Disneyland has seen downtime rise sharply on the fan-favorite Rise of the Resistance attraction in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as what has been hailed as the world’s best ride suffers under the weight of its own popularity, according to data released by Disney.
Ride stoppages on Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland rose from an average of 80 minutes a day in 2021 to 122 minutes a day in 2022, according to an analysis of Thrill Data metrics.
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Thrill Data scrapes wait times released through the Disneyland mobile app and tracks ride stoppages at the Anaheim theme park. Disneyland doesn’t share internal metrics or discuss crowd levels and ride downtimes.
Downtime has increased 52% from 2021 to 2022 on Disneyland’s complex $450 million Star Wars trackless dark ride that combines four attractions into one epic 18-minute adventure, according to an analysis of Thrill Data’s monthly ride stoppage data.
Rise of the Resistance ride stoppage data was compared from May to December 2021 with the same period in 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic closed Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for more than a year — with the theme parks returning in late April 2021. Crowd sizes were restricted during the first few months when California theme parks initially reopened.
The Thrill Data ride stoppage data reflects the positive impact of lighter crowds on Rise of the Resistance downtime.
Ride stoppages on Rise of the Resistance rose from an average of 37 minutes a day in May 2021 to 120 minutes a day in December 2021, according to an analysis of Thrill Data metrics. A year after Disneyland reopened, Rise of the Resistance downtime hit an average daily high of 145 minutes in April 2022, according to Thrill Data.
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It won’t come as any surprise to hard-core Disneylanders that Rise of the Resistance has downtime issues. The wildly-popular ride breaks down a lot — which disappoints riders, disrupts hourslong lines and wreaks havoc on wait times when Genie+ Lightning Lanes swell after the ride reopens. Depending on the cause of the downtime, resetting the complex ride can take more time than other Disneyland attractions.
The average Disneyland visitor only knows a ride is closed — but not why.
Stoppages can result from bad weather, ride breakdowns, maintenance needs, dropped cell phones and riders who need extra assistance. In rare cases, the delay is a result of a wait time sign glitch on Disneyland’s end or a data collection issue on Thrill Data’s end.
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Thrill Data records a ride stoppage when an attraction fails to report a wait time for more than 10 minutes.
Rise of the Resistance has been the darling of the theme park industry since debuting in 2019. Theme Park Insider readers have named Rise of the Resistance the world’s best attraction every year since — with accolades showering the ride from industry organizations and fan sites alike.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the identical Rise of the Resistance rides at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida cost $450 million each. Behind the scenes, the state-of-the-art ride is powered by 5 million lines of code running show systems and special effects on 50 computers.