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Disney's Hollywood Studios | Star Wars Galaxy's Edge | 2019 Park Expansion

Ethan

Strata Poster
And then there's the cheesy "Great job guys!" bit at the end that they always do.
Cheesy, yes. But it is effective at finishing on a high? I'd say it certainly is. You're supposed to feel part of the narrative, so it makes perfect sense to me. It's also good for children as it's easy to understand and I imagine it would leave them more satisfied as they feel they've had a part in it all.
 

Kw6sTheater

Hyper Poster
Picky bastard alert...

As much as I think this looks stunning, I wish parks could find a way around the tired "You're a new recruit" method of storytelling.

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I agree; however, when you think about this concept compared to other storylines that seek to make riders feel integrated into them, you realize the true brilliance and easy-to-understand nature of the "new recruit" storytelling method. Although, it would be interesting to see a dark ride's story having the riders as the bad guys...
 

UKCoasterFan

Mega Poster
(spoiler)

The part of people getting into the transport, the video screens showing you are taking off, someone then stating you are being boarded, the transport doors opening and you being on a star destroyer with an army of storm troopers facing you looks SO good. ?
 

hendrixmarshall

Roller Poster
Picky Bastard Part Deux:

I read that there was supposed to be a dramatic sequence of being in a "Death Star" Bay. Giant window, life size TIE Fighters, legions of stormtroopers, etc. The Walker's actually shoot at you as well. Anyone remember that, or I'm a typical new recruit?

An why would you mount laser cannons inside anyways?
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I just watched the POV, and I must admit; that looks genuinely outstanding! One of the most impressive dark rides I've ever seen!

I've got to admit, I'm not sure if the whole forced participation thing is for me, but from a technical standpoint, the ride itself looks utterly fabulous!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
As this is open now, I'll unstick this. :)
 

Aaron Smith

Mega Poster
Watched the full video, ****, me.
Gladly...

Wait...

I've watched several POV's and it still makes me sick I was there 4 days before this ride opened. It looks absolutely stunning and I'm now plotting a return trip to Orlando next fall in order to get on this.
 

Pear

Strata Poster
I rode this on Monday. We got to the park at 6:30 AM and managed to get boarding group 40. The ride went down for about 2.5 hours and we got on around 11:30 ish which gave us enough time to ride other things.

This ride is insane. The immersion is never broken from beginning to end and even the preshow portions are incredible. The effects are all amazing and pulled off flawlessly and the ride movements are just thrilling enough to keep the ride from feeling too mild. Easily my favorite dark ride and definitely one of the best rides ever made. I was in awe the entire time and I'm still in shock by it right now.
 

Groot

Roller Poster
I rode this on Monday. We got to the park at 6:30 AM and managed to get boarding group 40. The ride went down for about 2.5 hours and we got on around 11:30 ish which gave us enough time to ride other things.

This ride is insane. The immersion is never broken from beginning to end and even the preshow portions are incredible. The effects are all amazing and pulled off flawlessly and the ride movements are just thrilling enough to keep the ride from feeling too mild. Easily my favorite dark ride and definitely one of the best rides ever made. I was in awe the entire time and I'm still in shock by it right now.

I have been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember. When they first announced this entire area, it scared me to my very core. I kept thinking, "What if the immersion isn't there? What if they don't get everything as perfect as I think it could be? What if it's just a big, cash-grabbing disappointment?" Well, I haven't even been to the new land yet, but from what I've seen from pictures, I couldn't have been more wrong.

And then the hype began to build on this ride, mostly thanks to Disney marketing. I thought to myself, "There's no way it's really worth all the money they put into it. There's no way it's gonna actually be that immersive." Once again, after seeing these reports from people that have ridden the ride, it seems as though I may have underestimated the power of Disney. I can't wait to visit some time in the, hopefully near, future.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
One little observation I have about this ride in relation to the newest Star Wars movie:
The synergy between the ride and the movie is pretty bad, to the point of "not sure how it could have been worse." The ride prominently feature the villains Kylo Ren and General Hux. But the newly released movie reveals that Kylo Ren leaves the Dark Side in the end (even sacrificing his life for the hero), and Hux dies a mole for the Resistance. I think these developments undermine the ride story a little, since if you've seen the movies, you learn that the baddies you encounter during the ride really aren't that bad in the end. And with the ubiquity of Star Wars, most people who'd ride the ride would at least be passingly familiar with how the story goes.

Kylo Ren and Hux were both really weak villains in a poorly planned trilogy, the legacy of which has already been written while the ride has barely opened. The film trilogy of the ride's setting will probably be remembered more for the tug-of-war between two directors and the lack of a coherent idea than for its actual story, which is bad enough in itself. But if Disney wants the ride to be relevant even a few years down the line, they have to continue marketing the trilogy, even though they come with the twists in Episode IX that contradict the idea of the ride.

It just goes to show why there should have been a plan for this trilogy from the get-go. The main actions, character developments, and legacies of the characters in the ride should have been written in stone before the ride was conceptualized (this would have made the movies less internally conflicting as well). As it currently goes, the ride's main antagonists are both people who betray the First Order in the end, lose just about every confrontation they have with the heroes along the way, while the real villain(s) of the trilogy are nowhere to be seen. It's a beautiful ride, well-designed and technologically impressive, but its narrative lacks coherence with the source material - which is only to be expected, since it was designed before the source material was even finished, and the source material itself lacked coherence as well.

What I'm saying is, it looks great, but the overall picture is a mess.
 

UKCoasterFan

Mega Poster
One little observation I have about this ride in relation to the newest Star Wars movie:
The synergy between the ride and the movie is pretty bad, to the point of "not sure how it could have been worse." The ride prominently feature the villains Kylo Ren and General Hux. But the newly released movie reveals that Kylo Ren leaves the Dark Side in the end (even sacrificing his life for the hero), and Hux dies a mole for the Resistance. I think these developments undermine the ride story a little, since if you've seen the movies, you learn that the baddies you encounter during the ride really aren't that bad in the end. And with the ubiquity of Star Wars, most people who'd ride the ride would at least be passingly familiar with how the story goes.

Kylo Ren and Hux were both really weak villains in a poorly planned trilogy, the legacy of which has already been written while the ride has barely opened. The film trilogy of the ride's setting will probably be remembered more for the tug-of-war between two directors and the lack of a coherent idea than for its actual story, which is bad enough in itself. But if Disney wants the ride to be relevant even a few years down the line, they have to continue marketing the trilogy, even though they come with the twists in Episode IX that contradict the idea of the ride.

It just goes to show why there should have been a plan for this trilogy from the get-go. The main actions, character developments, and legacies of the characters in the ride should have been written in stone before the ride was conceptualized (this would have made the movies less internally conflicting as well). As it currently goes, the ride's main antagonists are both people who betray the First Order in the end, lose just about every confrontation they have with the heroes along the way, while the real villain(s) of the trilogy are nowhere to be seen. It's a beautiful ride, well-designed and technologically impressive, but its narrative lacks coherence with the source material - which is only to be expected, since it was designed before the source material was even finished, and the source material itself lacked coherence as well.

What I'm saying is, it looks great, but the overall picture is a mess.
Surely you could say that about most movie rides? You are usually there living a moment of the spectacle and ideas, not there to observe the actual final outcome of all films. The original Star Tours ride even has the StarSpeeder 3000 you are in help to take out the Death Star! That wasn't in the first film. Supposedly this was Death Star 3 some background story (written later) reveals but that makes even less sense to me, considering they then just rebuilt the first Death Star with the same (designed) weakness.
Star Tours 2 has Darth Vader in it.

The Back To The Future ride was like an episode 4 which also makes no sense considering we were led to believe Doc Brown was living the rest of his life with Clara Clayton, their sons and a steam powered train time travelling machine, not go back to a lab with a DeLorean and do stuff with Marty.

T2 3D was obviously also retconned later with both time line sequels.

The original Jurassic Park ride also has a similar problem you point out. One minute the T Rex is your friend, other times you have to get away from him etc and it doesn't line up with the film how that plays out. And of course it was done as a boat ride, not a jeep through the park. I actually thought the original ride sucked, maybe it was just me.

Your complaint is more centered around the movies it seems. The imagineers / ride creators can only work with so much, maybe they weren't even allowed to be in the loop of the story of episode 9 or the ride had to be designed well before that was finalised, it's possible. I actually like the fact I guess they expand the lore rather than completely retell a story. I love for example Tower of Terror is a new Twilight Zone story and they even went to the effort of trying to include Rod Serling doing voice over as if he is presenting it. Very clever.

If the Star Wars ride is a moment grab or a somewhat change to what happens in the film I'd be ok with that. It would be the least of my problems with the ride.
 
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CanobieFan

Strata Poster
So despite working for the Mouse, I just got my first chance to ride Rise...yesterday. and after waiting some 2.5 hours..... it went down and they dumped the whole queue and that was that.
Today I got the chance to try again and after 2 more hours of waiting, I got a complete ride.

The overhype machine for this is real, I'm not a Star Wars fan and this honestly did nothing for me.
Yes the Storm Trooper room is cool, but after being stuck in there for 30 minutes, the second time around was far less impressive.

I'd even go as far to say that Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is a better ride ? (and I'd take Mystic Manor over all of them)

I also rambled to myself about it on Twitter-
 

Gazza

Giga Poster
So this is basically just a ****post, so excuse my rough audio syncing, but what if rise of resistance used the force theme:

Apologies for ripping the CF Pov but I cant exactly get over there and get one of my own, its an unlisted video anyhow, forgiveness preese.

 
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