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

[The_Jobu]

I just checked the app, and I’ve never seen wait times this though across the resort. And MF:SR is only at 85 minutes. FoP is at 120, but the longest wait at MK for anything is 40 minutes. That just doesn’t happen at WDW these days, even at 8:30 PM.

It's pretty unprecedented in this "predicted staffing era". Kind of nice to see, reminds me of slow seasons.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I just checked the app, and I’ve never seen wait times this though across the resort. And MF:SR is only at 85 minutes. FoP is at 120, but the longest wait at MK for anything is 40 minutes. That just doesn’t happen at WDW these days, even at 8:30 PM.

That’s similar to how it was 8/17-25 when I was there. The 2nd half of August has become, in my experience, one of the quietest times of year in the parks. The numbers seem low for a holiday weekend—definitely the hurricane.

 

[HoustonHorn]

I'm going to write my opinions of SW:GE (the ostensible point of this thread), which we did yesterday. But today, we hit up MK and it was GLORIOUS. We arrived around 9 and rode Space Mountain 3 times, Buzz, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, BTMRR, Small World, and Haunted Mansion - with part of my group stopping for lunch while I rode Small World - WITHOUT a single fastpass - in 3.5 hours. It was amazing. I think it was a perfect storm (sorry) of the hurricane, SW:GE Day 2, F&W Day 2, and a Halloween Party tonight.

 

[doctornick]

Some of you may think I'm a bit of a pixie duster because I react strongly to a lot of the doom and gloomers, but I think this is a very good point. Disney made 3 key mistakes in the rollout of GE:

1. Deciding to open with only one attraction, and the lesser attraction at that (if it had been reversed with RotR opening first, that might have worked).
2. Cutting a lot of the atmosphere, droids, stunt shows, etc. from the land.
3. Getting greedy and implementing obscene ticket price hikes, blackouts, etc, expecting crowds to come at any price.

That all said, I'm very much looking forward to the land, and from the looks of things, WDI has done an amazing job.

I agree with all this but think the point of @erasure fan1 adds to it:

Plain and simple it's just arrogance. Disney figured we'd be happy just for the opportunity to walk into a star wars land. And then even happier to spend $200 to build a lightsaber, $100 to build a droid and $50 on drinks in the cantina.

Having one attraction is bad, bu they compound it by offering other "attractions" that are expensive and potentially don't involve your entire party. I have no problem with the droid and light saber offerings in principle - just like Bibbity Boppity and Pirates League are fine to offer - but you have to have enough free substance to avoid having the upcharges seem unbelievaly greedy and cynical. Especially for WDW where a family of 4 or 5 is common and so those experiences would be crazy expensive (e.g. might be more tolerable to build 1 droid for the family all all 5 members could be present).

I think it was a mistake not to wait until both rides were ready to open, but having 2 rides would be okay if you had other proper smaller attractions in addition to the streetmosphere that was promised and cut - a walk through, an AA show, some formal M&G (I envision a cool droid version of ETWB using C-3PO and R2D2 that could appeal to adults), etc. Stuff to fill out a visit more that doesn't require spending more money. Yes, they have the play app stuff and that's good but I think it needs more.

 

[Little Green Men]

Looked pretty crowded around 8

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wonder, though if that is intentional so Disney can incorporate ("promote") new movies more easily while also being able to portray ("save") the original trilogy for special occasions/times (like May 4th)?

The problem is their new movies are frankly not very good. At all. We have been tiptoeing around this for 5 years scratching our collective heads.

The one movie with good Star Wars moments is the “black sheep” that Kennedy outwardly despises.

See, it's not your opinion that's getting tiresome. I actually agree that they need to add back the roaming droids, stunt shows, interactive characters, and bounty hunters. I don't dispute that at all.

It's really more your constant refrains of "Immersive!" And "Bright Suns!" that get tiresome. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the land, what they did right and what they didn't. I'd just much rather have an intelligent discussion about it rather than have to read the same tired sarcastic one-liners every other post.

This seems to the be the week of “concentrate on tone when the subject isn’t going your way”

I’m sure all will be forgotten and arrogant defense will set back in soon.



On the land

@wdisney9000 had the absolute best explanation for the struggles I’ve seen.

They built this “caught in the middle”. It’s absolutely not canon/hardcore enough for the Star Wars diehards and junkies...but too “sci fi” for casual park goers and maybe even Disney devotees.

That’s the best argument I’ve seen in 3 months of daily trench warfare on this

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I agree with all this but think the point of @erasure fan1 adds to it:



Having one attraction is bad, bu they compound it by offering other "attractions" that are expensive and potentially don't involve your entire party. I have no problem with the droid and light saber offerings in principle - just like Bibbity Boppity and Pirates League are fine to offer - but you have to have enough free substance to avoid having the upcharges seem unbelievaly greedy and cynical. Especially for WDW where a family of 4 or 5 is common and so those experiences would be crazy expensive (e.g. might be more tolerable to build 1 droid for the family all all 5 members could be present).

I think it was a mistake not to wait until both rides were ready to open, but having 2 rides would be okay if you had other proper smaller attractions in addition to the streetmosphere that was promised and cut - a walk through, an AA show, some formal M&G (I envision a cool droid version of ETWB using C-3PO and R2D2 that could appeal to adults), etc. Stuff to fill out a visit more that doesn't require spending more money. Yes, they have the play app stuff and that's good but I think it needs more.

Excellent take.

Looked pretty crowded around 8

Shouldn’t it be?

In order to talk “phenomenon”...it’s gotta be more like waves of gate crashes

 

[The_Jobu]

The problem is their new movies are frankly not very good. At all. We have been tiptoeing around this for 5 years scratching our collective heads.

The one movie with good Star Wars moments is the “black sheep” that Kennedy outwardly despises.

This seems to the be the week of “concentrate on tone when the subject isn’t going your way”

I’m sure all will be forgotten and arrogant defense will set back in soon.



On the land

@wdisney9000 had the absolute best explanation for the struggles I’ve seen.

They built this “caught in the middle”. It’s absolutely not canon/hardcore enough for the Star Wars diehards and junkies...but too “sci fi” for casual park goers and maybe even Disney devotees.

That’s the best argument I’ve seen in 3 months of daily trench warfare on this

I suspect they will expend a lot of effort to insert Batuu into Episode 9 to kind of "officialize" the land and make it canon.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I suspect they will expend a lot of effort to insert Batuu into Episode 9 to kind of "officialize" the land and make it canon.

There are some plot outlines out there floating that - if true - “introduce” more useless non descript Abrams inventions like “jakku” and...whatever the other planets I can’t remember are???

Not good.

That’s another tidbit. George’s planet names were just better...they are/were.

Everything Disney has done sounds like an Indonesian island...trying to be “exotic” over just memorable. Hoth. Endor. Bespin.

Simple

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Disney was expecting...

They got...(day 2 of SW:GE)



For those saying that it's a success because they had to use a virtual queue to get into the land for 9 hours on opening day. I really hate to be that guy...but, when Universal opened Potter in 2010, they had to use the virtual queue to enter the land for almost 4 months. And as far as the, "it's the hurricane" rebuttal. Was DLR being hit by a hurricane all summer?

There is something fundamentally wrong with the product. Over shot the price to value ratio? Opened the land with only one ride? Killed the IP with movies the fans didn't like? Based the land on the movies the fans didn't like? Scared everyone off with predictions of massive crowds? Dorian? All of the above? I don't know the answer, but there will be books written about what happened with lots of finger pointing, I'm sure.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I just checked the app, and I’ve never seen wait times this though across the resort. And MF:SR is only at 85 minutes. FoP is at 120, but the longest wait at MK for anything is 40 minutes. That just doesn’t happen at WDW these days, even at 8:30 PM.

We walked onto Soarin' middle of the day today.

It's not reflecting Food and Wine, which still brought in decent crowds.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

No, it's Dorians fault!! My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with a girl who works at 31 Flavors who overheard a guy talking about cancelling his trip.

Darth Dorian?

 

[Stripes]

For those saying that it's a success because they had to use a virtual queue to get into the land for 9 hours on opening day. I really hate to be that guy...but, when Universal opened Potter in 2010, they had to use the virtual queue to enter the land for almost 4 months. And as far as the, "it's the hurricane" rebuttal. Was DLR being hit by a hurricane all summer?

Hogsmeade is tiny compared to Galaxy's Edge. Of course Universal had bigger crowd problems. They've also been running AP previews for weeks, tempering opening day demand. Honestly, you've got to be kidding me with this comparison.

I don't know the answer, but there will be books written about what happened with lots of finger pointing, I'm sure.

Sure, sure.

 

[MickeySoCal]

It might be fair to say that Chapek cheaped out on a sure win, believing he could skim more money by offering guests less. No one forced Chapek to cut back so much entertainment and kinetic entertainment elements.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I went tonight for my first time after seeing the wait time for Smuggler's Run hover around 80 minutes all day. The land was packed with people by the evening (I think all the local AP's like me saw the low waits and decided to go) but it never felt crowded because of its sheer size. There were easily more people in the land than could even fit into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. I don't think Smugger's Run's wait time is a good gauge on the success of the land. The rest of WDW was apparently a ghost town with low waits across the board.

Disney was expecting...

They got...(day 2 of SW:GE)



For those saying that it's a success because they had to use a virtual queue to get into the land for 9 hours on opening day. I really hate to be that guy...but, when Universal opened Potter in 2010, they had to use the virtual queue to enter the land for almost 4 months. And as far as the, "it's the hurricane" rebuttal. Was DLR being hit by a hurricane all summer?

I went to Hogsmeade several times shortly after it opened in the summer of 2010 (wow, has it really been 9 years??) and I never once had to virtual queue and typically waited about 45 minutes to an hour for Forbidden Journey.

You're also ignoring that Hogsmeade is tiny and cramped compared to SWGE and the fact that Universal was caught offguard by it's success and not prepared to handle it, while Disney overcompensated and made infrastructure improvements such as giving the park a massive efficient entrance and widening walkways. SWGE was built massive to handle massive crowds without it being shoulder to shoulder.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Hogsmeade is tiny compared to Galaxy's Edge. Of course Universal had bigger crowd problems. They've also been running AP previews for weeks, tempering opening day demand. Honestly, you've got to be kidding me with this comparison.
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Sure, sure.

I went tonight for my first time after seeing the wait time for Smuggler's Run hover around 80 minutes all day. The land was packed with people by the evening (I think all the local AP's like me saw the low waits and decided to go) but it never felt crowded because of its sheer size. There were easily more people in the land than could even fit into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. I don't think Smugger's Run's wait time is a good gauge on the success of the land. The rest of WDW was apparently a ghost town with low waits across the board.



I went to Hogsmeade several times shortly after it opened in the summer of 2010 (wow, has it really been 9 years??) and I never once had to virtual queue and typically waited about 45 minutes to an hour for Forbidden Journey.

You're also ignoring that Hogsmeade is tiny and cramped compared to SWGE and the fact that Universal was caught offguard by it's success and not prepared to handle it, while Disney overcompensated and made infrastructure improvements such as giving the park a massive efficient entrance and widening walkways. SWGE was built massive to handle massive crowds without it being shoulder to shoulder.

Yes, Hogsmeade is small, size wise, compared to SWGE. But Hogsmeade opened with 2 very high capacity E Tickets and a kiddie coaster. With only MFSR open, Hogsmeade's carrying capacity was higher than SWGE's is now.

 

[Jenny72]

I'm quite sure SW:GE will be a financial success, but you really get the feeling now that management has tunnel vision. They see movie IP as the main factor that drives people to the parks. Therefore, big movie IP (such as Star Wars) = big draw / big sales. And of course to some extent that's true, but management can't really see any other kinds of magic that might draw people to visit the parks, which is where there is a big, important blind spot.

I like Star Wars, and the land looks cool, but it's not a total surprise that there might be a little *something* that's missing. I think management expects IP to do so much of the work for them, that they don't need to think outside the box or sprinkle on something unexpected and special....that stuff that people call pixie dust.

And if SW:GE ends up not quite being the response they expected, they will probably seek an explanation elsewhere, because the basic premise won't be questioned: Movie IP is the primary driver of park attendance.

 

[Higginbotham587]

I’m struggling to understand the criticisms. I am a hard core SW fan and I hate the new trilogy (love RO and Solo). I absolutely adored GE and the ride. Strapping into the pilot seat of the Falcon is like a dream come true and they got everything about that right. I don’t care that it’s a new story as opposed to some fake Han Solo animatronic pretending I get to fly his ship. The story actually worked for me. As a ride by itself it is not as good as FoP, but as an experience it is so much more.

Everything about the land was great and I saw a lot of troopers and others. Would it have been cooler with aliens and bounty hunters? Yes and I hope we get some. Did I get to meet R2 in the droid shop? Yes that was cool.

There is so much room in this place to add entertainment and more that I’m looking forward to what they do next with what feels like a lot more space than Pandora to add such things.

I’m no pixie duster but when I compare GE to Hogsmeade I see a bigger land with better detail more characters walking around and a better ride. When RotR opens and if it is better than Gringott’s we will have a nice comparison. GE is also just as cool as Diagon Alley. And the hotel could be just ridiculous if it has the level of detail of the land.

But man many of the people here just are critics.

One thing I have learned is that Martin is right about fast pass. Without it no line is going to be over 2 hours. Maybe they should dump it and let rich people pay for plaids so everyone else could have the old Disney experience back?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

You very obviously have never dealt with guests at a Disney CM. I discovered that they can find more ways to be lost and not see what is right in front of them. yes, guests need big signs to tell them how to get to what should be obvious. But even then they don't see them.

Which is why I was asked how to get the castle at Studios and Epcot, which way to Harry Potter World at several of the Disney parks, and watched a guest walk around Spaceship Earth multiple times before asking where the rest of the park was... I could go on. and on. and on. and.....

Never assume that guests have a clue where they are, what they are doing, or where they are going.

I mean, since I worked in IT at least.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The problem is their new movies are frankly not very good. At all. We have been tiptoeing around this for 5 years scratching our collective heads.

Every single Star Wars movie Disney has done is better than all of the prequels with the exception of maybe episode 3. Maybe. The only good thing to come out of the prequels was Darth Maul and Ewn McGregor as Obi Wan.

And yes, I am counting Solo in that. Still a better movie than Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.