In this post, we give our latest thoughts on what it’s like to visit Hollywood Studios since the opening of Rise of the Resistance and how to get on the popular, spectacular ride.
Final Update: Rise of the resistance Lightning Lane
Rise of the Resistance has an individual Lightning Lane at Hollywood Studios. You can learn more about what that means in that post. Since the ride no longer requires unique strategy, this post won’t receive further updates.
Update: Rise of the Resistance Moving to Standby Queue
Beginning September 23, 2021, the virtual queue for Rise will be “paused” and the ride will use a traditional standby queue. This post is mostly about the virtual queue so is mostly not relevant unless and until Disney switches back to a virtual queue. Our thoughts on Hollywood Studios strategy with Rise’s standby queue can be found in our Hollywood Studios rope drop strategy post.
Update: Your Party Now PreSelected
The boarding pass system has been updated so that your friends and family currently in the park will be preselected as your boarding pass group.
Why This Post Matters
A lot of our Hollywood Studios posts (and some other posts) direct you here, so you might be wondering why we have a special extra post you have to read (it’s not just for clicks, promise).
Rise of the Resistance is a new Star Wars ride that opened at Hollywood Studios on December 5, 2019. Didn’t we just get a new Star Wars ride? Yes! Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run opened on August 29 with the rest of Star Wars Land (Galaxy’s Edge).
But Rise of the Resistance is really the ride everyone has been waiting for. It’s one of the best rides at Disney World (that linked post might not be updated yet…working on it) and maybe even just one of the best theme park rides anywhere. So add in that demand a new version of the “Boarding Pass” virtual queue system and the weirdness of 2020, and you get a recipe for a unique period of time.
Related Posts
This post supplements our post on rope drop at Hollywood Studios and our one-day Hollywood Studios itinerary. Both of those posts have now been updated to reflect the addition of Rise of the Resistance.
Boarding Pass System
As we mentioned, the “Boarding Pass” virtual queue system has been used as part of the Rise of the Resistance opening. So far, this is the only way to ride Rise of the Resistance. (A look through the twitter search for recent #RiseOfTheResistance tweets should indicate if this has changed.)
Here’s a quick rundown of the steps required, followed by a gallery of screenshots of the process:
Have a Disney Parks Pass reservation for Hollywood Studios the day of your visit
At 7AM the day of your visit, Use Disney World app to try to join Boarding Group (don’t have to be inside park, park usually not open at this time)
If you don’t get a boarding group at 7AM, try again at 1PM (beginning December 20) / 2PM (through December 19) from inside the park
Wait for your Boarding Group to get called (app and in-park signage indicate current groups)
Head to Rise of the Resistance (you typically have a one-hour window)
Wait in line approximate 30 minutes
Ride
Here’s the gallery (use the arrows to tap through). The photos are not all from one trip, so you might notice the details vary a little bit (sorry about that):
And here are some crucial things to know about the boarding pass:
So far you must use a Boarding Pass to ride Rise of the Resistance. There is no other line.
You have two opportunities each day to get a boarding group, at 7AM to 2PM (moving to 1PM beginning December 20)
At 7AM, you do not need to be in the park to grab a boarding group, you DO need to have a Hollywood Studios parks pass reservation for that day
At 2PM, only guests inside the park can get boarding passes (moving to 1PM beginning December 20)
Boarding passes regularly run out within seconds, you need to be prepared right at 7AM and 2PM (moving to 1PM beginning December 20)
Boarding Pass does not guarantee you will ride; ride outages sometimes mean not all boarding groups get called
Guests are limited to one boarding pass per day.
With that last item in mind, let’s talk more about boarding passes.
When Can I get a Boarding Pass?
Disney has clarified that the plan going forward is to open access to boarding groups twice times during the day—7AM and 2PM (moving to 1PM beginning December 20).
Honestly—I’d check the app starting a few minutes before those times. Even when Disney says they’ll open the boarding groups at a certain time, there’s always the chance they open them earlier unannounced.
Backup Boarding Groups
Starting mid-December, Disney began issuing “Backup Boarding Groups.” Once “regular” Boarding Groups run out for the day, a small number of passes for the “backup” groups are issued. You’ll see if you’re signing up for one of these groups when you use the app.
Backup groups should not expect to ride, but may get called if there is enough time at the end of the day. Essentially, this allows Disney to make sure they have the maximum people signed up without worrying about compensating everyone who doesn’t get called (with FastPasses, for example), which they had been doing.
One side effect of this system—regular boarding groups run out incredibly quickly, but backup groups stay open longer in the morning. Most days, some backup groups get called, but it’s impossible to say how late you can arrive to snag a group that will be called. In any case, if you want to ride Rise you need to be trying to get a boarding pass at 7AM.
Why is Disney using Boarding Passes?
The obvious answer here is “they don’t want a ten-hour line.” Disney would rather have all those people in the park doing other things (like eating and shopping) than standing in line all day. Plus they know waiting ten hours is bad for guest experience.
But there’s a less obvious answer. Boarding Passes also allow them to control the guest flow and total number of guests that visit the ride in a day. That’s important because the ride has been plagued by significant downtime and, by some accounts, is running far below its theoretical capacity when it is running.
When Disney decides they won’t have time to fit a boarding group in at the end of the day, so far they’ve been giving them a free one-day park ticket and a digital FastPass+ for the following day for any ride, including Rise of the Resistance. Now that they have introduced the Backup Boarding Groups—who are implicitly told not to expect to ride—we don’t expect this practice to be used too frequently, if at all, going forward.
If Disney used a regular standby queue or FastPass+, they’d have a lot of problems when the ride went down. They’d be left with huge queue at the end of the day, which would strain the operations of the ride even more as they had to run it late into the night.
How long will Rise of the Resistance use boarding passes?
Similar to above, the obvious answer here is “once demand normalizes, they’ll use a normal line.” But Hollywood Studios hasn’t been hobbled by a rush of people trying to get on this ride. Afternoon wait times across the park are pretty normal, which is the opposite of what you’d expect with all those Rise riders in the park and not in the queue for Rise.
And as we discussed above, boarding passes are being used in part to regulate guest flow around the ride’s frequent problems. That means, theoretically, as long as those problems remain, Boarding Passes will remain.
The key here is no one really knows. We’ll try and keep an eye on the situation, posting relevant updates on Instagram, but you also might be the unlucky person who arrives at Hollywood the day Disney decides to do away with Boarding Passes, and you’ll sort of have to think for yourself (though we give some thoughts on this below).
What if the ride breaks down?
It will. Here’s what procedure has been for the ride breaking down…
If your boarding group has not been called, you just wait and hope it comes back up and you get called. If it doesn’t, we noted above that Disney has been accommodating with one-day park hopper tickets and a FastPass for the following day (good for any ride including Rise). Again, with backup groups now in place, we expect Disney to get through regular groups most of the days, cutting off only the backup groups, who will presumably not be compensated.
If your boarding group has been called, but you have not entered the queue, you are given a digital FastPass to return at any time today. This should show up in your account with no action on your part, but if it doesn’t speak with a CM at the ride.
If your boarding group has been called, and you are in the queue, you are given a paper FastPass to return at any time today.
There has been lots of talk of guests being left in the queue not moving for 30 minutes or more without any updates. I spent 45 minutes in the queue without any update once, but I still hadn’t given my paper FastPass up (so I could have left and returned). I’m not sure if there’s a situation where the ride breaks while you’re in the queue and you cannot get a paper FastPass, or if these people all just voluntarily stayed.
Hollywood Studios Touring Strategy With Boarding Pass
Note: The remainder of this post isn’t particularly relevant now that the park is in its low-capacity, phased reopening stage. All you need to know now is to try and grab a boarding group at 7AM and 2PM (moving to 1PM beginning December 20) making sure you’re not on rides during those times.
The nice thing about the boarding pass system is that it basically means you don’t have to change the existing park strategy. If the boarding pass system is active, your touring strategy is pretty simple:
Join a boarding group at 7AM
Use the appropriate Hollywood Studios Rope Drop Strategy
Ride Rise of the Resistance during your boarding group
As noted above, we don’t know how long Boarding Passes will be around, but outside of your boarding group you’ll just follow our one-day Hollywood Studios itinerary.
The Runaway Railway Problem
The first few days of Runaway Railway, the ride was beginning operations a few minutes early, which led to guests being inside the building or even on the ride at the time boarding groups opened.
I was one of the unfortunate guests hit with poor cell reception inside the building, and actually failed to get a boarding pass. Given that you can always wait to get on Runaway Railway (as long as its operating) and you only get one shot at getting a boarding pass for Rise, our advice is clear—don’t set foot inside that building until you have a boarding pass.
FastPass+ Impacts
In general, get familiar with our Walt Disney World FastPass+ strategy. Rise of the Resistance is not a part of Disney World’s FastPass+ system yet. Between that and the use of boarding groups, your FastPass+ strategy at Hollywood Studios doesn’t really need to change in the immediate term.
When should I arrive to Ride Rise of the Resistance?
Note: Beginning November 3, Boarding Groups will be issued beginning at 7AM, which is before the park opens. You no longer need to be inside the park or arrive early to secure a boarding group.
So far, boarding groups—including backup groups—have been running out no later than 60 minutes after the park is scheduled to open.
However, regular boarding groups—those with a significantly better chance of getting on the ride—run out just a minute or two of park opening. Bearing in mind that some groups are getting cut off at the end of the day, I’d advise that you must arrive 15 minutes before scheduled park open to get a Boarding Pass for the end of the day.
As with all things, standard disclaimers apply—I don’t control guest flow or whether the ride breaks down. Back when Boarding Groups were being issued as soon as the park gates opened, you wanted to be at the very front. Now, everyone who is inside at scheduled open has the same shot at a boarding group, so things are a little easier.
Here are my four recommendations:
Arrive 30-60 minutes before open if you are primarily concerned with Rise of the Resistance, have FastPass+ at the park, and don’t mind waiting in a line or two for other rides
Arrive 60-90 minutes before open if you want to have a complete morning at the park, finishing most of the rides by about 10AM or 11AM without FastPass+
Push the above times back by 15 to 30 minutes during peak dates—December 20 through January 4 (but see below), January 10-13, January 17-21, Feb 13-17
For December 26 through December 31, when the park is opening at 6AM, arrive between 4:30AM and 5AM for all situations
Keep in mind that things during peak dates can be much better or much worse than expected, which is why we’ll also give you this piece of advice…
How can I know what to expect when my park day arrives?
There’s no way to know for sure, but we recommend you use twitter to search for the latest tweets with things like “#RiseOfTheResistance” “Hollywood Studios” “DHS” and so on. People often post the exact details of their visit (when they arrived, what crowds looked like, when they got into the park). Search the day before your visit for the closest approximation of your visit.
When will my boarding group get called?
No one knows. Here’s the thing about this one. Rise can easily go out of operations for two hours. That means any guess about when your boarding group will get called can be off by about two hours. If I were to guess, I’d give you a two hour window I expected you to be called. And once called, you have one or two hours to return to the ride.
Altogether, that’s about six hours. So if I say “around noon” that probably means “plan to ride between noon and 6pm” which is useless information. But wait, there’s more!
Because of its operational issues, you might not get on when your boarding group gets called. For example, here’s how my December 10 went:
Arrive 6:11AM
Boarding Group 24 (estimated “Morning” return)
Ride everything else
7:30AM Boarding group called
Wow that’s great! I could be done with Rise by 8AM! Let’s keep going:
9:09AM In line, ride breaks, get paper FastPass to return
11:40AM return to ride, it breaks down again just as I’m entering queue
1PM return to ride, it breaks down as I’m about halfway through queue
4PM return to ride, queue doesn’t move for 45 minutes, finally ride it with sound effects off (very bad experience), get FastPass to return later (ride goes down right after I get off)
7:27PM Exit after a successful ride!
So, you tell me. If I said “boarding group 24 will get called around 7:30AM” is that helpful information if you might not successfully ride until 12 hours later?
Rise of the Resistance and Extra Magic Hours
In case you’re not familiar, Extra Magic Hours are a perk offered to guests of Disney hotels and select other hotels that allows them exclusive access to the park for sometime before or after it opens to other guests.
Generally, Disney has indicated Rise of the Resistance won’t operate during Extra Magic Hours. The actual situation on the ground is more complicated, though, so read on.
Evening Extra Magic Hours
So far, Rise of the Resistance hasn’t been operating during Extra Magic Hours.
Morning Extra Magic Hour Procedures
As of this update, morning EMH is not longer scheduled at Hollywood Studios. Check the park hours directly with Disney for the latest.
Other Resources
Never stop at just one source for things like this. Here are some other sites with good coverage of the situation:
Recent Disney World Openings
Note: You can leave this post now. This information is here just for posterity and because I’ll use it in discussing the March 4 opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but you’ve read everything you need to know about Rise of the Resistance.
Let’s start with a look back at three recent Disney World openings—Pandora (Animal Kingdom), Toy Story Land (Hollywood Studios), and Galaxy’s Edge (Hollywood Studios). None of these is a perfect match—all three were new lands, not new rides.
Look Back At…Days One and Two of Rise of the Resistance
On day one of Rise, the gates opened at about 5:22AM and the rides began operating between 6AM and 6:20AM. On day two, guests were let in and all the rides were operating by 6AM.
Boarding passes ran out by about 10AM on day one and by 8AM—an hour before scheduled park open—on day two.
Look Back At…Pandora Opening
I’m having a little trouble finding day 1 reports from Pandora. It was an Extra Magic Hour day with an 8AM open and EMH from 7AM to 8AM. Most sources suggest EMH guests were let in around 7AM (some having arrived at 5AM) and that the land was at capacity by 8AM. Even by 8:30AM, most rides elsewhere in the park were looking at 30-minute
On day 2, easyWDW reported guests were allowed into Pandora at 6:45AM for an 8AM scheduled opening.
Look Back At…Toy Story Land Opening
When Toy Story Land opened, the park was scheduled for an 8AM open. The park actually opened at 6AM following guests arriving sometime around 4:30AM. (Source)
Based on TouringPlans data from that day, it looks like the “old” rides the in the park opened as scheduled at 8AM, and all saw quick spikes to about an hour wait at that time.
Look Back At…Galaxy’s Edge Opening
We were on hand for the Galaxy’s Edge opening on August 29. Unlike the other openings, this one was actually scheduled for 6AM, with the first guests allowed to queue for the park around 3AM. We were walked over to Smugglers Run just before 5AM. Crowds were low in the rest of the park this day.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Don't forget to master your Disney World FastPass+ strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom FastPass, Epcot FastPass, Animal Kingdom FastPass, and Hollywood Studios FastPass.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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