Disneyland unleashed Rise of the Resistance yesterday, January 17th. The new ride coming to Galaxy’s Edge has opened to rave reviews both at Walt Disney World (Batuu East) and Disneyland (Batuu west). We experienced the attraction and wanted to offer tips and observations from our perspective to help you in your quest to ride this marvelous attraction.
Phase 1: Get to the Parks Early
Here is a breakdown of how our morning went:
- Left house at 5:51 a.m.
- Arrived at Disneyland Mickey and Friends Parking Structure at 6:25a.m.
- Parked at 6:35 a.m.
- Walked from parking structure to security checkpoints at Downtown Disney (got through security at 6:57 a.m)
- Walked through Downtown Disney and got in line for Disneyland park at 7:05 a.m
- Entered Disneyland park at 7:34 a.m. (be patient, the line was long and moved slow)
- The second weekend was even more crowded at the parking structures and security lines, so we will move our time frame up 15 minutes next time we go.
Phase 2: Getting a Boarding Pass
First things first – make sure you have downloaded the Disneyland app and created your account. The Disneyland app* allows you to join a boarding group at exactly 8:00 a.m. Make sure your entire party has tickets/passes linked in your account (or other accounts) so you can all get the same boarding party. Everyone must have entered Disneyland to be eligible. A small tip is to close your Disneyland app and reopen it and sign in (or make sure your signed in) again, so you’re ready right at 8 a.m. Boarding passes were gone by 8:02 a.m.
Here’s how it works
- Request to join a boarding group to ride the attraction at 8 a.m. The virtual queue will not be available until published park opening time. We first tapped “find out more right at 8 a.m. and then tapped “Join a Boarding Group” a second later right at 8 a.m. and secured a spot in Boarding Group 39. **We got boarding group 59 our 2nd time.
- Boarding groups will be sent a push notification when it is their turn to enter the attraction queue and you can monitor status of boarding groups from the app. We were notified that we could come join the queue at 12:52 p.m. (**see below for more info on this)
- If you don’t have a mobile phone there you also will have the ability to join a boarding group from select locations inside Disneyland park, if you are not using the app. The boarding group is tied to admission that will be scanned upon entry of the attraction. We saw a physical location near Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland and near Splash Mountain in Critter Country.
- Signage throughout the park will also display boarding group status.
- Admission into Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be subject to capacity, and having an assigned boarding group will not guarantee entrance to the attraction. On opening day Boarding Groups 115 above were not able to ride.
Phase 3: Ride!
In short, this ride is a truly magnificent attraction. They went big and everything is amazing. You MUST experience this ride! Once notified that your boarding group is ready, you will have 1-2 hours to get there (the app will tell you).
Phase 4: Try New Snacks & Drinks!
There are three new options in Galaxy’s Edge – Read about them HERE. May the force be with you!