Raise the shields! Disney has added even more plexiglass to the Rise of the Resistance experience in an effort to increase pandemic-era capacity for the attraction.

To get you caught up, Rise of the Resistance previously did not have plexiglass installed between the two rows on the ride vehicle, limiting Cast Members to only loading one party per vehicle per physical distancing restrictions. Recently, Disney began testing a plexiglass barrier between the two rows, a move that would allow them to load both rows with separate parties – effectively increasing capacity.

Now, Disney has added even more plexiglass to the two pre-show rooms and all Rise of the Resistance ride vehicles ahead of the pandemic-era capacity increase. We visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios this morning to not only get you some photos of the pre-show rooms, but also on-ride photos from the second row of the ride vehicle to illustrate what the experience is like. Here’s the latest!

The pre-show experience has changed a bit. No longer will Cast Members assign you a number to stand on. Now, guests get a color to stand on – either blue, green, or yellow. Our only gripe here would be that the green and blue looked too similar in the low light of the pre-show rooms. Maybe a red would be easier to distinguish.

As you can see, Disney has constructed plexiglass holding pens for guests in the pre-show rooms.

In the I-TS transport ship, Disney has hung plexiglass from the ceiling of the ship to create similar plexiglass holding pens for guests.

Outside of those two pre-show rooms, the rest of the experience remains the same, including the massive hangar scene that is always impressive to walk through. Physical distancing markers remain in place here should the queue back up.

Now, when we rode this morning, Disney had not implemented the key step of combining groups on a single ride vehicle. All of the plexiglass barriers they installed in the pre-show rooms will help more guests get through the pre-show at a time, but until they load multiple parties into a single ride vehicle, the pandemic-era capacity won’t be increased. That said, it’s very clear that they are taking the necessary steps to get to a pandemic-era increase in capacity, but we aren’t quite there yet.

That said, Disney has installed plexiglass on all Rise of the Resistance ride vehicles in preparation for the pandemic-era capacity increase. We took one for the team and decided to sit in the back of the ride vehicle to see how obstructed your view would be. As you’ll see in the photos below, we sat on the far end in the back row. Because of the way that the plexiglass is installed, your view from the middle two seats might be worse with the support bar in the middle of the row. Here’s a look at our view with a wide-angle camera.

So, what did we think of the plexiglass on the Rise of the Resistance ride vehicle? It won’t bother the average guest.

The scale of Rise of the Resistance is so grand that the action is largely happening all around you and the plexiglass didn’t take away from that. There were some times where the plexiglass was reflective and we caught glimpses of light that we shouldn’t have, but it really didn’t bother us. If this is the price of increased capacity and therefore creating a better opportunity for more guests to ride, it’s well worth it.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!