News Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opening day reports - Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Wendy Pleakley]

It's been widely reported that the Falcon ride with all four turntables running can get about 1,650 riders per hour at max capacity. That's not terribly high, when other E Tickets like Pirates can do 2,850 riders per hour, and many Omnimovers average about 2,100 per hour.

Irrelevant. What's the hourly capacity of Slinky Dog, which it was being compared to?

 

[VaderTron]

With no FP+, it's great. Stop treating low crowds like a negative.

I think low crowds is great as a patron. However, knowing that management in charge will view this as the worst news since Dorian (too soon?) I'm very afraid of what decisions will be made to 'remedy' the 'problem'.

 

[seascape]

It has been open for 12.5 hours. That is more than a full day in that park north of WDW.

 

[tissandtully]

I think low crowds is great as a patron. However, knowing that management in charge will view this as the worst news since Dorian (too soon?) I'm very afraid of what decisions will be made to 'remedy' the 'problem'.

That's fair. But I don't think we should encourage them anymore than needed. I'd rather not derail this thread, but I have a lot of thoughts on it we can discuss in the SWGE thread if you want.

 

[VaderTron]

Irrelevant. What's the hourly capacity of Slinky Dog, which it was being compared to?

1440 for Slinky Dog Dash.

 

[TP2000]

Star Tours in DHS just dropped its wait time from 10 minutes to 5 minutes. Tower of Terror remains at 10 minutes.

 

[Andrew C]

What's also surprising is how low the waits are at the handful of other E Tickets in DHS, while E Tickets in Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are 70 minutes or longer.

At 5:30pm Eastern, per the WDW App...

Tower of Terror - 10 Minutes
Star Tours - 10 Minutes
Rock N' Roller Coaster - 20 Minutes

How is that surprising? People who showed up at DHS today were there solely for SWGE and they showed up early (while others avoided it), so wait times shifted away from the other e-tickets.

 

[Beacon Joe]

Opening day and the only ride in the brand spanking new land barely has a longer line than Slinky Dog Dash...

Anyone remember the length of the line for Frozen when it opened? That was a ride that everyone had already been on previous to the overlay of the Frozen IP. The dusters will still call this opening day a massive success.

One wonders when Disney executives will finally realize that after the Disney batch of awful films, a significant number of people feel oversaturated with Star Wars and really DGAF about it or the current Disney Star Wars universe?

 

[mikejs78]

But hurricane closures are still two or three days away. I would think that the approaching Cat 3 Hurricane that will likely close the parks early on Sunday, then closed entirely on Labor Day, would have most folks rushing to the parks heading in to a holiday weekend. By Saturday the crowds will drain away, at least the locals, but here on Thursday it shouldn't be a major factor yet.

Currently at the Magic Kingdom, Seven Dwarves Mine Train has a 70 minute wait and Peter Pan is 65 minutes. At Animal Kingdom the Flight of Passage ride has a 70 minute wait, (even though no child has ever shown up at my front door on Halloween dressed as a blue alien but I get a million Chewies and Leia's and Darth Vader's every October 31st).

So there are people at WDW theme parks today. They just aren't all at DHS waiting in a four hour line for the Falcon.

70 min wait for 7 Dwarves is practically dead. Re the storm, it's anecdotal but I know several people who rescheduled their trips because of Dorian. I suspect this has been a common thing. Even though it's 3 days away, if you have an extended trip you may decide to reschedule to avoid 2-3 days of your trip being a washout.

So wait a second....you were giving affirmative support of something you haven’t seen?

Dude...I love you, but....

I held “too much comment” on my end until i went to Disneyland.
Tried to keep it to “trends” based on observations of attendance and general recurring feedback

I'm only commenting on two specific things,.which I think are reasonable even for someone who hasn't seen the land:

1) They shouldn't have cheapened out on the entertainment and extras, like drones, etc.
2) The fact that it's set in the timeframe that it is is exciting to me and make me want to visit the land.

I don't see how those particular opinions are predicated on seeing the land or not....?

 

[Dave B]

I'm counting Runaway Railway, RoR, MF, and the Toy Story Coaster. For those four major attractions (I'm not going to argue if all four are E's - I think they are to the majority of visitors), we traded in GMR and the Studio Tour which were high capacity but so unpopular they were never being utilized at high capacity. The net result is a ton of extra capacity that people want to fill.

You forgot ToT

 

[TP2000]

Irrelevant. What's the hourly capacity of Slinky Dog, which it was being compared to?

I don't think its irrelevant at all. Ride wait times are directly tied their hourly capacity. Millennium Falcon has an unimpressive hourly capacity of around 1650 an hour, dramatically lower than other popular E Tickets like Small World, Pirates, Expedition Everest, Omnimovers in various parks, etc. That creates longer wait times for Falcon at 1,650 an hour, compared to if it was able to handle 2,500 an hour.

Millennium Falcon - 1,650 riders an hour
Slinky Dog Dash - 1,440 riders an hour
Pirates of the Caribbean - 2,850 an hour

Current wait times at 5:45pm Eastern in DHS, per the WDW App:

Star Tours - 5 Minutes
Tower of Terror - 10 Minutes
Toy Story Midway Mania - 15 Minutes
Rock N' Roller Coaster - 20 Minutes
Alien Swirling Saucers - 30 Minutes
Slinky Dog Dash - 60 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 75 Minutes

 

[easyrowrdw]

I think low crowds is great as a patron. However, knowing that management in charge will view this as the worst news since Dorian (too soon?) I'm very afraid of what decisions will be made to 'remedy' the 'problem'.

Wouldn't the decisions be to improve the land in some way? If it's not drawing like they want (obviously, we can't conclude that at this point), then leaving it as is won't help. Right? Or am I just being hopeful/naive?

 

[TP2000]

Less than two hours on opening day is....surprising. Maybe it’ll pick up again as locals get out of regular work. But it’s great for anyone there! Enjoy.

At 5:45pm Eastern time, the opposite appears to be happening.

Millennium Falcon just dropped its wait time from 105 minutes to 75 minutes.

The remainder of the E Tickets in DHS are in the 5 to 20 minute range.

 

[TP2000]

How is that surprising? People who showed up at DHS today were there solely for SWGE and they showed up early (while others avoided it), so wait times shifted away from the other e-tickets.

Because all summer long many of us had assumed that the Disneyland experience would not be repeated at DHS.

Star Wars Land at DHS appears to be doing the exact same thing, if not even more due to the dramatic difference in overall park capacity at DHS compared to Disneyland Park. But let's tune in again in three weeks and see what is happening at DHS on Saturday, September 21st.

 

[Andrew C]

Wouldn't the decisions be to improve the land in some way? If it's not drawing like they want (obviously, we can't conclude that at this point), then leaving it as is won't help. Right? Or am I just being hopeful/naive?

Putting opening day aside and talking more generally...the opening of the main attraction will go a long way. But I think they will need to get up on the live entertainment/streetmosphere thing by no later than December as well.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

RE the wait times...Smuggler's Run also doesn't have FP+ yet...so there's also that to take into consideration...no?

 

[britain]

These figures are interesting, but isn't EVERYTHING going to have the Hurricane Dorian asterisk next to it for a day or so?

 

[Andrew C]

But let's tune in again in three weeks and see what is happening at DHS on Saturday, September 21st.

I am more interested in seeing where we are in January....

 

[brettf22]

So, thanks to advanced warning via this site several weeks ago, I had a 1:25pm Oga’s reservation. So I slept in a bit, sauntered into a dead Epcot around 9:30, walked on to Soarin, LwtL, walked the newly opened Rosewalk walkway, used a FP for Frozen (instead of waiting the 25 min standby), literally walked on to TT via single rider, then one last walk on of SSE before heading to DHS.

Got into SWGE an hour before my reservation, Grabbed a Ronto wrap, some blue milk, got obligatory Millennium Falcon pics. Checked in to Oga’s at 1:10, waited about 5 minutes, then got in. Stood at the bar long enough to get video of the place and the Cantina Song playing, then left.

Saw the 3 hour long MFSR line snaking through the hot land and decided to go Single Rider.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Waited 20 minutes in the AC. Got back out and immediately got back in line. 7 minute wait. Rode MFSR at total of 4 times in 85 minutes. Got Gunner, Pilot, Engineer, Gunner. Walked around the entire rest of SWGE for an hour. Then right out into TSL. Walked on to TSMM, Tower, single rider RnR. Snagged a Slinky FP for 6pm. A quick bite and some shopping, now headed to Slinky. Then out the door.

Not a bad day. I’ve been down here at this time of the year the past three years. Outside of SWGE, today is the quietest I’ve seen the rest of the parks in a long time.

 

[Nastory4]

On Friendship 6 from Beach Club to MGM now!

Love the fact that you said "MGM".