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7. The Escape Route

Having finally reached the Escape Pod level, the only thing left to do is navigate the final hallways of the Star Destroyer. And that’s made a whole lot more difficult by the First Order’s assault on the Resistance fleet that’s arrived to save us. Through massive forcefield windows into space, we can see the fleet of X-Wings reigning fire on the ship that we’re still stuck on. The only way forward is through a corridor filled with three enormous cannons that block our path…

Image: Kelly Verdeck, Flickr (license)

But – a-ha! – as each cannon sends a laser beam screaming through the opening and into space, the cannon recoils, launching backward to briefly open a path… The advancing and retracting cannons create a “Frogger” style obstacle and a classic sci-fi “crusher” scenario for the ride vehicles, with R-5 seemingly calculating their movement and carefully lurching between them after they retract from firing. Still, the effect of having something so massive and powerful physically enter and exit the ride path and timing your advance through them to avoid colliding is something that you don’t see often!

HOW IT WORKS: The cannon obstacle course is made possible by something you might not expect: the cannons are LPS vehicles, too! Seriously. The location of each cannon is relayed through the LPS system, so “interactions” between the cannons and the Fleet Transports are precisely controlled. That’s what allows the cannons to move independently and randomly in a coordinated “dance” between advancing riders. 

IMAGINEERING INGREDIENTS: Again, an unlikely source...

Image: Disney, via D23
  • Pooh’s Hunny Hunt didn’t just introduce LPS dark rides to Disney’s portfolio – it also showed how smartly they can be used. On Hunny Hunt, the trippy, blacklight “Heffalumps & Woozles” dream sequence becomes a high energy part of the ride where the vehicles break from their linear progression through scenes and split up, intermingling with other “batches” of hunny pots, pulling up to different mini-scenes, and dancing around one another in near-miss encounters.

    One of the coolest and weirdest moments involves a Hunny pot filled not with riders, but with Heffalumps and Woozles that breaks into the lineup, dancing around and joining the fun. Yes, there’s a full-on dark ride vehicle populated by the Imagineering equivalent of NPCs that intermixes and participates with the group, adding itself into the LPS system’s “dance” of vehicle locations! (Theoretically, the engine of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is the same – a self-driving, non-passenger LPS ride vehicle, too.)

B-MODE: In the event that the cannons are non-functional (which happens more often than we’d like), they automatically retract, leaving a fully-cleared hallway. Instead of navigating their ins-and-outs, the Transports advance down the hall, briefly pause and pivot toward the windows, then reverse at high speed before throwing it back into drive and proceeding down the corridor (mostly to retain the scene’s pacing, required to clear the scene ahead).

8. The Encounter

Image: Jeremy Thompson, Flickr (license)

As John Williams’ triumphant score begins, the Transports race past wreckage caused by the Resistance’s assault. Finn patches into the system, telling us to abandon ship before the Finalizer blows. The Escape Pod hatches are just around the corner… but just as we’re about to reach them, the door slides closed and R-5 shrieks as our vehicles pivot out of his control.

In front of us stands Kylo Ren, holding each vehicle in his Force grasp. As his hands move forward and back, the vehicles slide like puppets. “You will tell me the location of the secret base,” he demands, “and then I will destroy you and the Resistance o–”. Before he can finish, through the Star Destroyer’s windows, a flaming TIE Fighter comes screaming toward us, impacting the wall just behind Kylo Ren. 

Image: Disney

In a flash, the wall explodes outward. Kylo Ren is hurled forward by the impact, falling towards us, arms flailing. Nearby pipes disconnect and they and Kylo Ren are drawn backward, pulled by the vacuum of space. As Ren desperately fights against the pull, the ship begins to collapse around him. The Force hold on us broken, R-5 makes its escape, following warning sirens and flashing escape lights to the Escape Pod hatches at last…

HOW IT WORKS: The Kylo Ren Audio-Animatronic doesn’t seem too much more advanced than your run-of-the-mill figure… until the explosion. The way the figure flails – his feet falling out from under him as he’s dragged by the suction of space – is staggeringly impressive when you think about the range of motion and the hidden support structures that make it possible. The explosion, meanwhile, is made possible because the wall behind Kylo is actually cut into jigsaw-like shapes that swing down and out of view, revealing a screen beyond. The effect is sold by tubes that appear to be pulled toward the open vacuum, and a woosh of air from behind that imitate its suction. 

IMAGINEERING INGREDIENTS: The two effects that define the encounter aren’t novel, but they’re masterfully presented – an epic, extraordinary encounter with a stunningly lifelike Audio Animatronic, and an explosion that causes a wall to physically collapse, working in perfect sync to create a fitting finale for a best-of-Imagineering ride.

Image: Disney
  • It’s probably Na’vi River Journey that sets the first precedent here. At least for the last decade or so, Disney has largely shied away from the massive Audio-Animatronic casts that populated rides like Pirates of the Caribbean. The new game plan typically involves a ride brought to life through lots of modern effects (like projection) with a single, ultra-impressive Audio-Animatronics figure as the ride’s finale. Na’vi River Journey’s climactic encounter with the Na’vi Shaman of Songs is a stunning, unbelievable, and truly captivating moment with the starring Audio-Animatronic serving as the ride’s finale.
  • Mystic Manor is the first place Imagineering used the “exploding wall” effect that accompanies the Resistance’s direct hit. There, the explosion is caused by a rogue lightning strike stirred up by the magical music of an enchanted music box, but the end result is the same: folding panels that reveal a screen beyond, with a physical reaction – in Mystic Manor’s case, a vase that’s pulled into the opening and shatters.

B-MODE: When the final Kylo Ren Audio-Animatronic isn’t functioning, the fallen metallic wing remains lowered over it. Instead, the Fleet Transports arrange themselves differently, looking out the windows of the Star Destroyer. There, they view an alternate finale where Kylo Ren threatens guests from his black TIE Fighter, before a lucky shot from an unseen Resistance X-Wing causes him to lose control and careen away. It’s fine, but it doesn’t feel like a grand finale, which is especially sad considering the finale is known to be in B-Mode for days or weeks at a time. 

9. The Return to Batuu

With Kylo Ren dispatched at last, one last trial awaits: the return to Batuu. R-5 pilots our FT into the Escape Pods we’ve been searching for, we get a glimpse at the rapidly-deteriorating Star Destroyer, and twin octagonal pods nested on another wing of the ship across from us. One by one, those pods are released by pincers… until it’s out turn.

Image: Disney

With a heave, our Pod drops from the Finalizer, free falling for just a moment until the boosters engage, sending us weaving through the warzone. “You sure like cutting it close, doncha?” Poe taps in, having returned with the reinforcements he promised. After tearing through another Star Destroyer’s support structure, the Escape Pod sets its sights back on Batuu. It rockets through the atmosphere with our fellow FT's Escape Pod just head of us, bursting through the clouds until Black Spire Outpost comes into view. 

It’s not a graceful landing, but the Escape Pods crash into old, open-air Batuuan ship hangars, their canopies deteriorated and long-since overtaken by plant life. Backing out of the pods, we get eyes on a third – one piloted by Lieutenant Bek, who made it back with us! “Thanks to your heroism, the location of the Resistance base is secure!” the Animatronic offers. “Yes, R-5… you too!” Our vehicles slide sideways into an unloading dock, and just like that, we’re back to Batuu… and by neither spilling our secrets nor dying, we’re heroes of the Resistance to boot.

Image: Disney, via "The Imagineering Story"

HOW IT WORKS: The Return to Batuu section of the ride really is two rides in one. Once locked into the Escape Pod, the Pod freefalls several stories, producing real weightlessness – yes, a drop tower, hidden in a trackless dark ride (observant riders will note that the red flashing lights outside the pod’s front window are physical props, and really do disappear as the pods fall away)!

The two Escape Pods share a single domed screen that simulates their return to the planet, with each pod affixed to a motion base capable of tilting forward, backward, left, and right.

IMAGINEERING INGREDIENTS: It’s obvious that the big finale of Rise of the Resistance borrows from two big hitters in the Disney Parks canon:

  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is called forth once more by the ride’s drop tower finale. Granted, the drop here is subtle – not a faster-than-gravity thrill machine like Tower’s – and exerts just enough force to feel “natural” given the Pod’s release. (In other words, “not being a drop tower” person isn’t a good excuse for skipping Rise.) Once the pods have fallen, their motion base takes over… Which is, of course…
Image: Disney
  • STAR TOURS is the inspiration here again. You have to remember that when STAR TOURS debuted at Disneyland in 1987, the motion simulator was still totally novel. It’s fitting that the technology comes full circle in Rise of the Resistance, bringing the Escape Pods back to Batuu. 

U-Ticket

Now that we've seen how many of the "Secrets" of the Resistance work – and the ingredients of Imagineering past that made them possible – it's a great time to see them all in action together on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, filmed by our friends at the incomparable Attractions 360

Rise of the Resistance is unlike anything seen before… and yet, it’s a masterclass on all the best tricks of Imagineering from around the globe; a “best-of” showcase of everything that’s been learned from Mystic Manor to Flight of Passage; Pooh’s Hunny Hunt to Indiana Jones Adventure; The Haunted Mansion to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

So it’s really no surprise that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance feels like something new. Not quite a contemporary to Disney’s modern cast of E-Tickets, but something more. A whole new genre. An ultra-E-Ticket that’s larger than life. Multiple simulators. A dark ride. A drop tower. A walkthrough. And yet, Rise is more than the sum of its parts. It is in a class all its own. It doesn’t have to be your favorite modern ride, but it’s surely, objectively among the best. And maybe, the first U-Ticket ever. The question is, will there ever be another quite like it?

 
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