It said 75 minutes Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in December, 2019. The ride used a Virtual Queue. In the early days it meant that people would show up at 4:00 each morning, well before the park opened, hoping to secure a spot. Things were a bit better once Walt Disney World reopened after the closure, but the park was still crowded at opening because you had to be in the park to have a chance. Disney changed things up and made it so that you could grab a Boarding Pass at 7:00 each morning from wherever you were. Spots were usually gone in less than five seconds. Guests could try again at 1:00, but you had to be in the park to try.
There were cries of the Virtual Queue being unfair. Many people claimed that the system wasn’t fair because they had no luck in getting a spot. On September 23, everything changed. Rise of the Resistance switched to standby only. According to the My Disney Experience App, “Virtual queue may be used again at a later date or from time to time.”
This sign said 80 the whole time we were there I thought that things would be a mess, but I stopped by on September 23 anyway. I was there when the park opened, I arrived around noon. I did keep an eye on things before then by following Wait Times on the My Disney Experience App. I also know some people who were there when Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened, and they added pictures of insane crowds.
Half an hour after the park opened the Wait Time on the app was listed at 180 minutes. By the time I arrived it was down to 75. The queue wrapped around outside, but from the markings on the ground it could have been much longer. The Wait Time on the ride and the Wait Time of the sign held by a Cast Member didn’t match. On the ride it was 75 minutes but the sign said 80.
I didn’t ride because I had another obligation, but I was in the park for about an hour. When I left, the Wait Time posted in front of the ride had gone up to 105 minutes. The sign that the Cast Member held hadn’t changed. There were noticeably more people waiting when I left than when I arrived.
This could have been much longer I checked the My Disney Experience App again later, and the Wait Time was down to 50 minutes. This is a ride that I would wait 50 minutes for, especially since every inch of the queue is themed.
A lot of people speculate that changing the line to Standby is to encourage people to pay extra when Lightning Lane rolls out. That very well could be the case. The World’s Most Magical Celebration is just around the corner, and crowd levels are expected to be high at least through the end of the year. Still, I think that the rollout of the Standby Line went very well. Cast Members and guests should be happy with the way that things played out. Although the day isn’t over as I write this, things seemed to have gone smoothly. I hope that no one gave away the location of the Resistance Base…