Global Mouse Travel Blog

Each year at Disneyland ahead of the Candlelight Processional Disney fans speculate about who will be the celebrity narrator for this special event. This year that narrator is Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Miranda is known on both the stage and screen. For Disney he recently started as Jack in Mary Poppins Returns with Emily Blunt. He also wrote songs for Moana and appears on the soundtrack as well. In the theater he is know as the creator and lead actor in Hamilton. He also created and was the lead for In the Heights. 
Lin-Manuel Miranda is currently working on the live-action version of The Little Mermaid for Disney.
Candlelight has a rich legacy at the Disneyland Resort. Each year during the first weekend of December the story of Christmas is told with a celebrity narrator, 500 voice choir, orchestra, handbells, soloists, and fanfare trumpeters. DAPS MAGIC films the procession each year and posts it on YouTube. Recent narrators have included Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, and Ginnifer Goodwin among many others.

If you’re looking for a fun way to pass the time inside Disney Parks, the Play Disney Parks app is for you! It takes in the world around you as an opportunity to bring you even further into the story and making long queues around you fly by. In the case of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the app tells even more stories about the land that you may not be able to learn otherwise. As the land adds the newest attraction, Play Disney Parks app is adding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance jobs so guests can help either side of the galaxy!
Whether you choose to support the First Order or the Resistance, you’ll have the opportunity to join in. If you join the Resistance, you’ll respond to a distress call from Finn and follow his path into Batuu. Along the way, you’ll help prisoners and droids escape from the grasp of the first order. You may even pick up some special plants and schematics along the way! If you support the First Order, you’ll take part in surveillance on the Resistance camp and help return information back to the Supreme Leader.
These jobs will become available when the attraction opens on December 5 in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and January 17 at Disneyland Park.
What side will you join when Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance comes to a park near you? 

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be officially open to the galaxy on December 5, 2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Starting January 17, 2020 guests will be able to experience the attraction at Disneyland as well in California. With the opening of this attraction at Walt Disney World, there are a lot of details coming out about what guests will be experiencing.

Backstory of Star Wars: Rise of the ResistanceThere is more known now about the backstory for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The timeline for it takes place after the Battle of Crait from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Following that battle, General Leia Organa led what was left of the Resistance to an undisclosed location.

While this is happening, another band of Resistance supporters has also established an outpost on Batuu. A remote planet located on the edge of the Outer Rim Territories. This was thanks to the scouting of the Resistance spy Vi Moradi. Unfortunately, the First Order and Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has hunted them and landed at Black Spire Outpost in search of the Resistance fighters.

It is on Batuu and the Outer Rim where the Resistance is rebuilding in hopes of bringing freedom to the galaxy. To do this, they are seeking recruits. This is where the beginning of Star Wars: Rise of Resistance begins.

Star Wars: Rise of Resistance OverviewWhen guests experience Star Wars: Rise of Resistance, they will board a transport shuttle to join the resistance. Onnce in space, they will be captured by a Star Destroyer and pursued by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren while they desperately look for a way to escape the First Order.

Star Wars: Rise of Resistance Attraction DetailsStar Wars: Rise of Resistance will take guests on an experience like never had before. The experience will bring a new reality to the world of Star Wars as guests become completely immersed in the story. This attraction will be one of the longest Disney attraction experiences ever. It will also have quite a few surprises along the way as guests see and experience things that seemed to only be possible in the world of movies and fantasy.
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The following details give a lot of information about what the attraction will be like when guests experience it. If you do not want any spoilers for the attraction, it is best to stop reading this article now. Following the photo gallery, the details of the attraction will be laid out as shared by Disney.

Join the Resistance

• Guests exploring Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge find the Resistance’s temporary encampment in the forested area along the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost on Batuu.
• The gateway to the encampment is marked by a large turret. From there, a pathway leads deeper into the forest toward towering cliffs and the crumbling remains of an ancient civilization. Guests weave through low stone walls, timeworn pillars and tight corridors as they progress farther into the base, hearing military communications chatter along the way.
• In a makeshift briefing room, Rey – a hero of the cause – appears via holo-transmission alongside dutiful droid BB-8 to welcome the new Resistance recruits. She shares a plan to reunite with General Leia Organa at an off-planet location that must be kept secret from the First Order.
• Guests then board a nearby Intersystem Transport Ship (I-TS) and have to make their rendezvous quickly to avoid a First Order Star Destroyer on its way to Batuu. They should have a bad feeling about this …

An All-Encompassing Attraction Experience

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance throws out the rulebook for traditional attraction design, eschewing and/or blending industry notions such as “queue,” “preshow” and “ride” to create a seamless, holistic experience full of rich details and breathtaking excitement on a cinematic scale.
• When guests board the I-TS, they’ll feel as if they’re lifting off the surface of Batuu and blasting into space alongside Poe Dameron in his signature black-painted X-wing starfighter, Black One.
• Before the I-TS can make the jump to lightspeed, it’s caught in the tractor beam of a Star Destroyer and pulled into a massive hangar bay.
• Guests make their escape from the Star Destroyer aboard eight-passenger First Order Fleet Transports piloted by reprogrammed R5-series astromech droids.
• The attraction features grand set pieces – including the hangar bay that is filled with 50 menacing stormtroopers and a docked TIE fighter. At various points, guests dodge blaster bolts from stormtroopers and AT-AT walkers, scurry past huge turbolaser cannons, and stumble into the Star Destroyer’s bridge.
• Throughout their journey, guests are hunted by Kylo Ren, who uses the Force in an attempt to pry from their minds the location of General Organa’s secret base. Guests feel Ren’s tremendous malevolent power as they narrowly avoid his attacks.

Authentically Star Wars

• Actors from the current Star Wars film trilogy reprise their roles for new scenes and dialogue in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, including Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) and Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux). Many scenes were filmed at the same time “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” were in production.
• Poe Dameron’s X-wing is one of several vehicles from the Star Wars galaxy appearing in the attraction.
• Disney cast members adopt personalities of First Order and Resistance troops throughout the attraction to further deepen the immersive experience for guests.
• Walt Disney Imagineering worked hand in hand with Lucasfilm in writing the attraction’s script, ensuring characters and storylines were properly integrated into the broader Star Wars
• The attraction introduces a new featured character: Lieutenant Bek is a Mon Calamari Resistance officer who helps guide the Resistance recruits through their harrowing journey.

Cutting-Edge Technology Powers Immersive Storytelling

• Walt Disney Imagineering combined multiple ride systems to tell the story of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. In one sequence, a new simulator experience gives the sensation of falling from space to crash land on Batuu.
• The trackless ride vehicles in Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are some of the most advanced ever used in a Disney attraction, with a sleek, low profile and the ability to move in all directions.
• Disney A-1000 Audio-Animatronicsfigures appearing in the attraction provide a deep level of immersive storytelling through their lifelike and dynamic movements.
• To fully realize this Star Wars story, Imagineers created thousands of special effects, from slashing lightsabers and whizzing blaster bolts to exploding walls and massive star fields – just to name a few.

It was a rather cool, winter type day at the Disneyland Resort for it being December 1. This made for a somewhat comfortable day. Crowds were fairly mild as it was also a travel day for many to go home after the Thanksgiving holiday.
I got to Disneyland around 2pm, but I was ready for the day once I got to the Parks. Of course, I got the obligatory photo of Main Street Station. After entering Town Square, I noticed more Candlelight prep had been made since I was at the Parks on Friday. Candlelight Processional is scheduled for this coming weekend, weather permitting.

Since Mr. DAPs, Caitie, and Jenny were already in the Parks, I texted to see where they were so I could meet up with them. They were across from ‘it’s a small world’ holiday waiting for ‘A Christmas Fantasy’ Parade.
This parade has been a holiday favorite at Disneyland since 1995. Several characters, as well as parade units have been added, removed, changed, and/or moved around over the years. Of course, the parade opens with the ballerina and teddy bear, the marching toy soldiers, Mickey, Minnie, Mrs. Claus, Chip, Dale, Donald, and dancing elves.
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Next up is the Ballroom Unit featuring the Disney Princesses and Princes. You can find the Tremaine’s, Snow White and her Prince, Tiana and Naveen, Belle and Beast, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Aurora and Phillip, and Ariel and Eric, as well as ballroom dancers

Up next is the Toy Workshop Unit. This unit features characters from Toy Story, so you will see the Green Army Men, Jessie, Woody, and Buzz. And new this year to the big sack of toys is Forky from ‘Toy Story 4,’ so be in the lookout for him

After the parade, we made our way to Disney California Adventure by following the parade towards Main Street. It was nice to get some unique angles of the finale float making its way down the parade route

We finally made it to Disney California Adventure. Jenny and I headed to the Cozy Cones in Cars Land for some peppermint soft serve, while Mr. DAPs and Caitie headed to find Festival of Holidays food. 
The peppermint soft serve is found at the Ice Cream Cones ‘Cone.’ It’s served in a cup or cone, and comes with fun holiday sprinkles, and a gold star! It’s $5.79 plus tax, and discounts do not apply here. But the peppermint soft serve is very good, not too minty, and it definitely turns your tongue green, but it doesn’t stay green for long.

On December 3, Disney will be streaming live from Epcot a special presentation of The Candlelight Processional. For this stream, actor Neal Patrick Harris will be narrating the Christmas Story.

The Candlelight Processional combines the traditional scripture of the Christmas story as read by a celebrity narrator.  The narrator is joined by a mass choir and also orchestra.

​The livestream for The Candlelight Processional will begin at 8:10 p.m. EDT or 5:10 p.m. PST.