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What To Do When Rise of The Resistance Breaks Down

Rise Of The Resistance is the newest ride at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. But what happens if it breaks down while you are in the queue? That happened to me — and here is how I got back on within the hour.

Rise of the resistance breaks down

Rise of the Resistance is the newest ride, and trust me when I tell you Rise of the Resistance is worth hours of waiting. However, nothing is perfect. And every ride breaks down. Even at the most magical place on Earth. So what happens when you have secured yourself a boarding pass and you are waiting in the queue for your experience, and Rise of the Resistance breaks down?

Well, this happened to me and I had no idea what to expect. I scoured the interwebs and couldn’t find anything. So after the whole ordeal was over with, I wanted to let you guys know what to expect just in case it happens to you. 

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You Might Get A Behind The Scenes Look

As I stated in my review of Rise of the Resistance, it is more like an experience — with 4 separate parts. You will FEEL like you are in a Star Wars movie. Until you are in the thick of it, feeling nervous and being interrogated by the First Order, and the ride breaks down. I knew something was wrong when Resistance members rushed by us, while we were supposed to be captured on a Star Destroyer, and there was no interaction between the cast members. 

Eventually we were rushed through a backstage area, told no cameras were allowed, and led to a back door exit. Even though it did ruin the magic a little bit, it was kind of cool to see what the behind the scenes looked like (a bunch of hallways and doors basically).  

wdw multiple experience fastpass

You Are Given A Multiple Experience FastPass

As we exited Rise of the Resistance, the cast memebers tapped our magic bands with their tablets to give us a multiple experiences fastpass. Now, if you have never received one of these before, they are pretty amazing. You can use them to walk up to most attractions (sometimes there are limits — like the same park, and newer rides are not included) at whatever time you want, and ride the ride. 

This one, of course, includes Rise of the Resistance. But please be super careful while waiting for the ride to come back up. Why? Because you can easily use that fastpass for something else, and lose your chance to get back on Rise of the Resistance. Normally, you can use a scheduled fastpass 5 minutes before your window starts, and even up to 10 minutes after.

multiple experience fastpass

Don’t tempt that if Rise of the Resistance breaks down on you and you are given one of these. Because your magic band could pull that one instead and then… you could be out of luck. Although I imagine customer service would be able to help you out, but I wouldn’t chance it.

Rise of the Resistance Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

(Matt Stroshane, photographer)

Keep Watching My Disney Experience

If Rise of the Resistance breaks down, how will you know it is back up? Unfortunately there isn’t an easy way to do this. They can’t send you a text or notification, so you just have to watch the My Disney Experience app, or walk by the ride every now and then to check. 

We were told by a friendly cast member to check the current boarding groups as soon as we walked out — it was boarding groups 21 to 41. We went on Star Tours (which has new scenes for The Rise of Skywalker that are AMAZING) and then checked again. Lucky us! They were currently boarding groups 28 to 41, which meant it was probably running again. Be sure to pay the most attention to that first number, because they will likely be playing catch up.

I had heard it can take about an hour to reset the ride, but that wasn’t the case with us. It was only down for about 20-25 minutes. We walked back over and were able to scan our fastpasses, and go up the fastpass queue. This time it did not break down, and of course, the whole family loved it!

rise of the resistance stormtroopers

Guests flee First Order Stormtroopers onboard a Star Destroyer as part of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the groundbreaking new attraction opening Dec. 5, 2019, inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida and Jan. 17, 2020, at Disneyland Park in California. (Matt Stroshane, photographer)

My Overall Experience With The Break Down

It is never ideal to be on a ride when it breaks down. Luckily we were not on a transport yet, but we were about to enter the interrogation room. We were already “in it”, if that makes sense. My youngest daughter, who was dressed like a Stormtrooper, was literally shaking and hiding behind me.

Even though that broke up the flow, she got right back in to that place later. Don’t worry, as soon the ride ended, she started chanting “AGAIN, AGAIN!”. We got a better interrogator the second time around anyways, and it was cool to see some of the behind the scenes stuff. 

So if Rise of the Resistance breaks down while you are there, don’t worry, Disney has you covered. My biggest tip would be keep an eye on those boarding groups so you can get back on as soon as possible. 

I used the tips I read from my friend Tania over at Lola Lambchops to secure a Rise of the Resistance Boarding Pass