We absolutely did not want to miss out on an opportunity to experience Rise of the Resistance and had only one morning to work it out. We did it! Here’s how it went…

Note: Currently, to experience this attraction, guests must first enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios park and use the My Disney Experience app to obtain a boarding group number. The numbers have been going fast once they become available for booking. Currently, that booking window begins when the Disney’s Hollywood Studios is officially open for the day. Once a boarding group number has been assigned, guests can use the app (tip: turn on notifications) to see which groups are boarding during the day. Once a guest’s group number has been called, that guest has two hours to return to Rise of the Resistance for entry.

Our (Spoiler Free) Rise of the Resistance Story

Our alarm went off just after 5:00 am on Monday morning and by 6:10 we were in front of the Contemporary waiting for our Lyft driver. Honestly, after four days of the Dopey Challenge – 5:00 am felt like a luxuriously late wake-up time.

Our ride (worth every penny) dropped us off at Disney’s Hollywood Studios just after 6:30 and we quickly made our way into the park. Finding a position to wait on Hollywood Boulevard close to the Trolley Car Cafe put us in the perfect position to grab breakfast once we’d snagged our (hopefully) low boarding group number.

Joseph and I both had our My Disney Experience apps open on our phones and he, Raymond and I stood with hundreds (thousands?) of others waiting for the official park-opening time of 7:00 am. I wish I could accurately describe the atmosphere! In the early morning light, there was an air of anticipation among the park guests surrounding us; all waiting for the exact same moment. A hush fell over the crowd, our phones counted down, and at precisely 7:00 am, we heard a bell chime nearby. Then, happy shouts and cheers began all around as different groups were assigned a boarding group number. We got ours immediately: Number 29.

Boarding group 29 seemed perfect to us. Our plans for the day were originally at Disney’s Animal Kingdom with FastPasses booked for Kilimanjaro Safaris followed by Expedition Everest, a lunch ADR for Yak & Yeti, and Flight of Passage to wrap up the day. If we got on Rise of the Resistance in a decent time, we could head for Animal Kingdom without missing a single thing. We watched our phones as boarding group numbers were added as we enjoyed our coffees and breakfast sandwiches on a bench on Sunset Boulevard.

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Navigating the Queue

Before long, it was time! We headed straight for Batuu and entered the line for Rise of the Resistance. A Cast Member holding a sign made the end of the line very easy to find. We moved quickly forward and watched in dismay as the dad in the group in front of us continually pulled, pried, and wiggled any and everything along the way in an attempt to obtain a “souvenir”. I’m happy to report that he was unsuccessful (what a jerk!). Just when it seemed like we must be nearing the actual entrance to the attraction, we stopped moving. Several minutes passed and…nothing. After a few more minutes, we were surprised by Cast Members bearing snacks and water. Raymond and Joseph enjoyed bananas and Joseph snagged a cookie to go with his. While we certainly appreciated the hospitality, the snack/water distribution made us feel like whatever was broken wasn’t going to be fixed any time soon.

And We Were Right

Suddenly, we were moving again and…I promised to be spoiler-free here…we entered Rise of the Resistance and proceeded to be blown away! It was amazing! The level of detail, the sights, sounds, story-line…all absolutely incredible. I had goosebumps! And then…we were evacuated. Clearly we had just gotten to what appeared to be the most fun part of the experience and that part wasn’t operating. So, feeling excited by what we’d seen so far and pretty disappointed by what we were missing, we let a Cast Member scan our Magic Bands with the promise that we could return later in the day and ride any time, once the attraction was back up and running again.

Off to Animal Kingdom

It was still early and we had plenty of time to get to Animal Kingdom. We decided to hop on the Skyliner and ride over to check out the new Riviera Resort where we could catch a bus to Animal Kingdom. By watching the boarding group numbers on our app, we could tell when Rise of the Resistance started operating again. By 2:30 in the afternoon, we’d done all we’d planned and Animal Kingdom and were on our way back to Batuu.

This time, we knew what to expect during the first part of Ride of the Resistance. The knowledge allowed us to position ourselves to better see and hear different aspects and details we’d missed the first time. There’s a lot of detail! Things are easy to overlook because so much is going on all around you. I believe this is what will make us (and other guests) want to experience Ride of the Resistance several times. If you’re on the fence, I say DO IT! This attraction is completely different from anything else at Walt Disney World.

We were very pleased with how the day turned out. We got to ride Rise of the Resistance one-and-a-half times, didn’t miss any of our plans in Animal Kingdom and saw a bit of the Riviera Resort. We even had plenty of time to go back to Bay Lake Tower, change for dinner, and stop by Enchanted Rose (Grand Floridian) for a cocktail before enjoying dinner at Shula’s Steakhouse (Dolphin Resort). Don’t you love it when a plan comes together this well?

So? Have you experienced Rise of the Resistance? Want to? What are your thoughts about it?