Star Wars Rise of the Resistance Cannons Restored at Disneyland - A New Hope for Disney World?

30 days ago in "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance"

Posted: Friday January 31, 2025 3:30pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A long-missing element of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has returned at Disneyland, raising hopes that Walt Disney World could soon follow.

Inside Star Wars Rise of the Resistance hangar

The imposing laser cannons on the First Order Star Destroyer, which were last fully operational at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in December 2020, are once again firing at Disneyland as of this morning.

Disney confirmed the restoration with a statement:
“We’re really excited to share that as of this morning, the cannon guns on Rise of the Resistance are firing once again! Our teams have done lots of hard work to restore this feature and we can’t wait for guests to experience this moment once more.”

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the cannons continued to partially function until January 2022 but have remained stationary since then.

In Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the cannon scene takes place during the climactic escape from the First Order Star Destroyer. After guests break free from their detention cells and board a hijacked First Order transport droid, they navigate through the ship’s chaotic interior while under attack. You can see the working cannon effect below.

The laser cannons, positioned along a massive hallway with an open viewport to space, fire back and forth in sync with the battle outside. The entire room is designed to feel like an active battle zone, with the Resistance fleet engaging the Star Destroyer beyond the viewport. The cannons slide on tracks, recoiling with each blast, adding to the intensity of the sequence.

As the transport weaves through the area, it narrowly avoids the moving cannons, creating a sense of urgency. The flashing red lights and sound effects make it feel as if guests are caught in the crossfire of an all-out space battle. This section is a highlight of the ride’s immersive storytelling, using practical effects, projection technology, and dynamic set pieces to put guests directly into the Star Wars action.

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erasure fan122 days ago

Luke was absolutely terrible, at least when we saw him meeting people. It looked like a mediocre Halloween costume with a really lame looking blonde wig. As far as the aliens... Yes, absolutely they need more. One of our best memories was from star wars weekends meeting all the masked characters, aliens and droids. They had sand people, Gamorrean guards, aurra sing, zam wesell, kit fisto (and he never comes out) Jango, Boba, darth maul, R2... It was awesome. If Galaxys edge had rotating classic aliens like those. I guarantee the reception of the land jumps WAY up.

ParadoxPortals22 days ago

It definitely could be because of the actor faces not matching the characters, but I also wonder, seeing as Galaxy's Edge takes itself so seriously as an in-universe 'real' world, meet and greets for these military generals and soldiers types just feel weird. Vader shouldn't be concerning himself with engaging with children, and Vi Moradi is supposed to be an undercover agent who has more important business to do. If Disney Parks Star Wars took itself less seriously like in the old days, maybe these character interactions would feel less off? ...I however love the Galaxy's Edge meet and greets, even if it's odd to see a much more restrained Kylo Ren conversing with us Black Spire visitors whilst he hunts for Rey to assassinate her. The Stormtroopers and Rey 'stealth mission' role-play with children she sometimes does are always entertaining.

UNCgolf22 days ago

I think it's hard to do meet and greets for live action human characters played by human actors -- this applies to Marvel too, although most of the Marvel characters can wear a mask that eliminates the issue. They obviously don't look the same as the actor, which makes them feel like a knock-off. And kids absolutely notice this too; it's not unusual for kids to look at a M&G and say that isn't the character they're supposed to be meeting.

DisneyCane22 days ago

Last week I flew out of MIA and unexpectedly saw their fleet of self driving wheelchairs. It reminded me a lot of droids moving around the Star Wars universe. I wonder if Imagineering could integrate that technology into GE. I don't know how well they can navigate in a really crowded environment but airport terminals can get pretty congested. Some of the Star Wars technology is becoming less sci-fi and more just sci by the day!

Tha Realest22 days ago

Don’t disagree. I think the masked ones work much better. I took my then 4-year-old to meet Vader and he was absolutely terrified (admittedly so was I as he came from behind the wall)

Piebald22 days ago

Maybe a hot take but I'm not a fan of any of the "human" m&g associated with Star Wars. The prince and princesses are fine across the parks but for SW they just never hit (and yes I know they are mainly for kids). Rey and Vi are pretty lame. Luke would probably be terrible. More droids...more aliens...*that* would be cool and make the land feel more alive. Always thought the Jawas trading were so cool. Stormtroopers, Kylo and Chewbacca are great because the interactions you see feel more genuine

Tha Realest23 days ago

Since he can manifest across the Galaxy maybe he can use his Force push powers to start moving the DHS canons

JackCH23 days ago

Yeah, I let my excitement get the better of me and go too fast.

HauntedPirate23 days ago

But did Bob tweet it out? I can't believe anything about Galaxy's Edge in California unless Bob tweets it out. I'm still waiting for it to open, because he said all he needed to do was tweet when it opens and... here I sit... waiting...

Agent H23 days ago

Hopefully this is The start of them adding original and prequel trilogy characters to the land and maybe sometime in the next5 to 10 years they will finally get rid of launch bay

TheMaxRebo23 days ago

Believe this will only be for Disneyland (per a # in another post from the Disney account) and they have sort of adjusted the timeline of theirs already to be less specific The DHS one still seems focused on the same "Story"/time period