Did you see Finn? How about the TIE Fighter that messes everything up? Which path did you take?
Now that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is open at both Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge locations in California and Florida, we thought it was time to break down all the cool little things you can see inside the ride, and offer up a few tips for maximising your own experience.
We’ve got three levels for you. First are some non-spoiler tips for people who just want to get on the ride fast and easy. Then there are some more spoilery suggestions for those who want to maximise their enjoyment. Finally, there are some massively revealing Easter eggs to look out for when you ride again and again.
Rise of the Resistance tips
A virtual queue
For the foreseeable future, the best way to ride Rise of the Resistance will be to wait digitally. Each morning when the park officially opens, virtual boarding groups become available on the Disneyland/World app. You must be logged into your account and physically inside the park to join. If you are lucky enough to get assigned a boarding group, you then must wait for that group to be called. If crowds are lighter, or all boarding groups are complete, a traditional line may begin to form, but the app is the best way to keep track. Read more on the official site.
The line is long
Even when you get called, know that the queue for the ride is very, very long. It takes around four minutes to walk the whole thing—when it’s empty. In other words, you’re in for a wait. Plus there are no bathrooms and only one set of water fountains, which are right as you enter the tunnels. So be sure to take all that into account when you get ready to ride.
Everything starts before you know it
Rise of the Resistance is a multi-act story. So when you get to the front of the line and see BB-8, that’s where it starts. Pay attention! It’ll take around 10 minutes from that point to the actual ride portion of the experience.
Now, onto the spoiler tips…
Choose wisely on your transport
Once you go outside, you’ll be escorted onto your transport ship. It’s here you have your first choice. If you go to the front, you can get a good look at Lt. Bek and Nein Nunb, who are flying the ship, as well as views of Batuu from the front. However, if you go into the back, you get the rear view of the flight, which has a bunch of additional views including your X-Wing escorts. More on this when we get to the Easter eggs, but basically it’s animatronics in front, video in the back.
Don’t rush through the Star Destroyer
Though the First Order officers in charge will try to get you to rush into the line, take a minute to look around once you get off the transport. The Star Destroyer hanger is filled with amazing visuals, from the massive video screen looking out into “space,” to the several dozen Stormtroopers (a few of them move), to the massive TIE fighter on the wall. Plus, turn around. It’s a 360-degree experience that’s truly a sight to behold and one of the best parts of the entire ride.
Listen for your rescuers
After Kylo Ren and General Hux leave your detention cell, try and keep quiet. It’s probably impossible but if you keep quiet you can hear the whispers of your Resistance rescuers a few seconds before they begin to weld through the wall.
Two paths, there are
Probably the biggest thing to know going into Rise of the Resistance is there are two paths you can take depending on which vehicle you sit in. Let’s call them the “Probe Droid path” and the “Non-Probe Droid path.” Your group of up to 16 is split into two groups of eight and each gets into a ride vehicle. Early in the ride one of the cars will run right up into a Probe Droid and the other will just watch that happen from behind. Both rides are very similar but, the Probe Droid one is slightly better, in our opinion. We’ll explain why in the Easter eggs.
Rise of the Resistance Easter eggs
On the transport
When you take off from Batuu on the transport ship, keep an eye on the front or rear screens. The footage is perfectly synced from your actual location in Galaxy’s Edge and you’ll see other familiar structures and ships, such as the Millennium Falcon.
If you stand in back, you can also see Poe Dameron’s black and orange X-Wing follow your ship. And when he says he’s going to check out a mysterious signal, you can watch his ship fly over yours, and then appear in front. Also, the back is the only place you can watch the ship get slowly sucked onto the Star Destroyer via the tractor beam. The coolest moment, though, is when you go through the Star Destroyer’s blue shield. The entire ship you’re on flashes blue to coincide. It’s literally gone in a flash but is a perfect little moment.
On the ride
There are two animatronics of Finn on Rise of the Resistance but they are easy to miss. Both are in the AT-AT room. If you are on the Probe Droid path, when you get sucked back he’s on your left, standing up. There’s also another random arm from a person fighting with him, but we never find out who it belongs to. If you are on the non-Probe path, as you get sucked back he’s on the right, crouching down on the floor.
On the Probe Droid route, when you reach the top of the AT-AT room, you’ll see some AT-AT Drivers in the cockpit. They’ll freak out, lower the guns and fire directly at you. This is much cooler than the non-Probe route, where you see a First Order officer and a Stormtrooper.
It’s not the coolest thing ever but, between the second and third turbo laser cannons, there’s another ride vehicle just sitting there. Had another prisoner transfer gone awry perhaps?
This one is our favourite: In the final encounter with Kylo Ren, as he’s using the Force, an explosion stops him and sucks your vehicle back. Though you’ll be tempted to watch Kylo in front of you, turn your head right. You’ll see a TIE Fighter get shot, set on fire, and barrel into the Star Destroyer causing the aforementioned explosion.
Depending on which route you took, both escape pod routes are slightly different. The biggest difference is that, on the Probe Droid route, if you look across you can see Lt. Bek also escaping in his pod, which ties into the dialogue when you land back on Batuu.
Finally, when you exit the ride sometimes—but not always—a Resistance fighter may ask you about their friends, Red-2 and Blue-5, the X-Wing pilots who were killed while you were still on the transport. Pass along the bad news gently.
And of course, this all really happened. In the Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, you see several references to a battle over Batuu. Well, you just lived it. Here are the passages.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is now open at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.