Disneyland may offer pay-to-ride option for Rise of the Resistance

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Star Wars fans eager to ride the Rise of the Resistance who miss out on the twice-a-day opportunities to join the wildly popular attraction’s virtual queue may be able to pay an additional fee to experience the Galaxy Edge dark ride.

The Rise of the Resistance rides in California and Florida may offer paid Lightning Lane Select Experience access as part of the new Disney Genie+ service that will soon become part of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World apps.

Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro told the D23 fan club that the Rise of the Resistance attractions in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios may offer pay-to-ride options.

“We get as many people on there as we can, but inevitably someone is disappointed,” D’Amaro told D23. “Now there’s another option on top of the virtual queue. So if Rise of the Resistance is the reason you’re at Disneyland or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there may be an option for you to purchase Rise of the Resistance.”

The new Disney Genie+ service will be rolled out at Disneyland and Disney World in the fall as a paid replacement for the free FastPass system.

Lightning Lane Select Experiences will allow visitors to pay for front-of-the-line FastPass-like access to one or two individual rides per day and schedule a return time for each individual attraction. Visitors using Lightning Lane Select cannot choose the same attraction twice.

Disney has not announced the cost for Lightning Lane Select, but Disneyland Paris is charging $9.50 to $17.50 per ride for a similar service called Disney Premier Access. Pricing will vary by attraction and date. Disneyland Paris varies Disney Premier Access prices by time of day.

Rise of the Resistance debuted at Disneyland in January 2020 with a virtual queue that filled up quickly each day — typically in minutes and often in seconds. Since reopening, Disneyland distributes virtual queue boarding group return times for Rise of the Resistance at 7 a.m. and noon each day.

Disney has not announced whether Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure — another popular new attraction at Disney California Adventure that employs a virtual queue — could offer a pay-to-ride option.

Virtual queue access to Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers will continue to be available at no additional cost with the new Disney Genie+ service.

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