When visiting Studios last week, around New Year's, and waiting in around a 95-100 minute wait in the early morning for Smuggler's Run, I was disappointed to see the queue lines (which were wayyy out of the queue entrance) wind through not only the backstage areas between Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land on both sides of the walkway (behind Lunch Box and Saucers), but also through the giant backstage gate to the right hand side of the Falcon. This gate was also wide open for all guests in the land to see out. I know what backstage and behind show buildings look like, we all do, but it still takes away from the most immersive land Disney has ever built. I heard guests jokingly say "There goes the magic!" and similar comments. Seeing a guy unloading a truck, and then turning around and seeing the Millennium Falcon is definitely disorienting. There's even a sign, typical for backstage gates, that reads 'Do not open this gate until calling this phone number and clearing that all guests have left the park.' If Disney is so concerned then why are they choosing to do this? I understand Crowd Control, but is there no other way to form a line leading into the ride? I mean the amount of queue in the backstage areas is so limited, there must be another place to put these lines. Grand Avenue sidewalk before entering the land or doing two more cattlepins in the Toy Story land backstage instead of using the Falcon gate? It just seems so uncharacteristic of Disney. I read somewhere else online that really the falcon queue only holds about 40 mins of queue, but there is no fastpass yet so it theoretically holds 80+ mins of line, which is still very under.
