How Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance may fix what ails Disney's Galaxy's Edge
ORLANDO, Fla. - Eric Henderson was standing inside the theme park Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, near the exit of the new ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, when the 38-year-old Atlanta native spotted someone he thought looked familiar.
"Are you an Imagineer?" Henderson asked John Larena, nodding to his official-looking Disney name tag and business-casual attire.
Larena is indeed an Imagineer, one who just happens to be a principal architect of Rise of the Resistance, which opened here Thursday at Disney's Hollywood Studios and comes to Disneyland on Jan. 17. It's a crucial new attraction for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the land that opened to much hoopla here in August and in May at Disneyland in Anaheim, but offered just one ride.
Before Larena could finish answering the guest's question, Henderson stopped him. He wanted a photo and to offer an impromptu hug. In Orlando on business, Henderson arrived at the park at 3:30 a.m. to see if he could get on the ride. And though it was more than four hours before he was able to get into Rise of the Resistance, the wait, he said, was more than worth it.
Henderson then started gushing about one of the ride's early tricks. Guests board a transport ship that places them on on a giant starship belonging to the evil First Order. The slow-moving flight simulator - the first of two ride vehicles on
