If you’re hoping to go on the ever-popular Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios today, pack your patience.

Join the Resistance

Rise of the Resistance has a lot of moving parts with complex technical aspects which can cause some complications if things go wrong. It’s not all that unusual to see the ride temporarily close suddenly, but today’s issue doesn’t strictly have to do with a ride closure. It has to do with a ridiculously long wait time.

When we checked the My Disney Experience app on the morning of February 22nd (around 9:30AM ET), Rise of the Resistance was showing a 305-minute wait.

©Disney

No, that is not a joke — 305 minutes people!!! 😱 That breaks down to just over 5 HOURS. Just a few minutes later, however, that wait time dropped to 295 minutes — well over 4 hours and nearing 5.

Considering the fact that the park opened at 8:30AM on the 22nd, it means that the wait swelled only about 1 hour after “regular” park guests were allowed in. Keep in mind though that Disney World hotel guests would have been allowed to enter the park 30 minutes early thanks to the Early Theme Park Entry perk.

Rise of the Resistance

Now, to be clear, this is not the first time we’ve seen Rise of the Resistance hit a wait time this high. In 2022, we saw Rise of the Resistance hit wait times at, near, or just past 5 hours in early/mid-January and in July as well. It also got close with about a 4-and-a-half-hour wait in December, and it strangely posted a 7-hour wait in October. We also saw the ride hit a 4-hour wait in December of 2021.

So while this has happened before, it’s not exactly an everyday occurrence (thank goodness!).

Inside Rise of the Resistance

A few things could be factoring into this long wait time. The ride may have experienced some issues limiting its capacity, causing longer waits. Also, President’s Day took place this past Monday and the runDisney Princess Half Marathon race weekend starts tomorrow (February 23rd). So that combination of holidays/special events could be causing a high influx of crowds, leading to a longer wait time there.

Additionally, at Hollywood Studios, one of its other popular rides — Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster — has closed for an extended refurbishment. That ride won’t reopen until the summer of 2023. When a big, popular ride in a park closes for a long time, it forces crowds that would have normally been in line for that ride to spread to the park’s other rides, potentially leading to higher wait times.

Rise of the Resistance

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for updates on this situation and let you know what we find.

Want to skip the long wait times in Disney World? Consider buying Genie+ or (for special rides like Rise of the Resistance) buying an Individual Lightning Lane as needed. These tools can help you skip the standby lines.

WOAH

You could also take advantage of things like Early Theme Park Entry to get access to the parks before the “regular” guests — this perk is reserved for Disney World hotel guests and those at select other qualifying hotels.

Or you could buy a ticket for a special event, like After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, that’ll let you enjoy the park with far fewer crowds.

Stay tuned for more tips!