Disney's Hollywood Studios to host an opening night event to celebrate the Force Awakens

[hpyhnt 1000]

This is not the first time Disney sells tickets for a special event at the parks. To do it on the same website that just started selling tickets to the most anticipated movie in a while is just asking for trouble. They could have done this so much better.

They should have done it through their website that (hopefully) can handle a larger crowd

I actually wonder if doing it this way is intentional. Think about it. By releasing tickets in this manner, there will be a whole heap of articles about how Star Wars tickets are already selling out. This just fuels the hype machine (on top of the trailer release tonight) as non-Star Wars fans see news articles about systems crashing because of demand. The only people who are really affected by the disruptions are the die hard fans, and they'll keep trying until they eventually get tickets so its not like Disney runs the risk of losing their business.

Pretty clever if that was the plan.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

When you attempt to buy tickets to the premiere event and after party (which I assume has long since sold out), it now is redirecting you to a page to purchase tickets for a marathon event, which appears to be showing all 6 films leading up to the new one.

 

[LAKid53]

This is the first Star Wars movie to be released in 10 years and with many of the original cast members. At least part of the blame falls on AMC for not anticipating how obviously huge advance sales were going to be. They've had ample time to prepare, there's no excuse for it.

I agree - AMC, Fandango, all the online sites should have been prepared, especially after Disney released the poster and teaser trailers yesterday. To not be prepared for what clearly is the movie event of this year (don't think LOTR or HP was this big) is stupid. And to know that every geek in this country and Canada has their computer/tablet/phone ready to go around 9:00pm and not add additional servers....

And they made matters worse by launching the sales page early.

 

[CommandoJoe]

I got "sold out" when I got to the appropriate screen as well. BUT...when I went to amctheatres.com, chose Lake Buena Vista, FL as my location, manually chose a different screen time, 7:50 in my case, I got to add 4 tickets to the cart for the bargain price of $384.96.

I had to do some tricks to get it to work, but I did get my order complete at 11:26 EST.

1) logged in as GUEST to bypass the AMC account login
2) bypassed the AMC Stub program (paid an extra convenience fee of a $1.25/per ticket, oh well)
3) Amex rejected the charges and flagged at as fraudulent, so I had to use a different card mid-transaction

But I did get 4 tickets for the 7:50.

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

I got "sold out" when I got to the appropriate screen as well. BUT...when I went to amctheatres.com, chose Lake Buena Vista, FL as my location, manually chose a different screen time, 7:50 in my case, I got to add 4 tickets to the cart for the bargain price of $384.96.

I had to do some tricks to get it to work, but I did get my order complete at 11:26 EST.

1) logged in as GUEST to bypass the AMC account login
2) bypassed the AMC Stub program (paid an extra convenience fee of a $1.25/per ticket, oh well)
3) Amex rejected the charges and flagged at as fraudulent, so I had to use a different card mid-transaction

But I did get 4 tickets for the 7:50.

Just got 2 for the 3D viewing at 7:15! so excited.

 

[LAKid53]

I actually wonder if doing it this way is intentional. Think about it. By releasing tickets in this manner, there will be a whole heap of articles about how Star Wars tickets are already selling out. This just fuels the hype machine (on top of the trailer release tonight) as non-Star Wars fans see news articles about systems crashing because of demand. The only people who are really affected by the disruptions are the die hard fans, and they'll keep trying until they eventually get tickets so its not like Disney runs the risk of losing their business.

Pretty clever if that was the plan.

And someone's already Star Warsfied Kim Kardashian's infamous photo... too funny.

I think you are on target. I counted at least 10 articles on the internet when searching 'star wars broke the internet'. Including the aforementioned photo.

 

[asianway]

Hard ticket at the Studios-what could go wrong? Anyone do the math to figure out the attendance?

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

Hard ticket at the Studios-what could go wrong? Anyone do the math to figure out the attendance?

Just need to know the theater size and how many showings and theaters used for the event. I would say about 5k-10k

 

[CommandoJoe]

Hard ticket at the Studios-what could go wrong? Anyone do the math to figure out the attendance?

I counted 17 total showings between 7:00 and 8:00 pm. If you use an "average" theater size of 275 seats, that's 4,675 folks. Then add 25% to that just because I'm pretty sure that each theater is larger than "average" from what I've seen, and I'd estimate just under 6,000.

 

[ToInfinityAndBeyond]

I decided against it. We can't take off the day after and it's just not worth the price. I hope y'all post lots of pictures!

 

[Cesar R M]

meanwhile.. at Iger's...

 

[SpaceMountain75]

meanwhile.. at Iger's...

Star Wars Episode VII: The Bank Awakens.

 

[rucifee]

I'll take the $17 ticket. You have to be a special kind of foolish to spend $90 on this.

#ThanksButNoThanks

 

[sgtpeppah]

I got "sold out" when I got to the appropriate screen as well. BUT...when I went to amctheatres.com, chose Lake Buena Vista, FL as my location, manually chose a different screen time, 7:50 in my case, I got to add 4 tickets to the cart for the bargain price of $384.96.

I had to do some tricks to get it to work, but I did get my order complete at 11:26 EST.

1) logged in as GUEST to bypass the AMC account login
2) bypassed the AMC Stub program (paid an extra convenience fee of a $1.25/per ticket, oh well)
3) Amex rejected the charges and flagged at as fraudulent, so I had to use a different card mid-transaction

But I did get 4 tickets for the 7:50.

The Stubs card would have netted you about 10% back in AMC rewards in addition to those convenience fees waived

 

[Jon81uk]

I'll take the $17 ticket. You have to be a special kind of foolish to spend $90 on this.

#ThanksButNoThanks

Personally I think you have to be a special kind of foolish to pay $70+ for sports games tickets.

This event is expensive, but sold out. Everyone likes different things.

 

[rucifee]

Personally I think you have to be a special kind of foolish to pay $70+ for sports games tickets.

This event is expensive, but sold out. Everyone likes different things.

At least you get something out of the sports tickets. These events are a joke, but Disney knows very well that fools and their money are easily parted.

 

[Jon81uk]

At least you get something out of the sports tickets. These events are a joke, but Disney knows very well that fools and their money are easily parted.

Personally I wouldn't get anything out of the sports ticket except two hours of boredom.

I think this Star Wars event is a little overpriced, but I would have paid $80 if it included some food/drink and exclusive merch.

 

[rucifee]

Personally I wouldn't get anything out of the sports ticket except two hours of boredom.

I think this Star Wars event is a little overpriced, but I would have paid $80 if it included some food/drink and exclusive merch.

Don't kid yourself, Disney's not going to do anything for you but put a couple of CMs in suits up on stage. This event is a lot overpriced, and should be included with normal admission like it would be at any other park in the world. This is just another Disney's Money Grab™.

 

[Jon81uk]

Don't kid yourself, Disney's not going to do anything for you but put a couple of CMs in suits up on stage. This event is a lot overpriced, and should be included with normal admission like it would be at any other park in the world. This is just another Disney's Money Grab™.

They've annouced exactly what they are doing, there will be a DJ, launch bay will be open, Star Tours open and meet & greet characters.

Lots of theme parks do after-hours events and charge extra. Universal have a Harry Potter celebration each January.

If you don't want to go to the private party, don't go. Visit the launch bay a few dyas later with normal admission. But for those who do want to see the film and go to a party, don't call them foolish.

 

[Jon81uk]

OOOH a DeeJay that's worth $100! Oh. Oh Star Tours you say? I guess you can't ride that before 7pm right? Oh.

Launch Bay is open? OMG SHUT UP AND no, that's not impressive either.

Foolish.

Oooh a man standing in a field throwing a ball. Why not just watching it on TV?

Everyone likes different things. Some will spend $80 (as the other $17 is the film ticket) for a party. Some people go to ComiCon and pay $200 to get an autograph. Everyone values different things.