News Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Disneyland opening reports/reviews

[mickEblu]

I have to wonder how much of the hate put on GE is related to expectations and what Disney originally talked about. It seems that most of the vitriol put on the land is by the hardcore fan who were paying attention from the beginning. Those who knew little to none going in seem to be enjoying themselves. If Disney took a Universal approach and just opened the land without the constant updates by official and non official sources, it would have been much better received imo.

As far as comparing it to NO Square and immersion, I suppose it depends how you define it. The kinetic energy in NO Square is unmatched, however you know you are in a theme park. You can see the other lands and other DL landmarks. There is maybe one or two places you can see other parts of the park. Otherwise you are completely surrounded by the land and to me feels like a real world environment. I believe that is what they meant and under that definition they succeeded.

Well it it’s not as if I would have magically thought the land had kinetic energy and life had Disney not hyped it up. Anyway, I think by immersed, they meant you would feel that you are living out your own story in the world of Star Wars. That you would be so caught up in this lived in “real” place. So by that definition, so far I think they failed.

I think many of us in the know are disappointed with the result so far. I think more of the general population aka people not following the project for 4 years are fine with it. Not blown away. Mostly a mixed bag. I think it’s fair to say that for both groups GE is not a hit.

 

[Mickeyboof]

The comparison makes no sense. A car is a finished product. They are talking about a land that is still in the design phase when Disney was talking about it. All lands/rides are altered in the design phase as well as the construction phase. Disney should really stop talking about their projects so far in advance when things aren't locked.

At its core I am really trying to understand the hatred. I've been to every Disney park and every Universal park in the world along with countless others. There is no doubt in my mind that GE is one of the best themed lands in the world. It is not even close to perfect, but no land is. My best guess is that a lot of it revolves around the expectations that Disney gave it. Expectations that no land could live up.

Okay. It’s like pre-buying a car that’s still in design based on promised elements and features, but receiving a Toyota Yaris instead.

 

[Mickeyboof]

The comparison makes no sense. A car is a finished product. They are talking about a land that is still in the design phase when Disney was talking about it. All lands/rides are altered in the design phase as well as the construction phase. Disney should really stop talking about their projects so far in advance when things aren't locked.

At its core I am really trying to understand the hatred. I've been to every Disney park and every Universal park in the world along with countless others. There is no doubt in my mind that GE is one of the best themed lands in the world. It is not even close to perfect, but no land is. My best guess is that a lot of it revolves around the expectations that Disney gave it. Expectations that no land could live up.

New Orleans Square is perfect.

Cars Land is remarkable.

Harry Potter is incredibly delicious.

Galaxy’s Edge... is...

 

[MisterPenguin]

The background sound package is just fine as it is.

If you want to hear it well, stand off to a side path and it will seem that there's a whole bunch of stuff is happening just out of sight. When you're in the middle of crowds, the immediate hubbub drowns it out. And only occasionally is there a loud five second rush of thrusters of a flying ship.

There's a section in the middle of town where you can hear a 'radio' from above piping in the musing from the cantina.

It's not overwhelming as some haters want to portray to get their digs in.

It's not barely noticeable as some haters want to portray to get their digs in.

Really. The lengths some go through to find fault is amazing. It's to the point of psychosis.

And before someone says it: this has nothing to do with the desire for the SW soundtrack. This is just about ambient sounds.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Well it it’s not as if I would have magically thought the land had kinetic energy and life had Disney not hyped it up. Anyway, I think by immersed, they meant you would feel that you are living out your own story in the world of Star Wars. That you would be so caught up in this lived in “real” place. So by that definition, so far I think they failed.

I think many of us in the know are disappointed with the result so far. I think more of the general population aka people not following the project for 4 years are fine with it. Not blown away. Mostly a mixed bag. I think it’s fair to say that for both groups GE is not a hit.

Today, Disneyland park hit capacity. As I type this, Indiana Jones Adventure- a 25 year old attraction has a 130 minute wait. Space Mountain has a 120 minute wait. It's a Small World Holiday? 105.

MFSR? 110.

This land is not a hit- the biggest ride to open at Disneyland in 25 years, at a time when there's likely countless tourists taking their first trip this year, and it's being beat out by a 40 year old roller coaster. It should have the longest wait in the park by a significant margin, if Indiana Jones Adventure's 1995 opening was any indication.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Today, Disneyland park hit capacity. As I type this, Indiana Jones Adventure- a 25 year old attraction has a 130 minute wait. Space Mountain has a 120 minute wait. It's a Small World Holiday? 105.

MFSR? 110.

This land is not a hit- the biggest ride to open at Disneyland in 25 years, at a time when there's likely countless tourists taking their first trip this year, and it's being beat out by a 40 year old roller coaster. It should have the longest wait in the park by a significant margin, if Indiana Jones Adventure's 1995 opening was any indication.

You can't compare wait times of rides with FP with those that don't have FP. You surely know that all those FP people slow down the standby line, right?

Take the two hour line for MFSR and then suddenly add in FP wherein five FP people get to ride for every one person in standby. That two hour standby has just become 10 hours.

 

[waltography]

You can't compare wait times of rides with FP with those that don't have FP. You surely know that all those FP people slow down the standby line, right?

Take the two hour line for MFSR and then suddenly add in FP wherein five FP people get to ride for every one person in standby. That two hour standby has just become 10 hours.

Exactly. That it’s close to Indy and Space‘s standby waits without FP is impressive.

It’s completely disingenuous to call the land a failure based on a flawed comparison.

 

[RobWDW1971]

.

Exactly. That it’s close to Indy and Space‘s standby waits without FP is impressive.

It’s completely disingenuous to call the land a failure based on a flawed comparison.

Agreed - we should call it a failure based on the creative mess it is and the complete lack of FOMO and excitement it has generated over past six months since it opened.

On a day when the park is so crowded even Pinocchio will have a line out of the queue, seeing people (finally) lining up for a major Star Wars attraction shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s a sad low bar to even get excited about it.

 

[SuddenStorm]

You can't compare wait times of rides with FP with those that don't have FP. You surely know that all those FP people slow down the standby line, right?

Take the two hour line for MFSR and then suddenly add in FP wherein five FP people get to ride for every one person in standby. That two hour standby has just become 10 hours.

Not only did I not take Fastpass into account, I didn't take capacity into account- which further complicates the wait time comparison. I firmly believe that if it had Fastpass, it wouldn't be like RSR where you have to rush and get them first thing in the morning- I imagine they'd stay around for hours after park open and be readily available.

Not to mention, we don't know how many fastpasses Disney distributes for each attraction, what the ratio of fp/standby is, how many people get fastpasses and don't use them, and how multiple experience passes were generated from attraction breakdowns.

I do think the comparison is more valid than we often give it credit for- since it says "hey, people are willing to wait x amount of time for this ride", and both rides are (presumably) operating at full capacity.

It's definitely not a perfect comparison, but the fact is- the demand for the ride is not as high as it should be. Using my far more valid Indiana Jones Adventure example- when that ride opened (pre Fastpass), the ride was so incredibly long... and stayed long.

 

[mickEblu]

You can't compare wait times of rides with FP with those that don't have FP. You surely know that all those FP people slow down the standby line, right?

Take the two hour line for MFSR and then suddenly add in FP wherein five FP people get to ride for every one person in standby. That two hour standby has just become 10 hours.

FP and capacity need to be accounted for but the fact that it’s a brand spanking new Star Wars ride is an equally important fact. Did Indy ever see a 30 -45 minute average wait time in its first 6 months without FP in 1995 when their were far less people visiting the park?

 

[RobWDW1971]

FP and capacity need to be accounted for but the fact that it’s a brand spanking new Star Wars ride is an equally important fact. Did Indy ever see a 30 -45 minute average wait time in its first 6 months without FP in the 1995 when their were far less people visiting the park?

If anybody is making a sincere claim that MFSR has had huge demand over the past six months, it just can’t be taken seriously.

Anybody who has lived through the openings of Star Tours 30+ years ago, Indy 25 years ago, and even RSR a few years ago knows what demand looks like. I have never waited more than 10-20 minutes during my visits.

We can debate the creative merits of the attraction, but there is no debate that the public response/demand has been tepid at best. When you factor in the scale, cost, the fact it’s the first Star Wars attraction since the 80’s, and the enormous marketing campaign behind it, the lack of demand has been shocking.

 

[mickEblu]

If anybody is making a sincere claim that MFSR has had huge demand over the past six months, it just can’t be taken seriously.

Anybody who has lived through the openings of Star Tours 30+ years ago, Indy 25 years ago, and even RSR a few years ago knows what demand looks like. I have never waited more than 10-20 minutes during my visits.

We can debate the creative merits of the attraction, but there is no debate that the public response/demand has been tepid at best. When you factor in the scale, cost, and the fact it’s the first Star Wars attraction since the 80’s, the lack of demand has been shocking.

If I were on the other side of the argument I would just say that ROTR will have the Indy type demand and that Falcon is a supplementary ride. Trying to say that Falcon has huge demand for a brand new Star Wars ride doesn’t make any sense.

 

[SuddenStorm]

FP and capacity need to be accounted for but the fact that it’s a brand spanking new Star Wars ride is an equally important fact. Did Indy ever see a 30 -45 minute average wait time in its first 6 months without FP in 1995 when their were far less people visiting the park?

When Indy opened, Disneyland had a significant bump in attendance- up 4 million from the 1994. For one ride based on a less popular IP.

It's mind boggling that an entire land, with a ride that lets you fly the Millenium Falcon, something fans have dreamed of since the 1977, led to a significant drop in attendance for the park.

I don't think any of us predicted this back in '15 when this land was announced.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I would just say that ROTR will have the Indy type demand

It's a great, well built attraction. It's fun. I found myself smiling at times, and in awe of the sheer scale of some of the scenes. A few creative decisions were solid and exciting.

I expect strong initial demand that levels off by winter.

But it's not on the level of Indy... especially after Indy finally gets fixed this spring.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Perhaps the most egregious creative blunder of the land is the fact that the extended queue for MFSR is literally a backstage area, complete with standard asphalt and a nice look at the show building and the spires mounted on top of it. To obstruct the rest of backstage, they put shipping crates and painted some Aurebesh on them.

Instead of real rails, we get masking tape on the ground. All of this talk about 'immersion' or 'show' or 'realism' goes right out the window if Falcon's wait goes above 45 minutes.

 

[Curious Constance]

When Indy opened, Disneyland had a significant bump in attendance- up 4 million from the 1994. For one ride based on a less popular IP.

It's mind boggling that an entire land, with a ride that lets you fly the Millenium Falcon, something fans have dreamed of since the 1977, led to a significant drop in attendance for the park.

I don't think any of us predicted this back in '15 when this land was announced.

I still think Disney grossly overestimates just how many people have even dreamed of flying the Millennium Falcon.

 

[RobWDW1971]

I still think Disney grossly overestimates just how many people have even dreamed of flying the Millennium Falcon.

Or wanted to hang out with Oga, Savi, Dok-Ondar, and Hondo.

 

[mickEblu]

Or wanted to hang out with Oga, Savi, Dok-Ondar, and Hondo.

Oga. Isn’t that one that we don’t get to see because they didn’t want to make an AA....errr I mean because she’s not a people person and stays in the kitchen?

 

[TROR]

I still think Disney grossly overestimates just how many people have even dreamed of flying the Millennium Falcon.

I've been dreaming of flying an X-Wing ever since I was a kid. Should've been an X-Wing coaster.

 

[Travel Junkie]

Well it it’s not as if I would have magically thought the land had kinetic energy and life had Disney not hyped it up. Anyway, I think by immersed, they meant you would feel that you are living out your own story in the world of Star Wars. That you would be so caught up in this lived in “real” place. So by that definition, so far I think they failed.

I think many of us in the know are disappointed with the result so far. I think more of the general population aka people not following the project for 4 years are fine with it. Not blown away. Mostly a mixed bag. I think it’s fair to say that for both groups GE is not a hit.

If kinetic energy is the or one of the most important things to you then yes you will be disappointed in GE. When I look at what I would consider the best themed lands on the planet, many of them have a small degree of kinetics. For whatever reason, Disney has slowly moved away from putting a lot of kinetics into their lands/parks. The overseas parks in particular have some but not nearly as much as Disney of the 60's. However I would consider many of these lands to be superior to those in the U.S. overall.

GE was designed to rely on live entertainment to deliver the kinetics. We can see why that was a mistake and something WDI should have considered knowing full well that all projects have cuts and one of the easiest and efficient ways a company can cut is people.