Did Disney put too much stock into Star Wars?

[NelsonRD]

Is Star Wars really going to be as popular as Disney thinks? I know it will be popular, and I know Rise of the Resistance is not open yet, but initial reports for Star Wars California is weak. I know it is not just Star Wars Disney is preparing for, but they have focused on increased prices, Star Wars Hotel, Gondola, Gran Destino Tower, Rivera Resort - all expecting large influx of guests. Will these crowds be as big as Disney expects? Maybe the arrogant “all we need to do is tweet its open” isn’t correct.

Hagrid’s Motorbike adventure actually seems more popular than Star Wars California.

Am I wrong in predicting less than expected crowds?

 

[Janir]

TDA probably shot themselves in the foot to some extent with the new AP blackouts at the same time. Plus if you were a Star Wars fan and you had to plan a trip to so see SWGE and not planning to be first day, must be there on openign type, where are you gonna plan your Disney trip?? DLR or WDW? The majority of the crowds in DLR were locals while WDW is vacationers. Unless I was a Disney addict to go to a DLR and it was effectively closer/ cheaper I'm probably gonna plan a WDW trip vs DLR in general. So between AP major changes and restrictions and the bulk of more casual vacationers interested in SWGE planning for WDW, I'm guessing the WDW SWGE will be much more popular as a SWGE destination when it's open and overall. WDW you just plain have more vacation options vs DLR and SWGE is only going to be a 1 maybe 2 day component for the bulk of vacationers. I expect larger crowds to be in SWGE similar to Pandora for a while. Heck I still haven't been to Pandora nor Toy Story Land and I was last in the World in '16 and DLR last year. DLR was more of a , well since we're going to Hawaii and we plan on stopping on the CA coast to breakup the trip and visit friends, lets stop at DLR on the way back., whereas when we plan for WDW, we're planning for WDW. If I want a DIsney fix and the general time/cost issues are present for any trip, I want my Disney resort fix, I'm gonna head to WDW vs DLR. SLR is now more of a specialty trip vs I want to go to Disney trip.

 

[Heppenheimer]

I will admit that even though I was eagerly anticipating Galaxy's Edge, the initial video reviews of it have actually dampened my enthusiasm. I enjoy creative Imagineering as much as anyone, but I don't need a "fully immersive experience". Just give me some good rides and shows, and leave the make-believe playing to the kids. And I definitely have no interest in yet more opportunities to buy overpriced Star Wars merchandise, which seems to be the predominant focus of the land at the present time.

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Just me - I think the entire effort was a mistake. Because it is based on ONE Movie Franchise. Same with Pandora.

Here's the deal - yes, all of this will be VERY popular, NOW. How about 20 years from now? I still believe that "Lands" need to be fairly Generic (a theme), while attractions can be specific.

Consider what would have occurred if, long ago, MK Tomorrow Land had been turned into "Alien Land" .

 

[eliza61nyc]

I thought Pandora was going to be a bust and it's anything but
So I have no talent for predictions.
I think it will have a draw

 

[drizgirl]

I think the crowds will be there. I just think their rollout sucked. And they didn't think it mattered because they thought even one ride and a bunch of shops would still draw everyone in, regardless of blackouts. They thought they could have 2 waves of crowds. Turns out that at the price they're charging, people are willing to wait.

 

[RoyalFool]

I'm avoiding it as it seems like you have to spend a ton of extra cash to even experience most of it (droid works, saber workshop etc), I would rather put that money towards a nice meal, rather than looking around what sounds like a glorified shop.

The films have also really dampened my enthusiasm for the franchise as a whole.

 

[polynesiangirl]

I wonder if some of it also has to do with when they announced the opening dates, especially for DL. When I booked our Disneyland trip for this summer, I had zero idea if Galaxy's Edge would even be open at the time I booked for, since they still hadn't announced an opening date beyond "Summer". I know a lot of people who prefer to book/plan/set aside cash for trips much further in advance than when I reserved that trip (especially people who have tight work schedules/extremely limited time off/the kinds of jobs where they need to book time off WAY in advance), and they definitely wouldn't have just booked and made plans and then crossed their fingers that it'd be open and risked having to re-schedule or whatever. I also know several people who are either Crazy Star Wars People, Crazy Disney People, or a combination of both who purposely stayed away even though they're looking forward to Galaxy's Edge because they feared the crowds would be beyond unmanageable. (I mean, even I definitely considered waiting until next year.)

My whole little family loves Star Wars, so I'm still very excited. I don't know if it's that I wasn't expecting what many others were and so I was less likely to be disappointed, or if I just have different taste (wouldn't be the first time), but everything I've seen so far of Galaxy's Edge looks really fun to me. My kids are super excited, too. I guess we'll see! *shrugs*

 

[SpaceCoast]

There has hardly been a good Star Wars film since the first three so I wonder too how long the Star Wars thing can last. But as previously mentioned I also thought Pandora at AK was a dumb idea but its still so crowded I still have not been on that Flight of Passage ride. Another consideration is that there are still millions of complete Star War nerds out there (one of my sons included) so who knows?

 

[NelsonRD]

Star Wars is already 40 years old. Die Hard fans do not like the direction Disney took the franchise. Personally, I was never into Star Wars. I'll be interested in riding the rides, as I do with Avatar, and Harry Potter. I really wonder if Disney is concerned with the reception of Star Wars California so far.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

No flames but yes I think they did.
I think there are 3 types of SW people... original trilogy people, new movies people, or people that could not care less about SW all together.
So really Disney is only enticing the new movies people and I don't think that is all that many people in the grand scheme of things.
Just in case you wonder I'm a could not care less person other than if my man Harrison is involved and no I'm not interested in his vehicle just him lol.

I am also the person that has ZERO interest in ANYTHING HP but even I want to ride that new ride at Universal lol.

 

[MAGICFLOP]

Oh yeah they will beat Star Wars into the ground.... Episode 27 "yoda makes a light saber"

 

[Beacon Joe]

Sample of one here: personally, I've had little interest in Star Wars since Lucas' first prequel, and after suffering through the first Disney Star Wars film, I haven't bothered to watch any of the others. I don't even know how many Star Wars films Disney has pumped out, and I think they're certainly risking oversaturation, film-wise.... that said, I am really looking forward to visiting Star Wars land. In ~3 years. We're going to WDW next year, but there's no way I'm bothering with Hollywood Studios next summer unless the crowds are non-existent by then.

 

[justintheharris]

The primary cause of the poor showings is blackouts. BUT when people say that, I feel like they forget that Disney is still unhappy with the results. They blocked out their passholders assuming a bunch of first time international visitors would fill the park to capacity... and that didn't happen. In Disney World, that's a far likelier scenario.

 

[justintheharris]

Just me - I think the entire effort was a mistake. Because it is based on ONE Movie Franchise. Same with Pandora.

Here's the deal - yes, all of this will be VERY popular, NOW. How about 20 years from now? I still believe that "Lands" need to be fairly Generic (a theme), while attractions can be specific.

Consider what would have occurred if, long ago, MK Tomorrow Land had been turned into "Alien Land" .

I feel that way about Toy Story land and Frozen BUT forget for a moment that the film Avatar exists. Pandora still holds up. If the movie didn't exist, it's still an exotic landscape with new creatures and a message for conservation. It is still entirely relevant to Animal Kingdom. And Flight of Passage, you could be flying on the back of a dragon through this magical world and it would still hold up. As for Galaxy's Edge, Star Wars is dependent on its film series but it's in a park that highlights the film industry.

 

[FettFan]

The problem with Galaxy's Edge (I refuse to shorten it to SWGE because that acronym looks too much like "Stitch's Great Escape") is that it's essentially just a marketing piece for the Disney movies, which at best have been dull and uninspired, and at worst have been just utter crap. After how terrible Last Jedi was, I was pretty much done with Star Wars, which is a shame given my username on this very site.

Won't surprise me one bit once steam runs out for the Disney movies that they'll quickly re-theme the land and rides to the original movies.
Because let's face it..... "Black Spire Outpost" is EXTREMELY visually similar to Yavin IV. Just replace the Black Spires with the Massassi Temples, and you're mostly there.
Instead of "Rise of the Resistance", you'll see it changed to "Escape the Empire", set between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back as Vader leads an all-out assault against the rebel base. "Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run 2.0" will feature new planets mentioned in the movies, such as Dantooine, Ord Mantell, Anoat, and Sullust. And Han Solo instead of this Hondo chap. (Solo will be voiced by Anthony Ingruber, because the guy in "Solo" has all the charisma of burned toast)



Anyway....the "Build Your Own Lightsaber" bit is a total bust. $200 for the thing and I'm hearing reports that it either stopped working or the cheap plastic pieces had broken by the time the guests left the park. Bad move, especially when you can go online to ParkSabers or Ultra Sabers and get a quality metal piece for less money.

 

[GhostlyGoofy]

I think the WDW Galaxy's Edge is gonna be a whole different beast in terms of attendance.

I don't think Star Wars will lose popularity in 20 years it's already had legs for 40 years despite 15 year gaps without films and negative reaction to the prequels or current sequels.

Like WWE and Disney Parks, star wars fans who hate the product continue to invest money into it.

And if it does lose popularity they'll retheme it, because the parks are never finished.

 

[WondersOfLife]

The difference between Star Wars and Pandora, for me, is the fact that you can go to Pandora without ever having to see the movie and it honestly fits quite well with AK as far as make-believe animals/dragons/ect. goes. So if the upcoming Avatar movies are failures, I won't care. Because I don't care about the movie. The land is beautiful, honestly, if the Avatar movie never came out, it would still be a great land for AK.

Star Wars? I don't like it either. But it also just doesn't fit very well thematically with the rest of the park, unlike Pandora. I know, I know, the whole "studios theme is being shut down" argument. Hence TSL. But like. It still doesn't work for me. And I, as a non-Star Wars fan, just can't get into the rides and experience. It kinda sucks to me, personally. Because there is so much you need to know in order to understand what is going on all over the dang place. Meanwhile Avatarland was designed to be a land where you never even had to see the first movie to appreciate the land and attractions.

That's my take.

 

[bUU]

I thought Pandora was going to be a bust and it's anything but
So I have no talent for predictions.

But you know who does have a talent for predictions like this. (Disney.) The best indication we have of what the best research and best analysis says about this is what Disney is doing.

Pandora was a much bigger risk and so your skepticism was well-founded: The original film was eight years old and the sequels are still two and half years away. Star Wars was a much bigger ongoing enterprise to start with, and they are in the middle of a trilogy of films, with another trilogy already planned. And they built SWGE so that they can readily morph it to adjust to the passage of time as new films are released, so that they can expect an extra large injection of attendance for each film. Even without the research and professional analysis it is easy to see that Disney made a fantastic investment in Star Wars (and Marvel, for that matter).

 

[DisneyJayL]

These current movies killed any real excitement that the parks could have had. Looks like it’s true, “go woke go broke” with Star Wars. I’m sure Disney will recover. Still, I wish they would fire Kathleen Kennedy.