Before Walt Disney World shut down due to COVID-19 in March, the hottest ride in central Florida was Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, with throngs of guests flooding Disney’s Hollywood Studios every morning to try and get a virtual queue boarding pass before they were all taken for the day, which often happened mere moments after the park’s official opening.
However, now that Disney’s Hollywood Studios has reopened, getting on this ride is a little bit different, as Disney can’t afford to have guests crowding around the entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios or packing the queue as tightly as possible. Fortunately, there is a new way to get on this attraction that should ensure that all guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios can experience this attraction safely.
Multiple distribution times for boarding passes are now available
Instead of releasing all boarding passes for the day right at park opening guests now have three different opportunities to grab a boarding pass: 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 4:00 PM. Once a boarding group is a available a push notification will be sent to your phone, and guests will have an hour from the time of the alert to arrive at the entrance of this attraction.
Like before, boarding passes will go quickly when they are released so guests will definitely want to make sure that they have the My Disney Experience app all loaded up a few minutes before each dispersal time. However the good news is Disney is limiting guests to only a single boarding group every day, so if you don’t get in the first time, you still have a shot at other times later in the day, and might have some extra time as well as guests use up their reservation allotment.
This new system should also work well with the strict capacity limits in place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which will ideally be capped at daily capacity for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, since guests visiting this park will all likely want to experience this attraction.
However, beyond the new process for getting on this attraction, there are some additional social distancing measures being implemented for this attraction that you’ll definitely want to know about as well!
Distanced pre-shows and individual transporters for parties
Like every other attraction at Walt Disney World, the entirety of the queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is lined with social distancing markers along the floor and plexiglass dividers, and guests will need to pay attention to the winding queue so they can keep their distance from other parties, as waits can still be quite long for this attraction.
However, the good news is once you make it through the queue you’ll find that all pre-show experiences have been preserved, with parties now being asked to stand on numbered markers during both the Rey and BB-8 pre-show as well as the transport pre-show.
After an additional wait, guests will be moved to interrogation rooms, and will then be able to board their own prison transport vehicles, which will now seat one party each (even if you’re just a party of one!). Like with other attractions, masks must remain on for the entirety of the ride.
Though Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance may have presented Disney with quite the operations challenge given the popularity of this attraction, it looks like Disney has found a way to keep this attraction fun while making sure all guests remain as safe as possible.
As always, while this situation is evolving, all travelers should check out the CDC’s official site here, which has information on the virus and how to prevent its spread.
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