Rise of the Resistance as an attraction was possibly more highly anticipated that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge itself, as the new ride, which now exists at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, is one of the most advanced and complex things ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Of course, with that level of complexity comes increased possibilities for break downs, and it seems that, in the first two weeks of operation at Disneyland, Rise of the Resistance has seen more than its share of downtime.
Rise of the Resistance uses a virtual queue system in which guests get placed into a Boarding Group on the Disneyland app and then go to the ride when their group is called. Boarding Groups are made available on the Disneyland app as soon as the park opens each day, and are usually gone within minutes. After the main boarding groups are taken, back up boarding groups are given out, which are not guaranteed to get a ride that day, but might if everything is running smoothly.
However,. according to data collected by Touring Plans (via OC Register) things do not run smoothly a significant amount of the time, as Rise of the Resistance is seeing breakdowns somewhat frequently, On January 19, two days after the ride debuted, it was reportedly down for four hours. On the 22, 23, and 25, Rise saw closures of two hours or more, and on Jan 26, Rise of the Resistance apparently went down three times over the course of an eight hour stretch.
That's certainly a lot for a single attraction, even a new one, which is sure to have some number of bugs to work out. It's not all bad news. Balancing these four days where there were significant ride stoppages, the data also shows four days where the ride saw little or no downtime.
On January 27, Rise of the Resistance reached back up Boarding Group 122, when it usually reaches groups in the low 100s. On those two days that saw the most significant downtime, backup group 81 was the last one called. Showing just how much the downtime can impact the number of total riders.
Of course, the ride probably wouldn't be dealing with these issues as much if it wasn't super popular, and the downtime issues don't really seem to be dampening spirits when it comes to the attraction. Everybody who rides it seems to absolutely love it. Still, if you're that vacationing family who only has a couple days in the park, and a two-hour breakdown is the difference between you getting on Rise of the Resistance or not, it can certainly be frustrating. It's only the best ride around if you actually have a chance to ride it.
Rise of the Resistance is still incredibly popular at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and so one assumes that the difficulty getting good Boarding Group numbers isn't going to change anytime soon. But the more the attraction runs the more parks will be able to iron out any problems and it should be running smoothly before too long, though no attraction is beyond ever breaking down.
