Galaxy's Edge Closure Imminent, Reopening Uncertain - Inside the Magic

One of the biggest additions to the Walt Disney World Resort in recent years was the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion in Hollywood Studios. Bringing guests to the planet of Batuu, Galaxy’s Edge allows guests to fully immerse themselves in the Star Wars universe, giving them the ability to meet beloved characters like Chewbacca, Rey, and Kylo Ren.

It also featured the debut of two brand new rides, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Both attractions feature stunning technological advances and are often highly praised. However, they both experience their fair share of criticisms, and a recent discussion on social media is questioning if Disney may have bit off more than they can chew with the attractions.

In a post shared to Reddit last month, u/MuseratoPC states that “the Force was not with RotR tonight.”

“Was at Studios tonight and got on to Rise of the Resistance toward the end of the day. Not great show from the animatronics. Mild spoilers follow if you have never been.

Beck on the shuttle was not working, the motion in the shuttle also felt off, then the first Kylo was down, the AT-AT cannons didn’t move, B mode at the second Kylo, and the audio was totally off after getting back to Batuu. It’s still a great ride, but I feel sorry for the people that are on their once in a lifetime vacation and not getting the full effect with so much stuff not working.”

The Force was not with RotR tonight
byu/MuseratoPC inWaltDisneyWorld

The ride often experiences prolonged periods of downtime and unexpected closures. However, the comments under the post are full of people sharing similar experiences and blaming the Walt Disney Company for failing to provide accurate maintenance for such a technologically heavy ride.

“The canons haven’t moved in easily over a year, for whatever reason they can’t get them to work reliably so they permanently shut them off. It’s a shame cause it’s such a cool effect,” explained u/swordsandshows. “This is for sure gonna be one of those rides that will be without most working effects in a couple years,” agreed u/_burning_trees_. “Every time after on both versions something has been off with it.”

While several shared their own Rise of the Resistance issues, there were a few who questioned the park’s willingness to keep up with the required maintenance of the ride. “I really wish they would shut it down for a while & fix everything,” said u/Alternative-Ant1188. “I know it’s not ideal to close such a high profile ride for a lengthy maintenance, but it really needs it. I don’t even ride it anymore because I find it disappointing with all the issues.”

U/WorldlinessThat2984 explained their reasoning for why Disney refuses to do a prolonged refurb on the ride. “They created their own worst enemy with Individual Lightning Lanes. Touring Plans did an estimate once on how much Rise makes from Individual Lightning Lanes…based on the number of guests they counted using the ILL and the average cost of an ILL for Rise, closing the ride for even a week would result in literally millions of dollars of lost revenue and it’s REALLY hard for ops to justify shutting off that sort of a revenue stream unless they have a REALLY valid reason.”

Considering Rise of the Resistance is one of only two Star Wars attractions, it is perhaps one of the most popular rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. By shutting it down, it’s also very possible that the park could lose guests that would have come for the Galaxy’s Edge experience.

“I applaud Disney for making the ride run in ‘B mode’ whenever possible,” says u/Shimola1999, “but it also gives them incentive to just not fix the ‘A mode?’ effects, especially during the day when it would cause downtime. As long as they keep an attraction open that can hold enough guests at one time in the ride + queue, that is a win for the park. It’s still a must-do for many guests, so why fix what (is) broken?”

It’s a valid point, given that at this point, Rise of the Resistance seems to run more in B mode than A mode, essentially becoming the standard version of the ride. It still allows guests to ride, and is still drawing major crowds each day, so it almost removes the incentive and pressure for Disney to make fixing the A mode a priority.

Unfortunately, the longer Disney puts off the much-needed upkeep, the more extensive its eventual required refurbishment will be. The attraction, along with Galaxy’s Edge, has only been open since 2019, and in theory is still a little young to have as many problems as it seems to. However, the advanced technology and animatronics the ride uses seem to require more attention to detail and more routine maintenance that it doesn’t seem to be getting right now.

The Walt Disney Company and Disney parks are often looked at to set the future of entertainment and theme park offerings, but one wonders if they may have gotten ahead of themselves while trying to provide “the next best thing” to guests.

Have you ever experienced any issues on Rise of the Resistance? Do you think the ride needs some major TLC? Let us know what you think in the comments below.