The opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was supposed to be one of the biggest events in Disneyland history back in 2019. However, instead of making a huge first impression, the event barely caused a disruption in Disneyland operations. Some blamed Disney’s annual pass blockouts, others said the Star Wars IP was losing steam, and some even said Disney’s massive price hikes were to blame.
However, even though technically all of these issues could have been contributing factors to the soft debut of this land, many weren’t ready to call Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge a failure at Disneyland just yet, pointing to the January 17th opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance as a second chance for this land to finally make a big splash. And boy did it ever!
Massive crowds storm Disneyland as Boarding Passes are all snapped up in seconds
Unlike the first grand opening at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, almost no annual passholders were blocked out for the big debut of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and as a result guests flooded the park to be among the first to experience the West Coast version of this attraction.
Just like at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests visiting this attraction at Disneyland needed to get a boarding pass via the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – Access by Boarding Group module in the Disneyland App. Boarding groups were be made available as soon as the park opened, but not any earlier, which meant that even though guests were lining up at 4:00 AM to be the first in the park, none of these early risers were able to get a boarding pass until the park officially opened at exactly 8:00 AM.
However demand was so high for this attraction on its first day that many of those who waited in line to be among the first in this park were still unable to get a boarding group reservation, as all of the day’s boarding group slots were gone before 8:01 AM, with some reports saying boarding groups were only available for 40 seconds right after park opening.
Unfortunately, that means that anyone trying to use the kiosks to get a boarding pass was basically out of luck (reportedly only 50 paper tickets were distributed using this method), and latecomers only had until 8:11 AM to get a backup boarding pass (which does not guarantee access to the ride). And unfortunately, that was a big problem for several reasons.
Technical problems cause first-day downtime
Though Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland had a much smoother debut than its East Coast Twin, this ride did experience some moderate downtime on its first day open to the public, which caused some delays and queue evacuations while the ride was reset. Again, the downtime was nowhere near that of Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ version during its first few days, but the delays still caused headaches for guests who wanted to experience this attraction as soon as possible.
Some guests engage in bad behavior according to reports
According to WDWNT, there were some guests who, when they were not able to secure a boarding pass for the attraction after arriving early in the morning, tried to pull up fake boarding passes by altering screenshots of real boarding passes on their phones. We’d guess this method wasn’t exactly effective, but it looks like guests will really go to great lengths to experience this attraction!
Though there was some downtime, and boarding passes went in record time, it still sounds like the opening day for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was overall a positive one at Disneyland, and this new attraction is going to be just as big of a hit on the West Coast as it has been in Walt Disney World!
