By Charly SHELTON

The huge crowds that were expected to swarm Disneyland when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened were apparently delayed a bit because the usually mundane crowds have given way to a horde of Star Wars fans ready for the Resistance to Rise.

Last Friday, the second and final attraction in the new Star Wars land, Rise of the Resistance, finally opened. Guests started lining up at midnight the night before and stood in the rain to be among the first in the park on the ride. Upon entering the park at 5:46 a.m., guests were held on Main Street, USA until official park opening at 8 a.m. when the virtual queue went online. This digital ticketing system allocates ride tickets randomly throughout the day, giving guests a spot in a virtual line so they don’t have to stand in line physically for several hours. Unfortunately the app was swamped with thousands of people trying to get tickets right at 8 a.m. and the app crashed for many users. By the time they restarted the app, the entire day’s tickets were gone leaving some who arrived at midnight the evening before without a ride ticket. In just 45 seconds, all the confirmed boarding groups were distributed. A second set of passes, the standby boarding groups, can only ride if all the other groups have gone already but aren’t confirmed to ride at all. And all the standby groups were gone in 11 minutes. In short, it’s a madhouse at the Mouse House right now.

It’s best to wait several weeks before attempting to jet down and just get in line. As of now, boarding groups are still routinely selling out in under two minutes. So for those who do plan to head to the Happiest Place on Earth, get there at 7 a.m. and wait to be among the first through the gate to book your boarding group. After a couple months, things may settle down and become more available.

That being said, reports are coming in from Florida’s version of the ride as well as from Anaheim that this is the greatest ride ever made – when it works. There is a lot of downtime, or times the ride closes because it’s broken. In Florida, this leads to lots of comped tickets for guests to return another day. In Orange County, the downtimes haven’t been quite as bad because the ride has only been open a week. It remains to be seen how Disneyland will handle comps and refunds once this ride has been open a month or two and is chronically unable to handle guests. But downtime is to be expected from the most technologically advanced ride in the world and from any new ride’s growing pains really. If you’re one of the lucky few to get a boarding pass, it’ll surely won’t be a ride you’ll forget. 

  Charly Shelton