How is the opening of Galaxy's Edge affecting your plans?

[Raineman]

I'm not quite understanding the thinking with the people who are overly concerned. I think the assumption that the other 3 parks will be crazy will not play out that way; there will surely be a good percentage of people who have never been fans of Disney theme parks and are visiting primarily to go to SW:GE, and who may or may not visit the other 3 parks. Even the people who would normally spend time at DHS and are dispersed into the other parks shouldn't, IMO, drive up attendance at the other parks to that crazy level. If you are someone who isn't really into DHS (and I've seen several posters here talking about DHS as a half day and how they don't really go there anymore), this should not affect you. If you do like DHS, during the initial madness at SW:GE, make some FPs for ToT, RnRC and Star Tours as close together as you can, ride, then leave.
We will be arriving at WDW on November 10, and we will still be going to DHS, for 1 day at least, and if the crowds are too big to handle, we'll do what I just mentioned, and spend the rest of the day at another park.
I really don't see any reason to be considering cancelling vacations because of this, but to each their own, I guess.

 

[bubbles1812]

Ours is early December, and I am OK with it. Not going to change. If its crowded.....I'll sleep in. (and it will be crowded)

Unlike most people (understandably), I was pleasantly surprised that the opening is as early as it is. We are scheduled to go Dec 7-Dec 15, so they'll be more of a buffer than I was expecting between the time GE opens and our trip. I still expect it to be mega crowded but at least I'll have a couple months more than the potential weeks (if that) I was thinking I'd get to learn how Disney is going to manage the crowds/fast passes/after hours/extra magic hours and the like. And hey, at least a good chunk of kids will still be in school. I'm not insane enough to try GE at Christmas/New Years but hopefully that earlier December week will still be manageable. At least we locked in our rates for everything before any probable price increases.

 

[bubbles1812]

Not true. If Phase Two Rise of the Resistance open Dec 7 - Dec 15 that time will be crazy.

I'm still not too worried. Like I said, the biggest thing I care about is learning about how Disney intends to deal with the crowds. I can deal with crowds, even crazy crowds, if I can form a game plan in advance. This trip is longer than our typical [we usually go a day less] so accommodate for dealing with the crowds and I know I'll be back so if I don't get on all the rides, no biggie. That said, I'll still hope for an earlier opening date for Rise of the Resistance

 

[Disstevefan1]

That has to be it, huh? Couldn't be Disney is doing an interim show to keep the guests happy, could it?

Nope.
Disney's priorities are as follows:

1. Shareholders
2. Cut costs and raise prices in order to increase shareholder value
3. Reduce staff anyway they can, to increase shareholder value
4. ............
5. ....
6. ......
7. The guest experience

 

[Yelloweaver]

We're going October 12 - October 18. Not changing. Just will probably not spend a lot of time at DHS.

 

[Yaya]

I'm not quite understanding the thinking with the people who are overly concerned. I think the assumption that the other 3 parks will be crazy will not play out that way; there will surely be a good percentage of people who have never been fans of Disney theme parks and are visiting primarily to go to SW:GE, and who may or may not visit the other 3 parks. Even the people who would normally spend time at DHS and are dispersed into the other parks shouldn't, IMO, drive up attendance at the other parks to that crazy level. If you are someone who isn't really into DHS (and I've seen several posters here talking about DHS as a half day and how they don't really go there anymore), this should not affect you. If you do like DHS, during the initial madness at SW:GE, make some FPs for ToT, RnRC and Star Tours as close together as you can, ride, then leave.
We will be arriving at WDW on November 10, and we will still be going to DHS, for 1 day at least, and if the crowds are too big to handle, we'll do what I just mentioned, and spend the rest of the day at another park.
I really don't see any reason to be considering cancelling vacations because of this, but to each their own, I guess.

Since we found out we're unable to cancel We'll be there Sept 8-16.
All parks need to be running staff and rides at full capacity for this not to be a complete bummer.

We had 5 half days at HS during our time. We like to hop around.

 

[ToyStoryMiss]

Our trip is Sept 11th-20th and honestly I’m not overly concerned. A little ticked, yeah, because I booked it then in hopes to miss the crowds, but I’m still VERY excited to see the new land. (I’m hoping that, since SW:GE is opening earlier, the gondolas and possibly MMRR will open earlier as well )

 

[dizneycraig]

I think that everyone that was going to visit over Easter should all change their plans to go during the opening of SWGE

 

[gobstoper27]

I'm not quite understanding the thinking with the people who are overly concerned. I think the assumption that the other 3 parks will be crazy will not play out that way; there will surely be a good percentage of people who have never been fans of Disney theme parks and are visiting primarily to go to SW:GE, and who may or may not visit the other 3 parks. Even the people who would normally spend time at DHS and are dispersed into the other parks shouldn't, IMO, drive up attendance at the other parks to that crazy level. If you are someone who isn't really into DHS (and I've seen several posters here talking about DHS as a half day and how they don't really go there anymore), this should not affect you. If you do like DHS, during the initial madness at SW:GE, make some FPs for ToT, RnRC and Star Tours as close together as you can, ride, then leave.
We will be arriving at WDW on November 10, and we will still be going to DHS, for 1 day at least, and if the crowds are too big to handle, we'll do what I just mentioned, and spend the rest of the day at another park.
I really don't see any reason to be considering cancelling vacations because of this, but to each their own, I guess.

I appreciate your optimism as I'll be there around the same time as you and I'm hoping that everywhere else won't be insanely busy!! I'm just curious as to how long the initial madness will last; and praying that phase two doesn't open until after Nov 17th!!!

 

[gobstoper27]

Our trip is Sept 11th-20th and honestly I’m not overly concerned. A little ticked, yeah, because I booked it then in hopes to miss the crowds, but I’m still VERY excited to see the new land. (I’m hoping that, since SW:GE is opening earlier, the gondolas and possibly MMRR will open earlier as well )

When
I booked my room last night for November, the woman I was working with mentioned that I may hear construction noise due to gondola construction at my resort. Not sure how accurate that might be though.

 

[James J]

We're booked to go 21st-31st October for our Honeymoon, and have discussed maybe changing our plans and going somewhere else as we've only paid a small deposit so far. Nothing we'd want to do would come close to WDW though, so we'll probably end up keeping the booking and bracing ourselves for the madness.

 

[MisunderstoodGaston]

We're booked to go 21st-31st October for our Honeymoon, and have discussed maybe changing our plans and going somewhere else as we've only paid a small deposit so far. Nothing we'd want to do would come close to WDW though, so we'll probably end up keeping the booking and bracing ourselves for the madness.

We talked about canceling our 8/31 - 9/8 trip, but are also gonna roll the dice. We've made a couple adjustments though: we moved a couple dinner reservations out of the parks to various resorts, and added the water parks to our package to give ourselves some options in case the parks are nutso.

 

[LUVofDIS]

For the people that are booked and can not change their plans...on the bright side, wouldn't the 3 other parks be wide open for you to explore? I for one, if was going during that time, would just skip HS and enjoy the rest.....no?

If the new land fills up and hits capacity these overflow guests will probably visit the other parks. I think the other parks will be busier than normal during the first few weeks but probably not crazy, at least for the month of September. November and December will probably be more crazy everywhere. October, especially the last few weeks could be nuts in all parks.

We were planning to go September 17th through the 28th. When I received a notification about the opening of SWGE I quickly looked to try to book a room and there were only expensive rooms left ($350+) or the campsites. Being a DoD employee I went to SoG and booked there and was able to get a room. We will not be changing those dates, my sister-in-law will be in Coronado for a conference on the 21 through the 25 and we were all going to hang.

I feel that the beginning of school will keep things in a sort of check. The biggest increase will hopefully be bloggers, extreme Disney and Star Wars fans, so hopefully that wont be to large of a number of people.

Here is wishful thinking, the crowds at this time last year were not bad and I am hoping they don't balloon to incredible levels this year.

 

[cjkeating]

I find it amusing how many people have booked early September to avoid SWGE (I'm there 1st-9th) and now have this bombshell dumped on us.

I feel lucky in one way that I will (hopefully) get to ride the Falcon attraction but feel more concerned about how much of a mess WDW is going to be overall.

 

[Soap1984]

New member but long time Disney fan. My wife and I (it's our little ones first trip with us also) booked our trip for September 8-17 and, like many, did so because it was after labour day and usually dead. Obviously we expected SWGE to be opening in October at the earliest.

I'm worried about the crowds but not sure if moving our trip up will do anything as many people wanting to miss SWGE will probably move up their trips.

Since it's the first week of school we are expecting it to be mostly huge SW fans and locals that will be showing up, but that may just be wishful thinking. Wish us luck. Neither of us care at all about SWGE so there are literally no positives to it opening.

 

[5leobeans]

Add us to the list of people who booked for September to:

-take advantage of FD
-go during a ‘slower’ time
-avoid the opening of SWGE


I literally booked our flights the day before the big announcement, so we are committed

Our last visit was late Nov/early Dec, and it was amazing! Not too hot, not too crowded. We planned to go in Sept, with the heat/humidity/risk of hurricanes, etc, etc, simply to avoid the opening. That is not working out well for us.

 

[Driver]

My AP expires September 18th and to get value room rates my husband and I had planned on going September 6th-13th. I went ahead and booked it today because I was worried about the availability of rooms later. My husband is super excited about seeing SWGE. I hate crowds, so I'm nervous. The things we do for our significant others.

You understand that not all of SWGE will be open at that time I hope. This is a partial opening which will be for "Millennium Falcon "

 

[larryz]

You understand that not all of SWGE will be open at that time I hope. This is a partial opening which will be for "Millennium Falcon "

Oh, well, that's OK then...

The lines probably won't go off property.

Probably.

 

[Janir]

We will literally miss it by a week. We had the same story with 7 Dwarves Mine Train. We just missed it in 2014 and all we could do was watch the media rides going on for it. S'ok as we plan to go back next spring. Soon as DVC 11 month window opens up we take advantage of DVC points and buying some Gold Annual Passes. It's going to be a bit nicer to go in 9 months after opening as bugs will get ironed out of the attractions, and queue lines and they will have some idea on handling the crowds in the area by then.

 

[arielrose]

You understand that not all of SWGE will be open at that time I hope. This is a partial opening which will be for "Millennium Falcon "

Yeah. I have already warned my husband that we will probably just get to look around because I am not waiting hours for a ride.