Rise of the Resistance is Overrated Mediocrity
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 28 окт 2022
- I made the claim a while back that I found Rise of the Resistance to be overrated and so I figured it was time to explain why. In the following video, I'll lay out my points for why Rise isn't the be all, end all of attraction design.
Logo Background Source: / @freestuff-motiongraphics
Various Media Sources: pastebin.com/KwXXdnXG
Many of the music tracks found in my videos can be located on Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com/music/f...
As always if you enjoy the content, please give the video a like. You can also hit the subscribe button and bell notification to know when new videos are released.
Follow me on 🐤 Twitter: / poseidonentmt
Follow me on ▶️Facebook: / poseidon-entertainment...
Follow me on 📷 Instagram: / poseidonentertainmentyt 
Развлечения
The cast members' acting can be a huge addition. I remember a new order officer harassing us before going into the detention cell and hearing a boy sincerely asking his father if this was real.
Right! Had one before the interrogation the Cast Member gave a group orders to enter the room when the doors open. Took about 2 minutes but they finally opened and the group hesitated. Then the cast member told them “I gave you clear instructions, but I’m not surprised rebel scum don’t like to follow orders”.
From beginning to end, it’s the most immersive thing Disney has made in a long time.
agreed
we had 2 cast members who totally mailed it in and were unenthusiastic
I was in a wheelchair years ago and it was hilarious to see everyone else being called rebel scum. The cast member then turned to me and in the sweetest, kindest voice ever asked if I would be able to walk or stand a bit. Everyone laughed like crazy. Empire attitude to Magic Kingdom courtesy in less than a second. 😅
Th eu definitely do the best they can with what they have to work with but I’m sorry: it’s not worth the trip or the expense to go to a Star Wars theme park that’s strictly sequel based and their e ticket attraction is notorious for breaking down and almost never receiving the necessary maintenance
I’m pretty critical of Disney in general, so I can appreciate that you’re providing a review without just blindly praising or outright trashing them. That being said Rise was one of the few attractions that has genuinely impressed me in recent years, and I’m not even a huge fan of Star Wars. Disney has been slacking off on immersion lately, but rise is a breath of fresh air. It’s highly ambitious, which shows in the wait times and frequent malfunctions, but I’d rather they shoot for the moon and miss than continue to put out lackluster park additions. I’ve waited on longer lines for far less (cough cough the Jurassic World ride) but Rise was 100% worth the wait and I’d ride it over and over again.
Lol that’s because you’ve never been to universal. This ride isn’t even a ride it’s like 2 min long with a really fancy looking line lol. Meanwhile universal has the most insane rides making Disney world look like knots berry farm
@@nicolette1598 I’ve never been to universal? Dawg I literally mentioned the Jurassic World ride lmfao
@@DaxDives well Guurl! You need to ride it again! 😂❤️
@@DaxDives in all seriousness though, the rides at universal are just so so much better than Disney. Disney has great lines and the shortest rides ever if we aren’t counting that really scary Epcot ride
@@nicolette1598 you're telling me the Transformers Ride was better than Rise of the Resistance?
I think Forbidden Journey did the pre-show thing even earlier than Gringott's did. You've got Dumbledore's study, you've got the classroom where the gang explain what they're going to be doing with you, the hall where the paintings of the house founders bicker amongst themselves, and the safety video area.
And I still maintain I'd give Rise of the Resistance a higher rating if it was re-themed and called Escape from Hoth. Because I have zero investment in these new characters. But fleeing Darth Vader and escaping aboard the Falcon? THAT'S WHAT WE WANTED, DISNEY.
I agree with the Forbidden Journey stuff, as for the Rise we have today, I think we have to judge it based on what we did get, not what we wanted or would’ve preferred, although obviously I agree I would’ve preferred the OG trilogy theming. For me tho it being themed to the sequels doesn’t take away from the ride nor add to it…
I have a feeling RoTR was either originally designed to be an Empire ride or they designed it so they could easily switch it to Empire, because it's not hard to imagine the queue being the snow tunnels on Hoth or Darth Vader replacing Kylo.
I can't agree at all with Forbidden Journey. Those elements add a bit of atmosphere to the queue, but I've never stayed in any of those rooms long enough to see the full scenes, or I often just miss them entirely.
@@CinnamonGrrlErin1 The original plans for Star Wars in the parks was demolishing part of Echo Lake and Indiana Jones, then building some sort of Tatooine themed land in its place and incorporating Star Tours. To my knowledge, Rise was always designed with the sequel trilogy in mind.
Agreed
But the sequels were Disney
The others weren't
I still feel the most immersive queue ive ever been in is disneys own Expedition Everest.
You enter a small village in the foothills, seeing a shrine with thousands of guests coins tossed in... which just seems to add to the idea that many people come through and ask for "good luck on their voyage" or leaving a memento behind for someone they knew. You may even do this yourself, literally immersing you into the experience right away. You see posters to (possibly fictional) bollywood style movies, again making you feel like youre in a foreign country. Not knowing if they are real or not is actually super beneficial, as theyre not obvious references to disney properties... like seeing "Indiana jones" or "avengers but its in a different language" would take you out of the ride.
You enter this museum/supply shop, which shows some destroyed tents cast footprints, and photos of unusual things found in the mountain. Giving you an understanding of the rides storyline: you're after the yeti, not the mountain. Suddenly youre reminded of the statues in the courtyard. the locals believe in such a creature, and the climbers before you found something...
Its perfectly themed to a nepalese village, and yet also works great as a Queue that not only imemrses its riders, but makes them want to participate in immersing each other. I remember going as a kid and seeing some teenagers with a handful of pennies try to land a coin on the yeti idols head.
I think the biggest thing that made me walk off of Rise for the first time in awe was my immersion. I'm not saying other rides don't do this better, but through the preshows and the attraction itself it's really easy to get immersed in the world and story which is something I haven't experienced in a theme park attraction before. The amazing cast members, and little touches like the turntable on the ship really make this possible.
I 100% agree that they could've done better on the ride itself, it really is quite linear and I think disney really does take for granted how far smell goes on attractions (If Soarin' didn't have scents I think it would be far from as popular is it is today), but when you look at the attraction holistically, I think it does an excellent job of being a really immersive experience, something I don't think Escape from Gringotts does nearly as well.
The queue in my opinion is by far the worst part of the attraction, waiting for hours in the drab stonework is really draining, and the minor set dressing with the equipment doesn't help at all. They 100% could've done a better job of making it feel like i'm in a resistance base, instead of in a boring queue for a ride. (Imagine hearing conversations of fellow resistance members through vents, walking down halls, maybe even a droid anamatronic in the queue to make it seem like time hasn't come to a full stop)
Fantastic video as always, thank you for driving the industry to do better!
I've ridden both Soarin' and Flight of Passage with the scents not working and it takes away so much from both experiences. I vaguely understand that the brain has much stronger reactions to scent and I think that the inclusion of it within attractions is a testament to how powerful they are in guiding an experience.
I was fortunate enough that the first time I rode Rise, the people in my group were mostly going along with it. But, when we went back a second time, the experience was markedly worse because the other folks in the group weren't even pretending to go along with it. And some rides are like that, if you're ever unfortunate enough to be on the Jungle Cruise with a bunch of too cool for school folks, it just sucks the life out of it, worse even than being the only one on the ride.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I'm guessing people who went pre-Covid probably have the most positive impression of the ride, it was new for almost everyone going on it
You can’t just say if you remove all the preshows it wouldn’t be a good ride. I absolutely consider the preshow as a part of the ride and I think it adds so much to the experience of the ride as a whole
Nah, the pre-shows are absolutely integral. The issue is that they're a series of novelties that impress upfront, but cover a weaker ride experience.
@@PoseidonEntertainmentthis is a awful take. I don’t care or like Star Wars at all and I find myself loving the ride more and more each time I go on it. And your video criticizing guardians was pretty bad as well. You’re too cynical man.
@@mohamadmahmoud6926Ride hagrids, visit Tokyo Disneyland, or forbidden journey. Compared to those rides, rise is nothing
@@PoseidonEntertainmentremove the pre show from basically every ride that has a pre show. It applies to all of them
The fact that Imagineers came up with POTC and HM decades ago without today’s technology is a testament to how well thought out attractions were back in the day and the pride they took in creating them. I’m certain that POTC and HM will outlive any of today’s attractions.
Agreed! 👏👏👏
I don't think that's entirely fair, they've significantly updated the PotC ride's theming in the 30 years since I had previously ridden it and yes a lot of it is original, there's a significant amount of it that's effectively new as well.
My personal main issue with Rise of the Resistance is that they needed to use real actors and that the other riders tend to break the immersion a little bit too much. I'm not saying that they need to play act along with it, but the flash photography and joking around kind of ruined it a bit for me. It's a bit like the Jungle Cruise, if you're unfortunate enough to ride with a bunch of people that aren't willing to go along with the corny jokes, it's just not a particularly fun ride. But, if people are going along with it, it can be an absolute blast.
(I was lucky enough once to be literally the only rider on it and it was absolutely a blast as I could just play along with it and I've legitimately never had more fun on the ride)
It's the soul vs. soulless thing.
Haunted Mansion, Pirates: Soul
Rise of the Resistance: Soulless
@@Spokker That’s not entirely fair. You’ve had 50 years to build up feelings of nostalgia toward those two rides, which nothing built within the past couple of years could ever match.
@@berghorst I adjusted for nostalgia using a nostalgimeter.
Idea: Two lines split out depending on your choice: resistance or dark side. On the dark side experience, stormtroopers wave at you instead of shoot at you, and Kylo provides instruction inside of threats in the "prison" scene. Then, it looks like you are pursuing rebels in front of you in the cannon scene. Two separate experiences, because some people do like the empire side.
That won't happen because they want you to play $5000 to play those kind of games.
@@KarenMathre I really wish this comment was a joke.
I know what you mean, but I can only picture stormtroopers waving at you in a friendly, comedic manner.
Won't fix the trash story.
They probably couldn't actively let you choose for line management etc but I like the idea of being put into the different scenarios for sure.
I appreciate you taking the time to defend your position, but I mostly disagree. The initial que in the tunnels is meh, agree on that point. But the pre-shows, particularly the 2nd one with the shuttle, are immersive, and even if they aren't a brand new concept, they are well executed. Not being a new or unique concept (and I don't see a lot of people claiming it is) doesn't make it mediocre. And yeah, it goes from scene to scene- lots of rides do. And yeah, the storm troopers are shooting at you a lot (and missing, as they tend to do) because we're on their ship.
As far as the way the trackless ride works compared to other rides of that nature, it seems you prefer rides that let you soak up a scene at a slower pace. That's fine and I can appreciate that. But this is a fast paced adventure and it doesn't really lend itself to a slow waltz around some stormtroopers. Yes, reliability for the ride has been an issue from day one- nobody can really argue otherwise. I think you got a little annoyed with people talking about how unique the ride is and dug your heels in a little too much here. It's ok to have a little bias- I know I have my own, as a lifelong Star Wars fan, when I defend this ride.
You've hit most of the things I've been saying for years to a T. I would like to add that the story of the Resistance Queue was that it was supposed to be the Resistance taking over a cave that was home to an "ancient civilization" as Disney Imagineers would call it. Most people don't even recognize what they're looking at since the "civilization" consists of mainly pots, holes in the wall, and blue paint.
Yo LMG! Are the blasters really permanently shut off? When’s the last time you rode?
This is the first I've heard of that element. It's been a while since I've been in the queue, but honestly, I can't say that I've even noticed it.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I was there end of August and they were turned on. Disneyworld Orlando that is.
@@BatWayne6 If you mean the Laser Canons then yes. I’ve talked to an imagineer who knew people who worked on the canons, he said they’re a spring loaded system. There’s a mechanism that pushes the canon forward and then the springs bring it back. Basically it was designed to be easy to fix and operate, I have no idea why it doesn’t work though
@@LMGVids Wow, thanks for the great insights on that! Hope they get it working. Looks so weird now when the passenger vehicle stops because nothing is blocking it. Lol
I went on it for the first time just this year and as a person who isn’t a huge star wars fan, it’s freaking beautiful. The creative design and magic that disney was able to create was amazing. My wife who hates Star Wars loved the rides design. Just based on that alone it’s no where close to overrated.
i work this attraction in california(: even though i’m there pretty much every day, it never ceases to amaze me. the reception and reactions from the guests unloading in both the star destroyer and at the end of the attraction always brings me great joy! anyways, i really enjoyed listening to your critiques and you’ve made a lot of good points. keep up the good work!
The haunted mansion stretching room was designed as part of the actual attraction when it was going to be a walkthrough attraction. When Walt realized how much more efficient an omnimover would be, he opted for that instead, so the room became more of a pre-show.
But it was not designed as a pre-show at all.
I thought that it was designed out of necessity to get everyone under the railroad tracks?
@@PoseidonEntertainment It was indeed created as a way under the railroad, initially designed to be a room in the walkthrough attraction.
Later it was changed to the omnimover, but the room was still necessary so it was included as more of a pre show
@@GTNover It was re-imagined as a pre-show. But the entire ride was re-imagined many times over. It once had a cohesive story, then a few. it got its current nebulous plotline as a compromise between two competing thought processes.
But the stretching room idea was a part of the attraction from maybe the second or third iteration of the walkthrough. A walkthrough would really lack a pre-show however, as the barrier between "line" and "attraction" really hits as soon as you step inside, given there's no ride-vehicle.
Maybe overrated, but mediocrity is definitely not true. You could shine a negative light on any other S tier ride and make the same claims.
I definitely think the queue and pre-show could be better... but I just can't agree with calling it "mediocre!" I still remember the first time I went on it and I was absolutely in awe. It was like being IN star wars, as a character, not a spectator. The animatronics were amazing, the multiple ride vehicles combined with walking was so interesting, the cast members contributing to the story by being in character were amazing, etc. One time there was this first order cast member who yelled at me for pressing a button in the hallway (part of the scenery not a real button lol) and it was terrifying, he really committed to full immersion and it was awesome. I haven't been to Universal in 10+ years so I have no idea if they have better rides now. But I couldn't get over the feeling of complete immersion and feeling like I was IN the story on ROTR.
The animatronics they do have work nicely but a lot of them tend to break down and don’t see the necessary maintenance due to the infamous budget cuts. It’s really disappointing seeing the Kylo Ren screen, the B-mode for the climax
Also, im sorry but the sequel trilogy killed me but regardless I really can’t understand why the attractions are strictly sequel based. They can’t section off this “Galaxy’s Edge” with different planets and with that different dark rides?
I have to agree. For me the ride is still solid, but everyone calling this the best dark ride ever, or Disney imagineering’s magnum opus, is just putting it up on an incredibly high pedestal if you ask me. For me, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Mystic Manor, Beauty and The Beast, even Flight of Passage are much better attractions. It’s still a good ride (7/10 in my book), but for me no where near the peak of Disney Imagineering.
Also that “experience” aspect starts to wear off once you’ve been on the ride many times. Therefore losing re ride ability. The immersion is lost once you’re on the ride as it doesn’t immerse into the scenes fully through effects. The Kylo Ren animatronic is laughably bad imo (poor guy looks like he’s lifting invisible weights) as is his exit and the trackless system doesn’t really make the ride any better if it all. At least the set design, queue, pre shows, etc make the ride a bit better. Rise is a goodie, it’s no gold imho.
I prefer FoP over RotR
Well for me pirates and haunted mansion is kinda boring
@@papingosstudios161 oh well guess we have to agree to disagree 🤷♂️
@@ChuckE.CheesesIllinois it is I just simply didn’t say it lol, but it is 👍
Your completely right about the pre show stuff. My first experience with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was when they where not doing the pre show at Gringotts. I was both confused story wise and didn't really feel immersed in the ride at all. Going back a few months ago they brought the pre show back and it was way better! Also funny how Disney's best trackless ride at the North American parks is just a copy of one from one of the international parks.
I find it strange that people dislike Ratatouille so much, yet I find it has the most heart out of their most recent attractions.
Disney's best trackless ride is still the original Tower of Terror.
@@TheInflicted ^This^ one million times this, yes.
@@TheInflicted Disney's best ̶t̶r̶a̶c̶k̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ride is still the original Tower of Terror.
@@PoseidonEntertainment ratatouille is garbage lol. Keep pretending rise of the resistance sucks
I can’t imagine spending so much money on this new attraction and then not performing necessary maintenance to keep the ride working. I guess if I ever go on the ride I should be cautious that not everything is working as originally designed.
Maintenance over the last year has dropped to a noticeable degree across all attractions. From what I've heard, working as a Disney tech is stressful and the pay just isn't worth it to keep current techs or to hire more. Disney just doesn't care though. "Good enough" is the new standard for a company riding off of the reputation of excellence.
What's surpriseing is on my last trip to Disney world, which was mid 2004, maintenance was not up their usual standards. The WEDway people mover needed a refresh badly: broken panels and chipped paint everywhere. I managed to ride Maelstrom before they butchered and turned it into Frozen and I rode Test Track 1.0. I fear 2004-5 were the last golden years of the Disney parks. After that, they slowly started to decline.
They still can't seem to iron out the kinks with this. Most of the time it doesn't open with the rest of Disneyland. With Hagrid, Universal did and used the closures to do so and ironed out the kinks which is why I believe it only is closed during inclement weather. Disney needs to step it up because when Epic Universe opens they are gonna be in TROUBLE.
I can't wait for them to lose MASSIVE market share to Universal!
They can't step it up till fox is paid off. Mickey views explained it really good that until fox is paid off Disney is broke.
In my experience, when I went to Disneyland Park, the ride worked perfectly, presumably throughout the whole day. I ended the night with this ride and I was blown away.
They’re not going to be anywhere near trouble. Disney literally owns everything. Universal, while nice, just doesn’t get you in the feels and nostalgia like Disney. Disney’s fireworks are better, their shows are better, they have parades. Their rides are 360 degree immersive. Most of Universal’s rides are just a single screen in front of you, and even their Forbidden Journey ride is weird. How are you “flying” sideways for 80% of the ride? No witch or wizard flies around like that. The screen is weird and I can hear the replay for the car next to me before I’m out of range. Good ideas, but poor execution as far as I’m concerned. Disney is an empire. This is a fact. Universal has a long way to go.
@@mindyschocolate Disney is in a state of decline. It’s the perfect time for universal to step up and create new experiences since their recent quality in attractions has been very good. Meanwhile Disney continues to make park goers frustrated with price hikes, decline in quality, lack of maintenance and lack of creativity. Saying Disney is super immersive must be a joke. Pandora and batuu were created to compete with the immersive experience universal provides with Harry Potter. Instead they produced empty lands that don’t have much to look at or do. You talk about ‘single screen experiences at universal’ and yet so many new Disney rides have the same exact issue. Flight of passage, web slingers and smugglers run are all good examples.
I definitely agree with you 100% on this, but I do wanna offer a minor correction: while the Tokyo Disney parks are own and maintained by the Oriental Land Company, attraction development is handled exclusively by Disney Imagineering. Disney made it part of their licensing agreement with Oriental that they couldn't bring in any third party design firms to develop new rides and attractions for the resort. The main thing that really separates the Tokyo parks from the rest is that Oriental is a giant conglomerate that doesn't mind tossing money at the resort, hence why there hasn't been that depreciable drop in quality like we've seen at the other parks Disney directly owns.
Does the OLC not have its hands pretty involved in the process though? There's a huge discrepancy in attraction quality between Beauty and the Beast and something like Runaway Railway. I know that money is the obvious answer, but most attractions at domestic Disney parks still feel quite sloppy.
@@PoseidonEntertainment They can still choose what projects to greenlight and make requests for attraction ideas, but Beauty and the Beast was handled by Imagineering's Tokyo office through and through. Heck you know how much of Tokyo DisneySea was designed by Joe Rodhe? At this point, their Asian parks are where DI can cut loose because ol' Bob Paycheck isn't the one footing the bill.
At this point, a third party would outperform DISNEY 😂
I agree that half the queue is lackluster and now I see the similarity to Gringotts, but the execution is just so much better on RotR that I can’t help but applaud it. The motion simulations and screens are much more convincing and Disney’s cast members do a phenomenal job of immersing you. I would love to see a newer version of gringotts that takes advantage of the technology that Disney used
The first time I rode ROTR, the queue and “transporter” pre-show holding tank (which is really all it is) blew me away. The loading dock was amazing. Then I boarded and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
The second time, all elements of surprise were gone. I knew exactly what would happen. There was no POTC-style “cocktail party” atmosphere to round out the experience, and everyone in my travel group agreed it was still cool, but less exciting.
After a third ride during the same week, we were done. It was actually boring. Without a physical thrill, there’s almost no repeatability value.
At the end of the day, this is the equivalent to a very expensive simulator that’s either “one-and-done” or “two-and-through.”
That's pretty much how I feel. It's exciting the first time, but it relies too much on its novelty elements to make up for what is otherwise just a serviceable experience. When the novelty and surprise wears off, what's left?
@@PoseidonEntertainment Plus it cost us $36 each ($12x3) to ride it during the week! But that’s another story for another time.
I disagree because the crew members on the First Order ship keep it fresh, as do the two possible paths around the Star Destroyer. I've been on it a bunch and still love the atmosphere escaping the ship just before you leave, then the drop and pod moving to escape every time...
I liked the pre-show, disliked the ride itself. I would agree, it's a 1 time ride for me.
I have to agree. For me, galaxy’s edge has nothing on pandora. The immersive queue, the bioluminescence at night is gorgeous, a great dark ride along with an absolutely stellar simulator.
Flight of passage is a great ride and Pandora is a great land aesthetically, but there very little to do in Pandora bar go on the main ride and eat at a quick service restaurant. Galaxy's edge is far more immersive and extensive, there's far more experiences to be had in GE. Maybe Pandora will be made bigger with a new ride if the next mvies are successful, hopefully.
@@naf2038 I would love to see a reef themed mini land from the second movie
For me (a huge Star Wars fan) I feel Galaxy's Edge is more immersive as a land but that the rides for Pandora are much better and their queues are better.
I am extremely critical of Disney in the recent years, so I am generally on the same page as you. But this ride is the last ride Disney did that is actually ambitious and doesn't cut corners and cheapen the experience at every posibility. It might not be the single best ride ever created (even though it comes close), but to call it "mediocre" is just absurd. I dare you to name more than a handfull of other rides that are on this level (and obviously the pre-shows are part of the ride)!
Haunted Mansion, Pirates both in US and Shanghai I believe it’s where it’s at, Mystic Manor, Phantom Manor, the new Beauty and The Beast ride, Journey to The Center of The Earth, heck I’d even put Flight of Passage etc. You want Universal too?
Ive ridden this, can tell u with the upmost certainty Jurassic World the ride stomps all over this experience as its ride experience and finale doesn't need to be held up by elaborate pre shows
Symbolica at Efteling stomps it into the ground without having a Disney budget.
@@MelkromisteinWeeb man I really wanna travel to the Netherlands just for that ride alone
The Jurassic World ride in Beijing has the “Indominous Rex” straight up chasing you… like it’s not a giant 8k screen either. It’s literally a giant (15-20 foot tall) animatronic running after you.
The only thing that really annoys me is some behavior stuff with guests and the rotating ship mechanic before going on the destroyer. Normally crowd behavior is to go to the front of the room, but because the exit is where you come in, I saw some guests ruin the experience by refusing to go ahead and staying behind so they can be the first out. Obviously, they knew what was going to happen. Once the doors open, one of the guys refused to move when ordered to by a stormtrooper. I wonder how this is going to evolve when many people are now on their second ride through now knowing that they really want to stay behind rather than move to the front like any normal queue.
Interesting? I haven't observed that (though the last time I rode was when the cannons were still moving). What's the reasoning for this? Wanting to record the stormtroopers?
Seems like a pretty needless tactic- given how you're re-queued multiple times after leaving the "transporter" portion it's not all guaranteed that getting out that thing faster will get you on your ride vehicle faster. Plus, isn't the real goal to spend as much time in the "hangar" set as possible?
The first and only time I've been on it was partially ruined because there was an older couple trying to be funny throughout the entire experience. They thought they were legends of comedy when they were really just lame. It was anger inducing because you want to experience it, try to immerse yourself in it but have cringe performers trying to bring attention to themselves. There should be a rule if you tell really bad jokes we're allowed to boo you off of the ride.
I agree, in the beginning sections, the other riders in the group make or break the ride. If you've got a bunch of people that are suspending some disbelief, it can be a blast, but if you've got a bunch of people acting like tourists, then it pretty much wrecks that bit. I hope Disney finds an approved way of having the cast react to that which doesn't mess things up worse than just ignoring it.
@@jamesmarshall6619 I've been on it twice. Fortunately, the second time was when people were doing a bunch of flash photography in the shuttle bay and trying to get a bunch of photos. It definitely harmed the experience. I did get a couple pictures in the first time, but I didn't use a flash and was mindful not to slow everybody done when doing it.
Someone else mentioned this, but I wanted to elaborate... a WAY better, more immersive actual "experience" attraction predates Rise by over 20 years... Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas (1998-2008 RIP)
The whole experience was seamless with no switchbacks or queueing even though most of the experience was a series of pre-shows before a brief motion ride.
You start by being beamed aboard the Enterprise, walking through the halls to the bridge (inhabited by live actors guiding you along the whole time), riding in the turbo lift as the ship is attacked, walking again through a different floor of the ship to board a shuttle craft (a vehicle directly from the series btw) where you then enjoy the motion ride... at the end of the film you crash land in a different location... AND YOU EXIT THE SHUTTLE FROM THE SAME DOOR YOU ENTERED, but you're in a different location. The realism and immersion has never been matched at ANY Disney or Universal attraction. Period.
I went on that a few times and think Rise is better, though they are kind of different experiences... Star Trek did have better actors involved, but the experience overall I did not find as exciting.
Just came back from Disney World, and got the chance to ride it twice. I REALLY liked it. However, I did enjoy Flight of Passage and Guardians Cosmic Rewind more. But for a story-telling dark ride, I have to say they did an amazing job of making it feel like you stepped into a movie. Do I think they could have added more elements throughout the ship as you passed through it? Yes, absolutely. There are a few times where you were left wondering of some of the staff on the Star Destroyer had been hit by lay offs, and the experience felt a bit empty, along with the hallways. But then there's other times when you would swear you were in Star Wars. Unlike HP: Forbidden Journey (which I probably prefer as a ride, overall), this wasn't a Star Wars highlights reel. This was supposed to be a single immersive story, and I think they did a fantastic job at achieving that. Certainly not mediocrity. Overrated? Perhaps, if somebody tells you it was the best ride ever. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a great ride.
Disagree quite strongly: as someone who has ridden both Escape from Gringotts and Ride of the Resistance, and as a big fan of both franchises back then when Rowling's mask wasn't as fully off, I found Rise of the Resistance to be far more immersive, exciting, and impressive than the largely forgottable Universal Attraction with a well decorated but ulimtately rather plainly formatted queue and preshows. I do definitely agree on the point of the queue though - that Resistance base is one of the most bland and soulsucking queues Disney has made, even if you forget it all as soon as you exit into the Star Destroyer. I respect you putting your unpopular opinion out there though, even if I don't share it.
On 24 November 2021 I joined the queue for Rise of the Resistance at rope drop. I was opposite the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean along the Rivers of America even though it was 8 AM, and it took me four hours to get through the stand-by line and "experience" the attraction.
Thanks for your take on Rise of the Resistance, and for comparing it to other attractions. You showed me things I missed on my once-through.
I’ve been saying this for a while. My sister and I went on it and I was like “we just moved around large rooms with giant furniture and a couple animatronics with a thin story attached to it” and she said it was the best ride she had ever been on and then throughout the day she eventually agreed with me the more she thought about it. Same experience with the new Guardians coaster. It’s like people have built-in Disney blinders on.
It impresses upfront with a lot of its novelty elements, but those hide a rather standard experience underneath.
It really doesn't take much to impress most people. This is ESPECIALLY true where politics (i.e.: Disney vs. Universal) or emotional attachment to an IP is concerned. I had a little witticism I used to say when I debated this stuff more: "This is the sort of ride that would appeal to people who think the changes to Pirates of the Caribbean are good because they recognize Jack Sparrow." The creativity to make interesting, engaging experiences is still out there - just look at Tokyo Disney - but most people really are content with slapping a Star War or a Harry Potter on it. "I clapped! I clapped when I saw it!" I'm not convinced that Mickey's Fun Wheel wasn't a huge joke at the audience's expense either.
So your sister really enjoyed a ride and then you took the rest of the day convincing her she shouldn't?
@@louisrizzo4102 she came to her own conclusions, just like many others here 💁♂️
@@PoseidonEntertainment I can see that, I can only imagine the thrill of appearing in a Star Wars shuttle bay and going under the AT-ATs to lose a bit of impact relatively quickly, especially with the length you have to wait in line.
You actually can experience Rise without the pre shows. When either one of the pre shows break down they just escort you through backstage hallways and you come out to the left of the ,win stormtrooper hanger. This is actually what happened on my first ever ride and understandably confused me as I somehow got into space without ever taking a ship. Without those first two pre shows, the ride is literal nonsense.
PREACH! So many people see a trackless dark ride like this or Mickey and Minnie’s and somehow think it’s the best thing ever. Still can’t believe we lost the great movie ride for this
I will never forgive Disney for getting rid of the Great Movie Ride, like c'mon, that was the last vestige of Hollywood Studios' original purpose and it was a damned good show to boot.
The great movie ride was jumbled, chaotic garbage. My 79 year old grandmother INSISTED we go on that ride every time we went to Hollywood Studios (then MGM) and it was awful. It was awful then and it was awful the day it was shut down. Your nostalgia is worthless and you should feel bad.
They had the animation courtyard with next to nothing in it by disney jr. They could have had two rides over one. Update movie ride and put mickey next to disney jr.
Trackless technology is only as good as the use that you put it to. I do like the way that it allows you to have multiple paths through an attraction, but beyond that, it's not that much different from other ways of moving vehicles around an attraction.
The great movie ride was 1000X better than the new ride. It's very sad actually. Such a detailed and thorough experience replaced with a quick zoom through some projections and screens
I dunno if it's just me, but Posideon's Fury at Universal was more memorable to me than Rise of the Resistance. Kinda what Rise reminds me of.
Poseidons Fury is like top 5 of Islands imo, it’s such a phenomenal attraction
@Katie Logue I have to agree, nothing really feels dated, I think that most of the parts are epic. One complaint that I also heard is that the jokes are bad. I honestly don't see a problem with jokes, bad or not, I will still laugh at most.
@Katie Logue I agree that people wouldn't be labeling it as dated if they refilmed the ending. Most of it up until that point holds up pretty well. With that being said, I do also view it as dated, but in the sense that the Lost Continent feels like such a weird relic of the 90s after Potter replaced Merlinwood. Because it has been relegated to such a small corner of the park, it always feels like stepping back in 1999 for me.
Poseidon's Fury is an amazing exterior façade and a decent vortex tunnel saddled with a really lame and overlong projection show.
A first ride through is magical. After every following it loses the magic more and more.
I'm not surprised, there's just one time that you can first experience being in the shuttle bay and going under that AT-ATs, after that you are just left with the merits of the ride. (as well as the degree to which other riders are willing to go along with the live actors at the start)
Your thing about preshows is kinda overreaching. Yes, other rides have preshows, but to me they all feel like preshows. They feel like something neat to look at while you're waiting. Also you don't get invested in many of them because the parks cancel them if lines are short.
The pre-ride experiences you get with Rise are immersive and feel like a cohesive storyline. You don't get that feeling with most other rides with preshows.
You call out Disney on certain aspects of the ride and then use examples from other parks to show where it's done better, yet those other rides as a whole pale in comparison to Rise.
Are there flaws? Yes. But as a total package, Rise can't be beat and is pretty unprecedented in its execution.
17:22
You gotta remember that these sensory effects are no brainers. There should obviously be heat under a stove. There should obviously be smells in a room loaded with food. I don’t think we should be too concerned about whether or not a lightsaber has heat effects
I've never been to Disney and I've only been to Universal Studios once, yet these videos are so interesting and well done that I can't help but keep watching 😂
I personally think that Disney is worth doing at least once, but for me personally, I prefer Hong Kong Disneyland as you can ride until you're sick of riding rides in the morning, then leave the park and explore Hong Kong when the locals are actually awake and out doing things. (Hong Kong has a rather vibrant night life so there's usually a lot to do in the evenings)
Having been to both Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood recently, I'd have to say that the difference between the two in terms of stuff to do is a lot narrower than when I went there as a kid. There's a bunch of rides, (be warned that they use a lot of video, so motion sickness pills are worth bringing if you're prone to that), and they have a much more reasonable line skipping feature where you can either use it once per attraction, or for a bit more however many times you like, and there's no scheduling it, you just scan the ticket and go right into the express line.
Im a local with passes to both parks, but I feel like I'll stay interested in this content even once I move away. Lol I guess we'll see
Love the new video man. Havent been to Disneyland for a while now but as someone who works park services at USH, that many plates and trays left laying on the trash bins is unforgivable. If we leave an area like that at USH, u bet we're getting a stern talking to. Great video again man, and I look forward to more from you.
Now that I think about it, when I went, the park did definitely feel cleaner. I know a few people who work for Disneyland and they've said that their staffing has been cut to the bone.
@@PoseidonEntertainment wow that absolutely sucks to hear, but yeah I take a lot of pride in my home park as both a guest and an employee and our future is incredibly exciting.
@@andynava5144 I moved near USH and it is now my home park XD you guys do great with cleanliness. I think my only complaint over Disney is structural. There arn't alot of spots to just sit and enjoy being at USH you have to REALLY know the park to find the quiet spots. But I figure that's just the land you were givin and all.
@@Jspider56 same thing is true at Orlando. That was part of my and my wife's biggest criticisms of Universal: it's a very flat experience with little diversity in attractions and nowhere to sit.
@@Jspider56 Thanks for the appraisal ! And there are a few quiet spots at USH. My favorite being the one to the right of Super Silly Fun Land where u get an amazing view of the lower lot.
I can see your point, especially if that many events misfired. (That Kylo "B Mode" is kinda a brilliant solution if the animatronic glitches out, IMO.)
I was fortunate enough to be able to ride this thing when 1. the wait wasn't ridiculous 2. everything was working. My first impression was that it certainly had a lot of fun elements to it, however it clearly has a LOT of moving parts and I can see why it breaks down a lot. (That part you showed in the video where the escape shuttle's screen is stuck on the last scene was terrible! ugh!) You are so right in how these trackless rides zoom through so much that you don't remember much from the experience, I remember some beautiful-looking massive set pieces and having to hurry past them -- my favorite parts were the two simulations, first the big transport with not-Ackbar and that way-too-short escape at the end, yet they were sadly the shortest parts. The transition between the Stormtrooper room (which was cool btw) to the actual ride was a bit too long, with silly interactions with cast members doing improv being the best part of that, in my opinion. But you know what this thing reminded me of most? Star Trek the Experience in Vegas! holy wow did it remind me of that.
It reminded me also of the Star Trek experience (which sadly I only was able to do a handful of times before it was gone) but I personally think Rise is a lot better balanced an experience and more engaging in terms of story.
I disagree with you 100%. Nobody is saying it doesn’t repeat processes from other rides. But the blend of so many elements and the massive size of this ride makes you feel like your in Star Wars. It might be one of the best experiences I ever been on and you don’t even have to like Star Wars. Sure Its not high speed or Adrenalin rushing ride. But everything about it blew me away.
I somewhat agree in that the coolness and novelty goes away pretty quick with re-rides. Although I would definitely say this for Smuggler's Run that somehow feels like one of those simulator rides at a Dave and Busters or the like and oddly the screen doesn't look as good as the old ride system for Star Tours.
Star Tours is pretty disposable to me at this point. When I first rode Smugglers, I remember thinking that I would rather be riding Star Tours 🤷♂
How did Disney, with all their money and licensing and iconic characters, only manage to create an E-ticket based on the Star Wars SEQUELS as bad as this. Truly demonstrates the creative bankruptcy and loss of heart and understanding of their fans.
Going to guess they didn't want the embarrassment of the traffic difference between something based on the original trilogy and their trash sequel trilogy. Avoid the embarrassment, only give the people the Disney created stuff.
I've yet to go to Hollywood Studios since the retheme, and I have to say that it's crap like this that makes me not want to go at all. Pretty much everything I love from Disney, with the possible exception of the Magic Kingdom, has been thoroughly gutted. And it's funny to me, because there was a time about ten years ago or so when I said a Star Wars Land and Marvel Land probably wouldn't go amiss, if done right. I wouldn't mind a ride like this based on the sequels (which...I openly despise) if it wasn't the only damn thing there. Between things like this and the "never see trash or janitors" policy clearly being thrown to the wind for no reason, Disney World---once my favorite place on Earth---is practically unrecognizable to me now, and the last time I went was only in 2016.
I heard that the land was going to be original trilogy, but Bob Iger thought that the sequel trilogy was going to be extremely popular and bring in boat loads of money so he had the imagineers change it.
As much as most fans would probably rather be in Tatooine visiting the iconic cantina I think the general public which mostly consist of family's don't care either way and will spend their money even if the land is mediocre. The sad truth is disney only cares about promoting their new garbage which they can claim some ownership over since they didn't actually create anything from the original star wars. They don't want to be beholden to something that was created by somebody else which is why as much as possible they try and move away from what made all the properties they bought successful in the first place.
@@starsbookreviews Disney is for kids. The original trilogy only has nostalgia factor for adults. We aren’t the target demographic anymore.
It’s like Og Star Tours had to be redone to add new stories. OG Star Tours is a nostalgic thrill but I sense most kids kind of fell unimpressed because they grew up with N64 Pod Racing video game or the Battlefront video games and they wanted to be transported to those worlds or experiences that got them to fall in love with the world of Star Wars.
TLDR: Adults shouldn’t hold their breath for any themes to revolve around our nostalgia. We are no longer the target demo, our kids are.
Why I think Rise is great anyways:
Saying the ride is mediocre without all of its parts (the preshows) is an insane argument. A stir fry with everything stripped away apart from noodles would be lame too, of course it would be! But that's a crazy thing to do and say! All theme parks combine 'common' parts to make cool attractions. Rise combines a drop tower, trackless ride system, the carousel pre-show, the other pre-shows, the prison break, screens, massive sets, animatronics, breakaway damage effects, ETC, to make a fantastic ride. The way they're combined is what is so impressive.
Disney did Hydrolators (Living Seas) and Terravators (Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Disneysea) first, before Universal's 2015 Harry Potter expansion. That's a bad faith argument to say Disney copied their elevators; Universal did nothing first in this video that you say they did.
The Star Wars pre-shows are great for the continuing and building narrative, use of an actual ride system in one (not just vibrating floors that don't move anywhere), and animatronics instead of just screen projections. The queue is almost as good as the Secret Life's, as the drilled-through corridors build a backstory of how they came to be, used actual military shelving as authentic and believable proppage, and the Secret Life literally has wooden fencing in a living room scene to separate the queue from animatronics, which defeats your point about it not using obtrusive dividers for the queue.
Universal uses way more screens than Disney, and hides its lack of theming in darkness (Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, Kong 2.0, ETC), which Rise does not do. It has animatronics, proppage, and all sorts of fun twists throughout its "encounters" that you say is all the ride is. The ride being all encounters makes sense, as it's a prison break story! But the pre-shows have things like the flight to space, initial capture, and interrogation, adding diversity to story beats and scenes. The continuing narrative that isn't just exposition as to why you're there is why Rise is better than Gringotts.
Rise uses sensory effects like Ratatoullie does. The drop tower tilts backwards to accentuate the drop, there's wind effects in the final Kylo encounter to make it feel like air is rushing out into space, and more. I agree the ride suffers annoying technical issues, but don't blame that on poor maintenance, as whilst that is a current-day Disney problem, this attraction is so technologically-advanced it will always suffer issues that need to be fixed; sidetones the cannons need to be fixed desperately, they shouldn't stay off! I do feel that these issues shouldn't still be occurring, this long into the ride's lifetime however, so that's a fair point.
I think calling Imagineering "creatively-bankrupt" is very untrue and a bit rude, as they were definitely budget-cut along the way (no roaming Droids in Galaxy's Edge, no Bantha ride, ETC), and you even admitted that the carousel pre-show, scale of sets, and more is impressive. There is no way Rise is "mediocre". It's not flawless, but it's an E-Ticket, and leagues above Universal's Harry Potter attractions.
This comment had my exact thoughts lol, removing things like the preshow from rise would just lessen the experience (same thing as removing stretching room from haunted mansion), it’s just such an invalid point to state why a ride would be mediocre. Also I got a bit confused when he said rise should of gone slower through the scenes, when it’s literally supposed to be a fast paced prison break story lol
When I was in the ride the first time, I had to sit on the back seat on the right side and the screen looked very small and does not look very immersive to me. I am blind in my left eye and I have a visual impairment in my right eye. Either I look at the buttons or look at the small screen and I won't be riding that ride again unlike Star Tours.
Are you speaking about Smugglers?
@@PoseidonEntertainment What? I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm referring to a 6-seat ride in the Star Wars ride where there are buttons for one side of the seats.
@@graysonpeddie This isn't the ride that this video is about
This guy just hates huh
Thanks for a great video, and I agree with pretty much every point you hit. I feel like I should mention that the "multiple pre-show" concept goes all the way back to "Star Trek: The Experience" in Las Vegas, which in my mind is still THE most immersive ride/show/attraction ever created. I completely believed that I was in the Star Trek universe and on the Enterprise-D when I first experienced that attraction. Despite all the new technology, Rise never really felt fully immersive to me. I rode it for the first time about a month ago, and the friends who took me pointed out more than a few malfunctioning show elements. Having previously been a cast member at Walt Disney World for 14 years, I can't say that it surprised me.
7:51 Dude, really? This is your argument, Rise of the Resistance is overrated because a Harry Potter ride did it first? I can't with these people anymore. Its obvious that this person can't stand people praising this ride because they hate anything Disney Star Wars (because Godforbid we give Disney Star Wars credit for anything).
For real, it doesn't make the ride bad. People just want to hate on disney star wars.
You have raised some very solid points about this attraction, I did it once during Covid and I thought it was my 2nd favorite dark ride ever (Tower of Terror on TOP). I thought the trackless dark ride was super cool but you had a great point on how they don’t use it very well. The only point that I disagree with is that the ride is too sensory overload and you don’t have time to take in the scenes. While that is a good point, the ride wouldn’t fit the story so well becuase the story is a high intensity escape from the star cruiser thing. I don’t know much about Star Wars or the story of the ride but that is the general idea I got from it.
George Lucas wasn’t impressed either.
When has he ever looked impressed? 😅
I don't blame him. He hasn't been impressed with much of what Disney has done to his franchise.
I think both Disney and Universals efforts of preshows owe a great nod to the now defunct Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. Here you were "beamed" aboard the Enterprise in a surprise special effect dating as far back as 2004. It was amazing and I miss it!
Possibly, but it also makes sense. If you can't get people through the lines any more quickly, although both parks have made efforts to reduce the wait times, the next best thing is to make waiting in the line as engaging as possible. It's one of the great failings of Space Mountain as it has one of the worst lines to stand in as well as one of the longer lines in the park, and no lightning lane without paying a ridiculous amount of money. (When I was there, it was literally $25 a rider to use that lightning lane)
Once they decided to focus the Star Wars land entirely on the sequel trilogy, which I personally hated, I lost all interest in going to Disneyworld to experience this for myself. Since then, they've all but destroyed the franchise (except for Mando) for me that I've cancelled D+ and won't bother with anything Disney has their hand in, even the Mandalorian which I've really enjoyed.
Disney Star Wars has been very hit or miss for me lol, not to the point I’d never go to Disney World again (because I do think Galaxy’s Edge is a 5/10 land), or cancel my Disney+ subscription, but honestly I feel you as a Star Wars fan lol. Besides Mando, Rogue One, Visions, and S7 of Clone Wars, Andor and Tales of The Jedi are great imo, and finally another thing I’ve enjoyed from Disney Star Wars. Only took a few more tries lol
@@NinthShinigami I'll be hard pressed to jump back on board with anything Disney, even if it's highly rated by critics and fans alike. That said I really enjoyed the Mando' and it will be hard to pass on the next season, we shall see.
Other than the sequel trilogy, I'm actually glad that Star Wars was given new life at Disney. I enjoyed Rogue One and Solo and I think that a lot of the criticisms thrown at the shows have been over-blown. Despite their flaws, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan were generally pretty enjoyable with a lot of great moments. Andor has also been incredible, with actual effort put into creating an Emmy worthy script.
I disagree. I think rides with this kind of multiphase format are fun and it feels like you're in a movie.
Good point about single path trackless rides.... From when I first heard of trackless rides I thought they would be great because they could make subtle or interesting changes to the ride simply by reprogramming the tracks. This could be done like every year or two to change up the ride experience. Kinda like they've done with Star Tours, but with more mobile rides. Unfortunately, the reality is once the track is set up they never change it. So much lost opportunity. Sad.
They have done that on some of their rides. Hong Kong's Mystic Manor (Their replacement for the Haunted Manor) does have 2 slightly different paths that the cars take through the manor. In Rise, there is a slightly different experience depending upon whether you're on one "track" or the other. But, it's subtle enough that I wouldn't blame people for not noticing.
I think in the future, one of the great benefits of the design will simply be to allow for more riders to load at any given time as Disney doesn't use the moving platforms that show up at Universal Studios more recent rides.
Always excited to see when you upload. Keep up the good work man. Love your content
I have to agree with a lot of this, and add a few anecdotes of my own. I’ve been on the ride in Orlando twice (Dec 2020 and Dec 2021). In Dec 2020, there was some kind of technical problem with the ride when we got into the Star Destroyer area and they held us in the hallway for about a half hour before the ride continued. In 2021 it was worse, the scene with BB-8 and Rey was just not working. No sound, no dialogue, just BB-8 rolling in and out of the scene. And then the whole shuttle/Star Destroyer portion was just completely skipped and no one told us why or gave us any warning. It was horrible and if I hadn’t seen the whole ride in the past, I wouldn’t have know what was going on at all.
Short version, it’s a cool concept, but its so unreliable (STILL) that it’s definitely not worth waiting in line for hours to do it since you don’t know if you’ll even see the whole thing or not.
I'm glad you explained this, I think it's important to analyze what's being done and how it's being done so we can try to understand things. I personally enjoy animatronics, and immersion, and I'm not really a fan of pre-shows when they're used excessively.
What would you think if they added capacity to the Rise of Resistance? It seems like most people that go to Hollywood Studios can't enjoy the ride, which is kind of ridiculous and it's actually affecting the capacity of the entire Hollywood Studios theme park. I think they should either change the track so more cars can fit, or just get rid of the cars and change the vehicles altogether so that more people can go on it.
I don't know if they can really add capacity to the ride itself. However, the larger issue is that Hollywood Studios lacks capacity in general. Disney built a handful of expensive rides, patted themselves on the back and then made the claim that demand is too high, so they need to raise prices. Yet, Galaxy's Edge is the quiet area of Disneyland. There are what, 9 entire rides in Hollywood Studios? The park still needs major help. Part of what makes Rise so popular is that there just isn't enough to draw the crowds away from it.
@@PoseidonEntertainment As crazy as it sounds, I would be willing to tear down the entire Rise of the Resistance track system and replace it with an Omnimover vehicle type like the Haunted Mansion, that way thousands of more people could ride the ride in one day. As it stands now, it's just a poorly-designed ride, with a 5-hour standby line and virtual queuing and this is not going to change ever if we continue with the ride in its current form. The ride is too good and at the same time too small of a capacity for everyone to enjoy it. It's like building a very good ride, but only 1/10 of the people that go to the theme park can ride on it. That's not how it should be. Instead of walking through different pre-shows, just have it all be rooms full of animatronics with an omnimover vehicle.
Think of how much money they waste trying to maintain the park reservation system, paying the app developers and the server costs, that's probably why they can't let in too many guests into the park, because the bandwidth in the park can't handle too many people. It's cheaper to just have cast members ringing up guests for food and use paper fastpasses with no need for phones. I think they should just build high-capacity attractions and then let in as many people as can fit with no reservations. The park currently "feels" crowded because people are virtual queuing, and standing outside in the theme park walkways instead of being inside of a high-capacity ride or standing in a standby queue.
I agree on both fronts. While I think the rides are “fine” I think they are definitely overhyped and not worth the 2 hour wait to ride either one of them. The post I’d wait for them is probably 30-45 minutes for them.
Now in saying that: could you imagine if a group of dedicated imagineers used the trackless dark ride system for the Haunted Mansion? A sense of spirits possessing doom buggies as they explore the mansion and a big finale with Grim Grinning ghosts as they dance and interact with the ghosts? Idk just thought of it and could be fun.
Keep up the good work Poseidon!
I think that sounds like a solid idea. If trackless technology were around during Eisner's reign, I think that the industry would look very different. I get that this is kind of what Mystic Manor is intended to be, but a full-blown trackless Haunted Mansion is an excellent idea. I can imagine some really interesting scenarios in the Leota séance scene.
FINALLY SOMEONE TO SAY SOMETHING. Nothing happens on this ride. You just get swifted around and sure there’s a lot to look at but nothing happens
That's an oversimplification, but in general, yeah that's how I feel about it as well.
I like looking at the spectacle. basically a roller coaster to me
Yeah no you guys are literally the only ones with an opinion. Thank god this is out in the air now.
@@Ner0sys7 nah, people are just too scared to oppose the majority
You've mentioned in an earlier video they should have used classic Star Wars characters. I went on this ride and didn't know the characters at all at the time. Also, I didn't realize the same guy (Kyler Ren) was chasing us around. Seems like a great attraction but not in the long run.
19:20 Not Star Wars but I can relate to this experience. When my family went to Disney World for the second time ever this year, my mom was so psyched to ride Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom. We waited about 2 hours to get on (and an unusually long time inside the small pre-show room) only to find that the audio for the ride was cutting in and out! It sounded like listening to the ride through a spinning fan! The haptic feedback for the ride still all worked and my mom enjoyed that but man how disappointing to have the most beautiful and stunning ride in the park to be kind of ruined because of the audio
I'm just overall curious if this was a one time thing for us or others have experienced this as well because I haven't heard anyone talk about it
This was really impressive… when done over 20 years ago in a Las Vegas hotel and called Star Trek.
I felt the pieces I really wanted to experience, the hangar deck and AT-ATs were rushed thru. Having you escape on foot, passing thru these spaces, then managing to escape on the Falcon like Smugglers would have made a much better overall experience.
The prisoner transport carts did not feel like they belonged in the Star Wars world, whereas the jeeps in Indiana or boats in Pirates make perfect sense to the story being told.
Ridden this once, via Lightning Lane, and won’t feel like I’m missing anything if I never ride again. Compare that against my 7 year old daughter getting off the decades old Space Mountain physically unable to contain her excitement, begging to ride again immediately.
One of these rides was a good long term investment for Disney, one is not.
I personally thought that the ride had it's moment, like when the shuttle door opens onto the bay and going under the AT-ATs, but I do think that the use of real actors does cause a bit of trouble, the ones we had were quite good, no complaints with their performances, but it was a really uncomfortable mix of more or less professional actors and folks riding that were barely pretending to go along with it. I kind of wish they could have somehow segregated out the people that wanted to be a bit more immersive from those that were going to do a lot of joking around. (I'm not suggesting that folks be required to be serious cosplayers, but it does break the immersion significantly if you've got people taking a bunch of flash photos and getting selfies in the shuttle bay)
I was actually going to cite this. The Star Trek Experience was extremely impressive by merging live, motion simulator, and screen elements. Actors participating in the experience really made you feel as though you were *experiencing* it instead of just riding it. I remember the first time I was standing on the bridge of Enterprise. I could TOUCH the experience. 20 years later, I still feel like I experienced something special. After doing the Rise of the Resistance, I don't remember most of it. The only thing I do remember is the large room with the Stormtrooper statues. For the time spent to get on the ride, I'm not sure I'd be eager to do it again whereas I'd love to do the ST: Experience one more time because it really was.
@@robertschmaltz351 Star Trek also had the added bonus of photo ops where you could step onto the Enterprise bridge or the Borg ship in between 'shows' and get your photo taken. So not only did you get to immerse yourself via a walkthrough, you could then double down by getting to actually sit in the captain's chair, (or the first officer's, or the helm, or really all parts of the bridge were open for photos) and further experience what being in Star Trek was like.
I mean those transports are a part of Star Wars, they can be seen in multiple shows and even the movies I think.
I totally disagree with this assessment. I've now ridden Rise something like 20 times or so and I love it every time, I make sure to ride every time I'm in DisneyLand or Disney world. For me some of the other rides mentioned - Ratatouille and Gringots just leave me cold as they are just ride vehicles moving between giant screens where you watch a short movie. Ratatouille does improve things a bit with some of the elements of sense as you noted and also some real environments (like Gringots with nice walls and such) but that is not nearly enough to overcome the drop in excitement at each movie section you inevitably stop at... I've been on Ratatouille, Gringots, and Mickeys runaway railway and after one or two rides each I've never bothered riding again even though I've been in the parks a number of times. Yes Rise could use a bit more elements like heat in parts, but you totally discount the tremendous number of practical items and minimal screen use that keep the ride feeling real.. you are seeing a real wall get cut open, real probe droid, travelling all around real AT-ATs, blaster shots seeming to deform walls, Kylo is all real (in non B-mode) and there is one element which is fantastic, near the end when the hull gets breached and there is a huge gust of wind which is very much a sensory element. Also they did an amazing job showing you the pod across the way getting dropped just before yours so the drop is even more realistic with your mind conditioned to expect it. Yes Rise has been a maintenance issue but only a handful of times have I had B-modes for any of the elements (though I do miss the fully moving cannons, and which they would bring that back). As for the trackless ride not being used well there too I have to disagree - the first mixing room would not be nearly as impressive with real tracks, and tracks would let you know where the vehicle was going the whole time instead of the surprise about constantly going down this hallway or that as you try to escape. And near the end as Kylo grabs the vehicles and shakes them around, there again fantastic use of trackless vehicles... and I really thought you just totally ignored how awesome the combination of drop with motion sim is at the very end. And the queue is cool even if you don't know the backstory (though the backstory does make it more awesome) as they have fun racks of Rebel gear to look at. Basically all around I've found very few rides to be the equal to this, and certainly not the ones you listed as in the same caliber where I'd rather ride Mr Toad any day of the week than Ratatouille.
Many of those elements could still be done with tracked vehicles though, especially with something similar to the cars used in attractions such as Transformers or Spider-Man. Rise seems to have been built around the sightlines of the trackless vehicles, but I can't imagine that it would be difficult to adapt it for something else and still have you not see the track.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I just do not see how that is possible with as much backtracking as the ride does, and the fundamental need to be traveling through Star Destroyer halls in the vehicle which are inherently flat. It's not like you can throw in some hills to hide things ahead of and to the side of you. Not to mention that using a tracked instead of trackless vehicle would inherently violate that sensory aspect of the ride, because you'd be able to feel you were on a track, instead of a vehicle piloted by a droid that was really rolling through halls on its own power.
Haha yesss you put Popcorn Revenge in! While I do still find Rise of the Resistance to be an attraction worth some level of praise, I do partially agree in that there is a lot of lost potential in how they could have used the trackless technology and the lack of animatronics. It would make the experience worse to switch out the story and layout for a tracked system but it could be done. Currently, my favourite ride is Mystic Manor, for its music, theme/theming and use of a trackless system. I spent a large part of this year trying to get my head around how you can actually use the trackless technology, and it seems like you have kind of alluded to that it is best used in atmospheric rides with a slow pace that are not “chaos” after chaos. Its been fun watching your channel grow since your first video!
Were you the one that suggested Popcorn Revenge in that second video? Someone definitely introduced me to it, but I couldn't find the comment.
I had been on the ride before, and when I saw the wait was like 60min one day I was there with my mom I took her on it.
Only for the preshow to just not be working. As in all the preshow. No Rey and BB8. No ship. We walked right through into some back hallway for cast members and then into the star destroyer area. And man without the preshow it was not fun. I had to explain the whole story to my mom for her to understand what was happening.
And also that Kylo Ren animatronic with the explosion behind him? It has never been working the times I've been on. It's always in B mode...
I was at DL for a week and it was working - I was at WDW for five weeks and the Kylo Witch of The West NEVER worked once.
I'll say this from the perspective of someone who frequently disagrees with you, and thinks you're often too harsh. I really don't think you're trying to be a contrarian, or a troll, which I see people accuse you off frequently in the comments. I think you make well thought out arguments that I don't always agree with and I don't think you ever make those arguments in bad faith. I really like your channel and I hope you keep doing what you're doing.
For Rise of the Resistance, I rode it twice this month - and I had only two major issues, the first was that the cast members weren't comfortable being intimidating and seemed to deliberately undercut the tension with jokes. Someone used a flash on there camera and was met with one saying 'its called the dark side for a reason, no flash' - and then the second ride as we were made to line up, the people in line were told to face me and my S.O. we were both dressed fully in black, and the actor took note that we were dressed dark like him and said 'they look cool' - which is sweet of the actor don't get me wrong - but it stops feeling like an imperial officer.
The other issue for me was that the big reveal of the star destroyer, the stormtroopers reaaaally felt like mannequins to me - and (although this can't be helped) everyone is so enamoured with the room, us included that people are more inclined to take photographs, which again, I was guilty of, so it kind of makes the experience less imposing.
Other than that though, I did genuinely enjoy the ride as an exciting dark ride
One of the issues I have with "immersive" lands is the expectation that the ride attendants play a role. The idea is interesting, but really fades over time. I noticed this with Pandora when it first opened, as the cast members would use Na'vi greetings that generally confused people they interacted with. As the land has aged, I've come to see far less of this. The same applied with Toy Story Land, as cast members would awkwardly address people as "toys", leading to a lot of confusion. In regards to Universal, I haven't seen any team members use any themed language in The Wizarding World post-2020. Galaxy's Edge maintains its interactive theming for now, but I've definitely seen it slipping. The only place it seems to really stay consistent is in Oga's.
@@PoseidonEntertainment it's an awkward catch 22 - because you could hire actors like you'll get on murder mystery nights, but then you're hiring a bunch of actors to work checkout tills and as ride attendants - on the other hand getting your regular staff to try to play parts in a world and be consistent and engaging isn't really a fair ask of them either. Oga's it always feels like everyone is having fun, which probably helps more - I doubt they have to deal with as much nonsense from guests as other staff members
Yeah, the first time I rode it I really enjoyed the experience, but the reride-ability just isn’t there. Once the novelty wears off and you know what’s going to happen it’s just a tour through some well-decorated rooms
I really love your honest takes on the attractions, keep up the great videos and appreciate your takes
Curious to hear what people think about Disney's Mystic Manor in Hong Kong?
I've always wanted to go; it looks like one of the better new rides from the Imagineers that seamlessly blends animatronics with new immersive tech. As far as I know, it also doesn't rely on pre-shows and has an interesting use for the trackless system.
It's one of Disney's best - it builds and builds with various gags almost harkening back to the original Museum of the Weird concept for the HM. The final climax show scene with the tornado is BRILLIANT and it's a shame Disney copied it like eight years later for M&MRRR. And for the life of me, I STILL don't know how they do the sparkling magic effect in MM.
I haven't been on it, but I have to admit I've lost interest (though I'm sure I'll ride it eventually). As Disney has continued premiering more and more trackless rides, their appeal has been lost to me. Mystic Manor seems better than what's in the U.S., but I'm also seeing other trackless rides that appear to be more interesting. Also, Europa Park opening a trackless dark ride that's also a dining experience? That's definitely pushing creative to the next level.
Mystic Manor also has multiple ride paths, or at least possible scenes that can be experienced. Hunny Hunt is still kind of the perfect trackless ride, though.
I mean… a bit overrated? Yes. But mediocrity? No way, man!
I can't really say that I view it as any more interesting than Gringotts or Transformers. It's just a lot of stuff thrown at you for the sake of action.
@@PoseidonEntertainment The thing is… Most people I’ve ever encountered would say Gringott’s and Transformers are very good attractions! Usually they reserve the ranking of mediocre for attractions like Kong, or even the Simpsons. (And then the word “bad” is applied to the likes of the Fast and the Furious.)
@@PoseidonEntertainment I totally understand what makes an attraction great to you, and I do mostly agree. But… mediocre, man, that’s rough!
I agree that the ride is overrated, and I agree with a lot of your points, but some of them seem a little much. The queue is garbage, but once you start the pre shows it’s great, and it feels dismissive to just call it a gringotts knockoff. I think if the ride actually worked everytime, it would be a favorite for me
I'm not calling it a knock-off, but rather making the point that people claim that there's nothing like it, when that's clearly not the case.
You do realize that the guy who built the wizarding world is the same guy who built galaxy’s edge.
Trowbridge's skills are either overblown or Disney knocked him down a peg. You would think with him at the helm, Galaxy's Edge would have been better.
I go to both Universal and Disney on a regular basis (pass holder to both parks). I’m not a Star Wars fan, but ROR IS an experience. My issue with Universal’s rides are you are in the same vehicle on every ride (just with a different paint job) and the screen in a small screen with a crappy projector like the kind you saw in the 1990’s. I feel Disney has higher quality projectors, and it covers a greater field of view. Look to the side of US’s other 3D rides and you won’t see anything but a wall. Disney is 360 degrees. Universal isn’t even consistent on both parks. Hollywood is absolutely boring. You could get through there in half a day, and they never update their rides.
I know for a fact that you’re not saying that gringotts has multiple pre shows. Do really think an elevator simulator would count as a pre show. And I often hear describe rides as “experiences” in your videos.
i hate when people make the proclamation that “oh if you remove this it’s not good” like that’s such a cop out argument
The point is that the pre-shows do the heavy lifting for an otherwise forgettable experience.
@@PoseidonEntertainment but the pre shows are part of the experience. Besides rather that than the entirety of the ride be forgettable like Gringotts. How Universal made something with such a great queue into a boring screen experience baffles me. Looking forward to the “Why Cosmic Rewind is Overrated” video where you spend half the time comparing it to Gringotts though lmao
Bruh, I couldn't agree more. When we went on it on our last family trip, I was so freaking excited to get on this. Everyone had been saying that this was the definitive best attraction ever hands down. We get in line and that cave section of the queue and the ship with beck got me super excited. The doors to the ship open , and I am just like woah, look at how big this room is. Then I take a minute and I'm just like, huh, there is nothing going on here, and absolutely no detail. But I decided, hey, the ride is the part that matters, it is going to be great. Then we wait in an empty hallway for a while, then stand around outside our cell a little bit, then get into the cell. Same thing, big room, no detail. Get on the ride and it is the same as all of the rest of these. Big empty rooms with no detail. I come off super disappointed, and decide radiator springs is still my favorite ride ever with a tie for second being Indy or splash mountain. I even liked guardians and forbidden journey more than this. Everyone has called me a mad man, yet I stand by my opinion. My points of argument are too true to deny.
The people calling you a mad man are simply people who can’t accept people have different opinions, perspectives, and views on things. I agree with yours tho, so I guess that makes us mad men lol 🤝
EVEN GUARDIANS??? Cosmic rewind is far better than radiator springs or Splash, not even close!!!
Big empty rooms with no details? What details that were supposed to be in a star cruiser were missing?
@@naf2038 it’s subjective my guy. I’d disagree with that sentiment personally… we’re welcome to agree to disagree
@@NinthShinigami We are of course and we do it seems, majorly! 😁
I personally think this ride is as amazing as everyone says it is especially when I went with my brother and my dad but you do have some good points and I respect your opinion
Yeah, it's certainly still a good experience. My issue is that people treat it as the best thing to ever be created when it still has some major flaws.
Yea, I'm gonna file this one under someone trying to be different. Something does not have to reinvent the wheel to be considered good.
The point isn't that they needed to invent something new. The point is that I'm tired of seeing people praising it as if it's uniquely Disney.
@@PoseidonEntertainmentSo does Universal. Dont get me wrong they have amazing rides, but they are pretty much the same(screen base attraction and the tipically story that something went wrong and they need your help)
Great video, granted I will not say this is the best trackless dark ride (it's not) it is loaded to the brim with things going on, like great sound and eye popping physical visuals, close to perfect screen effects and quality Audio animatronics. But in comparison to Tokyo Disney's Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast ride I feel that the trackless ride vehicles here for Rise of the Resistance is completely under utilized.
Eh, I can't say that the blaster fire is very convincing. Perhaps it's because I've been on it multiple times, but it seems very constrained by the geography of the rooms. I think my primary issue with the ride is that on repeat ride-throughs, its flaws become very apparent.
@@PoseidonEntertainment Maybe it would have been more thrilling if Rise of the Resistance had more chaos and included more interaction between the ride vehicles and maybe some animatronic Droids and/or Stormtroopers.
@@bjvincent8786 That's definitely Rise's biggest weakness- a lot of the hallways just feel empty, and needed more bad-guys lurking around. Also wish it had more practical fire/smoke/rubble effects to communicate the ship being damaged.
We had the Fast Pass for Rise. I was so excited to see the pre show but we were all rushed into this hallway, went through and door and there’s the room of Stormtroopers. We didn’t get to take pictures of the room and we were just rushed into the whole experience and it left a sour taste in my mouth because of the whole ride.
I believe it showed in the concept art that you were supposed to originally feel the heat when the light savers came crashing down. Perhaps it may have been cut from the budget. I must say though, universal Orlando definitely does it better. I especially like the Senseury effect when you encounter the dragon on the escape from Ringot. Because it breathes smoke at you.
I don't recall that being a thing. It would be a shame if it had been planned and cut though.
I strongly disagree. This is a very cool attraction.
I wanted to ride RoTR so much at first, but after about five rides, I'm pretty much done with it. While much of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is also screen-based, there are enough 3D elements, and the movement of the ride vehicle is so much more 3D (not just movement along a track), that I want to ride it every visit. Disney is still great at marketing, but the actual park experience almost never lives up to the hype. I still love going to Disney for runDisney races, enjoying the food and drinks, and indulging in nostalgia, though it is sad seeing the shabby state of the parks. Cosmic Rewind is a pleasurable ride, though the pre-show is tedious.
Tedious and its also annoying that people run to the side the hallway is to get infront of a couple of people
@@DJlamuzica yes, that is becoming a real issue!
Cosmic Rewind is very obviously missing the finale animatronic characters that were meant to be installed at the end of the ride.
I still think it is funny that both pre-shows feature Domhnall Gleeson. Just a fluke, but it does connect them even more for comparison in my mind.
We’ve ridden both rides now and I feel like the pre-show of Rise was the most successful part. One of times we rode we got a great batch of actors and it just sold it. The ride itself was fine. Not great, but fine. I remember just how dead the energy felt with the few animatronics that were there, but barely moved. The Kylo one was great though. Weirdly the thing that left the biggest impression was driving under the AT-AT.
I loved Gringotts. The screens were a little more obvious, but it felt a little fresher despite being the older ride.
Great take on this. We went to Disney Anaheim and had a great time. But we saw that Rise had a short wait. So we ran over and did it. Only thing, we only were put in the pods where you fly over a planet and shoot. The rest, I guess, was closed off. No one told us that. I only realized we'd be given 1/3 of RISE only after we got back home and watched one of your vids!
With both Runaway Railway and Rise using the same type of technology, I always found Runaway more amusing of a ride, despite some of the flaws of pacing. It was a lot of negative spacing comparing it to the multiple smaller rooms of Runaway, and I felt like the elements that were huge such as the blaster damage and Kylo in the elevator were too little and spread out in comparison to the scale of the attraction.
I can't say that I understand your perspective. I definitely view Runaway Railway as riding around a lot of empty square rooms with projections on the walls.
Hit job. There is just no way this can be considered a bad ride.
Riiight…nobody may have a dissenting opinion…
I don't see how it's overrated. I see why you don't like it all that much but I can definitely see why it would wow the average park goer. Not every dark ride needs to be a slow experience and Rise of Resistance is based off of a series with the word war in it's title that features many action sequences and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is based off of a slapstick cartoon series so the fast paced nature of both these rides doesn't surprise me at all. And why can't preshows be part of the ride? I don't see how in an area of the park where everything is supposed to be immersive mandatory preshows are surprising or somehow poor design. Sure that may come with some downsides but I don't really see that as a con on the ride as a whole. Also Universal and Disney have been competing and borrowing ideas from each other for years that's nothing new. Just because one ride did it first doesn't make every other ride that does it inferior by comparison. I can understand why seeing so many similar tricks in theme park rides that people are praising none the less can be frustrating but is it too much to put that aside? Overall if your vast knowledge of theme parks hinders your enjoyment of them then I just feel bad for you dude:/
The first time I rode it I was very impressed with everything saw and felt. My family and I were able to ride it again a second time on our trip and although it still worked the same way - no malfunctions - I couldn't help but feel let down. If I never ride it again, I will not feel like I am missing anything. The same thing happened with Escape from Gringotts, only in that case we rode it back to back because I had a cute kid with me that had one of their cast members give us a fast pass to ride it again. So maybe the back-to-back nature dampened my ride pleasure/excitement, I did feel let down on that second ride as well. It's just a shame that Disney doesn't seem to want to invest in their parks anymore, which will probably keep me and my family away, as opposed to going every two to three years as we have in the past. Thank you for another excellent video essay!
It’s a very good, well produced ride, but gave me no such impact as I had when visited the first Epcot Center rides, back in the 80’s, for example.
I agree with some of your points. This ride is at least fun, but it is not new or innovative. When I first rode the Harry Potter rides many years ago, my first thought was, “Why doesn’t Disney already have this kind of ride technology? Aren’t they the leader and the best at this?” It boggled my mind and now makes me sad at how far they have fallen.
Also, I would definitely be that guest who is pretty upset if I waited for hours or paid $20 per person to not wait hours, just to ride a broken, un-maintained ride. As it is now, it breaks down constantly at Disneyland, furthering everyone’s wait, while it takes a long time to get going again. In the beginning, people chalked it up to expecting such because it is a new ride (which I don’t think should ever be the case - if it’s not totally good to go, don’t open it yet!). But that excuse doesn’t hold water anymore.
If all of the different components don’t work together as planned, it wouldn’t even be the great experience that many people have.
I think your opinion about adding some sensory elements, which there are several good opportunities for in this ride, proves their underutilization in this ride technology.
Another Excellent video! Keep them coming!
I'll disagree, in that I think expecting new attractions to break down frequently is more than fair. There's just so many components and issues that won't present themselves until you put people on them or until the attraction gets a fair amount of wear and tear. With that being said though, the issue is not achieving more consistency over time. Hagrid's is certainly still unreliable, but it's in a much better place than when it first opened.
Lol at the number of times he says something along the lines of "You may disagree but I think I'm right"
At least Disney has a B mode. Universal doesn’t. I was on that Forbidden Journey ride and it broke down on me twice on the same ride through. They paused the screen with Hermione in the forest with the spiders and the second break down had the dementors half frozen on the screen. Actually, all but two Universal rides broke down at one point or another during my visit, which was super frustrating. I wouldn’t be so quick to put Universal on a pedestal.
My main memory of the ride is just how... Sparse it felt. So much trackless space that simply felt like moving around in an empty warehouse... I just wish Disney would reinvest in populating rides with genuinely dynamic dioramas of animatronics, smells, and elements e.g. Wind effects and water !
That's how I'm starting to feel about trackless rides in general. It was cool when they were new and there were just a few of them around the world, but more often than not, they're pretty boring. The only one I'm really interested in is Symbolica.
Hard disagree. While I understand that not everyone loves Star Wars and a lot of Star Wars fans don’t even like the sequel trilogy, the ride itself is a technical marvel in its own right. You can say what you want about it being “soulless” but if it were the same exact ride, but themed to something other than something as polarizing as Star Wars, no one would be complaining.
Commenting right after "you probably think this is clickbait" and before watching the rest: I eagerly clicked on this video to hear what is said because from all the videos of this ride I've seen, I cannot figure out why people will wait so long for it. Though that's also what I think when I see the Avatar ride, but people do say that one's amazing.
To me the Avatar ride is much less fun as it's basically one giant screen ride, like Soaring. It also doesn't help that the Avatar ride makes me incredibly ill from even just a single ride. I had to close my eyes during half of it and even then it was a close thing. It does have an amazing queue though and the Pandora land is impressively themed (especially at night).
Great video. Although Tokyo Disneyland is operated by OLC. WDI Imagineers at the Walt Disney Company in the US (Glendale and Orlando) develop ALL the attractions in Tokyo. They indeed should be considered and are “true Disney attractions “, even if OLC pays for it.
I think the reason the pre-shows are so effective on most people isn’t novelty, but narrative framing. Each pre-show noticeably advances the story of the attraction, and you leave each in a different status than you arrived.
The Rey scene establishes the stakes and sends you off on a mission. Instead of being able to carry it out, your transport is captured in the next scene, and you’re tasked with surviving and keeping the rebel plans secret. You spend some time under the control of the First Order, until suddenly the Resistance rescues you, and your focus becomes escape.
It reminds me of the arc of Poseidon’s Fury, except you get to go on a ride at the end instead of watching the world’s slowest sword fight. RotR’s pre-shows do a great job capturing the feel of a Star Wars sequence, with reversals and shifting stakes (see: the Death Star infiltration sequence in Episode IV).
Compare to Gringotts, where every pre-show is just one step along the “guided tour” that Bill Weasley and the goblins are taking you on. The reversals only start once you’re on the ride, and the appearance of Voldemort and his crew feels sudden and nonsensical as a result. Honestly I find the Gringotts pre-shows tedious for this reason, and wish I could skip them, while RotR’s still excite me.
You make good points here. It has definitely changed my perspective on this a bit.
I like how you thumbs up all the comments that agree with you so that it buries all the criticism under piles of people stroking your ego. Just a general observation.
I don't think you know how RUclips works.
The first time I rode it? Thought it was the best ride at Disney. The immersion, especially when the cannons worked and your cart would move back and forth to avoid being hit, added another level of thrill in addition to the drop at the end.
But when I returned a year later and rode it twice, the cannons, like you mentioned, stopped working and the ride felt formulaic and dull. After you ride it once, you’ve ridden it all, and there’s nothing necessarily new or exciting. I think what contributes to it is also that there was no emotional depth to the ride with the exception of nostalgia for those who grew up with Star Wars (but this ride doesn’t even feature much of, if any, of the original films). When you compare it to FoP, there’s a connection to the banshee and a meaningful story behind the experience that weaves itself into the queue and the entire land itself.
It’s unfortunate and saddening to see Disney on a decline with the quality of its rides. It’s fun, but beyond that, what else?
To elaborate, something that I didn't mention in the video was how I feel that Rise uses original trilogy music as a crutch. Sure, there's themes for Rey, the Resistance and for Kylo Ren, but there's so much OT music associated with iconic moments from those films scattered around the ride. It seems to be trying to do some emotional heavy lifting where the ride itself otherwise fails to do so.
I'd love to see one of these where you can play 2 sides. Star wars could work well here, where you can ride trying to help 1 side or the other. Assume that rise of the resistance is mostly the same, but there's a parallel ride of people helping track you down. Maybe you get to shoot harmless bits of light at eachother. Each get a semi positive ending (resistance escapes, but the first order knows enough of their location and recalls you to send in troopers/ wait them out). Being trackless means that 2 rides could share parts of the track. Animatronics can move in separate ways depending on the group.