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

[DisneyDreamer08]

Wondering if the fact that there are zero reservations available for the cantina from now through February, is an indication of how successful the land is?

Plenty for a party of 1 We are going in January and I made a reservation for my husband in the very slim chance that the virtual queueing is in effect. My two girls and myself are not interested so much in the land so we will go do something else while my husband checks it out and hopefully experiences one or both rides. I made the reservation yesterday just to guarantee he could get in. There are still plenty for a party of one (just checked again). I will cancel if the virtual queueing isn’t happening then and he can wander in whenever. Hopefully with a fast pass!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They won't have 10 minute obviously.

But Disney didn't spend a billion dollars to open mediocre rides that will draw moderate lines after a couple months.

When they had much smaller crowds...

Does that make them correct?

It surely makes them incorrect now. Any modern construction that costs $1,000,000,000 needs to accomplish above “the minimum”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Plenty for a party of 1 We are going in January and I made a reservation for my husband in the very slim chance that the virtual queueing is in effect. My two girls and myself are not interested so much in the land so we will go do something else while my husband checks it out and hopefully RIDES one or both rides. I made the reservation yesterday just to guarantee he could get in. There are still plenty for a party of one (just checked again). I will cancel if the virtual queueing isn’t happening then and he can wander in whenever. Hopefully with a fast pass!

Made a small edit there...

We rides on the rides...”experience” implies that they are more than what they are:
Which should be 3-5 minutes of fun.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So, let's say that for a 10-hour park day, there was a line all day long just to get into the land. Would that be considered a success? Because, that's what DHS had from 5a to 3p, namely 10 hours of people waiting to get into the land (through a virtual queue -- the boarding parties). It then had seven more hours of being relatively busy. And that's after a week of AP previews... a full week for mostly locals to keep the land busy all day long. And that's after all the very die-hard SW fans went to DL to get it out of their system. I don't know how anyone can say that wasn't a success.

Is WDW panicking because Pandora had longer lines? Well, I remember people saying how, in the opening week, Pandora failed to live up to expectations and WDW wasn't happy... until the numbers came in and showed a significant increase in DAK attendance for the year that didn't cannibalize the other parks.

And finally, who here attended all those pay-for previews at DL or DHS that we were told Disney would be sure to do? If you said Disney was definitely going to do that... maybe you shouldn't be so quick to prognosticate on how the SWLs are going to do. Maybe I should do a forum search for those predictions...

So your point is they had a long wait for 10 hours on the first day and low attendance is “good” because the theories on how they could monetize it didnt come to pass...maybe because of low projected attendance?

...got it.

I don’t recall any talk of pandora failing...there was concern over how the IP would play (rightfully) and criticism of the boat ride (rightfully)

 

[ChrisFL]

Since the hurricane keeps slowing its forward momentum, I MIGHT try to go check out SW:GE this Sunday if the weather is relatively clear and possibly not too crowded.

 

[planodisney]

When they had much smaller crowds...

Does that make them correct?

It surely makes them incorrect now. Any modern construction that costs $1,000,000,000 needs to accomplish above “the minimum”

Totally agree and I think unquestionably long term it will.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Totally agree and I think unquestionably long term it will.

Long term is the problem for Star Wars now...
Problems in the short term are what would be suprising...if the pattern holds.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Underperforming is a good thing. At the very least, it may slow down their next hike in ticket prices.

Agree...I want attendance and revenues to be bad this quarter. Can only help in the struggle against bob’s retirement fund.

Or, more likely, cause them to stop investing in new stuff.

Actually the opposite. Disney would see success as proof they don’t need any more investment and look to squeeze more wine out of the grapes we have already paid for...

Wondering if the fact that there are zero reservations available for the cantina from now through February, is an indication of how successful the land is?

It’s tiny...that’s not much of a predictor

 

[Mainahman]

Maybe it’s October 71 again?

Cant be the delorean is in the shop AGAIN!

 

[Franklin47disneyguy]

Disney doesn't care about 4 hour lines, they care about selling 200$ lightsabers, 14!$ milk and other SW merch. Disneyland opening only 'failed' because of a big price jump, blocking AP's & CM's, years of media coverage of millions of visitors on opening day, reservation only period. And the biggest reason, delaying RotR. If they keep selling lightsabers and milk it will be fine!

 

[mergatroid]

So your point is they had a long wait for 10 hours on the first day and low attendance is “good” because the theories on how they could monetize it didnt come to pass...maybe because of low projected attendance?

...got it.

I don’t recall any talk of pandora failing...there was concern over how the IP would play (rightfully) and criticism of the boat ride (rightfully)

Oh yes there was.

 

[JohnnyAmerican]

Disney doesn't care about 4 hour lines, they care about selling 200$ lightsabers, 14!$ milk and other SW merch. Disneyland opening only 'failed' because of a big price jump, blocking AP's & CM's, years of media coverage of millions of visitors on opening day, reservation only period. And the biggest reason, delaying RotR. If they keep selling lightsabers and milk it will be fine!

Di$ney plan is to squeeze more out of those that will pay, no matter what, but one thing it seems all us adults are forgetting: most everything new has been aimed at younger kids for rides while mom/dad can now get alcoholic drinks and spend more time in merchandise stores. Universal will steal the teenage family and older adults while Disney continues to pursue the kiddies, which if you take that approach, while dad may be upset with GE, the young ones will love the tame ride and atmosphere (same with Slinky)

 

[mm52200]

Agree...I want attendance and revenues to be bad this quarter. Can only help in the struggle against bob’s retirement fund.

Actually the opposite. Disney would see success as proof they don’t need any more investment and look to squeeze more wine out of the grapes we have already paid for...

It’s tiny...that’s not much of a predictor

You clearly don’t understand how Disney operates. Not saying it makes sense but when they see low numbers and spending they cut cut cut as much as they can. Disneyland more or less has had almost all of its entertainment severely cut this summer for example.
Numbers were down last year around this time at WDW and several entertainment options were cut back or operating hours of locations severely scaled back.

 

[JohnnyAmerican]

With a trip planned for mid-October, i'm hopeful the land is still settled at this type of wait or less, especially for the shops/cantina.

I think no matter the excuses, there has to be some type of disappointment with both openings. From a fan perspective, it's great because you aren't spending a whole day of your vacation for one attraction. I can remember the discussion though with what most of thought was going to be jampacked land for weeks/months on end (which could still happen at HS). There are a lot of variables at play here with both parks and their openings that no doubt will have detracted from what their opening days" could have been" in the eyes of management. I imagine there are folks that not only put off to wait for RotR, but also decided to skip this year altogether and figure on their next trip in 2020 they could get not only 2 SW attractions, but Rat and Mickey. Imagine there will be some die-hards that did DL so have no need to see WDW.

This is total conjecture, but I wonder how the openings and reception would have fared if they were reversed and HS opened Memorial Day with the full summer crowd and the freshness, and DL opened yesterday without all of the blackouts.

We're doing mid-October as well, which has been more packed over the last 2 years with the improved economy...keenly interested to see if this pushes attendance up all over the parks, but as my boy is older now, Universal is clearly drawing us to spend more days there

 

[jt04]

Oh yes there was.

Oddly by many of the same people.

 

[danlb_2000]

So your point is they had a long wait for 10 hours on the first day and low attendance is “good” because the theories on how they could monetize it didnt come to pass...maybe because of low projected attendance?

...got it.

I don’t recall any talk of pandora failing...there was concern over how the IP would play (rightfully) and criticism of the boat ride (rightfully)

I don't recall much talk of Pandora succeeding.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You clearly don’t understand how Disney operates. Not saying it makes sense but when they see low numbers and spending they cut cut cut as much as they can. Disneyland more or less has had almost all of its entertainment severely cut this summer for example.
Numbers were down last year around this time at WDW and several entertainment options were cut back or operating hours of locations severely scaled back.

I absolutely do understand how Disney operates (that was good for a laugh though)

And I’m not talking about operational spending cuts...they do those all the time with little if any justification

I’m speaking about capital improvement...which is a completely different piggy.

Cutting cast hours and “live entertainment”...which is really nothing in the grand scheme of things...and real progress - which is construction - have to be put in a separate box

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Oh yes there was.

I’ll have to take your word for it...I wasn’t involved. At least not here.

Pandora looks like a better build than the Star Wars land right now as it stands...but they served different goals/demographics

 

[mergatroid]

I’ll have to take your word for it...I wasn’t involved. At least not here.

Pandora looks like a better build than the Star Wars land right now as it stands...but they served different goals/demographics

I'm confused, this is your quote

I don’t recall any talk of pandora failing...there was concern over how the IP would play (rightfully) and criticism of the boat ride (rightfully)

Why say you don't recall any talk of Pandora failing and then admit that you weren't even involved in the discussion about Pandora on here? Why comment at all as to what was said on here about it if you weren't involved, clearly implying you were?

How do you know that in that discussion that there was 'concern over how the IP would play' as you've just admitted you weren't involved in that discussion? It's almost like you're just trolling, or is there another explanation?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm confused, this is your quote



Why say you don't recall any talk of Pandora failing and then admit that you weren't even involved in the discussion about Pandora on here? Why comment at all as to what was said on here about it if you weren't involved, clearly implying you were?

How do you know that in that discussion that there was 'concern over how the IP would play' as you've just admitted you weren't involved in that discussion? It's almost like you're just trolling, or is there another explanation?

My English must be “not so good”...

I don’t recall ever talking about pandora failure In this forum?

Just as a backstory though: when they announced the build - many moons ago - I thought it was a desperate move and was concerned the lack of IP familiarity would make it have less of an impact than animal kingdom needed.

Thankfully for all of us...that didn’t turn out to be the case. WDI and Cameron did a very good job and the customers - I think - were free of strong IP attachments to kinda go in “clean slate”

Valuable lesson...not sure it applies to Star Wars