It’s one of the most stunning moments in Walt Disney Imagineering’s portfolio of jaw-droppers… When – rushed aboard a departing Batuuan shuttle bound for a secret Resistance base on the mid-rim planet Pacara – guests find themselves caught in the tractor beam of a Star Destroyer and “welcomed” aboard as prisoners of the nefarious First Order…
But like so many of Imagineering’s most clever tricks, the secret to this surprising moment also happens to be surprisingly simple… Or at least, a series of surprisingly simple ideas that amount to a stellar E-Ticket moment. If you haven’t made it to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge yet, you might want to skip today’s peek behind the Imagineering curtain…
Today, we’ll peel back the wrap on the first of many amazing tricks in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Are you impressed by Disney’s showmanship on this next generation “U-Ticket” experience?
The Setup
As with all of Imagineering’s greatest illusions, a whole lot of legwork happens before the trick itself. In this case, it’s the build-up to your recruitment by the Resistance effort seeking to escape the tyranny of the First Order. Or as it’s commonly known: the line.
As guests wait in line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, they’re touring the eked-out hideaway of the Resistance, which has set up a temporary and transient base camp in the long-abandoned tunnels of the outpost planet Batuu. The remote forests of Batuu are now littered with evidence of the Resistance’s activities, like hastily-added air flow tubes, strung up wiring, and supplies ready to move at a moment’s notice.
That all coalesces in the Briefing Room, where – via a hologram transmission – Rey reports that the First Order’s sniffing around Black Spire Outpost has put them all at risk. With the Batuu base compromised, recruits need to covertly get off-planet and make it to the Resistance base on Pacara for a rendezvous with General Organa. Lieutenant Bek and Nien Nunb will pilot an Intersystem Transport Ship (ITS) with Poe Dameron’s X-Wing as an escort.
With the mission received, guests are hurried out of the Briefing Room by Resistance personnel and – much to first-timers surprise – outdoors where the ITS awaits… The massive shuttle is parked precariously beneath the cliffs of Batuu – completely invisible from the forests or village surrounding. And as Resistance fighters get recruits pumped for their journey, the ship seems to lumber to life, its seering blue thrusters kicking on and scorching the cliff walls behind… It’s time to climb aboard.
The Scene
One of the weirder elements of the ITS for most guests is that recruits are standing. Indeed, just like shuttles on our planet, the lumbering vehicle isn’t made for light speed jumps; it’s the galactic equivalent of a bus, complete with bars to hold onto for support. Another “wow” moment? Riders are on-board alone with two Audio-Animatronics: Lieutenant Bek and Nien Nunb.
With the doors sealed, the ITS departs. With a great heave, guests grip onto the hand rails, feeling the forward momentum of the ship’s departure. Through the use of screens (which adjust to reflect real daytime or nighttime views) riders can watch out of the front windshield or the rear porthole as Batuu sinks away into the blackness of space.
Of course, a surprise appearance by an army of First Order TIE Fighters signals to ITS to take evasive maneuvers, bobbing left and right, recoiling from strikes, and more. Outmaneuvered, Dameron departs for reinforcements, promising he’ll be back for us and reminding us to stay strong. As his X-Wing races to lightspeed and communication is lost, Bek makes a startling discovery: we’ve been caught by the pull of a Star Destroyer.
Through the back window, riders can watch as our powerless ITS floats through the blue light barrier of the ship’s hangar bay, with Bek reminding us to keep the Pacara base’s location secret. The windows show our helpless ship drawn deep into the hangar, wedged between slanted walls of parked TIE Fighters. The ITS powers off as Bek leaves us with one plea: “They’ll want to know the location of the secret base. Tell them nothing. The future of the Resistance is at stake…”
And with that, the ship’s doors – yes, the same ones we entered through – open into the hangar, revealing one of the most iconic sights in Disney Parks… So how does it work? Read on…
How Does It Work?
Theme parks love pre-shows that make you feel like you’re going somewhere even though you really aren’t. Fake elevators tend to be a favorite, with decades of guests’ experiences informing them that if they end through the doors on the right, they ought to congregate by the doors on the left, which will undoubtedly open onward.
But on Rise of the Resistance, you exit onto the Star Destroyer out of the same set of doors you entered through. Consciously or not, guests take notice, eliciting “whoa” reactions that prove just how unexpected the move is. Only those like you and I who are super into Imagineering would then bother to reflect on the experience afterward, recognizing that for the same set of doors to be used in both locations, the ITS had to actually move.
The trick that makes the ITS possible is genius. Believe it or not, there are three ITS interiors arranged on a turntable – something like a small version of Carousel of Progress. When guests feel the heave of the ship departing from Batuu, they’re actually feeling the turntable beneath their feet beginning its rotation. The “show” portion of the ride takes place in the turntable’s second position, where a motion base beneath the ship offers the bobbing and weaving motion that synchronizes to the in-cab film projection. As the show comes to an end, the turntable rotates again, shifting the group in the “show” position into the unload position aboard the Star Destroyer.
Why It Matters
The brilliance here should be obvious. Not only does the reveal of the Star Destroyer and the “wow” moment of having your expectations fall flat set just the right tone for a ride that breaks lots and lots of norms; it also vastly increases the capacity for the attraction. Think about it: at any given time, a group of guests are boarding an ITS, mid-flight on an ITS, and disembarking from an ITS.
Of course, the physical ITS ships you see on Batuu and once landed on the Star Destroyer never move. Instead, the three ITS interiors on the turntable rotate behind them. In other words, if you were to stand on the Star Destroyer long enough, you might be surprised to find that without moving an inch, the ITS you just exited off would open its doors to reveal a whole new batch of prisoners as is by magic.
The ITS presents one of the most stunning moments in any Disney Parks attraction. Its the reason that when people talk about Rise of the Resistance, they say that it’s hard to know where the “line” ends and the “ride begins.” In so many ways, the ITS is a standalone ride in its own right; merely one of several ride systems that guests step aboard on this multimodal experience.
If you want to dive even deeper into how Imagineering packed Rise of the Resistance with “best of” secrets, illusions, and effects culled from Disney Parks around the globe, make the jump to our Secrets of the Resistance in-depth feature, exploring the behind-the-scenes of this “U-Ticket” ride. Until then, let us know what other in-park effects leave you stunned and surprised on your first ride…
