How to ride Disney’s Star Wars Rise of the Resistance Ride in Walt Disney World

How to JOIN the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance:

Recently before all the closures due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened their newest, highly anticipated ride of the century – ^{Rise of the Resistance}, back in December of 2019. Attempting to get on the ride is not the easiest thing to do, but completely worth it.

I think moving forward we will be seeing a lot more about Virtual Queues and how to use them as Disney World begins to re-open.

If you are a huge Star Wars fan then this is something not to be missed!

Here is your plan of action to get on the VIRTUAL QUEUE for this ride when Disney World reopends its parks (this information is subject to change via Disney World):

So ultimately you will need to have at least this part of your vacation planned out – if not for the rest of it. (We all know going to Disney World takes some planning) You need to know what day of your trip you will be going to Hollywood Studios and have other fast passes and dining reservations planned out with the ability to be open for flexiblity and changes.

For this morning of your trip, depending on how big your party is, and how quickly you can get ready you’re going to need to be at your bus stop by 5:30am depending on park opening. Set your alarms accordingly, and have food packed the night before – whatever you need to bring into the park for that day, have ready the night prior. We had stayed at the Grand Floridian so when I walked to the Gasparilla Island Grill, I was lucky to find one carafe of coffee hot and ready!

Things to have ready for the day: Your Smart Phone, Smart Phone Charger, Drinks & Snacks, Other Fast Passes, & Dining Reservations.

Make Note: For the new Skyliner Resorts, the Skyliner is not a good method of transportation that early in the morning because it only opens 30 minutes before park opening so this is not a good transportation method when you want to get on ROR. ****You might want to schedule an alternate route of transportation – either your own car, Uber, Lyft, or Disney’s alternate transportation of the Minnie Van (which starts at a flat rate of $20 but then costs more per mile – speak with the front desk) The bus stop was completely packed when we arrived and almost did not make it on the first bus. In this instance it is always good to be early than late!

Security lines are HUGE and LONG! Do not freak out – deep breaths. You will get through it. Just cooperate. From the stress and anxiety we witnessed other guests yelling and swearing at security for no good reason, other than stress – so keep yourself together. They will get you through as soon as possible and its for good reasons. Have a snack while you wait, talk about what rides you would like to go on for the day or snacks you might like to try.

While we were there in January park opened at 7:00am and even if the park isn’t opening until 9:00 I still recommending on arriving at Hollywood Studios by 6:30am to get through security and scanned into the park before the opening time. It is CRUCIAL you are scanned into Hollywood Studios and INSIDE the park before the park hour stikes opening time. Typically security opens an hour before park opening.

Keeping your My Disney Experience App closed, and checking the time for park opening, make sure as soon as the clock strikes whatever hour park opening is – let’s just say at 7:00am – you will open the app instantly at 7:00am ( your MDE app) and here you will see “Join a Boarding Group” (as soon as the app opens up) it was a picture of the AT-AT Walkers – uness that changes – and you will click on that and follow through with the directions as it leads you, step-by-step, on how many in your party etc. After that it will give you a boarding number. This is where it is crucial that your phone does not die and you are able to access the app on your other family members phones. I personally like a small charger. The app will eventually alert you when to return to the ride. So go about your day until you have the alert from the app. There is a possiblity it could be late at night or early – just keep an eye.

Now that you have your boarding number you will be WAITING patiently until you get the notifcation from the app for your boarding time. Once the app alerts you and it gives you a boarding time you will have a 2 hour window to get to the Rise of the Resistance Ride located in Galaxy’s Edge of Hollywood Studios. So do NOT panic if you are headed onto a Fast pass or you are currently eating. You do have 2 hours to get on! It will tell you please get here by whatever time is at the end of the 2 hours. It appeared right on my homescreen! We were boarding group number 54 so it gave us some ample time for a breakfast reservation at 8:20am and also we had a lunch reservation at 12:30.

Since you are inside the park so early it is the perfect opportunity to hop on those rides with normal long waits. We had a fast pass for Slinky so we hopped on Toy Story Mania with no wait. Some people run to Smugglers Run (Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run) which at the time had no Fast Pass but just before the closures started offering a FP. Aerosmith’s Rockin Roller Coaster is another good one to head to, or even Tower of Terror. Then don’t forget if you have a breakfast reservation! After breakfast we did Slinky, and headed to Star Tours, got on the ROR around 11:00, and we hopped on Smugglers Run and went to lunch. Then we did some pics with Darth Vader and Chewbacca.

Keep in mind, there are instances where people are not able to board Rise of Resistance until the evening and sometimes disappointly not able to get on the ride that day – but I think they promise you the following day? Mark me if I am wrong. Your best bet is to plan your vacation during a lower crowd time…

It’s was definitely exhausting but worth it! We will do it again and won’t even think twice about it. We can’t wait!

If you don’t mind spoilers here is our video footage and vlog of Rise of the Resistance from this past January 2020.

When are you planning your next Disney World Trip?

Have you ridden Rise of the Resistance Yet? What was your experience?

Check out my other latest Travel Tip to Know Before You go by clicking here!