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

[MisterPenguin]

And to think a year ago we all assumed this ride would be an 11 out of 10. Wha' happened?

Thank you for coming up with a final rating for all of us!! I didn't know I was giving it an 8!!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Thanks for your review, @TP2000!

I’d rate the ride a 7/10.

 

[mickEblu]

@TP2000 s post had me thinking about capacity.

People have mentioned to me that batteries and charging necessitated the 8 person ride vehicle.

Is there no reason that the ride couldnt use larger vehicles and have a roon that was constantly charging vehicles and swap out with low battery vehicles?

I'm no engineer, but I don't see how this wouldn't be feasible. I can't think of any good reason.

People are thinking boarding passes will go away. I don't see that happening for an incredibly long time. When 100 thousand people a day show up during the holiday season year after year, how can the ride handle it.

Tesla can sell a sports car (that weighs 10 times more than these ride vehicles) that can drive autonomously and go for 500 miles. There's no way technology is restricting them from making this a high capacity ride.

I think the demand from APs will go down significantly and end up somewhere around the demand for RSR. Maybe even less since it’s in Disneyland.

 

[Phroobar]

I would think there are charging plates on the floor where they load and unload guests. At least that is what the Carsland dancing cars do. I don't think a cast member is plugging these things in manually somewhere. I wonder if they could add more vehicles and not mess up the ride flow. They could definitely use larger vehicles but I think wdi was being cheap and pretty much reused the Ratatouille vehicle base.

 

[Phroobar]

I think the demand from APs will go down significantly and end up somewhere around the demand for RSR. Maybe even less since it’s in Disneyland.

I remember RSR had a wait line of hours for a few years. It's still a long wait.

 

[mickEblu]

I remember RSR had a wait line of hours for a few years. It's still a long wait.

For sure. I’m just saying an average 90 minute- 120 minute is where I see it ending up.

 

[Phroobar]

For sure. I’m just saying an average 90 minute- 120 minute is where I see it ending up.

Agreed. That is still too long. It should be an hour most of the time like Space Mountain.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I finally rode the ride today! For my thoughts on the App/Boarding Group process, you can see my post in that dedicated thread here... https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...ding-groups-at-disneyland.962850/post-9056552

But here is my official review and some Deep Thoughts from today for...

International House of Pancakes Presents: TP2000 Immersed in Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn, Powered by Lyft

The Queue/Pre-Shows

• Very impressive! All of the queue looked like and felt something from Tokyo DisneySea circa 2001. Yes, it's a shame it took Disneyland two decades to catch up to the Tokyo standard of 20 years ago, but they finally made it.
• That said, so many of the props and things in the queue were so close and so touchable; cages with uniforms and guns, crates and cartons and barrels, light fixtures and tech equipment and various props, all within touching distance. In Tokyo that's not a problem, but with Southern California's far less respectful culture, this is going to be a problem for them. I can't imagine a year from now those props and that queue are going to look good.
• BB8! I like that guy, and his appearance in the first little theater room was fun and impressive. Just as good as the raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy. Then a hologram of that very stern young British woman who wears gauzy linen outfits showed up and she told us "We need your help recruits, blah blah blah, the resistance, blah blah blah, bad guys and doom and recruits, blah blah blah, may the force be with you recruits!" Uh, okay honey, thanks. Apparently we are "recruits" for something.
• The shuttle craft! Another impressive bit of showmanship. It was simple and basic, but very well done. Shaking floors and rumbling sounds and an alien pilot and more reminders we are recruits. This little queue trick and pre-show joins the Haunted Mansion Stretching Room and the old Epcot Hydrolators and Tokyo's mine shaft elevators from Journey To The Center Of the Earth as a classic Disney pre-show gimmick that divides riders up, sets up the plotline (recruits!), and gets us from one space to another as an operational trick. Bravo WDI! Walt would love this concept.
• Entering the Bad Guys Star Destroyer. The thought here was nice, but the execution was a bit lacking. The bad guy Space Nazis that boarded our ship and escorted us out were... not believable. Their personalities and body types and elocution were unlike any bad guys seen in any Star Wars movie. Their accents were distinctly Southern California Suburbia, their BMI was off the charts huge, and their personalities and presentation seem more suitable to a Brazilian Blowout Bar in Laguna Beach instead of a First Order Star Destroyer. I mention this because after the elaborate queue and very effective shuttle craft hijacking, to be met by these types of CM's brought it all crashing back to Orange County, California circa 2020. And things were going so well.

Getting You To The Ride Vehicle

• Much like the queue and initial pre-shows, very impressive aesthetically!
• As when our shuttle arrived, it kind of falls apart with many CM's who were trying but just don't fit the part. They were strutting around trying to look authoritarian and mean, but they just weren't pulling it off and the audience wasn't buying it. A few other folks in my jail cell holding area were commenting on it rather crudely, which isn't my style, but the point remains that the CM's can make or break this. And the current crop of Anaheim CM's just don't seem to be able to pull off the Space Nazi look and act at all.
• Wall gets cut open and... Hurry, hurry, we're here to rescue you recruits! Uh, okay, where do we go again? I was a single and in the frenzy somehow ended up in the front row with a couple and an empty seat. I felt bad because there were little kids sitting behind me and they should have been put in the front row.

The Ride Itself

• Good, but somehow not great. Maybe because the queue and pre-shows are so elaborate and well done you expect more?
• Droid driving us in front. Clever! Again, reminded me of something Tokyo does. I'm surprised Mr. Chapek didn't cut this out of the budget.
• Oddly placid and mild ride experience. There's a heckuva lot going on, and I credit WDI for not yelling at us the whole time on this thing, but I'm not sure what all the dialogue was about. Bad guys want to kill us, we're in space and at war, which makes sense for Star Wars, but why are we just kind of drifting and gliding around so smoothly? I'm not sure this mild trackless ride system was the way to go for this one. The ride path felt too tame and too calm and too effortlessly smooth for how exciting it was supposed to be.
• Drop back to Batuu. A clever effect, but again it seemed just a tad too mild. And us recruits need to keep the secret base hidden. So can't they just track us back to this allegedly secret base? Is it really that secret? What was the point again?
• Welcome Back Recruits! Exit To Your Left Recruits! Oh, okay, it's over. Well, that was nice. I'm a recruit!

Overall, I'm giving this new ride an 8 out of 10. The queue and pre-shows were ambitious and impressive, but the ride itself left me just a bit flat. The on-ride effects were mostly well done, but then some of the moving props and robots were a tad hokey or simple. The CM's were trying hard, God bless 'em, but the overall effect was much less successful than I think WDI had hoped for with the Anaheim crew. It definitely feels like some of these CM positions should be staffed with real actors or animatronics instead of ride operators.

I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I won the Boarding Group lottery this morning. I'm glad Disneyland has another E Ticket and more acreage to soak up crowds with. But unlike Radiator Springs Racers or even Guardians of the Galaxy, I'm not dying to get back on and do this again.

As I walked into the land this morning about 10:30am as they got closer to my Boarding Group number, Millennium Falcon: Target Run had only a 30 minute wait. But after riding it three times last summer, I still don't need to do that one again so I skipped it. I could ride Star Wars: Rise Before Dawn again if it fell in my lap, but I'm not needing to get to the park at rope drop again for that experience.

Leaving the land before 1:00pm after my successful Rise Before Dawn ride, the Falcon had gone up to a 35 minute wait and I still just walked on by without any pangs of regret.

I strolled over to Tomorrowland, got on a Monorail to Downtown Disney, and by 1:15pm I was walking out of the Disneyland Hotel like I owned the joint. I summoned a Lyft to come pick me up at the Disneyland Hotel to take me home, I extended a Fiver in an outsretched hand as I asked a bellman where I should stand for a Lyft which meant he never hassled me about not being a guest of the hotel, and 25 minutes later I was walking up the front walk to my house.

Done! 8 out of 10! Good but not Great! Pirates and Racers and Indy all still beat it comfortably.

You're allowed your opinion, but you must know how enraged I am at this rating.

Ya'll are a bunch of spoiled wine snobs who have it too good. Here I am suffering away in Vancouver without a ride to call my own apart for a pretty good Wooden Coaster on a cement pad of an amusement park, and one of the greatest attractions in the modern era is built and you give it an 8? The audacity. The insanity. The tom-foolery.

I am personally hurt. My god, I'd take one Disney-esque ride near me, you lucky bing bongs. I'd let them build Superstar Limo if it meant I got something.

At least we don't have Trump?

 

[TP2000]

You're allowed your opinion, but you must know how enraged I am at this rating.

Ya'll are a bunch of spoiled wine snobs who have it too good. Here I am suffering away in Vancouver without a ride to call my own apart for a pretty good Wooden Coaster on a cement pad of an amusement park, and one of the greatest attractions in the modern era is built and you give it an 8? The audacity. The insanity. The tom-foolery.

I am personally hurt. My god, I'd take one Disney-esque ride near me, you lucky bing bongs. I'd let them build Superstar Limo if it meant I got something.

Oh, dear. I certainly didn't mean to insult anyone with my 8 rating, except for Mr. Chapek and Mr. Trowbridge.

Would it help if I admitted that on a weeknight when I'm just having some pasta or a chicken breast on my own, I will enjoy a glass of $1.99 Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's?

Could I also offer that Vancouver has a vastly more beautiful skyline and environment than anything in SoCal, with skiing at Whistler Blackcomb that makes our southern Sierra resorts look like a tow-rope up the bunny hill?

 

[Phroobar]

You're allowed your opinion, but you must know how enraged I am at this rating.

Ya'll are a bunch of spoiled wine snobs who have it too good. Here I am suffering away in Vancouver without a ride to call my own apart for a pretty good Wooden Coaster on a cement pad of an amusement park, and one of the greatest attractions in the modern era is built and you give it an 8? The audacity. The insanity. The tom-foolery.

I am personally hurt. My god, I'd take one Disney-esque ride near me, you lucky bing bongs. I'd let them build Superstar Limo if it meant I got something.

At least we don't have Trump?

But you guys have beer. Take off!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Oh, dear. I certainly didn't mean to insult anyone with my 8 rating, except for Mr. Chapek and Mr. Trowbridge.

Would it help if I admitted that on a weeknight when I'm just having some pasta or a chicken breast on my own, I will enjoy a glass of $1.99 Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's?

I just want you to understand your privilege, through my passive aggressive Canadian humour posting style.

 

[Disney Analyst]

But you guys have beer. Take off!

So much beer. Craft beer palooza. All we have to do up here is drink, hike, enjoy nature, outdoor activities, more outdoor stuff, and drink and eat. and hike. and repeat.

 

[flynnibus]

Overall, I'm giving this new ride an 8 out of 10. The queue and pre-shows were ambitious and impressive, but the ride itself left me just a bit flat. The on-ride effects were mostly well done, but then some of the moving props and robots were a tad hokey or simple. The CM's were trying hard, God bless 'em, but the overall effect was much less successful than I think WDI had hoped for with the Anaheim crew. It definitely feels like some of these CM positions should be staffed with real actors or animatronics instead of ride operators.

No mention of the 'on point' full sets around you the majority of the ride? Just walking through a hallway, let alone ride through a huge ride of that is nirvana for many
No mention of the laser bolt effects, and their ability to give a credible effect to something that is physically impossible to do?
No mention of the 'damage' effects throughout the ride?
No mention of the physical prop effects?

I think you put so much emphasis on fat out of place CMs and some expectation it was gonna be a thrill ride?

This ride has more practical effects, top shelf AAs/hybrids, FULL sets AT SCALE, shakes things up with even where the ride starts, and is one of the most ambitious ever from the company... and it's the hourly help that steers much of the review for you?

 

[TP2000]

This ride has more practical effects, top shelf AAs/hybrids, FULL sets AT SCALE, shakes things up with even where the ride starts, and is one of the most ambitious ever from the company... and it's the hourly help that steers much of the review for you?

The sets and visuals were great. I'm pretty sure I pointed that out. But the sets and visuals and animatronics at Radiator Racers and Pirates are also great, the stretching room and portrait hallway queue at Haunted Mansion is epic, the queue and mine elevator at DisneySea's Journey To The Center Of The Earth is mind blowing, so it's not like this ride breaks new ground of what we expect from E Tickets.

It meets the high standards of the big fancy Disneyland E Tickets that have come before it, mostly decades ago. Overall, Disneyland is now a better park because it has this new ride.

The CM's have an integral role in this ride, they're playing a very specific part, so I'm not going to give them a pass.

WDI has designed this attraction in such a way that the "First Order" CM's on the star destroyer have scripts and dialogue and are integral in moving you along in the story as you move physically through the space. But when the doors burst open on your captured shuttle and you are met by a morbidly obese person with social anxiety and an extremely effeminate young man camping it up, all with SoCal Suburbia accents, it was notable to me how much it broke the story and believability of what was happening. It was "Oh yeah, we're on a ride" not "Eek, the First Order officers are scary!".

And I'm an older gay man who is quite sympathetic to young gay men and their struggles in society, so I'm being kind here. You should have heard what the Mountain Time Zone Bros next to me in the holding cell were saying about that young gay CM, it was lewd and it wasn't kind. The point is that it jolted all of us out of the story WDI is trying to tell.

I don't know that there's any fix for that. And I bet there are plenty of CM's there that are kicking butt on their First Order roles and really doing a perfect job with it, even if they aren't supermodels. My overall CM experience was just fine, so I'm not really complaining, just noting that there were a few hiccups along the way with all of these CM's it takes to run this massive attraction.

So overall, now that I've had a full day to contemplate and reflect, I'm going to stick with my rating.

The queue/pre-shows get a 9 out of 10. The ride itself gets a 7 out of 10. The attraction as a whole gets an 8 out of 10 for me. Your own experience may vary.

 

[TP2000]

Thank you for coming up with a final rating for all of us!! I didn't know I was giving it an 8!!

You aren't. That was my rating, not yours. Unless you want to give it an 8 too?

@raven24 gave it a 7. @mickEblu also gave it a 7, but he gave the actual ride only a 5.

I'm giving the queue/pre-show a 9 and the ride a 7, for an 8 overall.

 

[Mickeyboof]

The sets and visuals were great. I'm pretty sure I pointed that out. But the sets and visuals and animatronics at Radiator Racers and Pirates are also great, the stretching room and portrait hallway queue at Haunted Mansion is epic, the queue and mine elevator at DisneySea's Journey To The Center Of The Earth is mind blowing, so it's not like this ride breaks new ground of what we expect from E Tickets.

It meets the high standards of the big fancy Disneyland E Tickets that have come before it, mostly decades ago. Overall, Disneyland is now a better park because it has this new ride.

The CM's have an integral role in this ride, they're playing a very specific part, so I'm not going to give them a pass.

WDI has designed this attraction in such a way that the "First Order" CM's on the star destroyer have scripts and dialogue and are integral in moving you along in the story as you move physically through the space. But when the doors burst open on your captured shuttle and you are met by a morbidly obese person with social anxiety and an extremely effeminate young man camping it up, all with SoCal Suburbia accents, it was notable to me how much it broke the story and believability of what was happening. It was "Oh yeah, we're on a ride" not "Eek, the First Order officers are scary!".

And I'm an older gay man who is quite sympathetic to young gay men and their struggles in society, so I'm being kind here. You should have heard what the Mountain Time Zone Bros next to me in the holding cell were saying about that young gay CM, it was lewd and it wasn't kind. The point is that it jolted all of us out of the story WDI is trying to tell.

I don't know that there's any fix for that. And I bet there are plenty of CM's there that are kicking butt on their First Order roles and really doing a perfect job with it, even if they aren't supermodels. My overall CM experience was just fine, so I'm not really complaining, just noting that there were a few hiccups along the way with all of these CM's it takes to run this massive attraction.

So overall, now that I've had a full day to contemplate and reflect, I'm going to stick with my rating.

The queue/pre-shows get a 9 out of 10. The ride itself gets a 7 out of 10. The attraction as a whole gets an 8 out of 10 for me. Your own experience may vary.

If! If the doors open, and the *speaking* roles were only performed by by professional actors, would your rating change?

 

[Californian Elitist]

You aren't. That was my rating, not yours. Unless you want to give it an 8 too?

@raven24 gave it a 7. @mickEblu also gave it a 7, but he gave the actual ride only a 5.

I'm giving the queue/pre-show a 9 and the ride a 7, for an 8 overall.

I was highly confused when I read that comment lol. Nowhere in your post did you insinuate that we had a collective rating.

I almost gave it a 6.5, honestly.

 

[TP2000]

If the doors open, and the *speaking* roles were only performed by by professional actors, would your rating change?

What a great question! Let me think...

I don't think it would change. I lumped the shuttle craft experience in with the queue/pre-show overall experience, which I gave a 9. I didn't expect pro actors to greet me and march around on the star destroyer set, but as I think back on it I needed a bit more believability in the CM's they had performing those roles.

It appears the First Order CM's in that section of the queue/attraction, from the shuttle craft capture to escaping the jail cell and getting into the ride vehice, have specific scripts or at least key phrases they needed to use. But their execution of those lines upon breaching the shuttle craft doors just seemed silly and not crisp enough. Let's throw out the visual sight we were greeted with, which was of First Order "officers" whose draft board would have never allowed them into reserve Stormtrooper ranks much less graduate from an Officer Training school of any measure. But just going off of their accents, their elocution of their lines, and their overall demeanor and bearing, it was just not even approaching a level of believability that they were First Order officers overseeing our capture.

So.... no, it's not going to change my rating of 9 out of 10 for the queue/pre-show if they replace the ride operators struggling with their roles with professional actors. The queue/pre-show rating I gave it doesn't get a 10 out of 10 because some of the effects they chose seemed a bit skimpy. Like the waterfall and water features, which only reminded me of the queue at the Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm that was built in 1969. The queue at Tokyo's version of Indiana Jones Adventure is more impressive from a scaling and effects perspective than Rise Before Dawn's queue is, for example.

Swapping out a CM like campy Alexander from Alhambra (not his real name) for a professional actor isn't going to change that rating, although it would be a nice improvement. I just hope as the months roll along they can follow up with these CM's and establish a basic patter and reasonable presentation skill for the interactive parts of the queue, much like they've done over the decades at rides like the Haunted Mansion... For the best view of the portraits above, kindly drag your bodies away from the walls and into the DEAD center of the gallery!

 

[DDLand]

I haven’t been on the Disneyland version, but I understand they’re identical. I wrote a review on the Hollywood Studios section, which I’ll repost here.

To be blunt, I am absolutely not surprised that some of the Disneyland gang is weirded out by this attraction. This attraction lacks the beauty or whimsy of other Disneyland attractions. It is impressive, but it isn’t joyful. It’s big, but what an ugly and dreary attraction. The best attractions often don’t say much, but make you feel something. Hence the success of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. That ride is so beautiful and joyful. RotR’s dark and dreary screens and sets aren’t something I look forward to experiencing again. That I fear is the biggest problem that will plague RotR at Disneyland. Many of the ride’s best moments are because of shock value. What happens when a Disneyland local has seen Kylo Ren’s dance 20 times?

It’s impressive, but not joyful. It’s also not Disneyland...

What a fascinating attraction. It was at times spectacular and amazing. It’s easily one of the most impressive attractions Walt Disney Imagineering has ever created. Bob Chapek described it as the most “ambitious” attraction ever crafted for a Disney Park. I would be inclined to agree. What this ride intended to do was nothing short of mind-blowing. Yet the ride was not without its shortcomings.

The ride shines in its technological prowess. It was a marvel to see what these Imagineers crafted. The opening show was very neat. Very very clever. The unusual boarding system and scope was exciting. I feel that the use of the trackless ride system was well justified in Rise of the Resistance. There was always some cool new trick that was in the wings waiting to wow the audience.

Another strength of Rise of the Resistance is its scale. While the rooms were not the cavernous spaces of Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure, the ride’s length was remarkable. It kept going and going and deploying more and more surprises. The ride felt like it began when we went outdoors to load onto the spacecraft. The experience never stopped until I was “back.”

The attraction also successfully surprised me several times. It was willing to do things that I was not expecting to happen. It felt exciting and unpredictable. If this attraction was supposed to be “ambitious,” it lived up to its creator’s intent. This was in part because of the trackless ride system. It felt like anything was possible.

I also think the visual storytelling deserves some mention. The queue in particular was very cleverly done. There are several tricks that they use to convey some themes. Notice the Resistance is closely connected to natural surroundings. Its base is an extension of nature and life. It also is built on ruins of some old structure, representing the connection the Resistance has to the past. Our journey to the Resistance base takes us literally underground. Contrast this with the First Order, which is lifeless and cold. It’s new and technology obsessed. The Star Destroyer is distant and disconnected from the planet and its inhabitants.

Some people have brought up compelling criticisms or suggestions for the ride. Namely, my few pages of scanning manifested calls for more practical effects. I also saw multiple mentions of the Star Destroyer’s “plastic” feel. That was a definite issue that I noticed myself. Other issues with screens and figures can be hashed out. Ultimately, they got much more right than they did wrong in terms of execution.

My biggest issues with this attraction were somewhat surprising to me. First, the environments of this ride are some of the most visually unappealing and uninteresting ever created for an E-Ticket. From the cartoon whimsy of Splash Mountain, the majestic beauty of the Forbidden Mountain, to the spooky elegance of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, most every E-Ticket has visual appeal. The same cannot be said for this attraction. Its utilitarian spaces provide little color or variety. Never has Walt Disney Imagineering spent so much on something so ugly. Flight of Passage, Radiator Springs Racers, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure feature some of the most beautiful images I’ve ever seen. This is a weird one-off.

The tone also felt unnecessarily heavy. There was none of the Star Wars humor or upbeatness. Instead, we were being hunted by a masked mass-murderer. This may be a preference thing, but it was surprisingly without heart. They wanted you to know this was SERIOUS and life or death. If this is an attraction where we are supposed to “play,” where was the joy?

Additionally, certain story beats were just off. Kylo Ren’s reveal in the interrogation room was premature. He is this attraction’s yeti. He walks in and uses the force briefly before “being needed on the bridge.” A more elegant and ominous way of handling that same scene would be to say something to the effect of “Kylo Ren will be down shortly.” Then being left in the dark right before being rescued. Our first sighting of Kylo should have been more impactful.

This attraction blurred the boundaries between theme park and reality. The effects and ride system proved astonishing. Certain moments were incredible and exciting. I specifically avoided spoilers, and I’m glad I did. While I had heard a trickle of rumors since 2015, I still found myself surprised. The “shock value” was great.

With incredible special effects and ride system, this ride will be successful for years to come. What I’m less certain about is whether this ride was the right approach. With a dull setting and little character, there is neither depth to the story or beauty. Much like the blockbusters of today, it’s a visual spectacle rather than emotional journey or art piece. It felt like a successful engineering feat rather than a successful artistic or storytelling one. Walt Disney Imagineering proved that it can transport its guests to another world, but that’s different from telling a great story. I’m not sure if I ascribe to the Trowbridge school of Imagineering. As Joe Rohde opined “Total illusion is deception... Audiences take joy in the fact that artists have created something seemingly real, like a puppet. Immersion is a form of play. Play only exists if we know that we can step out of the game... Both the imagination and the engineering are meant to be appreciated simultaneously.” I’m not sure the right balance was struck on Rise of the Resistance.

But say what you will about it, it’s unforgettable. Unlike its DOA sibling Smuggler’s Run, it’s exciting. It’s also very “ambitious...”

A couple notes...
@raven24 I totally agree about it not being “fun.” Impressive, yes, but not fun.

@TP2000 that’s really interesting about the cast. This may be one of those rare moments when Florida actually may be stronger. I imagine your cast will only get better, but I was mostly satisfied by Florida’s performance. I’m not sure I really enjoyed what was being performed... But I have no complaints about how it was executed.

Smuggler’s Fun is a dumpster fire. What an abysmal attraction.

 

[TP2000]

@TP2000 that’s really interesting about the cast. This may be one of those rare moments when Florida actually may be stronger. I imagine your cast will only get better, but I was mostly satisfied by Florida’s performance. I’m not sure I really enjoyed what was being performed... But I have no complaints about how it was executed.

Smuggler’s Fun is a dumpster fire. What an abysmal attraction.

To be fair to the likely hundreds of Disneyland CM's who are trained to work on this big ride, my impression is based solely on the two (2) CM's that met us and interacted with us as our shuttle craft emptied into the landing bay of the star destroyer thing with all the robot Stormtroopers (who didn't quite move enough to make it believable, which also led to the 9 out of 10 score). Just two (2) CM's can make or break this experience, and the two CM's that I drew by chance clearly weren't the best.

If I had gotten two (2!) stellar CM's instead; tall or at least imposing, milatristic, crisp, darkly forceful, then my experience would have been quite different and my feelings would likely change for the better. I'd be here raving about them instead of somehow defending my opinion of what I experienced.

Which is my point. All it takes is one or two off-key CM's and this very elaborate and impressive attraction starts falling apart quickly. The entire experience hinges on your ability to buy into what is happening to you. And the CM's they have staffing it are integral to that concept most pointedly during the time you arrive on the star destroyer to the time you board your ride vehicle.

This issue might all become moot by this summer if Disneyland management can get a better handle on the showmanship of their CM's in the First Order uniforms. But if they continue to just throw campy Alexander from Alhambra in there who feels the need to make up for the silent lump of a CM next to him, then the hundreds of millions of dollars that Burbank spent on this ride will not be put to very good use.