When Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opens at Walt Disney World on Dec. 5, it won’t be included in two of the biggest perks Disney offers to guests.
First, the attraction will not offer FastPass+ ride reservations to any guests to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This same policy has also been applied to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run since it opened in August. As for when this will change in the future, a page on Disney World says only: “We will continually evaluate our operations and services in order to help provide a great guest experience.”
In a new twist, Disney announced Wednesday that Rise of the Resistance will not be available guests when Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens early or closes late for Extra Magic Hours. Smugglers Run, however, will be operating during those periods.
Extra Magic Hours are a perk offered exclusively to guests at Disney-owned hotels (and some on-site accommodations run by outside companies. Parks either open early or close late exclusively for guests staying at those hotels. Disney’s Hollywood Studios previously offered Extra Magic Hours every morning from Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 in anticipation of huge crowds for the first few months of Galaxy’s Edge.
Rise of the Resistance has been promoted as the premier attraction of the 14-acre land and hyped as one of the most advanced rides Disney has ever built.
According to Brady MacDonald of the Orange County Register, the combined experience will last at least 15 minutes, involving multiple ride systems (including a trackless vehicle) as guests find themselves in the middle of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.
The attraction was originally supposed to open with the rest of Galaxy’s Edge, but has reportedly been plagued with operational difficulties behind the scenes. The Dec. 5 opening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios actually matches the original opening period for the Florida version of the land (which was late fall 2019).
The West Coast version of Rise of the Resistance is scheduled to open at Disneyland Jan. 17, 2020 — more than seven months after the rest of that park’s Galaxy’s Edge had debuted.
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