Disney’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction is officially open

Visitors can join the Resistance in a climactic battle

The hotly anticipated Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride is now open at Disney World Resort in Florida as part of its Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction.

The new feature, launched on 5 December, allows fans to join the Resistance in battling the First Order and face off against Kylo Ren.

It will also open at the Disneyland Resort in California on 17 January 2020.

Visitors will board a full-size transport shuttle, only to be captured and come face to face with Stormtroopers before being forced to escape a Star Destroyer on “an adventure of cinematic scale”, according to Disney.

The ride joins other headline attraction Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, where visitors can fly a replica spaceship, with different roles for pilots, gunners and engineers as part of the ride.

The Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge world opened at Disney’s Anaheim park in California on 31 May this year, and at the Florida-based Hollywood Studios on 29 August.

It’s set on the fictional planet of Baatu, where guests encounter familiar faces from the franchise, such as aliens, droids and humans, including Rey and Chewbacca, as part of the immersive experience.

There’s also a marketplace selling galactic delicacies such as colourful popcorn and blue and green milk; a bar that has a music from a former StarSpeeder 3000 pilot droid from the original Star Tours; and a sit-down restaurant called Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo.

For lighter bites there’s Ronto Roasters, which serves Ronto Wraps cooked inside a former smelter droid, alongside drinks including Sour Sarlacc or Tatooine Sunset, in reference to the iconic Luke Skywalker scene.

Visitors can make their own astromech droids at Droid Depot, while at Savi’s Workshop they build their own lightsabre.

When the Galaxy’s Edge attraction first opened in Orlando in August, crowds of people queued through the night to get into the park as soon as it opened.

However, there were still five-hour waits to get on the Smugglers Run ride.