According to reports we’ve received from guests, the Intersystem Transport Ship, or I-TS, show element wasn’t working earlier this afternoon.
If you’re unfamiliar with the attraction, the I-TS is the vehicle that guests enter to leave Batuu after receiving their mission from Rey. The ship (seen below), is a critical part of not only the storyline, but also for the guest flow into the next section of the ride.
As you probably have read countless times by now, Disney is billing Rise of the Resistance as not just another theme park ride, but as an experience. This experience begins in a pre-show where you are briefed by a hologram of Rey and then ushered into the courtyard seen above and eventually into the ship.
According to the guests that we spoke with, they never made it onto the I-TS, instead being rerouted into a backstage area and eventually into the Star Destroyer hangar to experience the rest of the attraction. As a matter of fact, they said they didn’t even get to experience the Rey pre-show, instead walking into the I-TS courtyard and through a backstage door behind the ship that led them to the Star Destroyer.
We made it out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to investigate and according to Cast Members that we spoke with, the I-TS is functional again, but did break down earlier this afternoon. While the reason for the breakdown wasn’t communicated, the room guests enter is situated on a complex turntable that makes a nearly 240-degree turn to bring guests to the Star Destroyer. This is the first we’re hearing of guests completely routed around this crucial show element instead of closing the attraction.
With such a high profile attraction, it’s surprising that operations choose to give guests such a sub-par experience. In order to even get a chance to ride the attraction, guests have been getting up hours before the park opened for a shot at securing a boarding group – a requirement to ride. Guests who asked about the breakdown were given a FastPass to try again later, but we’re told that the recovery FastPass wasn’t an automatic action by management, with affected guests having to ask to receive one.
While we’re happy to see that the I-TS turntable is working again, we do hope that the routing of guests through backstage hallways to the Star Destroyer isn’t part of the standard operating proceedure in the event of I-TS downtime.
For a 4K POV of the full Rise of the Resistance experience, pre-show to ride exit, check out our video below. For continuing coverage of the Rise of the Resistance attraction and much more from around the Disney Parks, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com.
They have to keep them moving. Like you said they have been waiting hours. Skipping the ITS and continuing, is better than no experience at all! This is the backup plan, short of evacuating and getting nothing.
Scary part is the Yeti. If you get my drift. Throwing up the hands and going with much less.
Stop it. I’d rather skip one part of the pre show than to not experience the ride at all. Im glad disney has a way to get guests inside in case the ship breaks down. That is important so the guests can experience the rest. they stood in line..so they deserve at least the rest of the attraction if one piece breaks down.
Without setting up the illusion, the rest of the experience is useless. It’s like a magician telling you what your card is when you never picked a card to begin with.