Disney is continuing to work on increasing the hourly capacity of its signature ride, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and recent changes have brought in a lot more plexiglass and a trip to another planet.
Since reopening in mid-July, each pre-show has been limited to just a handful of guests, along with just one party per ride vehicle. The ride has struggled with capacity since it opened in 2019, and the the physical distancing requirements of COVID-19 have amplified the problem.
Boarding Groups continue to reach capacity within 10 seconds of becoming available, and many guests are unable to experience the attraction during their visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
For a complete look at the latest changes, see the video below from yesterday for a trip through the queue and full POV of the pre-shows and ride, and scroll down for more details of what’s new.
Outside of the attraction, operations is making much more use of available queuing space. The line often begins in Grand Avenue outside of Batuu, and once inside, it snakes around the area in-front of the ride entrance.
Physical distancing markers on the ground are dotted around the entire land.
To try to accommodate as many people in the queue as possible, and to keep them 6 feet apart, guests now go for a mid-story break out of Batuu and back to Earth for a trip to the Muppets overflow queue. See the video above for exactly when this occurs, but it’s roughly half way in the main Rise of the Resistance queue.
You even get a view of a bit of Studios history, with a look at part of the still standing Streets of America facade that is now hidden from normal view.
After queueing along the Muppet overflow queue, guests head back inside and are suddenly back in Batuu to continue the story.
Back inside and on-theme, new plastic dividers are now in place in the pre-show area, meaning many more guests can enter the room at one time.
The transport shuttle is now equipped with similar dividers, fitting many more guests in that was previously possible.
Depending where you happen to be positioned, it does impact your view of the animatronic figure and other effects on the transport.
The interrogation rooms are now equipped with 4 ground markers to accommodate up to 4 parties, which fits in with changes to the main ride vehicles.
Over the past few weeks Disney has been testing various types of plastic shielding on the main ride vehicles, and they have settled on a rigid panel to divide the front and back rows.
The new dividers mean two parties can now ride in a single ride vehicle, which is why there is now a need to accommodate up to 4 groups in the interrogation room.
It remains to be seen how the changes will work out and if Disney will be successful in getting more guests through the attraction. Boarding Groups have continued to reach capacity within 10 seconds since the new changes were introduced yesterday, and the total number of boarding groups loaded did not significantly change.
Article Posted:
Oct 29, 2020 / 11:53am ET