Is Disney's Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance really the best ride at any of the world's theme parks?
That is the question that you can help answer by voting in this year's Theme Park Insider Awards. Voting is open now.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has won our Best Attraction award for six years in a row, ever since it debuted in Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in 2019. A second installation of the ride opened at Disneyland in early 2020.
It is not illogical for a great new attraction to claim and hold a crown for many years in a row. To be the new champ, something has to beat the old one. The pandemic in 2020 slowed the development of new theme park attractions, but 2025 has brought a new crop of challengers for Rise.
Can one of the new attractions at Universal Orlando's Universal Epic Universe theme park dethrone Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Is Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment a better attraction? What about Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry?
Again, it's your call - at least, collectively. Theme Park Insider readers may vote now for 2025's Best Theme Park Attraction as well as other awards in this year's honors. Here are the links:
Your votes don't just determine the award winners, which I will announce on January 1, 2026. They also determine the order in which we list each park's top attractions on our theme park visitors guides - one-page overviews and advice for visiting the top theme parks around the world.
So if you think some rides should be listed higher - or lower - than they are this year, voting now is your chance to fix that.
We have been surveying readers to rank attractions for more than 25 years, so I would like to thank everyone who has been part of our surveys in the past. And I would like to invite anyone who has not to jump in and submit some rankings this time. Please share this link with family, friends and colleagues and encourage them to vote, too.
Thank you for reading... and for voting!
it’s not even close. monsters unchained is a great ride but it’s not even close to rise.
Found Battle of Ministry to be overrated and not a big fan of the ride vehicle in Monster’s Unchained.
Rise of the Resistance should be able to easily retain the title for another year.
As nice as it would be to see a new attraction take the title, it's really hard to argue against Rise of the Resistance compared to anything else.
Having not been to Epic Universe yet I'm not qualified to say how that park's headliners stack up, but I will say this: If you look at just the ride portion of Rise, it's hard to argue that it's the best ride at Disney let alone the best in the world. If you look at the full experience Rise provides, it's challenging to find another attraction that provides something on that level of immersion. Which people value more could very well determine whether or not Rise gets dethroned this year.
Does voting here really mean anything ? If it was up to the Disney niche here, small world, Peter Pan and dumbo would be top 3 ….
I think Guardians and Forbidden Journey and Gringotts are all more fun than Rise.
Rise is the whole package tho. Although, it's been in B-mode the last two times I rode it.
The best ride for me is Velocicoaster.
I need more time with the epic rides, but none of them are better than Rise. They all might be in the same tier tho.
No it is Not.
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike - VelociCoaster - Flight of Passage..
@Tiptop22 I think Mythos still has that banner up, and there's plenty of Disney/Universal content makers who make videos commenting on it....
i think i've ridden ROTR 5 or 6 times, but only once or twice in A mode...it's fantastic when it's in A mode, otherwise, only the ending is good from my perspective. As Brian Emery says above, i'd take Hagrid's, GOTG or FOP any day.
Like AJ, I cannot evaluate the Epic attractions since I have yet to visit the new park. However, I think what makes RotR such a great attraction is how it integrates so many different types of experiences into a single attraction. When everything is working great (and TBF, it's "hit" rate is probably not better than your average MLB All-Star), it really feels like you've been dropped into the middle of a Star Wars film. However, if you've never had a "clean" run on the attraction, I can totally understand why you would feel that it's overrated. The main ride portion of the attraction is solid, but it is highly dependent on everything working perfectly, and one minor issue can really take you out of the immersion. On it's best day, there isn't an attraction on the planet that can touch RotR, but on its worst day, RotR can be an incredibly frustrating experience that is probably on par with what has been detailed regarding BotM.
I think that's what makes it hard to rank modern attractions, because they're so much more than the actual ride when you consider the entrance, queue, pre-show, post-show, and even the surrounding land. It makes it hard to compare attractions that have such immersive experiences that last in some cases 30-40 minutes (aside from the actual waiting in line) to a roller coaster or other thrill ride that is over in 2-3 minutes or even a movie-based attraction that may last 8-10 minutes. In many cases it's apples to oranges, but I do think RotR is still the bar that attractions should look to achieve. I think the fact that the attraction is really 3 very different experiences (motion theater, trackless dark ride, and drop ride) all in one of the most immersive packages ever attempted, still puts it over the top for me, even when a few of the features are not running perfectly.
Hard to be objective as I have never ridden it. I would like to check it out someday, but keep seeing certain parts are either in a different mode or are not working at all.
I'd have to see Rise with everything functioning, but I'm sure I would love it. It be hard for anything to ever top Spidey in my book. That ride is 25 years old and still holds up with anything you can ride today.
Having been on it a couple more times in May Disneyland trip, it still has that crown for me.
The physical effects (sets and AAs), lights, audio and integrated film elements put Rise squarely on top. Plus I can get mouthy interacting with the First Order CMs -- which is unique to this ride.
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it’s not even close. monsters unchained is a great ride but it’s not even close to rise.