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

[Disney Analyst]

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.

I don’t know what anyone expected on a Friday in January. This is exactly why Disneyland opted to open this time instead of at Christmas. It wasn’t about creating a massive day, with some random insane Friday in January. That was never going to happen.

What happened is how it works for Disneyland. 10,000 or so fans showed up to try and get a pass this morning, I assume some went home if they didn’t get one.

Tourists aren’t booking trips for today. You’re thinking so short term. We are talking summer bookings, spring break, long weekends. That’s where we will see what impact this expansion is having now that it is finally complete.

Regardless they built an insane attraction that is going to be wildly popular for decades. We are splitting hairs here, but this attraction is a win for Disneyland.

 

[SuddenStorm]

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!

I wasn't following the parks as close when Cars Land opened, but did anticipated crowds cause a sharp decline in resort attendance when they debuted Cars Land?

Or every year around Christmas, does anticipated crowds lead to fewer crowds, or do people still come in droves because the product is worth dealing with the masses?

Did reports of 10 hour waits for Universal's Hagrid Coaster cause a sharp decline in demand for the new ride?

Today's middling attendance is not what TDA wanted, if the marketing, ticket deals, and the fact every annual pass is allowed into the parks today.

 

[RobWDW1971]

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.

Yup again. People need to think about it from a cash standpoint - there is the (reported) ~$1B Year 0 investment and then you pay that back from the incremental net operating cash over the next 20-30 years depending on their model with discounted cash flows (assume Disney probably uses a 10% cost of capital for internal projects). Again, that's not revenue, that's annual net operating cash so its net of the huge increase in operating costs of the 14 acre land, attractions, shops, maintenance, etc.

To generate a return on an investment of that size will require a staggering increase in attendance and admission/merch/F&B per cap spending as DL is already at theoretical capacity on its few hotel rooms. Oh, and remember, when Marvel opens this summer, all of that investment has to be also paid for by incremental spend so any resort wide increase won't all be going to the SWGE investment.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I don’t know what anyone expected on a Friday in January. This is exactly why Disneyland opted to open this time instead of at Christmas. It wasn’t about creating a massive day, with some random insane Friday in January. That was never going to happen.

What happened is how it works for Disneyland. 10,000 or so fans showed up to try and get a pass this morning, I assume some went home if they didn’t get one.

Tourists aren’t booking trips for today. You’re thinking so short term. We are talking summer bookings, spring break, long weekends. That’s where we will see what impact this expansion is having now that it is finally complete.

Regardless they built an insane attraction that is going to be wildly popular for decades. We are splitting hairs here, but this attraction is a win for Disneyland.

If reading the last few pages of forum posts is any indication, I think many of us expected the parks to be at least somewhat busy today on a Friday in January.

Disneyland opted to open at this time in the hopes of changing typical spring attendance patterns. You don't dramatically increase the short term operating costs of the resort in the hopes of potentially gaining an increase in revenue 6 months down the road... you do it to create a dramatic increase in demand in the short term, as well as a moderate increase in demand over the long term.

Summer, spring break, and long weekends are already busy for Disneyland. They don't need to open a new ride (or land) to generate revenue those days. Disney has locked in solid attendance and guest demand for summer, fall, and winter. The last season left unconquered is Spring, which is why they opened this ride now- to try and generate additional crowds in the short term.

 

[TP2000]

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

The Awkward Opening Ceremony Team was already busy this morning at Epcot Center, doing this for the new CircleVision movie in the Canada pavilion and slightly damaging the relationship between our two nations...

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

Matte paint? Matte floor tiles? In a shade that matches the tire tracks? The ride has only been open one day, so it's not going to get any better. Six months from now it might as well be a tracked ride because the tracks will be so visually prominent.

 

[SuddenStorm]

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

Just for the sake of being contrarian- I'd argue every ride would benefit from being trackless if a believable environment is the goal.

"Let's build a Haunted House, but stick a long string of tracked vehicles going through the halls, killing the believability of it being an actual home"

"Let's have you ride Jee- er troop transports through a temple, but stick a slot through the whole floor"

I'd argue that as riders, we suspend disbelief and choose to consciously ignore the track while riding an attraction. I'd also argue that the limitations of the trackless ride system chosen- the the unreliablity and the lack of ability for the vehicle to actually move in a way that feels more exciting that Luigi's Dancing Cars play more to the detriment of the attraction than any benefit of not having a track.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

That's true. It doesn't even make sense that HM has a fleet of egg-shaped cars going through it or that Indy has a fleet of big trucks inside of a temple endlessly taking tourists around, but it doesn't matter.

 

[SuddenStorm]

It's been somewhat enjoyable observing the collective yawn Star Wars Galaxy's Edge generated from both Star Wars fans, and Disneyland fans this summer.

And the overnight campers, empty park, and what seems to be moderate, but not overwhelming demand for the attraction today.

And now let's compare it to the general energy and demand Captain Eo generated when it returned just 10 years ago. An ancient, cheesy, and outdated 3D endeavour that plays in what's now one of the worst utilized pieces of land in the park.



Just look at those lines! Those die hard fans that camped out overnight! The excitement in the crowd! I'm reminded of what we observed this morning.

Of course, we know now that this excitement was short lived, and within years the show would be shuttered and replaced with... film previews.

Of course, by basing our analysis of Eo's return solely on the video and initial reports from 2009, you'd think the classic show was an absolute success for the resort. Time has shown us otherwise.

I'm curious what time will tell us about Galaxy's Edge, Rise of the Resistance, and Hondo's Falcon.

 

[skiir97]

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

Only difference is that Kylo #1 didn't even last 1 day of operation.

Spoiler

 

[Disney Analyst]

Thank you for getting it.


The Awkward Opening Ceremony Team was already busy this morning at Epcot Center, doing this for the new CircleVision movie in the Canada pavilion...





Matte paint? Matte floor tiles? In a shade that matches the tire tracks? The ride has only been open one day, so it's not going to get any better. Six months from now it might as well be a tracked ride because the tracks will be so visually prominent.

I think you’d likely end up with tracks still showing, I’m picturing all the shades of stage decking I’ve painted for shows and every one of them always ends up getting caster tracks eventually.

Perhaps you could find the perfect shade and texture that masks it the most, but then no matter the ride you’d need that generic floor.

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[Disney Analyst]

Aww I love this. People are so happy, and it really doesn’t feel forced. These are just genuine Disney and Star Wars fans having the best day ever.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

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?

In general I agree with this. Spider-Man is still the gold standard to me and I would argue that the physical effects (cryo and flame) do more for me than the AA’s in Rise.

Have you ridden Gringotts? That ride really impressed me as well.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I don't like Gringot actually.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I don't like Gringot actually.

Ah fair enough. I went on it with no spoilers and was totally surprised and blown away with the tilt and drop at the beginning.

 

[TP2000]

Aww I love this. People are so happy, and it really doesn’t feel forced. These are just genuine Disney and Star Wars fans having the best day ever.

Agreed! It is genuinely sweet to see these kids all so happy and excited. It just makes you smile.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Agreed! It is genuinely sweet to see these kids all so happy and excited. It just makes you smile.

this truly is the Star Wars experience/ ride many have dreamt of since Star Tours.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Aww I love this. People are so happy, and it really doesn’t feel forced. These are just genuine Disney and Star Wars fans having the best day ever.

All of these probably aren’t genuine, but I see where you’re coming from.

 

[TrojanUSC]

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?

I love the whole experience of it all. For me the second pre-show and the way in which they load (panel opening) you were the most amazing parts. The lack of practical effects is a real let down. There's no reason they couldn't have some real fog or sparks instead of just projection mapping which doesn't looks nearly as real as they want to believe it does.

Someone called it HALLWAYS: The Ride and that still makes me laugh.

 

[TrojanUSC]

To me it’s more about managers not wanting to dress and appear professional. It’s the same thing with the new guest relations uniforms, and relaxed Disney look.

There's been a constant trend of relaxing the look standards. The Disney Look changes for costumed cast have gotten the most flack (and press), with them allowing everything from beards to goatees to cornrows to jewelry now. Not talked about as much is the dumbing down of the non-costumed cast dress code - managers used to have to wear at least a button up Oxford shirt, tucked in and, in some areas, a tie. Now they can wear untucked Hawaiian shirts, polo shirts, etc. It's tacky.

And don't get me started about how I had to go two hours without a drink of water (unless I went to a discreetly hidden cooler) but now cast members can carry around plastic refillable bottles while on-stage, even without a medical reason.