We’re rocking a half hour on my end. 
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I should have dragged you with us when I saw you as we were going in.
Enjoy the meticulously imagineered theming and be bloody grateful you’re there at all.
No MB for you.
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Hey @Randall1028, when you were at the Cantina… how was the selection of souvenirs? Curious if they are still well-stocked in the souvenir mugs and the rancor tooth beer flight. I heard that beer flight was out of stock previously. DH is starting to get really excited about our upcoming trip…
I recommend people monitor the chat threads on the liner app. A lot of people posting park openings, etc, so you can get the insider info. Sounds like they limited boarding groups to 100 for today. We’ll see if they open up more. They let people into the parks at like 6:15am today! Toy story land rides were open, too!
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Got done just as the ride went down.
My thoughts…
Read no further if you wish to avoid any spoilers!
Though I’ll try to keep them very limited.
Seriously, just skip if you want to see it with fresh eyes!
Last chance.
Ok… here we go:
Before we begin, I feel it’s important to establish my “scale” as it applies. I hold Haunted Mansion as the gold standard. Practical effects cleverly deployed and packed in for an experience you can keep riding and discover new things each time. It’s also a good amount of time and the scenes progress in a logical form.
Based on this, I feel FOP is a very mediocre ride as it is nothing but a giant pre-rendered movie on a fancy seat. There’s a cringe-worthy preshow and it’s always the same. Once you ride it once, there’s nothing new.
So there’s the scale. HM to FOP. Or “a 10 to a 5” (as fop is obviously not a awful ride, just not nearly worthy of the hype or lines it gets). Where does Rise land? Not as high as the hype would have you believe. As an overall experience, I’d give it a solid 8 on the scale (well, the show gets a 10 but the ride itself gets a 5-6, so we’ll split the difference and round up). And Certainly not the greatest or most ambitious theme park ride ever. There’s lots of practical effects going on and a lot of movies too. But It’s barren. There’s nothing going on except you avoiding Kylo and “movie storm troopers.” Unlike FOP though, there’s a lot of set props, so you can at least look at new things on repeat viewings, but there’s also a lot of movie stuff going on that’ll just be same same every time. The “preshow” to board was far more entertaining than the actual ride. It progressed in a way that makes sense and has a good “awe factor” to it. The only issue I had here was we were “rushed” from one part we really shouldn’t have been cause we went to something with a view to a hallway. And the hallway took FORRRREVER to get through. But if I could just do that preshow and bail before we “board” the final “car”, I totally would. The cast members are going all out on their jobs and it’s fantastic. There’s also a VERY clever transition in the beginning that I’m sure most will miss. There’s more immersive effects going on here than most of the ride.
Truly, the preshow is the star of the ride.
The ride itself, is, as I said, kinda simple. You zip from one room to the next, avoiding Troopers and Ren, but it’s fast and a tad confusing as you find yourself wondering “where’s the shooting coming from” more than anything else. The lack of track is novel, but it also isn’t exactly convincing since you can see the “track marks” on the floor. The rooms are also huge that you’re being buzzed around in. Adding to that “barren” feeling. But, it does make you feel like you ARE there as opposed to just being an observer of a story. So there’s that.
Another issue I have with the ride is the story is, essentially, a failed attempt at enlisting in the resistance. You don’t leave feeling fulfilled that you accomplished anything though that was the build up to the ride. Everyone’s thanking you for joining the fight, but at the end it’s “welp, better luck next time. “
It’s like when someone starts a story and then, well, they start a story and then they begin to start a story and then they start a story and —you see how annoying that is?
Overall, I found the ride to be a good Star Wars ride, but haunted mansion is still the gold standard. I know this is coming off a bit negative, though I don’t intend it to be, but the Preshow set up everything wonderfully but then I wasn’t all that impressed once I got past the preshow. It was just things dropping down from The ceiling and lights flashing and us being zipped along.
Will I ride it again? Absolutely. Am I DYING to ride it again? No.
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Everything seemed pretty well stocked. The only thing I didn’t see was the beer flights. But I might’ve just missed them.
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Right. But the average visitor doesn’t even know about that. It’s completely not okay how they are managing this right now. People who are angry that the boarding groups are gone before park opening are justified in feeling that way.
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Nice review and makes a lot of sense honestly.
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I am glad to read this, everything I saw yesterday was about how it is the greatest thing ever. So I watched a video filmed of the ride, and thought it looked just okay. I have ridden MF multiple times and think it is great fun. But this, it was not what I expected at all. Much less thrilling, I was expecting more like FOP or Hagrids or Gringotts. I am still excited to ride it in a few weeks, but not sure how it can be better than the thrill rides.
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Yeah, It’s definitely not a thrill ride. On a “fun factor” I think Falcon does a better job, even with short flight that it is. I grin like an idiot on the Falcon… Here I only grinned at the preshow.
The Preshow is on the same level as Savi’s, I think. You just…don’t get anything at the end.
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Cmon… spoilers! (It was pretty tame. POC level)
Ah it’s been all over- lol, thanks I’ll
Go edit my post!
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Yeah, and its a serious disappointment That I knew it was coming ahead of time. trying to spare people
Understood! Thanks for the recap!
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I watched the POV video yesterday and was amazed at how CMs were able to stay in character and keep the straight face.
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The cast members are the part of this ride that intrigues me the most. The operational logistics of getting people on the ride while staying in character is weirdly interesting to me. And hopefully fun for them!
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Very haunted mansion-esque for that part.
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I agree totally. Just trying to help others on this site!
I am sure they are having fun!