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

[180º]

Yes. It's a totally different ride vehicle. One that is a "car" with multiple axes of movement vs a trackless vehicle. No one would argue that point. But the full-size AT'AT's and Kylo Ren interactions and the "drop return to Batuu" will bring the ride together to make it an amazing feat of Imagineering.

Why does height restriction matter? The vehicles are different. In Star Tours you are buckled into a long row of seats with little to hold on to. In SR you have one seat so you are more firmly planted in your seat. The amount of motion isn't what determined the height restriction here.

I don't know what the resolution is, but it's high. It's very high. And there are 8 video cards in SLI configuration making that video. The video is not rendered ON THE FLY and not pre-rendered. That is a HUGE difference in required video power. The fact that Imagineering pulled that off with the quality they have says what a great job they have done with this. Whether you agree or not does not matter.

Everything else in your post is great except for the part in bold – that’s definitely not the case. In SR, you feel much less planted than in Star Tours and there are no armrests, but of course they compensate for this with smaller motions.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

I have a brain too but this is not sub-par. The thought and Imagineering behind this is mind-blowing. So there are a few details that they missed. Who cares!!! Have fun!!! That's what theme parks and Star Wars are all about. Just let yourself enjoy it and don't be so darn nit-picky!

Its hard not to be nit picky when there are glaring holes in the story and presentation. Hopefully when I do ride it i will enjoy the experience more. Maybe it is better in person for all I know. Or maybe they will fix the issues like seeing another falcon in the jetway. Or maybe I will eventually accept it for the failed attempt that it appears to be and enjoy it for what it is. But for now it looks like a missed opportunity and I am not going to just easily forgive that and shut my brain off and have fun and go along with the flow just because its a theme park as you say. Disney is going out of their way to make it not feel like a theme park and raise the bar so I am going to judge them on that attempt with all the expectations that come with that.

 

[SSG]

OK, so this was apparently going on yesterday.

 

[drod1985]

Because I have a brain. I wont allow myself to blindly like something sub par just because "OMG IT'S STAR WARS BROUGHT TO LIFE!! THE FALCON!! I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!!! I AM GOING TO CRY!!" I love many rides at Disneyland from SMALL WORLD to INDY to MANSION to PIRATES etc.

The bar you're setting for Galaxy's Edge would be akin to complaining that there aren't actual living people from their respective countries throughout IASW, that Haunted Mansion isn't actually haunted, or that the depth of the water in POTC isn't deep enough to realistically allow the pirate ships to sail.

And the bar you're reaching for isn't because of expectations set by Iger, Trowbridge, Chapek or anybody at Disney. They said we're shooting for the most authentic and immersive experience possible, and 99.9% of the population understands that the goal is to be achieved within reason. Your standards are simply unreasonable.

 

[drod1985]

OK, so this was apparently going on yesterday.

Hey this is awesome! There were rumors of a stunt show a while back, glad they panned out.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Has anyone been able to get photos of the area around RotR? I haven't seen any yet anywhere.

 

[drod1985]

Has anyone been able to get photos of the area around RotR? I haven't seen any yet anywhere.

Haven't seen many pics, but the beginning of this video is a walkthrough of the ROTR area.

 

[I Enjoy Disneyland]

ROTR looks epic just from the outside damn.

 

[mickEblu]

Don’t oversell those reviews. They’re mildly critical at best.

But I’d chuckle if Disney’s biggest foray into an interactive, video game-like ride experience is met with frustration from the greater public. Like they learn they really didn’t want all that interactivity.

You think I’m overselling? I provided the links so people can judge for themselves.

Niles and Dusty have pretty much have only given glowing reviews about Disneyland additions/ changes the last few years. If you can read through the lines, they both wanted to love the Falcon but don’t. Most of their praise of the attraction stops with the queue. They both say the pilot are the only positions that are fun but also frustrating. The gunner position presses buttons while looking at a side panel but never has the chance to aim at anything. And the engineer is in the back and can barley see the screen also touching buttons on a side panel. I don’t have to sell anything- anyone not blinded by their nerdstalgia can see this on the ride throughs.

The thing looks to be barley moving. People are jumping into light speed and I’m not seeing much of a reaction.

I feel like this is more an evolved semi -enclosed arcade game then it is a modern theme park simulator. As far as the actual ride experience, they missed the mark. The Falcon needed to be thrilling and by all accounts it isn’t. They focused more on the interactive part so they made it a video game but it’s not even a good one for 4 of the positions that can’t see the screens and are pressing buttons on a side panel that takes no skill and is disjointed from the action taking place on screens.

I feel that this is just another case of modern imagineers trying to do much and forgetting the number one purpose is to make the ride fun. Who the heck wants to press buttons on a side panel while they glance back and forth at a screen they can barley see. All during a ride experience with mild thrills at best. Don’t even get me started on Hondos non stop talking.

As I’ve said before, expectations have to be considered. In Star Tours you re on a tourist transport with zero expectations (when it was introduced) then things went wrong and that made it thrilling. With the Falcon, we ve see it doing flips and inversions and being called the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy in 9+ movies but we got something less thrilling than Star Tours (which I don’t consider all that thrilling but it worked). They thought a mildly thrilling simulator (at best)/ video game with people people pressing buttons was the way to go. They re not fooling anyone with that fake interactivity.

So how about this? Why don’t you leave an equally in depth post on why you think the Falcon ride experience will blow our minds?

 

[mickEblu]

Has anyone been able to get photos of the area around RotR? I haven't seen any yet anywhere.

Watch the Fresh Baked live stream from yesterday. It looks like a large extension of Big Thunder Trail.

 

[zooey]

Its hard not to be nit picky when there are glaring holes in the story and presentation. Hopefully when I do ride it i will enjoy the experience more. Maybe it is better in person for all I know. Or maybe they will fix the issues like seeing another falcon in the jetway. Or maybe I will eventually accept it for the failed attempt that it appears to be and enjoy it for what it is. But for now it looks like a missed opportunity and I am not going to just easily forgive that and shut my brain off and have fun and go along with the flow just because its a theme park as you say. Disney is going out of their way to make it not feel like a theme park and raise the bar so I am going to judge them on that attempt with all the expectations that come with that.

You see the Falcon move down to that lower location while Hondo is talking. I don’t think you ever see two Falcons at once. The Falcon you were looking at visibly moved to a new location in an underground docking bay.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Stoked about that pyro heavy stunt show. Does that happen multiple times a day? It ties into when Kylo comes out of his ship and says there is a spy around and that they need to find her.

 

[GoofGoof]

Reposting this text wall so you can all share in the headache this induced.

...and posted by someone who hasn’t actually been on the ride Classic

 

[JD2000]

So gunners just press buttons when told? Lame!

 

[GoofGoof]

Stoked about that pyro heavy stunt show. Does that happen multiple times a day? It ties into when Kylo comes out of his ship and says there is a spy around and that they need to find her.

I was wondering the same thing. I hope this isn’t just added fluff for the grand opening events and stays part of the land going forward. Any insiders know if the plan is for this to stick around?

 

[GoofGoof]

So gunners just press buttons when told? Lame!

In the review @Old Mouseketeer posted a while back he said there was a manual option where you aim the guns and an automatic option where you just have to push the buttons to fire. I haven’t been on the ride yet so can’t confirm one way or the other. Has anyone tried the manual option?

 

[ThemedScream]

In the review @Old Mouseketeer posted a while back he said there was a manual option where you aim the guns and an automatic option where you just have to push the buttons to fire. I haven’t been on the ride yet so can’t confirm one way or the other. Has anyone tried the manual option?

Yes, at the start of the ride you select between automatic and manual aiming. There are 3 vertical buttons and they represent aiming up, straight ahead, and down. So when you are in manual mode you can crudely aim that way, but it's a bit difficult since you're in an awkward position trying to see what's happening on screen while pressing the buttons off to your side.

I just ended up pressing all 3 at once anyway.

 

[TragicMike]

I'm still in the camp that we should've had a coaster over MF:SR, especially since it doesn't look as iNnOvAtIvE AnD GrOuNd-bReAkInG as advertised. Still, looks okay as a secondary attraction. Excited for RotR.

 

[britain]

The discussion of whether MF:SR will make Star Tours feel "obsolete" made me think of another, less-direct but possibly still quite valid, comparison: Will RotR make IJA feel obsolete? Hear me out for a second: RotR is a next-generation sort-of-EMV ride on a mega-scale with a supposed "kitchen sink" of the effects that Disney has developed/used over the years. Will IJA stand on its own as a categorically different experience (e.g., more "enhanced" motion/physical thrill; completely different type of theme/setting), or will much of it start to come across as "earlier versions" of what appears in RotR? Maybe @marni1971 or other insiders have opinions on this?

I see your reasoning, but it'll be more like the a handing off of a crown than becoming totally obsolete.

 

[SSG]

I was wondering the same thing. I hope this isn’t just added fluff for the grand opening events and stays part of the land going forward. Any insiders know if the plan is for this will stick around?

I have no inside knowledge, but it looked like the infrastructure--the pyro towers and and platforms-- were designed into the area. They didn't look like temporary things they threw together. This also ties in with the construction permits that indicated stunt performers would be on some structures.

Of course, Disney could have created the ability to stage a stunt show, but cut the performers as too expensive, and this was a one time deal for opening.