Disneyland's Rise Of The Resistance - Reviews, Criticism, Deep Thoughts

[trainplane3]

Since Bob is the subject, how was this not posted? (or was it?)
I have comments on Bobs pose but I'll keep them to myself...

 

[britain]

I’m just relieved there wasn’t yet ANOTHER awkward opening ceremony.

 

[trainplane3]

Is he at Disneyland today pretending to do the work of a commoner?

It looked like he was getting ready to "lead" the troops. He is our fearless leader.

 

[Phroobar]

Since Bob is the subject, how was this not posted? (or was it?)
I have comments on Bobs pose but I'll keep them to myself...
View attachment 441854

I guess Bob is joining the First Order.
The little girl is a better actress than Bob. R2 almost ran her over!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Much hype on the socials.

 

[choco choco]

Here are more extensive thoughts about the experience.

It's a good ride. I don't share the enthusiasm for it that many people have, but I don't want to take away from their enjoyment either. Disneyland hasn't gotten a ride on this level in decades and it's nice to see a new dark ride with large scenery, robots and some twists on the genre. It's fun.

That being said, I have this thing when it comes to experiencing rides, especially rides billed as next-gen/cutting edge/game-changers/etc. Nothing has impressed me as much as the Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure. Not on that level. To me, that was the best progression of dark ride technology with a fully rotating simulator on a track. Harry Potter was rather sickening and weird. Cutting edge? Sure. But not as rider friendly or fun as Spidey. It just careens you in front of objects and screens. The only room for improvement with Spidey is to eliminate 3D glasses. You have a perfect ride and overall experience there.

Rise doesn't have a track. That's neat. It also doesn't do very much. A ride system more like Spidey would have been more exciting and made more sense as we're trying to escape this vessel and evade enemies. Instead, we're just sort of gliding nonchalantly. What it does that Spidey doesn't do is have the car actually go up and down in a drop rather than fully simulating it. It's still not done as well as Spidey aside from the physical sensation of falling!

The screens of Stormtroopers shooting at the car and Kylo Ren pursuing feel kinda like an afterthought and obviously not integrated as well as Spidey's 3D screens. Rise has robots, but very few. They're neat, but they also don't really do much. Still, they're in there and the more AAs, the better.

The large environments are cool, but I just feel a bit desensitized to this stuff. Ever since I've been going to these theme parks as a kid, they've had large environments. Back to Universal, the huge interiors of the King Kong ride, the forest in E.T. and even the Ghostbusters theater show stage recreating the roof from the ending of the first movie totally floored me when I was a kid. I've seen big impressive recreations of movie environments before and been immersed/blown away. Rise has two very large interiors of a spaceship but they still aren't as impressive as the others I've mentioned.

Am I spoiled? Pigheaded? Impossible to impress anymore? Is the ride just good and that's the end of discussion?

A review is about how you feel (hopefully with some technical speak thrown in), so if that's how you feel, fine.

I will argue the following factors.

- It is somewhat a matter of taste. I think the "look" of Star Wars just doesn't appeal to you and as a result the larger environments don't wow you as much. I must admit, the "Star Wars look" doesn't do much for me either. In my review I tried to avoid aesthetics for this reason and just focus on the design and storytelling.
- I do believe the larger environments suffered a little bit on this ride's execution. Many people have said the AT-AT and stormtrooper rooms are too static to begin with and I would tend to agree. Kinetics of large environments has been a complete problem with Star Wars Land in general. The land is too big and Disney deigned to fill in that space. The smarter solution, if the Imagineers had studied their history, is to scale everything down so that the detailing can give space a much more varied and lived in look.
- Larger environments honestly work better if they portray a sense that there's space beyond the space. So like Indy, where the main chamber has what looks like many passageways leading off it to countless chambers beyond. Or if there are a lot of ledges and spaces that look inhabitable and one could climb and look into it if only you had the ability, like Splash. Space beyond the space just stimulates the imagination much better. It feels like the architecture is a real space.
- I honestly don't think there's been a ride yet that has taken advantage of the trackless capability. Not just Disney - anybody. All of them are basically rides where the bulk of the effects could be achieved tracked. All seem designed first as a tracked ride and then at the last minute they take the track away and include some random "dancing" moments. It doesn't address that the "dancing" aspect doesn't add much of anything to the ride and the narrative has to twist itself in a knot to accommodate it (why are we dancing?). Hopefully somebody finds right story, right theme, right programming to achieve it one day.

 

[Disney Analyst]

A review is about how you feel (hopefully with some technical speak thrown in), so if that's how you feel, fine.

I will argue the following factors.

- It is somewhat a matter of taste. I think the "look" of Star Wars just doesn't appeal to you and as a result the larger environments don't wow you as much. I must admit, the "Star Wars look" doesn't do much for me either. In my review I tried to avoid aesthetics for this reason and just focus on the design and storytelling.
- I do believe the larger environments suffered a little bit on this ride's execution. Many people have said the AT-AT and stormtrooper rooms are too static to begin with and I would tend to agree. Kinetics of large environments has been a complete problem with Star Wars Land in general. The land is too big and Disney deigned to fill in that space. The smarter solution, if the Imagineers had studied their history, is to scale everything down so that the detailing can give space a much more varied and lived in look.
- Larger environments honestly work better if they portray a sense that there's space beyond the space. So like Indy, where the main chamber has what looks like many passageways leading off it to countless chambers beyond. Or if there are a lot of ledges and spaces that look inhabitable and one could climb and look into it if only you had the ability, like Splash. Space beyond the space just stimulates the imagination much better. It feels like the architecture is a real space.
- I honestly don't think there's been a ride yet that has taken advantage of the trackless capability. Not just Disney - anybody. All of them are basically rides where the bulk of the effects could be achieved tracked. All seem designed first as a tracked ride and then at the last minute they take the track away and include some random "dancing" moments. It doesn't address that the "dancing" aspect doesn't add much of anything to the ride and the narrative has to twist itself in a knot to accommodate it (why are we dancing?). Hopefully somebody finds right story, right theme, right programming to achieve it one day.

I would argue that this is the first ride that truly needed a trackless experience for the story/world it is set in.

 

[vancee]

Since Bob is the subject, how was this not posted? (or was it?)
I have comments on Bobs pose but I'll keep them to myself...
View attachment 441854

OMG ! Bob Iger

 

[Phroobar]

I would argue that this is the first ride that truly needed a trackless experience for the story/world it is set in.

Too bad they always put it on a flooring surface that shows tire tracks. You know exactly where you are going because of the worn tire tracks.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Too bad they always put it on a flooring surface that shows tire tracks. You know exactly where you are going because of the worn tire tracks.

I honestly don't know if anything exists that could mask the tire marks....

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

So everything is exactly the same as WDW? No differences, even minor? Haven’t heard anything about the actual attraction.

 

[Phroobar]

So everything is exactly the same as WDW? No differences, even minor? Haven’t heard anything about the actual attraction.

Different color paint outside. Inside I think some of the back office systems are a little different.

 

[SuddenStorm]

It's currently 2:18 pm in Anaheim, mostly cloudy at a comfortable 63 degrees.

Wait times across the park-

Splash Mountain- 5 minutes
Haunted Mansion Holiday- 35 minutes
Indy- 40 minutes
BTMRR- 30 minutes
Space Mountain- 25 minutes
Matterhorn- 45 minutes
it's a small world- 15 minutes


Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the hot thing today, is currently not packed with Millenium Falcon: Target Run sitting at a comfortable 35 minutes.

Every pass is lifted. TDA did everything they could to fill the park today.

Where is the additional demand for Rise of the Resistance? I understand that the low capacity attraction filled up it's boarding groups by 8:01 am, with some die hard fans camping out overnight- but I'm surprised there aren't thousands of Disneyland fans overrunning the place in the hope to get on. Are there not tens of thousands of nearby Disneyland AP holders that would just show up with the hope of getting on, keeping the place full?

 

[Disney Analyst]

It's currently 2:18 pm in Anaheim, mostly cloudy at a comfortable 63 degrees.

Wait times across the park-

Splash Mountain- 5 minutes
Haunted Mansion Holiday- 35 minutes
Indy- 40 minutes
BTMRR- 30 minutes
Space Mountain- 25 minutes
Matterhorn- 45 minutes
it's a small world- 15 minutes


Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the hot thing today, is currently not packed with Millenium Falcon: Target Run sitting at a comfortable 35 minutes.

Every pass is lifted. TDA did everything they could to fill the park today.

Where is the additional demand for Rise of the Resistance? I understand that the low capacity attraction filled up it's boarding groups by 8:01 am, with some die hard fans camping out overnight- but I'm surprised there aren't thousands of Disneyland fans overrunning the place in the hope to get on. Were there not tens of thousands of nearby Disneyland AP holders that would just show up with the hope of getting on, keeping the place full?

it was a Friday morning, so usually this time of year APs come in the evening on a Friday. Tomorrow we will see what the park dynamic is. There were likely about 10,000 people there this morning.

 

[SuddenStorm]

it was a Friday morning, so usually this time of year APs come in the evening on a Friday. Tomorrow we will see what the park dynamic is. There were likely about 10,000 people there this morning.

If opening the biggest ride in the park's history isn't enough to change typical AP attendance patterns, I don't know what is.

You don't open a new ride for 'business as usual, the AP's will show up after they're off work'. You open it to get tens of thousands calling off work because they're 'sick' in the hopes of getting on the new ride.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

A review is about how you feel (hopefully with some technical speak thrown in), so if that's how you feel, fine.

I will argue the following factors.

- It is somewhat a matter of taste. I think the "look" of Star Wars just doesn't appeal to you and as a result the larger environments don't wow you as much. I must admit, the "Star Wars look" doesn't do much for me either. In my review I tried to avoid aesthetics for this reason and just focus on the design and storytelling.
- I do believe the larger environments suffered a little bit on this ride's execution. Many people have said the AT-AT and stormtrooper rooms are too static to begin with and I would tend to agree. Kinetics of large environments has been a complete problem with Star Wars Land in general. The land is too big and Disney deigned to fill in that space. The smarter solution, if the Imagineers had studied their history, is to scale everything down so that the detailing can give space a much more varied and lived in look.
- Larger environments honestly work better if they portray a sense that there's space beyond the space. So like Indy, where the main chamber has what looks like many passageways leading off it to countless chambers beyond. Or if there are a lot of ledges and spaces that look inhabitable and one could climb and look into it if only you had the ability, like Splash. Space beyond the space just stimulates the imagination much better. It feels like the architecture is a real space.
- I honestly don't think there's been a ride yet that has taken advantage of the trackless capability. Not just Disney - anybody. All of them are basically rides where the bulk of the effects could be achieved tracked. All seem designed first as a tracked ride and then at the last minute they take the track away and include some random "dancing" moments. It doesn't address that the "dancing" aspect doesn't add much of anything to the ride and the narrative has to twist itself in a knot to accommodate it (why are we dancing?). Hopefully somebody finds right story, right theme, right programming to achieve it one day.

It's not that Star Wars doesn't do it for me anymore, but how excited can I really get to glide around the corridors of a ship? I'm not trying to downplay the ride, but that's literally what it is when you get down to it. The part where you go up an elevator was interesting and I kinda liked the bit with the cannons shooting into space, which was straight out of Revenge of the Sith. But even that was lumbering, slow. Should it have been more exciting? Could they have done more with the SW license to wow me? I think it's merely good, but still not on the level of Pirates or Spider-Man.

Rise felt kinda sparse, but even that's alright if done well, such as The Haunted Mansion, rather minimalistic with crude effects and not much scenery or things that could stand up to scrutiny if the extremely dim illumination was increased or even in the darkness. It just works for whatever reason. Is Rise just kinda charmless?

 

[RobWDW1971]

If opening the biggest ride in the park's history isn't enough to change typical AP attendance patterns, I don't know what is.

You don't open a new ride for 'business as usual, the AP's will show up after they're off work'. You open it to get tens of thousands calling off work because they're 'sick' in the hopes of getting on the new ride.

Yup. Some on these boards struggle with the concept of "incremental revenue". Having the same visitation patterns, attendance, hotel bookings, and spending does not generate a return on a billion dollar investment. It is only paid for by the incremental spending over what they previously had and they will need a significant step function increase, not an incremental bump to generate that return. It will be fascinating to watch the impact over the next several years as it has been since last May....

 

[Disney Analyst]

If opening the biggest ride in the park's history isn't enough to change typical AP attendance patterns, I don't know what is.

You don't open a new ride for 'business as usual, the AP's will show up after they're off work'. You open it to get tens of thousands calling off work because they're 'sick' in the hopes of getting on the new ride.

I don’t know if they’re really trying to alter AP behaviour. They realistically know that most those people have jobs and are working during a week day.

I would assume the ultimate goal of this expansion is to increase tourist attendance, new AP signups and in park spending.

I just think the narrative you’re creating is way off base here.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I don’t know if they’re really trying to alter AP behaviour. They realistically know that most those people have jobs and are working during a week day.

I would assume the ultimate goal of this expansion is to increase tourist attendance, new AP signups and in park spending.

I just think the narrative you’re creating is way off base here.

Okay, let's run with your narrative. Where are all the extra tourists this new land and two new attractions are supposed to be generating?

No matter who's coming and who isn't- the parks are slow today. Very slow. This isn't what TDA wanted, and this decrease in attendance isn't what you want when you just dramatically increased labor and operating costs for Disneyland Park.

 

[Parker in NYC]

If opening the biggest ride in the park's history isn't enough to change typical AP attendance patterns, I don't know what is.

You don't open a new ride for 'business as usual, the AP's will show up after they're off work'. You open it to get tens of thousands calling off work because they're 'sick' in the hopes of getting on the new ride.

I think folks are again worried that the park will be too crowded since, finally, this is the attraction everyone expected in the first place. Some may have been meh about Galaxy's Edge that it may affect their decision to return. Or, maybe they've heard/read about the Boarding Group process "selling out" so quickly and the operational issues of the attraction at WDW.

Or maybe the culture at Disneyland is so very different than it is in Orlando when it comes to planning, etc. But who knows, this weekend could prove all of this speculation wrong on my part!