How virtual queue will work for Rise of the Resistance
“Star Wars” fans eager to blast off on a rescue mission to a Star Destroyer on the Rise of the Resistance attraction in Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland will have a new virtual queue boarding procedure to follow when the park returns after a yearlong coronavirus closure.
Boarding passes for the popular Rise of the Resistance will be issued twice a day for the dark ride’s virtual queue — once in the morning when Disneyland opens and again in the afternoon.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will reopen for the first time April 30 after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the Anaheim theme parks for more than a year.
The new Rise of the Resistance trackless dark ride had been open for less than two months when Disneyland closed in March 2020. An identical version of the attraction opened in late 2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida to big buzz and massive crowds.
Rise of the Resistance enlists recruits to join a battle between the heroic Resistance and the villainous First Order. Along the way, the recruits will be captured aboard a Star Destroyer, break out of a First Order detention cell, elude the clutches of Kylo Ren and escape back to a secret base on the “Star Wars” planet of Batuu, the setting for the new Galaxy’s Edge lands at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Demand for the “Star Wars” attraction was off the charts before Disneyland closed because of the pandemic. Large crowds gathered each morning, and boarding passes for the Rise of the Resistance virtual queue typically disappeared in minutes — sometimes in seconds.
Disneyland appears to be taking a page from Hollywood Studios’ pandemic playbook. The Disney World park experimented with a few virtual queue strategies in hopes of reducing crowding — a key concern under COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.
The morning and afternoon virtual queues are intended to reduce the demand on the system at park opening and address the park-hopping predicament Disneyland faces in the pandemic age.
Park-hopper tickets will be available when Disneyland and California Adventure reopen — but visitors will have to choose the theme park where they will start their day. Park hoppers can cross over to the other park starting at 1 p.m.
That means visitors who make a California Adventure reservation won’t be able to immediately pop over to Disneyland and snag a spot in the Rise of the Resistance morning virtual queue. But fortunately, they won’t be necessary.
Visitors with California Adventure reservations can access the second virtual queue opportunity from that park — provided they have a park-hopper ticket. Visitors will not be required to have entered Disneyland to access the second virtual queue of the day.
It remains to be seen at what time the Rise of the Resistance afternoon virtual queue will become available each day.
Hollywood Studios opened the afternoon virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance and allowed park hopping at the same time — meaning park hoppers typically missed out on the afternoon virtual queue slots.
The time for Rise of the Resistance afternoon virtual queue will be set at a later date.