Earlier this year Disney announced that they would be offering a special Disneyland After Dark event for guests looking to visit a Galaxy Far, Far Away after dark this summer on August 27th! During this special Star Wars Nite Disneyland: After Dark guests will be able to experience the following:
- Shorter wait times for Star Wars attractions
- Access to Disneyland Park after hours beginning at 6pm
- Star Wars themed fireworks, galactic dance parties and character encounters
- Enhanced décor, exclusive event merchandise and Star Wars inspired food and beverages
- Immersive Star Wars themed photo-ops
- Unlimited digital downloads of Disney PhotoPass pictures taken during the party
However, when tickets went on sale for Disneyland: After Dark Star Wars Nite earlier this week, fans were met with an unfortunate caveat: this after hours event would NOT include access to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
This is understandably frustrating for prospective attendees, not only because many were hoping to experience this in-demand attraction during this upcharge event (which costs $109 per person), but also because this event will take place over six months from now, which many had hoped would be enough time for Disney to work out the kinks with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and get it running stably enough to handle being open at a limited-time after hours event. But sadly, even though this event is far in the future, it looks like Disney does not have much confidence in the possibility of operational improvement at this attraction.
And unfortunately that doesn’t bode well for those hoping for Stand by or FastPass+ options in the near future for the newest attraction at Disneyland.
Operations are not expected to improve any time soon
When Disney confirmed this week that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance would not be available for Disneyland: After Dark Star Wars Nite, they said that this decision was made due to required maintenance time for the attraction, that needed to happen during the event time. And while such a decision would make sense if this event was happening in a month or two, the fact that Disney is projecting that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will still be needing immediate after hours maintenance right after park closing eight months after its opening is definitely a concerning fact, both for Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where this attraction is still struggling to meet demand daily.
Could we see the virtual queue being used into 2021?
With Disneyland seemingly forecasting continued operations struggles at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance past summer 2020, we can’t help but feel like this likely means that the virtual queue system, flawed as it may be, will be in use at the west coast resort until at least the end of the year, if not longer.
And over on the East Coast, though its too early to say for sure, with Disney’s Hollywood Studios cutting morning hours (and issuing fewer and fewer “guaranteed” boarding passes throughout the day), we can’t help but wonder if we’re going to be seeing the use of the Virtual Queue for at least the next year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as well. Even though this version of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has been open longer than its Disneyland counterpart, it doesn’t look like operations are improving at a significant rate, which means we probably won’t hear anything about FastPass+ or standby for a long time.
Though the current Virtual Queue system isn’t perfect, it is the best solution right now to get as many guests as possible on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. As long as demand remains high for this attraction (and technical issues continue to be a factor), it looks like guests wanting to ride will need to continue to use this system for the foreseeable future…
