News Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opening day reports - Disney's Hollywood Studios

[bclane]

These figures are interesting, but isn't EVERYTHING going to have the Hurricane Dorian asterisk next to it for a day or so?

The fact that neither my brother or I are there today because of the fricken hurricane is telling...especially considering we’re so Star Wars nuts we dressed up for the Solo premier. That’s dedication!

And still no luck finding water...

 

[seascape]

It will be an interesting weekend. I called DVC to setup my Magical Express for late September and was told there were over 100 calls in the queue waiting to make changes. They are having tons of cancellations at both DVC and Hotels. Of course mostl rooms will be filled by those on the coast who want to get to the safest place in Florida. The parks won't do as well but the hotels will still be full.

 

[VaderTron]

Wouldn't the decisions be to improve the land in some way? If it's not drawing like they want (obviously, we can't conclude that at this point), then leaving it as is won't help. Right? Or am I just being hopeful/naive?

You are thinking like a patron, not a business person. To wrap our minds around it pretend you just made an expensive purchase to get a giant blow-up movie screen, a top-of-the-line movie projector, concession machines (popcorn, cotton candy, icee, etc), and seating for hundreds of your friends. You invited everyone you knew to come and watch a double feature at the neighborhood park. On the night of the event only 15 of your friends came and no one even stayed for the second movie.

Now, as a human being you would likely still be glad you did all that work and were able to enjoy that evening with your friends. However, if you could go back, you probably would have scaled things way back, regretting all the money you sunk into the endeavor. In fact, you may be very gun-shy the next time you have a big idea that costs a lot to bring to fruition.

Disney management will see lower than expected turnout in SW:GE as a waste of money. Instead of spending more to make improvements, they will likely be even more hesitant to pull the trigger on massive investments in the future and instead scale back future projects and make less risky (aka, boring/disappointing) choices in future park additions.

 

[ElvisMickey]

DHS looked crazy this morning from what I saw online. I did a 4 hour window at Disneyland in June and had my AP preview here at WDW last week. I’m good until Rise Of The Resistance opens. My feeling in regards to the land is that I don’t hate it, but don’t love it either. It’s fine. You can only eat so many sausage wraps

 

[EricsBiscuit]

So today has been awesome. We did MFSR twice. The single rider line is only about 20 minutes. We’ve done ToT twice (FP and walk on), TSMM (walk on), Star Tours (wall on), MuppetVision, and dinner at the Brown Derby. All in about 6 hours.

 

[planodisney]

You guys do realize that thousands of people showed up at 4am. Those people were never going to stay until closing, so many repeat riders have all gone home from exhaustion. That’s just a fact. I don’t think we have to wait 3 weeks, I think next week will say a lot but don’t forget this wasn’t a typical summer or holiday opening. When did Haggerids Motorbike open? This is a Thursday with kids all back in school and people swarmed the place at 4 friggin am.

 

[tirian]

No, I'm not. But those are budgetary decisions, not creative ones.



Yes, because that adds to the sense of immersion. Wouldn't make sense to have Kylo Ren and Vader walking around in the same land. I love the fact that it is part of the SW universe in a particular point in time. I think that adds to the appeal, at least for me. Besides, it doesn't preclude them from doing other SW stuff in the park or changing things up in the future, or adding another land set in a different time period.



Name a land built in the last 30 years that's complete?

Also, TSL is tons of fun.



No, as I was and remain an OT fan. But I'm not exclusively an OT fan. I love what Kennedy, Filioni et al have done with the franchise, and I love the OT, ST, parts of the PT, Clone Wars, Rebels, etc.

And I have nothing against those who prefer the OT. All I'm saying is that I happen to feel differently as I am a fan of more than just the OT.

I have no problem agreeing to disagree.

 

[tirian]

I am curious outside of the lacking options which I agree about. How is the land trapped in one time frame? What in the land could they not change at any point? Characters can be changed, so can video screens or ride footage. The only ride that could not be changed is Rise of the resistance. Also I ask you how is this any different then other rides and attractions being stuck in a certain time due to them being made before or after a movie.

They can in the future, but they chose not to for now, because the land is seen as an extension of the marketing brand for the current trilogy.

This has been the biggest complaint in California, where the proximity to Hollywood and the steady stream of movie-savvy APs didn’t help during AP previews.

Everyone has talked about it plenty of times in other threads, and I don’t want to be responsible for derailing this one.

Check the reviews in the Disneyland forum here.

 

[matt9112]

We were just talking about these DHS wait times in the Disneyland Star Wars thread, but they might be of interest to some folks here.

At 4:30pm Eastern Daylight time on Day 1, here are the current WDW App wait times for DHS and its entire roster of 7 rides...

Millennium Falcon - 105 Minutes
Slinky Dog Dash - 55 Minutes
Alien Swirling Saucers, Rock N' Roller Coaster, Midway Mania - 30 Minutes
Star Tours - 15 Minutes
Tower of Terror - 10 Minutes

Is this why the micky ride has slowed to molasses....

 

[Joeamc]

RE the wait times...Smuggler's Run also doesn't have FP+ yet...so there's also that to take into consideration...no?

We arent used to seeing new rides/attractions open without FastPass. All of the wait times we are used to lately (for standby) has taken into account fastapss affecting the standby times

 

[DisneyDefenders]

It seems that guests from one of the resort buses got to be the first lucky people in line. Does anyone know what resort that bus came from, which arrived at approximately 3:20 AM?

 

[tirian]

If RoR is what it's supposed to be, then the lands will be a great success. A Harry Potter-sized success (what Disney probably wanted)? No. They aren't and won't be that. But a place where families have lots of fun for decades to come, AND (especially at DL) a good sized capacity increase? Yes and Yes. Worth $2B? Hard to say.

No, no, no. You’re not allowed to have a balanced opinion. This is the Internet.

 

[JohnD]

Dorian at this point isn't a factor. This is what would have shown up anyways. Sunday will be when Dorian starts to affect the crowds

Thanks

 

[mikejs78]

Wait times back up to 110 minutes....

 

[Samirella]

Has anyone used the Play Disney app to interact with stuff in the land?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Wait times back up to 110 minutes....

Well, it's after dinner time. Wonder how it'll do in competition with DHS's two nighttime shows.

F! is 8 & 10. The SW projection show is 10 PM. Park closes at 10 PM.

A 17 hour day.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Has anyone used the Play Disney app to interact with stuff in the land?

I did during the AP preview. A bunch of fun activities. It was too hot to try and chase down all it had to offer. Most importantly, it'll keep track of the credits you got (or lost) on the MFSR.

 

[Stripes]

RE the wait times...Smuggler's Run also doesn't have FP+ yet...so there's also that to take into consideration...no?

Absolutely! That is putting significant downward pressure on wait times compared to other recently opened Disney attractions, such as FOP. People don't realize just how much the Fastpass system inflates standby wait times.

It also helps that this ride, both in California and Florida, appears to be very stable.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

To all who purposely didn't come because you were afraid it would be crowded....thank you very much.

 

[Driver]

No offense to Disney, but that's really dumb. People camping out for the opening would be good press.

Lots of reasons why..... security issues and no access to restrooms. I don't think I need to tell you what people do without a restroom.