The massive and complex Rise of the Resistance ride that lies largely hidden behind man-made cliffs and freshly-planted trees at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is designed to slowly reveal itself in one of the longest attraction experiences ever created in Disney history.

The ground-breaking new attraction will combine four ride experiences into one when it finally debuts later this year in the Star Wars lands at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. 

Getting all the pieces of the puzzle to seamlessly flow together has contributed to the delayed opening of the ambitious ride.

What follows is a spoiler-filled detailed description of the Rise of the Resistance ride. Consider yourself forewarned.

The elaborate new attraction will be set amid a rebel military camp just outside the Black Spire Outpost village on the remote Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for new 14-acre land. 

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

For now, all that’s visible of Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge is an imposing rebel gun turret marking the entrance to the ride. The queue and the attraction are hidden behind a thick forest of trees where the Resistance has set up camp to avoid detection by First Order troops.

From a storytelling standpoint, that’s why you haven’t seen any stormtroopers over near the blue pinstriped X-wing and the red A-wing fighters. It’s Resistance territory that is “hidden” from the First Order, which has set up base in the Black Spire village where the TIE Echelon is docked.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

The Resistance Supply shop in front of the attraction entrance has a very temporary nature suggesting that the rebels only arrived a few weeks ago. Resistance troops could sweep up everything the moment a mission is called.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Pass under that Resistance gun turret and you’ll arrive at a ride queue as long and elaborate as the one for Indiana Jones Adventure. Winding through the cavernous tunnels scattered with high-tech military gear helps set up the backstory for Rise of the Resistance. Think of the queue as the first scene in a sweeping story.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

It’s supposed to look and feel like you’re in an operating Resistance outpost. An active base where something big is about to happen. Radio communications heard in the queue relay flight deck transmissions. Droids speak to each other as they keep the place running.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Cobbled together military gear from previous Resistance campaigns forms the queue switchbacks. The high-tech equipment strewn throughout the Resistance compound contrasts with the carvings on the rock walls. The rebels have taken over an old cavern once used by an ancient civilization. Possibly alien. 

Stains on the cavern ceiling suggest water has been dripping for centuries inside what is now the ride queue. Stalactites lead to a trough once used by an ancient civilization to clean items like dishes or clothing. The rock formation now serves as a bench where theme park visitors can sit while waiting in the queue.

Natural windows in the cavern walls offer peeks at what lays ahead in the attraction. A gentle waterfall pours through one window. The rock work — reminiscent of the grotto at the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction — keeps the queue cool.

It’s clear the space has been repurposed and retrofitted by Resistance forces using laser torches to cut holes in the stone to create bigger openings and connect cavern rooms. Hydraulic struts support the tunnels. Military-style Marston mats made from perforated steel cover portions of the ground. Look up and you might see an ancient star map on the ceiling. Up above, power cables run from a generator to the communications room up ahead. GNK droids power some of the lights in the queue.

Glowing holoscreens showing maps of the Star Wars galaxy stand in a former prayer room where ancient icons rest on niches carved into the stone walls. Visitors are left to piece the puzzle together to reveal the elaborate backstory of the civilization that once occupied the place.

The Red Room serves as a storehouse for Resistance laser weapons, missile tubes and munitions stowed in locked cages. The guns and ammo are staged and ready to go at a moment’s notice for the next rebel military campaign. 

Fighter pilot flight suits, helmets and oxygen masks fill lockers lining the queue. The set dressing props are based on Lucasfilm costumes used in the “Star Wars” movies. Keen-eyed diehard fans will find plenty of Easter Eggs throughout the Rise of the Resistance queue. 

Step into the Ready Room where a rolling audio-animatronic BB-8 greets visitors. A hologram version of Rey from “The Force Awakens” asks recruits — that’s us — to join the Resistance and fight the First Order in a dangerous off-planet mission. Resistance pilot Poe Dameron will be our wingman.

The Ready Room doors slide open and about 50 recruits spill out into a staging area hidden by dense woods. The grand reveal should come as a big surprise for first-time riders. Poe’s distinctive black-and-orange X-wing is docked off to the right. It’s engines are spooling up. The starfighter is so close you can reach out and touch the laser cannons on the tips of the wings.

A Resistance transport ship awaits opposite the Ready Room. A flight deck announcement tells everyone to quickly get on the ship. Climb aboard for the first of four ride experiences that are part of the Rise of the Resistance attraction. 

The never-before-seen Resistance Intersystem Transport Ship was created exclusively for Galaxy’s Edge. Known as an I-TS shuttle, the long-haul cargo and troop transport starship has forward and rear guns.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

An animatronic Nien Nunb sits up in the cockpit of the transport ship. The jowl-faced, mouse-eyed arms dealer and smuggler piloted the Millennium Falcon with Lando Calrissian in “Return of the Jedi.” The transport’s doors close as the ship is cleared for take-off. As the ship takes off from Batuu, riders see Poe climb into his X-wing through the cockpit window and on monitor screens.

The floor of the transport ship moves and shakes beneath riders as the first of four ride experiences begins. The mild sensation makes it feel like the ship is taking off and flying through space. Riders see Batuu disappear in the rear oculus window. Poe and a pair of X-wing pilots join our convoy.

It doesn’t take long after the transport ship gets into orbit for things to go terribly wrong. The First Order tracks the rebels and soon a pair of Star Destroyers surround the transport. A big showdown ensues. The transport gets tractor beamed into a Star Destroyer. With the battle lost, Poe is forced to flee and find reinforcements.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

The doors to the transport ship open for the next big reveal. Riders are greeted by 50 stormtroopers in formation aboard a Star Destroyer. Some of the animatronic stormtroopers standing at attention make slight movements. TIE fighters swoop past in a 100-foot-wide space window. The second Star Destroyer from the battle hovers in the space window. A full-size TIE fighter is mounted on wall in a hangar dock colloquially referred to as a “Pez dispenser.” 

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Riders step off the transport ship they boarded in Batuu and into the Star Destroyer hangar bay. First Order officers bark orders at the captured recruits: “Move along, Resistance scum.”

First Order troops march the riders turned Resistance prisoners through the halls of the Star Destroyer to a detention center. The Star Destroyer’s stark design aesthetic is brutal, hard and uncomfortable. Riders are divided into groups of 16 and tossed into cells.

The jail cell looks like the one where Poe was questioned by the villain Kylo Ren in “The Force Awakens.” Kylo appears in the cell – likely in a holographic or animatronic form — to interrogate the new prisoners. Riders must figure out how to escape the detention cell.

Once they escape, the Resistance prisoners travel by trackless dark ride vehicle through the rest of the attraction. The mission: Escape the Star Destroyer and return safely to Batuu. 

R5 astromech droids pilot the First Order Fleet Transport ride vehicles. The eight-person ride vehicles travel in pairs carrying a combined total of 16 riders.

Riders are thrown into the middle of a battle between the Resistance and the First Order that plays out in 18 scenes. The ride vehicles travel through the halls of the Star Destroyer, pausing at times to let riders watch the battle unfold on large projection screens. Kylo is expected to make multiple appearances during the dark ride portion of the attraction.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

The ride vehicles pass between the legs of two giant AT-AT Walkers. The four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport combat walkers fire red lasers at the riders. The laser blasts appear to slice through the air and seemingly strike a nearby wall. AT-ATs made their first Star Wars appearance in a battle on the planet Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Rise of the Resistance is expected to include an elevator portion that dramatically raises and drops the ride vehicles. Blueprints submitted to the city of Anaheim planning department describe a “Kylo-Vator” that plays a key role in the attraction.

, Everything We Know About Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Concept art shows Rise of the Resistance riders encountering hostile stormtroopers patrolling the Star Destroyer on a raised platform. A commercial created for the attraction shows a gun room where riders are expected to feel the power of the recoiling weapon as it fires a blast into space. After finally escaping, riders exit the attraction through what looks like an arched airplane hangar jutting from the ground just outside the Black Spire Outpost village.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is now open at Disneyland in California and debuts Aug. 29 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. Disney plans to open the Rise of the Resistance attraction later this year as part of a second phase of the new lands.

How does all of this sound to you? Are you Excited about the upcoming ride? Will it turn attendance around at the resort?  


Discount Theme Park Tickets and Travel 

, Should You Build a 0 Droid?MiceChat’s partners at Get Away Today offer you amazing savings on Disney tickets and travel. 

Get The Deals:

, Disneyland Update – Announcement Overload Therapy

Discount Tickets and travel – HERE

Sharing is caring!

Brady MacDonald
Brady MacDonald is a freelance writer based in California. He wrote the Funland theme park blog for the Los Angeles Times for a decade. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, Seattle Times, Orlando Sentinel and Orange County Register.