News Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Disney's Hollywood Studios opening date

[Casper Gutman]

I don't know... When I talk to people who have been to Universal recently, they talk about Harry Potter, the land, not the rides. The rides are almost secondary. I think that may be the case here.

This is true, but I’d suggest a few things need to be taken into account:

1. RoR NEEDS to be better then any of the HP rides, and it looks like it will be. The HP rides raised the bar for Uni, which is one reason they are so impressive. WDWs bar starts much higher, even if they haven’t reached it in decades.
2. As I said above, the HP lands are a lot less impressive when they are packed. You need to be able to dawdle, to notice subtle details, to wander. The crowds at GEs opening will likely prevent that kind of engagement.
3. in many ways, HP lends itself to a land better then SW. Much of the story in HP is centered around consumption - the purchasing of robes, broomsticks, wands, etc. This can be reproduced fairly precisely in a theme park. SW lacks this element - I cant think of a single moment in the movies where the characters go shopping. Furthermore, the one mass produced element in SW that guests could buy fairly exact replicas of - the blasters - will not be sold in SW. Looking at the GE merchandise, it looks more like souvenirs (albeit a wide range that references obscure corners of the lore) then elements of an overall immersion within the story.
4. The HP lands are based directly on areas from the books and film, GE is not. This provides the HP areas with a much wider opportunity to pepper the land with subtle, familiar details that guests can seek out. GE will invoke more of a “sense” of SW, rather then these types of specifics.

 

[drod1985]

The way I see it, "Late Fall" is still the opening date...of the full land including ROTR. If ROTR, SR and the general shops/environments are each 1/3 then August 29 is a preview 2/3 of the land.

I'll take that. Lines will be crazy, but they'll be crazy no matter what.

 

[flynnibus]

People who want to be first to see the land come and the opening is crazy busy, however there is only one ride open. This reduces the capacity of the land. Now there is not an additional attraction that pushes 20,000+ Guests through it a day. Due to capacity issue more people are turned away from the land. Everyone that does make it into the land will not be able to ride the single open attraction due to demand. People are upset they went to Star Wars land and couldn’t ride the ride. Since most people go to Disney for the rides they are understandable upset.

Newsflash.. SW:GE is more than the two rides.

 

[Andrew C]

You will find me in line for a "real" lightsaber...

 

[RustySpork]

Newsflash.. SW:GE is more than the two rides.

I demand an It's a Small Galaxy ride. I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

 

[MisterPenguin]

I presume this means that they are behind schedule with regard to Disneyland's Rise of the Resistance attraction. I mean this isn't purposeful.

OR... RotR will be opening at the scheduled time it was supposed to open. It's just everything else is ready earlier for an announced, non-surprise soft opening.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Do we have an opening date on MMRR? I wish they played that ride up more.

 

[TJJohn12]

...I cant think of a single moment in the movies where the characters go shopping...

Luke being sent to buy power converters, Uncle Owen buying droids from Jawas, Qui Gon buying slaves from Watto...

 

[rodserling27]

Getting this when trying to manage reservations for an upcoming trip....

 

[Disone]

Honestly, I think too many people are focusing on "ROTR isn't going to be open on day one!" rather than, "wow, SWGE is opening early!"

But that's none of my business.

Agreed. Thought there would be more excitement that instead of late fall they are opening everything they have ready earlier then they planned.

Maybe a better way to do it would have been an unadvertised (soft) opening of everything. Then most would just be excited for the preview rather then disappointed that one of the two keystones is not open yet.

Still, another alternative would be to keep it all closed because the one attraction is not ready yet.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Luke being sent to buy power converters, Uncle Owen buying droids from Jawas, Qui Gon buying slaves from Watto...

I doubt GE will be selling full-sized droids (at least not ones that are affordable to most guests). Or slaves...

Luke never does get those power converters, and we never see them.

However, to be fair, there is Wattos. Though that merchandise isn’t real distinct.

 

[stretchsje]

For those that don't remember, when Harry Potter first opened in Orlando, the rest of Islands of Adventure was empty for hours each morning and into early afternoon. Literally every other ride in every other land was a walk-on. If you are able to ignore Galaxy's Edge, pretending it hasn't yet opened, you may find yourself with lower waits than you would have otherwise. I don't think those visiting in August, wishing to avoid crowds, need be too scared. But I wouldn't try to rope-drop Hollywood Studios.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I presume this means that they are behind schedule with regard to Disneyland's Rise of the Resistance attraction. I mean this isn't purposeful.

What I wish somebody at DL would say (since my family is visiting Disneyland for the first-and-probably-only-time-ever-from-the-opposite-coast at the end of August):

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Agreed. Thought there would be more excitement that instead of late fall they are opening everything they have ready earlier then they planned.

Maybe a better way to do it would have been an unadvertised (soft) opening of everything. Then most would just be excited for the preview rather then disappointed that one of the two keystones is not open yet.

Still, another alternative would be to keep it all closed because the one attraction is not ready yet.

LOL... So what you're really saying is... Everything but "agreed."

There'd be more excitement too if I won the billion dollar Megaball... But, well, you know.

 

[Dunston]

Looking forward to watching people auction off the day passes to Disneyland's Galaxy Edge. Those will be going for possibly thousands.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I believe whatever internal dates they had for opening are the opening date for the full experience. So I suspect ROTR sometime in July or August for Disneyland and October-November for DHS.

 

[erasure fan1]

Well I'm glad I canceled our trip this year. I want to experience the land as it is supposed to be and not well its almost done. It does have a smell of desperation. But since they are going to make bank either way, who cares if you have that one amazing opening. Oh well, it won't effect me either way so I'll just wait until next summer.

 

[mikejs78]

in many ways, HP lends itself to a land better then SW. Much of the story in HP is centered around consumption - the purchasing of robes, broomsticks, wands, etc. This can be reproduced fairly precisely in a theme park.

"I loved Harry Potter because of the merch". -- said no one, ever.

The HP lands are based directly on areas from the books and film, GE is not.

True. But I think that Star Wars is based less on places than on a whole aesthetic, which will certainly be present here. You underestimate the appeal of this land, imo. In the movies, very few places are used from movie to movie. Each movie introduces new places (Tatooine and Coruscant being the main exceptions), where in HP, it's the same basic places across the books and films.

Regarding the crowds: they said that they are limiting access to the land. How do you know it won't be enjoyable based on that?

 

[Weather_Lady]

Only Disneyland guests anticipating all rides open for early summer could be disappointed, since RotR won't debut then.

...arriving in Anaheim 8/24...

 

[ToTBellHop]

OR... RotR will be opening at the scheduled time it was supposed to open. It's just everything else is ready earlier for an announced, non-surprise soft opening.

This is exactly the case. I expect our RotR to open closer to Thanksgiving or early December, when the whole land was originally going to open. This is a crowd control strategy, opening the land during the quietest time of year for the parks, not the holidays.

DL will be a mess, regardless.