, but they are also missing half the ride.
From a Certain Point of View
This isn’t like how cast members at The Haunted Mansion occasionally offer single riders the option to enter through the “servant’s entrance” to bypass the graveyard queue and the Stretching Room. The option to skip the shuttle sequence ultimately denies guests half the story and half the immersion that the Walt Disney Imagineers spent countless hours cultivating and crafting.
Related: Disney Park Snubbed, Completely Excluded From Upcoming Upgrades
Disney parks are built on the idea of bringing guests into the incredible worlds The Walt Disney Company crafts in its films and animated masterpieces. Giving guests the option to essentially fast-forward through the plot of the attraction almost feels like skipping the opening sequence of a feature film.
It’s certainly plausible that those in the single-rider lines are likely just there for the ride itself and have already experienced the whole narrative of the attraction before, but it also feels like first-timers are missing a massive chunk of the overall experience in the process. It doesn’t completely ruin Rise of the Resistance, but it shortens way more than the wait times.
Do you think Disney is cutting too much from the ride? Let us know in the comments below!
