Disney Confirms Changes Being Made to Troubled E-Ticket Ride at Hollywood Studios

The industry-changing, award-winning Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is being changed at Walt Disney World Resort.

Disney World’s Most Ambitious Star Wars Ride Is Still Struggling Multiple Years On

When Walt Disney Imagineering set out to build Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the goal was never to simply recreate the galaxy far, far away. It was to drop guests directly into it.

Rather than lean on familiar locations like Tatooine or Hoth, Disney created Batuu, a remote outpost on the edge of Wild Space where everything operates in-universe. Cast members play locals, merchandise is sold as if it belongs in the galaxy, and the land’s storyline (at first) was tied directly into the sequel trilogy.

At the heart of it all sits Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the land’s headline attraction and, by most accounts, its crown jewel. But almost seven years after it first welcomed guests, the ride continues to wrestle with the very complexity that made it famous.

A Ride Unlike Anything Disney Had Built Before

Rise of the Resistance isn’t a single ride so much as a sequence of them. The experience blends multiple ride systems with full-scale physical sets, motion simulation, and trackless vehicles, all stitched together into one continuous story.

Guests are first recruited by the Resistance, including Rey (Daisy Ridley), before their transport is captured by the First Order. From there, they’re marched aboard a Star Destroyer, coming face to face with Kylo Ren, General Hux, and rows of stormtroopers along the way. The attraction moves seamlessly between pre-show environments, transport sequences, and a trackless dark ride, creating something closer to a feature film than a traditional theme park attraction. There’s a reason this attraction snagged the Golden Ticket for Best New Attraction Installation and the Golden Ticket Award for Best New Family Attraction back in 2021.

It’s an approach that had never been attempted on this scale, and that ambition came with a cost.

A Rocky Rollout

Rise of the Resistance debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in December 2019, with Disneyland Park following in January 2020. Its arrival came with unprecedented demand, prompting Disney to introduce virtual queue systems to manage crowds who were desperate to secure a spot.

Behind the scenes, the attraction’s complexity proved difficult to tame. In its earliest years, frequent breakdowns became almost as much a part of the experience as the Star Destroyer itself. Guests who managed to land a boarding group were often left waiting as the ride went down repeatedly throughout the day.

The Issues That Never Fully Went Away

While reliability has improved considerably since those early days, Rise of the Resistance has never quite shaken its reputation for downtime.

That reputation was put on full display earlier this year. In late March 2026, the Walt Disney World version of the attraction failed to open with the rest of Disney’s Hollywood Studios for three consecutive days, from March 25 through March 27.

On each occasion, guests arriving at the queue were met by cast members blocking the entrance. On March 27, the ride briefly operated during Early Entry, the perk that allows Disney Resort hotel guests into the parks ahead of the general public, before closing again. It remained unavailable late into that morning.

According to Thrill Data, the attraction logged 72 minutes of downtime on March 24, 175 minutes on March 25, and 326 minutes on March 26, following notable downtime earlier in the month.

Missing Effects and B-Mode

Downtime isn’t the only issue regular visitors have noticed. Over the years, guests have frequently reported missing or modified effects throughout the experience.

The cannon blasters in the hangar sequence, designed to move, are often static. Meanwhile, the Kylo Ren audio-animatronic is sometimes swapped out for a B-mode projection showing the character escaping in a ship. These substitutions keep the ride running, but fans who know what the attraction is meant to look like are quick to spot the difference.

Permit Filed

A newly filed construction permit has put Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance back in the spotlight at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, though exactly what Disney has planned for its flagship Galaxy’s Edge attraction remains under wraps for now. The permit was submitted yesterday, Thursday, October 8, by Disney’s Sourcing & Procurement team. Buena Vista Construction Company, the company’s in-house building arm, is named as the contractor on the job.

Details are scarce. The document’s general description of work simply states, “Provide labor, material and/or electrical for construction”. There’s no mention of scope, timeline, or whether guests should expect any impact on operations.

Still Disney’s Benchmark

For all its quirks, Rise of the Resistance remains one of the most acclaimed attractions Disney has ever built. It’s regularly cited as a benchmark for immersive theme park design, and when every system is firing as intended, few rides anywhere in the world come close to matching it.

That’s ultimately the paradox at the center of the attraction. The same layered, multi-system design that makes it so spectacular is exactly what makes it so vulnerable. When one element falters, the entire experience can grind to a halt. Downtime is still a reality for Disney’s most complex attraction, but patience usually pays off.

When Rise of the Resistance is running at full strength, it’s every bit the experience it was promised to be.

How do you feel about the Rise of the Resistance attraction at Disney World? Let us know in the comments down below!