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

[monothingie]

So I did a little research and found something interesting.

Day 2 of FoP, it was down 9% of the day. Same with day 3.

Day 2 of FEA, it was down 44% of the day. Day 3 it was 36% down.

I don't know the data, but we all know Hagrids had numerous reliability issues early on.

MF? Zero downtime since opening (at least through Saturday 8/31).

Maybe Disney's issue here is that they made a ride that is too reliable.

@lentesta reported that multiple simulators were out of service on Thursday and Friday.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

1. WDI is not god, just because they come up with an idea doesn’t make it viable or have operating sense. Sure, I’m generally gonna side with them over management but the realities of life dictate operational efficiency, costs, etc. No guest wants a ride that never works and takes hours to get on.

I agree on this. Cancelling that C-ticket appears to have been a wise move to me as it seems like a classic case of something that runs for a few months before closing as it's appealing to look at, has low capacity which equals long lines, and very basic ride experience which leads to low guest satisfaction.

It would have been cool if they had of built a few of the things to walk past from time to time, but as a ride I don't see how it would have worked.

 

[Jones14]

Possibly part of that problem with this IP though is that people expect to see what they’re familiar with for such a massive IP.

But they did give us familiar things. The land has X-wings, Rebels, Stormtroopers, Tie Fighters, Lightsabers, the Millenium Falcon, a Cantina (with a character from the original Star Wars ride), blue milk, several main characters from the movies, a ride where you fly the Falcon, and a ride on the way where you escape a Star Destroyer.

There are criticisms to be leveled at the land, but I just can’t see how anyone could in good faith have ‘lack of familiarity’ as one of them. If anything, the ‘clean slate’ planet (which is what I think the actual complaint is) allowed them to stuff more familiar things into it.

 

[wdisney9000]

1) More guests does not equal more Per Capita per guest. Yes, you gain more revenue, but you usually see your per capita go down with more guests. More guests also equal more staffing you have to do to accommodate those guests. Companies will want to balance that and is a reason why you see Disney continuing to raise the admission prices (yes, we may have 10% less guests, but if we make the same dollars and have to staff less since we have less people, we ended up making MORE of a profit).

A perfectly valid point. But is there any evidence to prove that is their strategy? Im honestly asking becuase I dont know. A counter point could be that they continue to build resorts, which will definitely increase attendance if they have more people on site. They could be building resorts for other reasons as well so Im not saying thats its specifically to increase attendance. They could very well just be raising prices and increasing attendance for all I know. But is cutting back on staff and making the same amount of money considered profit? It increases the bottom line, but what about the next quarter? Do you cutback on more staff? Raise prices again? How far down the road can you kick that can?

2) Meet expectations is the equivalent of success/failure. When starting on a project, you set up criteria to understand if something is successful or a failure. If you meet the criteria, that means you've met the expectations you set up at the beginning of the project which designates if it's considered a success or failure. You don't view something like this from a subjective lens, but from a VERY objective lens to ensure you're measuring the success of something accurately and not from your gut in the moment.

My OP that lead to this current discussion you and I are having was not about the land being a success or failure. Ive even stated several times over the last few days that I believe the land will be successful. However, I do think they (the executives, not the land) failed to reach their own expectations in terms of how "grand" this opening would be, which related to my original post (and my opinion) that the current management does not know how to run a theme park as well as they think they do. And yes, theyre out to make a profit, I get that. And they do it well. But creativity wise, they are inferior to those who came before them. Again, just my opinion.

3) Definitely not confused. But keep going for personal attacks instead of actually debating. That doesn't undermine your argument at all. A company weighs the experience of a customer to ensure they are maximizing profits. All that you listed, creating reservation systems, online registration, and virtual queues are not going to be used for SWGE and that's it. They will more than likely apply part of those expenses of those projects across a variety of projects. One, it softens the impact and ties it into ROI because in a vacuum, neither of those things drive revenue back to the resort. In regards to 'softened expectations', you can't operate in a vacuum. You have to take into account the time of year that you're opening an attraction. That's why many rides these days are opened at the beginning of the peak summer period. Opening it after the end of Summer, you work on your predictions and analysis to take into account the market trends you're normally going to see at the end of August/beginning of September as opposed to the middle of June.

Pointing out how you were overemphasizing your truthfulness on the subject was not intended as an attack. As far as the rest of your post in regards to taking into account what time of year you open an attraction, why open SWGE in DL in May then open Orlando In Aug/Sept? It seems more like they opened the lands as quickly as possible and with one attraction so they could get a second grand opening for each in an attempt to boost attendance numbers twice, not for analytics, which they could get anyway.

 

[mikejs78]

@lentesta reported that multiple simulators were out of service on Thursday and Friday.

@marni1971 said similar. However the ride was never completely "down" as it was for both FEA and FoP on the first few days.

 

[KevinPage]

As far as original trilogy characters go, the single greatest one will be a freaking AA on Rise......

NIEN “”The Man” NUNB

 

[The_Jobu]

But they did give us familiar things. The land has X-wings, Rebels, Stormtroopers, Tie Fighters, Lightsabers, the Millenium Falcon, a Cantina (with a character from the original Star Wars ride), blue milk, several main characters from the movies, a ride where you fly the Falcon, and a ride on the way where you escape a Star Destroyer.

There are criticisms to be leveled at the land, but I just can’t see how anyone could in good faith have ‘lack of familiarity’ as one of them. If anything, the ‘clean slate’ planet (which is what I think the actual complaint is) allowed them to stuff more familiar things into it.

I think it's the characters that they are familiar with that many assumed would be present.

 

[ChrisFL]

I think it's the characters that they are familiar with that many assumed would be present.

Agreed, although ironically people (myself included) have stated that HP seems to have done things better and yet, that didn't really have walkaround characters from the movies either.

 

[Bleed0range]

For me the iconic places *that could work* are all inside. Outside locations would be too hard to pull off unless done inside a giant sound stage building. For example, the whole duel between Vader and Luke on Cloud City would make for some epic theme park locations, along with inside the Death Star, the various rebel bases, etc. It’s just the nature of Star Wars imo. I think RotR will give us the inside looks I’m talking about. I also think Batuu was the best option they could have come up with all things considered and when they figure out how to incorporate OT and prequel characters into the land (maybe a war museum) along with some of the cut elements they will win over a lot more people.

The only places I can really recall that might work are Tatooine (Mos Eisley > Oga's) or maybe Endor. Resistance is supposed to transport people from the planet into a starship, so that's another possibility.

Tbh, it would be quite easy to make Batuu Tatooine. Just make it an outpost in a canyon (like Beggar’s canyon) that we didn’t know about yet. A few paint swaps and it would work. Mos Espa wasn’t that different from Mos Eisely.

In fact, it has a shop w a pod racer engine roasting meat and a cantina. The thing is, it would not be able to have trees or waterfalls. So that would make it less beautiful. I mean, Luke wanted off that planet pretty bad and Vader hated that sand!

I honestly think they did a pretty good job with Batuu. I think it could use a few more waterfalls or water fountains or something to make it less like Tatooine and more like it’s own planet with a more tolerable climate. They also could have easily stuck it in an animated series or film by now just to say it WAS in them.

But I don’t need to visit Mos Eisely to feel like I’m in the Star Wars universe. Batuu looks pretty close to what you would expect minus the missing aliens walking around.

 

[Bleed0range]

I think it's the characters that they are familiar with that many assumed would be present.

Having Mark Hamill as a force ghost would have gone a long way. But since the films aren’t completed we don’t know his ultimate fate yet. But if the lightsaber experience had featured a projection of him that would have been great. I know it has Yoda, but still... having Luke somewhere would have gone a long way.

If they ever have a future attraction it would be smart to include him.

They also easily could have had C-3PO or R2.

 

[marni1971]

@marni1971 said similar. However the ride was never completely "down" as it was for both FEA and FoP on the first few days.

That’s the luxury of multiple redundant systems. Like Tower, or MS. Only a catastrophe in a common area or with a common system would bring the whole attraction down.

 

[marni1971]

But they did give us familiar things. The land has X-wings, Rebels, Stormtroopers, Tie Fighters, Lightsabers, the Millenium Falcon, a Cantina (with a character from the original Star Wars ride), blue milk, several main characters from the movies, a ride where you fly the Falcon, and a ride on the way where you escape a Star Destroyer.

There are criticisms to be leveled at the land, but I just can’t see how anyone could in good faith have ‘lack of familiarity’ as one of them. If anything, the ‘clean slate’ planet (which is what I think the actual complaint is) allowed them to stuff more familiar things into it.

Fair enough. But as someone who grew up with episode 4 wallpaper and bedsheets, and an ep 5 lunchbox, Star Wars is Vader and Luke. Leia and Solo. Not the Disney version. But again that’s just me. I’m sure I’ll still appreciate the offering and the technical side of things. I’ve often said IP is the icing on the cake anyway if an attraction is good enough.

The quality looks to be there. Thoughtful design. Two very good attractions, albeit with my personal conflicts on content. I’m not knocking them, or the land. I just know it’s not been what was hoped for at this stage by the powers that be. Like I’ve also said, perhaps those targets were unreasonable. I’m looking forward to experiencing what I’ve known about for years on paper in the flesh. I’ve known of every detail and every nook and cranny of this land and the attractions for over three years now. Now I’ll be able to piece it all together.

But HMH comes first!

 

[Indy_UK]

It can be both. Because it was running over budget they cut back the spending that they were going to do on some things to try to come closer to the budget. Means they spent more than they wanted, even with eliminating and cutting back on some things they planned and wanted to do.

Over budget by $400- $600 million? Each?

How much did these things end costing then?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Disney was expecting to have to use the Boarding Group system for MONTHS. The fact that they stopped using it 9 hours into day one is kind of the definition of "FAIL".

The mental gymnastics going on in this thread border on delusional.

 

[YodaMan]

Question. Is there anywhere that has been shown in the Star Wars universe that would have that same appeal of Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade? I'm a pretty big fan of Star Wars, but thinking through it, I'm not sure if 'hanging out' in Coruscant would be any better than Batuu. With the lands from Harry Potter, there's a significant amount of detail that was pulled from the books and the characters spent a ton of time there that it lends itself to that emotional connection.

I'm just not sure if there's anything like that to date within the Star Wars universe.

As others have said, Tatooine would have probably been the only viable option. I understand the desire to focus on a new planet and tie it in to the new films, but I’m sure Imagineers could have found a clever way to do Tatooine and incorporate Mos Espa, Mos Eisley, the cantina, the Falcon, Lars homestead, a sandcrawler, Jabba’s palace or sail barge, pod racing, or any combination of some of those iconic locations and experiences.

 

[mikejs78]

Disney was expecting to have to use the Boarding Group system for MONTHS. The fact that they stopped using it 9 hours into day one is kind of the definition of "FAIL".

The mental gymnastics going on in this thread border on delusional.

And you know this how?

I suspect that they'll begin using it again in October, then again in November/December.

But we know what your agenda is.

 

[RSoxNo1]

My understanding is that setting the timeline of the land in the new trilogy was a Scott Trowbridge creative decision.

 

[mikejs78]

As others have said, Tatooine would have probably been the only viable option. I understand the desire to focus on a new planet and tie it in to the new films, but I’m sure Imagineers could have found a clever way to do Tatooine and incorporate Mos Espa, Mos Eisley, the cantina, the Falcon, Lars homestead, a sandcrawler, Jabba’s palace or sail barge, pod racing, or any combination of some of those iconic locations and experiences.

I think Tatooine would have been kind of depressing. No greenery, no water, etc. Wouldn't have worked...

 

[YodaMan]

I think Tatooine would have been kind of depressing. No greenery, no water, etc. Wouldn't have worked...

I’ve heard that argument and understand where it comes from, but is Tatooine really all that different from what they gave us? The majority of the trees in the land just come from the berm and are there to hide sightlines of the park.

 

[danlb_2000]

There's a club organized by people who build R2 unit replicas. They have their own website.... I don't know how much it costs, but it's considerably less than $25K.

I did some reading on the droid builders forum, and not surprisingly, the $25K is overpriced for what you are getting. People have built replicas that would be worth that much, but the one at GE is not to that level.