Disneyland's 'Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance' Ride Keeps Breaking Down (sfgate.com) 129
SFGate calls it "the most technologically advanced ride Disney has ever opened."
The 18-minute journey involves a secret rebel base, interrogation from the First Order, uncomfortably close brushes with Kylo Ren and a daring rescue mission, and has sophisticated animatronics and a trackless ride system unlike anything else currently in Disneyland.
With all of those moving parts, though, the ride breaks down frequently.
"Rise of the Resistance" can sometimes break down multiple times a day, often for long stretches. The ride already has modifications for minor breaks, like a scene with a Kylo Ren animatronic that has a "b mode" where a broken piece of wall blocks off the malfunctioning Ren and he's shown on a screen instead. A room with cannons that dart out between ride cars has stopped the cannons from moving because they caused so many ride breakdowns.
But still, even with those fixes, larger problems happen. In fact, earlier this week, one Disneyland guest reported getting evacuated from Rise three times in the same day. "I've been on RoR 3 times today and have been evacuated every time," the person posted on Reddit. "Send thoughts and prayers!"
The article also cites data from the theme-park site Thrill Data, which estimates the ride's historical wait time average is 105 minutes — but which can shoot up after breakdowns to two or three hours.
The maximum wait time ever recorded was six hours and six minutes.
With all of those moving parts, though, the ride breaks down frequently.
"Rise of the Resistance" can sometimes break down multiple times a day, often for long stretches. The ride already has modifications for minor breaks, like a scene with a Kylo Ren animatronic that has a "b mode" where a broken piece of wall blocks off the malfunctioning Ren and he's shown on a screen instead. A room with cannons that dart out between ride cars has stopped the cannons from moving because they caused so many ride breakdowns.
But still, even with those fixes, larger problems happen. In fact, earlier this week, one Disneyland guest reported getting evacuated from Rise three times in the same day. "I've been on RoR 3 times today and have been evacuated every time," the person posted on Reddit. "Send thoughts and prayers!"
The article also cites data from the theme-park site Thrill Data, which estimates the ride's historical wait time average is 105 minutes — but which can shoot up after breakdowns to two or three hours.
The maximum wait time ever recorded was six hours and six minutes.
"Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
Re:"Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:5, Funny)
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
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Worse still, we got stuck in the middle of "It's a small world" because they stopped it after an earthquake. But they didn't stop the music or the animatronic dancers.
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Isn't that a ride where you could feasibly get out and leave?
I wonder if I am at an age where have those kind of stones.
"I'll Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
..that one is much worse. Nothing but a copout and a way to attempt to look good without having to lift a finger.
How about "I'll come to you and do everything I possibly can to help"?
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:3)
Jezuz dude.
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Amusing self-own. Who do you think you are talking to from your identity-protest ID?
One of the better features of Slashdot is the relatively convenient filter to ignore people who post tripe because it has no negative effect on their non-existent AC reputations. Hmm... Is there a more positive or at least simpler way to say that? Yeah, come to think of it, there is.
"Don't feed the trolls."
Not even diet cola.
(But I actually liked the FP opening joke. That didn't get the Funny it deserved.)
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eh?
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
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Why can't people enjoy a movie for what it is? It's fiction.
Because people get emotionally invested in things. What's more, filmmakers actually depend on this tendency to make a profit, because people will literally go see the movie repeatedly to experience it with their friends, they buy merchandise that typically winds up in the bottom of a box or eaten by a pet, they share memes that raise other consumers' awareness of the brand, etc.
Re: "Send thoughts and prayers!" (Score:2)
The old "Star Tours" was fun (Score:4, Interesting)
The old "Star Tours" ride was fun, featuring the death star run, and did not break down. I remember it from my first visit to Disneyland back in '88, and the next time I went 20 years later it was still there (closed not very long after), and since it was "old" there were no lines, I did it 3 times in a row.
Re: The old "Star Tours" was fun (Score:3)
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The one in Florida now has Ren stopping the shuttle (with C3PO as the pilot) and basically flying through various parts of RoS. Same ride, different visuals.
Early in 2020 (before covid closings), Disneyland had the same Star Tour. It also went to Exegol to assist in that weird battle (didn't see space horses on my ride).
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I haven't been on RotR (in CA) in a while, but it's amazing. Were the "Starkiller" steps in theme?
Re: The old "Star Tours" was fun (Score:2)
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That's cool to think each track is different.
I'm pretty sure it's more complicated than that. I haven't been there in a couple of years but I'm pretty sure there are several beginnings, middles and ends and they generate random combinations. So if you go on it twice and see Vader both times you might end up on Naboo one ride and Coruscant the other ride.
I'm not sure how many parts (e.g. beginning/middle/end) there are and how many alternatives for each part (e.g. how many different beginnings, how many different ends) but I have definitely ridden it t
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I literally went on this ride in Disney World in Florida 10 days ago. I was stopped by Darth Vader, not Kylo Ren.
I think you are mistaken.
Off subject, my family went on Rise of the Resistance and the ride broke down. My son told me they had to all walk off through the ride and had to use a set of steps called "Starkiller".
Second time, though, all of us went on it and it was blast.
He's not mistaken.
The scenes are randomized. So you can get a different beginning, middle and end.
Here's an article with the possible combinations: https://touringplans.com/blog/all-of-the-star-tours-the-adventures-continue-combinations/
I do miss the old Star Tours. Actually, I miss Captain Rex (R-3X) who was voiced by Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens). "brakes, brakes, where are the brakes!"
In regards to "Rise of the Resistance", it's a bummer but it really does break down quite a bit. I've only been on i
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Disneyland in Paris has a somewhat similar ride with wheeled vehicles on Remy the rat of Ratatouille. It has multiple paths around the ride (even though they are mostly similar). You can kind of see the other cars of the ride (they're all independent) converging and diverging from your own, so showing different scenes on different paths is a solved problem.
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Re: The old "Star Tours" was fun (Score:3)
Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed the ride is prone to breaking down (which is why it's better to try to ride it earlier in the day rather than later).
But the ride is worth it, simply the best theme park ride I've ever been on, even if you were not that into Star Wars it would be impressive... the ride has a number of stages with some cool elements along the way.
At least as the article and summary noted, there are some b-modes in parts where elements might break down and you see something alternative...
What I've never managed to figure out even after many rides, is just what about this ride is breaking down so often. I think it may be the vehicles, I think once I read something about the interlinks between ride elements losing communication and thus getting out of sync at times... for a while around opening they were telling people to put phones in airplane mode before they rode, but they've not done that for a long time. it's kind of amazing to be they don't seem to have managed to increase reliability after all this time.
By the way no other trackless vehicle ride I've ever been on (like Mickey & Minney's Runaway Railway, or Ratatouille) has been nearly as good.
Disney has a Genie+ option to pay for some rides individually now, Rise of the Resistance is the only ride I would ever pay that extra fee for - but it's a ride I happily will pay that fee, every time I visit just to be sure I can get on without hours in line.
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Disney thinks that it's so cool to be an "Imagineer" that they
Re:Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:5, Insightful)
Disney parks are basically a bait and switch and if not quite meeting the legal definition there, certainly the worst kind of abusive teaser faire.
Hey pay this price have fun ridding rides in the park all day! - Oh wait you want to ride more than maybe two things and not stand in like for 9 hours, well then you need to pay this other higher price... That's the game. I realize you and I are in agreement here but I don't think we should give the Mouse a pass here. Its really mean spirited attempt to prey on people who don't know what they are in for and worse - in a lot of cases its taking opportunities for better family options away from small children.
I agree Disney should either charge enough meet the supply demand curve where they sell out all the genie+ time slots and make that the class of service for everything they give every entrant, or be a lot more honest about the fact that base admission ticket buys you about 15min of total entertainment and a commitment of 6-9 hours of being a captive audience for them to market over priced middling quality snack food products to.
fast past used to be free at disney when other had (Score:2)
fast past used to be free at disney when other had paided ones.
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Disney parks are basically a bait and switch and if not quite meeting the legal definition there, certainly the worst kind of abusive teaser faire.
And they will continue to do that as long as fools are willing to pay the price.
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The key to this is to stay at Portofino Bay [universalorlando.com] or one of the other hotels with the Universal Express Unlimited benefit, and then everybody staying with you gets the benefit as part of the hotel cost. I put my family of 5 in one room, and the stay was very cost effective.
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At Universal in the mid-1980s, the difference was $16 for a regular ticket, or $22 for a skip-the-lines ticket (and parking was $2 for the whole day), and that premium ticket was furthermore good for free admission for the whole year. That was pretty reasonable to have a much better experience. No idea what Disney (or Universal) is charging now.
Re: Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:2)
If you're stupid enough to wait in line, then sure, you might not get to much.
But for years Disney parks have had a ticketed schedule system. Here's how it actually works if you're not a moron:
You wander the park to plan your day. You briefly stop by the rides you want to go on and you pick up a ticket with a time range of like 15-30 minutes.
After you collect all your tickets, you put them order by scheduled time and you just bounce from ride to ride, waiting no more than about 30 minutes per ride (and that
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Disney is a victim of their own success (at least in Orlando, I've never been to any of the other parks)
I've been to Disney many times when the kid was younger and have many memories of wandering around a near vacant magic kingdom after midnight during "extra magic hours" which were a free benefit of staying in the cheapest Disney hotel which was basically the same price as staying in a non-Disney hotel and dealing with transportation hassles (which I've done too)
At the right time of day at the right time o
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Since then Disney have clearly decided to turn into assholes introducing a paid fast pass / express lane system. "Hey, it's not enough
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As for starving, with mobile order that is really not the case because you can easily order food and drinks through the day for you to pick up with hardly any wait.
If you can't afford Genie+, you can't afford $15 for a hamburger! And the parks are specifically designed to make it hard to leave and get outside food.
Disney *can* be a good experience if you are able and willing to pay triple the stated admission price per day. If not, there isn't much magic.
And it's hard to enjoy the parks knowing that there are families that saved up for the "experience" and can't really enjoy themselves because the pricing wasn't honest. Price the tickets at what people will actually end up paying to have a good time and include all of the things necessary to have fun.
That Disney (and other parks) aren't willing to do that indicates that they know that the dishonest pricing is more profitable and they have no qualms about exploiting struggling families of small children.
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Perhaps it is related to the multiple levels of the ride?
Postscript - Ano
Re: Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:2)
"I'm hard-pressed to think of what is that much different between the trackless cars. What makes the car much more prone to breaking down"
Because the ride has to handle the steering of the cars. If a car begins to veer off course, or if it's as little as a malfunctioning sensor designed to detect this problem, then the emergency shutdown is engaged.
They should've stuck with tracks, and there are good reasons why most dark rides use them.
Re: Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:2)
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Maybe it is too buggy. I will wait for years until it is stable enough! :P
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And you're an old, irrelevant edgelord who not only has lost the concept of having fun, you have turned so cancerous that you actively discourage others from having fun. You'll die sad and angry about things other people do, and those people you have wasted so much time on by allowing them to live rent free in your head? They don't even know who you are, much less care what you think of them.
Sweet dreams.
Re:Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:5, Insightful)
You couldn't pay me enough to visit a place like Disney. It's everything I hate in a single location. Crowds, hot weather, legions of fat people, children, waiting in lines, the massive prices, you name it.
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Re: Ride is worth it, awesome (Score:2)
Sounds like you don't go to amusement parks or even those traveling carnivals with the portable rides. Sad.
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Sounds like you don't go to amusement parks or even those traveling carnivals with the portable rides. Sad.
What's so sad about that? This is Slashdot, not Slashdad.
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So, where do you visit then? It seems like many places are like that now. Even stores. :(
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"Every time I visit"? You're an adult who goes to Disney? Well, that explains a lot.
I too am an adult that goes to Disneyland. What, pray tell, does it explain?
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"Every time I visit"? You're an adult who goes to Disney? Well, that explains a lot.
I too am an adult that goes to Disneyland. What, pray tell, does it explain?
That you really like Disneyland.
I went three times. Once after Disney World opened, once to Epcot, and last time with the kid in tow.
That's enough. My takeaway was that Disneyland's overwhelming activity was waiting in line.
I do have some relatives that go there - I kid you not - almost monthly.
For my entertainment dollar, I'd just as soon go to KSC, watch rocket launches, manatees, and other natural sites, maybe hike through Corkscrew swamp or hit Key West, or go snorkling in Marathon. Closer t
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I enjoy other things - not only Disneyland.
I don't mind the queues. Some people call it waiting in line - I call it people-watching, or talking with friends/family, or enjoying a snack along with people I like to be around. I'm also outgoing enough that I strike up conversations with the others around me - true wherever I am.
The GP seems to think not growing up is a problem. Maturing doesn't mean losing the kid-at-heart attitude.
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I have to deal with adult aged children all day every day and it really is getting fucking tiring.
Indeed, I can be a kid at heart. I enjoy the scenery of a good hike. I also enjoy the scenery of a story book that I can walk through, interact with, and enjoy with my children. To each their own.
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Someone likes something that I don't like, and I'm going to whine about it. Also, our country is going down the toilet because of those things.
I fixed your text-wall for you.
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Life's too short to be snobby about what entertainment is acceptable.
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It explains how you never grew up, never moved on to better things, and how you are trying to fill the void with pathetic attempts to recapture your childhood.
(snip)
Goodness me, this seems to have struck a nerve. I'm sorry about that.
I don't expect everyone to like Disneyland, in the same way I don't like everything everyone else likes. I'm ever curious, a learner, and a father of four. Time with family is important to me, and we spend it together in many ways. And, sometimes it's just my wife and I on a date. And, yes, sometimes we go to Disneyland. And sometimes we go somewhere else.
I also don't compare Disney movies to Disney parks. Disney parks are interactive, and
Voltage drop (Score:5, Funny)
My money is on a voltage drop from too much resistance....
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It's resisting Darth Mouse.
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It might be a factor. I was reading that Japan Rail has recently improved the power factor of its high speed trains to reduce the voltage drop on the high voltage overhead lines, which will allow it to run trains more frequently. Perhaps Disney has a similar issue.
Re: Voltage drop (Score:2)
These are not the solenoids you're looking for ... (Score:2)
Disneyland's 'Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance' Ride Keeps Breaking Down
Maybe it needs less resistance.
They just need to reduce the friction (Score:3, Funny)
Too much resistance... (Score:1)
Too much resistance in "Rise of the Resistance".
So, what you want to say is (Score:3)
It's a very good representation of how people felt about the movies?
Six hours and six minutes - not a wait time (Score:2)
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"I'm going to be be first in line when they fix it!"
Re: Six hours and six minutes - not a wait time (Score:2)
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I doubt anyone would wait that long for them to fix it.
I see you never stood in a line in a Disney park.
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6:06 must have been the time to repair, not the "wait time". I doubt anyone would wait that long for them to fix it. They would go off to do other things, and then come back later when it's working again.
Well, I recall way back in the day with Space mountain. Teenagers would wait several hours in line, go on the ride, get off and get right back in line for another several hour wait.
Seeing that convinced me that the biggest ride in DisneyLand or World is that slow moving walking tour that ends up in a couple minute ride, then rinse and repeat..
And I'll bet the kids brag about how long they waited. Waited 5 hours for a ride? That must be the greatest ride in the world!
Re: Six hours and six minutes - not a wait time (Score:2)
I waited 10 hours for a ride which was just a flat short track through a bunch of obvious plywood sets with Halloween decorations you could buy at the Dollar Tree, and a big ghost thingy dropped down in front of the exit and went BOO in a low volume, scratchy voice. The ghost was yanked back up to the ceiling and it was over. I am legend.
Re: Six hours and six minutes - not a wait time (Score:2)
You can count that two ways. Either they're underreporting wait times by not including how long you want to wait for a time slot, and the average wait is over 6 hours, or you can expect to wait up to 6 hours even if you have a time slot and aren't counting the t
six hours and six minutes. (Score:4, Funny)
What's six hours and six minutes in Parsecs?
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Slightly over half a Kessel Run.
Re: six hours and six minutes. (Score:2)
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I never "got" these kinds of rides (Score:2)
Rollercoasters sure, its an adrenaline buzz. But rides where animatronic puppets pop out and screen visuals that would have been cutting edge on a PC 10 years ago? Sorry, just don't get it.
Re:I never "got" these kinds of rides (Score:5, Informative)
Go look up a PoV recording of the ride. It achieves a pretty incredible level of immersion. It's by far the most elaborate attraction I've ever seen, combining multiple segments with different modes of transport. The trackless segment takes place after you're broken out of prison (on foot) via a hole cut in the wall and has you chased around a Star Destroyer before being loaded into an escape pod where the the vehicle docks into a motion simulator rig. The reason they're having so many issues with breakdowns is that it's so long and elaborate, there are so many potential points of failure.
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The biggest take away from this is Disney figured out the formula for suckering people into waiting hours in line for six minutes of entertainment.
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This is the thing I fundamentally don't get about these parks. I went to disneyland once as a kid and had a good enough time, but there was nothing there worth waiting so long in line for when at a normal park you could have ridden two or three roller coasters in time you spent waiting. Meanwhile, the tech is there today to just schedule riders. And if someone misses their slot, they don't get it. So you'll still need an area for people to loiter in, but a much smaller one — and meanwhile people can b
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Disney has experimented with virtual queueing systems (scheduling riders) for years. They've had difficulty with the execution. I visited World when FastPass+ was the system in place, and it was hard enough to get a schedule slot in the app that it almost felt more like a lottery. Disney would very much rather that you didn't have to wait in line, because you're more likely to buy stuff when you're not in line.
Re: I never "got" these kinds of rides (Score:2)
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Bah, saving spoilers has a expiration date. Get your ass to a theater or theme park in a timely manner is what I say. Its been a couple years. Besides, even knowing the ride, its the scale of the set that really sets it apart. Nothing makes an impression quite like actually going underneath a full scale imperial walker.
Fair point! :-)
The ride experience truly is spectacular. I live close enough that during construction I saw the hint of those walkers while the steel was formed. Talk about "wow"!
Re: I never "got" these kinds of rides (Score:2)
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Sorry, just don't get it.
Good to know. Are there any other things you don't get that you'd like to get off your chest?
People who feel the need to tell the world what they don't get; Sorry, just don't get it :-)
As someone with a long history in community theatre (lighting/sound/set design) and a strong interest in engineering I find Disney dark rides a fascinating art form. I'd love to have the opportunity to design one.
Oh, and there are a huge number of things people enjoy that make no sense to me, but I don't post to the Internet
The Time Masheen too (Score:2)
Went in Dec, broke down for me. (Score:2)
Was our first ride of the day too. We sat for 45 min in line about at the halfway point to loading. Some people left the line, most all stayed and waited it out. We figured it it was something really bad they would have cleared the lines.
Darting cannons (Score:2)
"A room with cannons that dart out between ride cars has stopped the cannons from moving because they caused so many ride breakdowns."
Sounds like the saftey mechanism was working as it should, stopping the ride when the system detected that the cannons were about to smash into the ride cars. So this appears to be a sync issue between the cars and the cannons, much like when the timing chain breaks on an interference engine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
News for Nerds (Score:2)
Trackless problem.... (Score:2)
I have heard a rumor repeated a few times that the problem with one of the Rise rides, between the two parks, is that one of them has the antenna used to guide the ride is installed upside down in the floor. I THINK it was the one in Orlando. Supposedly, it uses similar tech to a wireless fence for dogs or guidance for robot lawn mowers, but obviously a bit more refined. Anyone else come across this?
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Dog fence tech doesn't have an up and down side, it's just a cable ("boundary wire") around 16 or 18ga with a radio signal on it and the distance can be estimated by signal strength. Or in this case, using a comparator (or drastically more likely, equivalent-but-more-complicated logic) and two receiving antennas you can center on it.
I have no idea what they're using, but if it's the same tech as that, then that's not a thing.
Has anybody died yet? (Score:2)
I'm old enough to remember more than one Disney ride killing its riders or employees?
Let's see there was the Matterhorn [thrillnetwork.com], Thunder Mountain [disneydining.com], and my Favorite, America Sings. [opinionfront.com]
If they're not dead they're just inconvenienced for waiting an hour plus in line for no fun; it's not like they're leaving the park in a body bag.
If it uses wireless transmissions? (Score:3)
I would suspect the entire technology is just not appropriate for the situation?
I remember, one time, working with my boss on a project to get wireless Internet going in a large convention center's mail exhibit hall for our staff and select groups of performers to use the next week when the show started. On a Sunday, we were able to get excellent wifi coverage of the whole place by dropping in a whole box of wireless access points with wired Ethernet connections back to a switch that had a wired connection going in to it.
Come Monday morning? It was a disaster. Nobody could connect to the thing successfully, or at least stay connected for more than 30 seconds.
When you had that many people pour into the convention center to see the shows and exhibits, and pretty much every one of them had a cellphone in their pocket? Most of those were searching for wifi SSIDs they could connect to, and probably often using one of who knows how many others that got set up by other parties involved in the expo. It was just a storm of overcrowded wireless frequencies that made everything an unusable mess in there.
I don't know what frequencies Disney uses to sync everything up on the ride? But given the limited number of frequencies the FCC even allows for these tasks to begin with? I wouldn't be surprised if it works on one of them that's at least close enough to ones getting used by all the devices people carry around so it gets interference? Who knows if their antennas even pick up the signals consistently as the ride moves along, with big chunks of metal rolling past and other big parts of things moving in or out? Any of it could potentially block the signal or cause unexpected signal reflections?
I can't even walk around my whole house without finding certain "dead spots" where my home wireless doesn't penetrate well.
Tell your sister you were right... (Score:2)
Disneyland's 'Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance' Ride Keeps Breaking Down
Much like the creativiry of writing in the sequels!
Re:No wonder... (Score:5, Funny)
As my coffee mug says, resistance isn't futile -- it's voltage divided by current!
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Star Wars is dead.
I think it's actually just dying at this point, and people don't realize it. Give it a few years and people will finally start agreeing with you.
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The Obi-Wan series was really good. It was better than both the VIII and IX movies.
Were you trying to convince me of something? I said it wasn't dead yet.
If you think making terrible movies and then decent TV shows means it's somehow doing fine, then of course you're welcome to that interpretation.
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Oh please, don't try to sell Disney to me. No matter how much you sugar coat them, I won't forgive their reproachable practices, no matter how much I'd agree with some of their other activities.
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My body my choice, right? Oh wait that only applies to vaccines for some reason.
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Oh yes, back when we thought this [youtube.com] is a joke... we didn't know just how bad the real deal could be.