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

britain

Well-Known Member
This guy saw repercussions:
He thinks it was caused by the Disney Play app sending data via Bluetooth. A smart phone app and a Bluetooth connection can accomplish a lot of the same things as a MagicBand.


Ah - gotta keep that Play app going eh?
 

Travel Junkie

Well-Known Member
The hard core fans that wanted to ride, did. The line made worldwide news just like when Hogwarts opened.

Even with the huge waits, almost everyone said it is a fantastic ride.

Disaster?

Not all of them. Numerous reports of fans waiting up to 11 hours and never got to ride. Some that did said the ride would be cool...if it worked right. It kept e-stopping in the middle of the ride. Even today it's barely running at half capacity.

Yes the lines are getting attention and that is what Universal wanted. They have a virtual queue system in place but don't use it. Why? I wonder.

Those who did ride said it was very good. The opening though was a disaster. Lines wrapping almost all the way around the park, not employing the virtual queue system that would alleviate many of the problems, a complete lack of communication to employees who in turn were giving guests false information, a ride that kept breaking down even when running at a very low capacity.

So sure, everything went smooth. Contrast that with GE who deliberately limited guests into the opening of their land so they can give those guests a quality experience. Any problems that popped up were addressed almost immediately.
 

Hawg G

Well-Known Member
Not all of them. Numerous reports of fans waiting up to 11 hours and never got to ride. Some that did said the ride would be cool...if it worked right. It kept e-stopping in the middle of the ride. Even today it's barely running at half capacity.

Yes the lines are getting attention and that is what Universal wanted. They have a virtual queue system in place but don't use it. Why? I wonder.

Those who did ride said it was very good. The opening though was a disaster. Lines wrapping almost all the way around the park, not employing the virtual queue system that would alleviate many of the problems, a complete lack of communication to employees who in turn were giving guests false information, a ride that kept breaking down even when running at a very low capacity.

So sure, everything went smooth. Contrast that with GE who deliberately limited guests into the opening of their land so they can give those guests a quality experience. Any problems that popped up were addressed almost immediately.

Disney will STILL have a day(s) like Hagrid did. Likely worse. And those that made it in faces hours long lines to buy drinks, and an underwhelming ride, even with a 30 minute wait.

And I don't see Disney handing out $8 Dasannis to those in line.

Universal did what they always do, allow anyone wanting to ride to have a chance to ride. Disney wants to heavily control who gets to ride, and decide weeks in advance who they are.
 

Gitson Shiggles

There was me, that is Mickey, and my three droogs
Elaborate?
No longer than 5-10 minutes after getting into GE, Savi’s is booked solid. Which is not a surprise, but disappointing still. So I waited in line for 30 min (this was not even during overlap) to get into Dok-Ondar’s and they were out of the legacy lightsaber I wanted. Maybe I’m just really tired (I had little rest) and the letdowns sucked the life out of me. Sorry. Just venting. I don’t really have high expectations.

ETA: Perhaps when I’m rested, I’ll be thinking more clearly to give an appropriate review.
 

fctiger

Well-Known Member
Well, here is my review!

We actually went last Tuesday and originally meant to post it that night when I got back or Wednesday the latest but life gets in the way at times. But to not go off in a tangent, we absolutely loved it! Just incredible. Pictures just can't do it justice, its really a different experience seeing it on your own and just being sucked in. Batuu definitely feels like a world on its own and was an experience for sure. Now, it wasn't perfect either, some things could be improved for sure but overall few complaints. I'll just sum up our experiences with each part of the land.

So four of us went, me, the girlfriend and our kids, boy and a girl. Son is close to teenage age and our daughter is 9. All of us both huge Disney fans (although I'm the biggest by far lol) and loved Star Wars, every iteration although some are better than others obviously but none of it is a consensus in my house. OK, lets get on with it. What we experienced and my grade for each!

Land as a whole: I won't get into all the details since its been done a million times by now, but we were all impressed by just how beautiful and incredibly detailed it all is. Just walking around you definitely felt you were in the SW universe. We saw Chewbacca and Rey hanging around first which my daughter wrapped her arms around her and wouldn't let go. It took a few storm troopers and a crow bar to get her off of Rey but no one threatened to press charges. I knew then my kids were going to love this place lol. I tried hard to not watch all the video walk through on Youtube or specific details and got to see tons of things I never saw on my own even if I did see full video of things like the Cantina before we went. But crazy enough a lot of it was still new to me. I definitely was spoiled and had an idea what everything looked like before but its the small details and a lot of the interiors I never saw until I got there and where I was mostly blown away. The land is just huge. The walkways and paths are open and wide. Everywhere you look, your eye catches something. Stuff is moving, sounds of ships are taking off, everything is in a different language, its pretty surreal. The only drawbacks was the shops ARE too small though. Still not sure what the logic behind making them so small but I loved the uniqueness with them. And the place could use one more eatery for the size of it, but overall its very impressive. Grade: A-

Droid Depot: This was the first major thing we did after a nice walk through. We had decided to give the kids a nice souvenir and have them make their own droids. They didn't know they would be able to do it until we got there. Their faces lit up when they found out. It was no way anyone was building any lightsabers lol. And the droids are actually something you can play with. And while expensive, it still felt like a 2-for-1 considering its half the price of a lightsaber. We were in line about 30 minutes which wasn't too bad and it was just so much fun to watch them build their droids. The whole shop was just fun to watch as a spectator. They were on cloud 9 from that point the rest of the day lol. So it was well worth it. Grade: A

Dok-Ondars: This was basically the second experience we did. It was only a ten minute wait and it was a blast once wee got inside. Dok Ondar himself just had my daughter mesmerized lol. She watched him for ten minutes. Loved all the details on the walls and the exotic feel of it. So much to see. I think I took the most pictures in that room than any other place outside the land itself. A CM even showed me where the Ark from Raiders was which I didn't know was there. I guess this is the 'Emporium' of the land. It still could've been bigger but a great experience. Grade: B+

Milk Stand: My expectations were already pretty low on this because the reactions out there seemed so mixed on them. But we all got one of our own. Two blue milks and two green. I personally got the blue and LOVED it! I thought it tasted great. It was sweet but tangy. I really liked it. We all sampled the other one and I DIDN'T like the green one much at all. My son was the opposite, he loved the green but hated the blue. The other two seem to like both but not overly impressed with either, so yeah. But I would definitely buy blue milk in the future. Grade: B

Millenium Falcon Smugglers Run: I won't go into any big details, you all read them a hundred times but we did it three times total. Two on stand by and the last as a singler Rider. I don't know, but I have to say the more I did it, the more I liked it because you were knowing what you doing. I actually was the pilot on my first run (up and down). I actually DIDN'T want to be the pilot my first time lol. I tried to pawn it off to someone else in the family and NO ONE wanted it. Everyone was just afraid of screwing it up lol. My son actually said he didn't want to do it because he didn't want to get everyone killed. Looked like I raised him right. So I did it and it was a lot of fun. Its not as 'free' as I was expecting though and honestly even if you do nothing it basically guides you to where you are suppose to be, just less accurate. So it definitely feels pretty dumbed down. But honestly we loved it. It was just a lot of fun. I would say though the actual Millenium Falcon felt a bit disappointing. It feels a bit smaller than the original ship and CM calling out colors is a nice idea but so chaotic. They really need to add a microphone or even flashing lights inside so people will know whose turn it is. Overall though, I did like it a lot but I definitely get the criticism of the ride. I was a pilot twice (both sides) and a gunner. I liked all the positions. Still need to be an engineer though. My kids totally loved the ride though. Its definitely made for gamers in mind (which I'm not). Grade: B

Cargo Bay 7: We saved the food for last, after spending about an hour of just doing SR over and over again. We ordered a bunch of different dishes to get a feel of everything. We basically (too lazy to look up the names) the ribs, chicken and salad dishes. We all shared and sampled everything. Loved the salad the most actually. The chicken was delicious. The chicken dish was also really good. The ribs, which were the costliest, was the least favorite in everyone's opinion. Good, but not $17 good. It wasn't even that filing. But we loved the interior of the restaurant and sat there for awhile. Overall though me and my girlfriend liked the food, but it was clear the kids were missing the burgers and fries. It was probably a little too exotic for them. And its all very pricey, even for counter service food. Will eat here again, but not a necessity either. Grade: B

By then our time was actually up (we had the 5-9 slot) and had planned to try and watch the fireworks on MS, but a CM told us that if we snuck into the resistance area of the land, we can stay there and watch the 'celebration' (the fireworks) and where the storm troopers rarely go so we wouldn't get into trouble (translation: if you want to watch the fireworks in the land, they won't boot you out if your time is over as long as you watch them near ROTR since that place is empty space anyway). So we took her advice and glad we did! It was SO cool to watch them from Batuu. They were so loud and close. This is definitely going to be a new hang out spot for people to watch the fireworks from. Any place is cool actually (CL and the Pier are actually one of my favorite places to watch them because its the opposite being farther away) but this is a great area. Just make the place at night even cooler.

So that was it, we saw the fireworks, exited out to the BTM trail and enjoyed the rest our time in the park for the next two hours even doing stuff like Star Tours and Hyper-space Mountain back to back to keep the Star Wars theme going. Overall though I'm really impressed with what they did with this area. Its just a great place you can walk through and enjoy the vibe. We plan to go again probably the second week after the reservation stops but now can take our time. We already hit SR enough so its no longer a priority. Disney has a big hit on their hands IMO and that is without ROTR opened yet. All I can say is this family was impressed and so happy this will be part of our Disney experience from this day forward.
 
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Travel Junkie

Well-Known Member
Disney will STILL have a day(s) like Hagrid did. Likely worse. And those that made it in faces hours long lines to buy drinks, and an underwhelming ride, even with a 30 minute wait.

And I don't see Disney handing out $8 Dasannis to those in line.

After the 24th there will be a virtual queue system in Disneyland. It's unlikely we have a line halfway around the park to get in. Universal also had a virtual queue system available, but did not use it. We'll see how DHS handles things.

The point is Disney did everything they could to open the land slowly. Rides and lands need time to ramp up. The reservation system allowed this to occur.

Any issues such as the cantina and lightsaber experience were dealt with quickly.


Universal did what they always do, allow anyone wanting to ride to have a chance to ride. Disney wants to heavily control who gets to ride, and decide weeks in advance who they are.

Again, not everyone did get to ride Hagrid's opening day. Understandably they cut off the line before closing, but there was a lot of conflicting information when it was. Some said they were denied entry while others reported they got in line later. Communication between the front line and management was reported to be poor the first two days and conflicting information was being told to guests. Others got out of line after waiting up to 11 hours. If they stayed would they have gotten to ride? Maybe, but with the ride going down constantly they decided to cut their losses.

This is not the thread for a Disney vs Universal debate, but my point is that Disney did the right thing by slowly opening a land to avoid chaos and upset guests. They also only opened attractions and experiences that were ready. Clearly ROTR was not ready so they didn't rush it. On the flip side, clearly Hagrid's was not ready but Universal invited everyone in anyway and rolled the dice. I strongly prefer Disney's approach to their opening. Both times I have been to GE, I can't emphasize how smooth things went.
 

Hawg G

Well-Known Member
This is not the thread for a Disney vs Universal debate, but my point is that Disney did the right thing by slowly opening a land to avoid chaos and upset guests. They also only opened attractions and experiences that were ready. Clearly ROTR was not ready so they didn't rush it. On the flip side, clearly Hagrid's was not ready but Universal invited everyone in anyway and rolled the dice. I strongly prefer Disney's approach to their opening. Both times I have been to GE, I can't emphasize how smooth things went.

Gee, so someone who got into the VERY hard to get in to land twice in the first few weeks prefers Disney.
 

ThistleMae

Well-Known Member
I'm hoping SWGE makes HS more enjoyable. With the addition of SWGE, the MMRT and the Slinky Dog, maybe I can experience HS more than 1/2 day, which is usually the amount of time I spend there to go on two rides and see one show. I'm not a huge Universal fan because I don't go on many of the rides there. I'm not a coaster or simulated coaster gal, so I'm limited to what I enjoy. But Harry Potter, the train ride and Diagon Alley and the shops, is worth a visit, even at the price for a one day ticket, so that's saying something. Let's hope ROR raises the bar in SWGE. So far, after following more than several threads on it, I'm not so sure.
 

Travel Junkie

Well-Known Member
Gee, so someone who got into the VERY hard to get in to land twice in the first few weeks prefers Disney.

It really wasn't that hard. Disney gave clear directions on how to get reservations. Teaming up with friends and you could go a bunch actually.

I never said I prefer Disney. I said I prefer how they opened their land/ride. Big difference.

If you want to question/compare Universal notes let me know in the correct thread. We can talk about USH, USO, USJ or USS. I've been to then all, but sure I prefer Disney overall because I dared to say something negative about a competitor. Some Universal fanboys seriously can't take even the smallest hint of criticism.

Sorry about the thread drift everyone. I should have known better.

Anyway,

I mentioned this before, but something that feels like a missed opportunity on all the empty space between the resistance base and the marketplace. I understand they are trying to show a difference between the two areas, but it feels like a complete waste in a space crunched Disneyland. Especially on the side facing Disneyland there is absolutely nothing other than some vegetation and a wall between the X-wing and the overhead bridge. It feels like there should be something in this area.

Screen Shot 2019-06-16 at 12.08.07 PM.png
 

britain

Well-Known Member
It really wasn't that hard. Disney gave clear directions on how to get reservations. Teaming up with friends and you could go a bunch actually.

I never said I prefer Disney. I said I prefer how they opened their land/ride. Big difference.

If you want to question/compare Universal notes let me know in the correct thread. We can talk about USH, USO, USJ or USS. I've been to then all, but sure I prefer Disney overall because I dared to say something negative about a competitor. Some Universal fanboys seriously can't take even the smallest hint of criticism.

Sorry about the thread drift everyone. I should have known better.

Anyway,

I mentioned this before, but something that feels like a missed opportunity on all the empty space between the resistance base and the marketplace. I understand they are trying to show a difference between the two areas, but it feels like a complete waste in a space crunched Disneyland. Especially on the side facing Disneyland there is absolutely nothing other than some vegetation and a wall between the X-wing and the overhead bridge. It feels like there should be something in this area.

View attachment 381750

It's to throw a bone for all the folks who miss quiet Big Thunder Trail when there wasn't much going on there.

Plus, it will probably be filled with RotR switchbacks in a few months time.

PLUS, it's where access to a possible 3rd attraction plot of land is in the Florida version (not for DL though, since we got a river there).
 

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