Rise of the Resistance...ride discussion (spoilers)

[Leigh L]

The acting by the CMs I find really made my experience. The First Order people were menacing and felt like we were really prisoners. Hoping I can go again in March or April and this time won't be recording everything (not for YouTube, just for my personal rewatching). Note, I watched with eyes and just ensured the camera was facing the right way so I experienced it myself not through my phone. The whole ride was fantastic, but I did NOT expect the drop when we escaped the Star Destroyer. But was fun.

I agree!! The CM's acting was such a fab part of the experience. The people in our group got realllly quiet after we were captured and shuffled in like we were really prisoners (we rode it 2x during our trip and it was the same both times). The First Order CMs were spot on and definitely menacing. One of the days we were evacuated twice off the ride and the CMs stayed totally in character as they escorted us out. Since one of the times was "inside" backstage and took a little while to get us out of the building, they were yelling in First Order fashion to put the phones away NOW. It was great! Even while disappointed we were being evacuated, they still kept it as a good experience as best they could under the circumstances while simultaneously getting their point about not filming backstage across. It still felt as if we were still in the story. The second time it was the Resistance that evacuated us out but that was much faster so not really much "storytelling" since we were already outside and the exit was nearby. We also felt the Resistance CMs as we got into the first and the final ride vehicles were incredible too as they explained what was going on.

Later on in that day when the ride was more stable, we got to the point where we were waiting to go into the cell and one of my DDs was paying more attention to the CM in the other group and leaned over to quietly say to me "That one over there is so funny" (she was SO on target as a First Order person could be) and the CM running our prisoner group must have heard her and yelled at her in the same fashion. haha.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

The more I think about the more I wish there was a debriefing. That would finish the experience perfectly and explain why we are free to wander around the outpost. I’ve only been on it twice so far but both times the end seems very abrupt. I think it was a missed opportunity...a Resistance officer could ask questions about any intel we may have gained during captivity, update us on the status of the battle, even give us a temporary mission til a plan is formed, and the mission could be one of several choices given to the cm’s- go back into the outpost to protect citizens from the First Order, or to subtly recruit more people, or to quietly spy on the First Order, or give Vi a message...

I agree with this. It's such a fun ride, but between what they initially made SWGE sound like & the Starcruiser hotel, I want "side quests". Not to sound like a total nerd, but in high school I went to space camp 2 summers in a row. The second time was for 2 weeks and we would do "missions" that lasted overnight. THAT was immersion! They were insanely fun, and nowhere near on par with that Disney has done with Star Wars. ROTR should unlock bonus missions on the datapad at least, like how after you ride MFSR you get paid by Hondo. This weekend I'm going to see how long I can spend in SWGE pretending that I'm in the universe, but I'd love love love for Disney to expand on the concept of making you an active participant in the universe (like WestWorld but without all the murder & stuff).

 

[cindianne320]

So the first order cms aren’t as menacing anymore?!

 

[Leigh L]

So the first order cms aren’t as menacing anymore?!

We thought they were last weekend! I did use the word "funny" in my post above but DD13's perception of funny was the menacing - she LOVED it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

With the fairly short (40 inch) height requirement, how many children do you see riding this? My daughter hit 40 inches by 4-years-old, and will be almost 5 when we go. Selfishly, I want to go on this, but don't want to completely traumatize her if it's really intensely scary.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

With the fairly short (40 inch) height requirement, how many children do you see riding this? My daughter hit 40 inches by 4-years-old, and will be almost 5 when we go. Selfishly, I want to go on this, but don't want to completely traumatize her if it's really intensely scary.

While all kids are different and it’s always hard to judge how kids react to things (eg, out of nowhere my DS 5 at the time went ballistic horrified on It’s Tough to be a Bug once), I don’t think it’s intensely scary or something to be overly concerned with. It’s very visually interesting and just lots of things to see / take in. More fun / exciting than scary.

My current 5 year old didn’t go because we ended up with a late day BG and DW and her didn’t go back to the park with us, but I would have no qualms about bringing her whatsoever.

YMMV!

 

[YawningDodo]

with Batuuans you can always ask them where they are from, they have to be from Galma, Peka or Surabat. They have a backstory at each of these locations. You can also ask them what they think of Oga, she's like the overlord of BSO so most will have a strong opinion about her,
I was live streaming the other day and the First Order Officer saw that and started talking to me about having my datapad out and he went to leave and I shouted "Ignite the Spark" he stopped dead in his tracks and yelled at me for a good five minutes, talking about the futile point of the Resistance and how foolish Ackbar was trying to skip lightspeed man, I loved that so much
Vi is always fun to encounter cause not a lot of people know about her, so I have had long conversations about keeping things on the down lo and helping the Resistance

I loved seeing Vi around the outpost! The first time I ran into her, she approached me! She caught me trying (and failing) to scan a crate, showed me how to use the datapad correctly, and told me I could be doing more for the resistance by hacking surveillance devices instead of just hoarding supplies. Later on I saw her and Chewie hanging around the X-Wing chatting with visitors and trying to figure out why it was smoking. I think it's easier to get fun interactions with her than with the movie characters because she doesn't get mobbed the instant people see her and she's free to move around and initiate her own interactions with guests.

Re: RotR itself, I agree that it's a bit of a plothole that it was so important to evacuate Batuu, but once we escape and get back to Batuu, it's...fine..? But I had a ton of fun on the attraction both times I got to ride the whole thing, and I strongly disagree with the notion that it's "joyless." The First Order officers were a mix of intimidating and funny; I think the CMs hit a good balance there in terms of keeping character but also making it an enjoyable experience (well, as enjoyable as queing up for interrogation is ever going to be).

I got cleared from the ride three times, though, and they did not stay in character during that process. I thought that was probably for the best; it lets guests adjust expectations for what's going on and speak to the cast members as regular people who can answer questions about FP+ returns and that sort of thing. It was a bit weird to receive an apology from a First Order officer, though! But yeah, on Thursday night I got to the point of capture, got cleared out and got a FP+. Used the FP+ to go again around 6:30; the FP+ line didn't move at all for 15+ minutes and then they cleared us again and gave us FP+ good through the next day along with a return park ticket (I've got an AP, but it's good for a decade so I'm sure I'll use it eventually). That was a very long line to wait in; it seemed like every single person in front of me needed to stop and ask questions about the FP+ and ticket before moving on. Friday (yesterday) morning I rolled in about 7:45 after checking in for my flight, used my FP+, got captured, boarded the rescue vehicle...and the ride stopped just after the storm troopers started shooting at us. Got cleared yet again (this was when I got the apology from a very sweet young man in a First Order uniform--like I said, kind of weird!). Ride came back up and I finally got through the whole thing a little later that morning. I was really glad it had all gone off without a hitch during my first ride on Saturday the 25th, as it would not have been as impressive an experience if I'd first seen it in fits and starts like I did over the last few days.

 

[YawningDodo]

I somehow forgot to say--my first time through the ride my BG got called pretty early in the day and I didn't have much of a wait. On my second attempt (the first of three times getting cleared), I got on my datapad and accepted the mission to help the resistance--meaning I gave Finn remote assistance. That was really cool; I highly recommend playing through that if you actually have to wait in line for the attraction. There's also the option to play as a First Order spy infiltrating the Resistance's recruiting efforts, but I didn't play that. If you did, I wonder if you could try to talk to the First Order officers about things you'd learned/why you shouldn't be put in the interrogation cells...? Or you could try to bluff them regardless. I found it a bit too intimidating to try to protest the interrogation process, though, partly because I know that under the character acting they're also managing the crowd and I didn't want to give them too hard of a time. I think the best time for that kind of thing is when you're being lined up on your colors; it seems like they sometimes need to play for time at that juncture and you can get some good back and forth going.

 

[dagored]

Has anyone else seen the hidden Mickey?

 

[2vets]

I totally got yelled at. I kinda liked it. Hmmm.

 

[NMAmy]

Are we the only ones? Yesterday, we got up early, got boarding group 75 and were all done by 1 pm. And when we finished, we both said, "really?". I don't get what all the hype is about. Trackless was cool but it didn't really build to anything but about 60 seconds of Star Tours. Anyone else underwhelmed?

 

[ucf_knight]

Are we the only ones? Yesterday, we got up early, got boarding group 75 and were all done by 1 pm. And when we finished, we both said, "really?". I don't get what all the hype is about. Trackless was cool but it didn't really build to anything but about 60 seconds of Star Tours. Anyone else underwhelmed?

No

 

[yulilin3]

Are we the only ones? Yesterday, we got up early, got boarding group 75 and were all done by 1 pm. And when we finished, we both said, "really?". I don't get what all the hype is about. Trackless was cool but it didn't really build to anything but about 60 seconds of Star Tours. Anyone else underwhelmed?

some people have felt the same way but the majority of people absolutely love it. For me personally it's the massiveness of the sets, you can look 360 degrees in this attraction, the fact that it employs 3 different ride systems and seamlessly goes from physical to screen effects and the complete immersion of the CM, plus the length from pre show to ending. It's innovative and unique

 

[NMAmy]

some people have felt the same way but the majority of people absolutely love it. For me personally it's the massiveness of the sets, you can look 360 degrees and it's attraction, the fact that it employs 3 different ride systems and seamlessly goes from physical to screen effects and the complete immersion of the CM, plus the length from pre show to ending. It's innovative and unique

Interesting. Guessing I won't hear differing points of view in this thread. I know I avoided it before riding but wouldn't have given in to the hoopla if I'd heard this take on it

 

[yulilin3]

Interesting. Guessing I won't hear differing points of view in this thread. I know I avoided it before riding but wouldn't have given in to the hoopla if I'd heard this take on it

there have been people here with your same opinion, along with another thread where the poster prefers MFSR to RotR

 

[YawningDodo]

Are we the only ones? Yesterday, we got up early, got boarding group 75 and were all done by 1 pm. And when we finished, we both said, "really?". I don't get what all the hype is about. Trackless was cool but it didn't really build to anything but about 60 seconds of Star Tours. Anyone else underwhelmed?

Are you sure you got the full experience? People have reported some elements of the ride being cut or in B-mode when they rode, so it's possible you missed something. It's also possible you just didn't like it--and believe me, I've had unpopular opinions of my own (I strongly prefer NRJ over FoP, for instance). But I'm a big fan of quality audio-animatronics and RotR is teeming with them, so that colored my reaction to the attraction.

I was pleasantly surprised by the motion simulator portion(s) of the ride. Normally I'm not a big fan of rides that don't have you moving through real space looking at real, physical sets, but I found the transporter and the escape pod much more convincing than many of the other motion simulators I've ridden. And the places where they did have real, physical sets were frequent and impressive, and you really could look in any direction without ruining the illusion for yourself. That takes a lot of doing.

 

[Jennasis]

Interesting. Guessing I won't hear differing points of view in this thread. I know I avoided it before riding but wouldn't have given in to the hoopla if I'd heard this take on it

Sure you will! Not everyone loves every ride.

Someone somewhere has to hate puppies and ice cream right? LOL.

I hate FoP. HATE it.

 

[only hope]

.

I hate FoP. HATE it.

I don’t hate FoP but think it is very boring. There’s only two things that are more boring to me: the FoP preshow and the Navi River Journey. Also boring is the entire Pandora land, though the food is good. Fake rocks with fake colors and fake plants just don’t excite me. Bring back Camp Minnie-Mickey which featured real trees, a lovely banjo player, and rustic wood decor.

Anyways. RotR...not everyones going to like it. Aside from the abrupt ending I love it for the reasons mentioned above. It is the first attraction I’ve been on where I feel it is truly places me in the story in as realistic a way as possible. It puts the Harry Potter stuff at Universal to shame. This is the kind of thing I wish Universal had done with Potter, in hindsight. I still love Forbidden Journey and Gringotts is good, but compared to the total immersiveness and realness of RotR? Not even close. My mom agrees. Smugglers Run is awesome but falls short on the realistic side- if we really were hired we wouldn’t be milling around the lounge holding colored cards with others who are also hired but not on the same run as us? It just doesn’t make sense story-wise.

Nearly everything else you’re not part of a story, you’re watching a story. And that’s good too; Pooh, Peter Pan, etc all have their place and I certainly don’t want them changed. But for something like Harry Potter and Star Wars, where the story universe is very detailed, a realistic 100% immersive experience in an immersive, realistic land is better. Though Star Tours is still awesome too and I hope that doesn’t go away.

 

[NMAmy]

Are you sure you got the full experience?

Maybe we didn't. It was our first time so I have no way of knowing. Now that I've had time to think about it, I've come to realize that,to me, it's actually The Great Movie Ride for Star Wars. Since I find Star Wars entertaining but I'm no super fan, perhaps the ride is not particularly interesting to me. I find the cm interaction as awkward as the movie ride was and not enjoyable.

I was expecting a thrill ride and it was not that, IMO. I wished there had been a thread that said something along those lines before I wasted a morning. I don't consider that a spoiler so I was surprised that it was incorporated in this thread.

Sure you will! Not everyone loves every ride.

Someone somewhere has to hate puppies and ice cream right? LOL.

I hate FoP. HATE it.

Gasp! What? I do love FoP so I've got that in my favor. ☺I'm not always a grump about a new ride.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

We rode Friday and everything was working. It was a great experience...truly innovative and interesting. We loved it.

I will say that when got rescued from the interrogation room there was a delay in which we just sat in the ride vehicles. Maybe it was only 2 minutes but it felt long and it killed the vibe/urgency of the rescue/escape as we just sat there while the CM fiddled with buttons on her console.

Hopefully they can tighten up that timing and move more seamlessly from that room to the ride vehicle and into the next room.