BubbaQuest
Well-Known Member
I thought it was impossible to get to the theme parks in Orlando because of hurricanes and 6 months of pre-planning and schools and stuff.
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News Star Wars Galaxy's Edge opening day reports - Disney's Hollywood Studios
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- Start date
SplashJacket
Well-Known Member
I'd assume fewer people are AP holders as so much of the year was blocked out giving it less value. Not everyone would buy a pass immediately once the blackouts are lifted.
It will take time for the resort to recover, especially considering the price hikes.
mikejs78
Premium Member
True, although to be fair that's 2.65b adjusted for inflation....
mikejs78
Premium Member
That's actually not a lot of people from a theme park stsndpoint.. You can get a picture like that every day at rope drop at every Disney park.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Could be. And it's also way too early to celebrate Halloween, in my opinion. Like singing Christmas Carols on November 10th.
But the crowds are bumping up at Disneyland tonight quite noticeably, regardless. They just aren't flooding into Star Wars Land to ride the Falcon and buy Blue Milk. They are flooding into DCA to see the new decorations and ride Monsters After Dark!, or heading into New Orleans Square to wait in growing lines for the first day of Haunted Mansion Holiday. Disneyland is open until Midnight, DCA is open until 10pm.
Now at 6:45pm Pacific, the wait times have bumped up further for everything but the Falcon;
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 90 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 105 Minutes
Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween - 30 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 25 Minutes
At 9:45pm Eastern, with DHS open until 10pm, the Falcon at DHS remains at a 35 minute wait.
SplashJacket
Well-Known Member
Actually, it cost around $3.7 billion adjusted for inflation.
Tokyo DisneySea cost $4.5 billion opening day, adjusted for inflation.
Fantasy Springs expansion in Tokyo DisneySea is slated to cost $2.3 billion. Pretty sure it includes the hotel and parking garage which are coming with it. For reference, Aulani cost $800 million to build. The FS resort should cost much less.
Quality costs money.
DCA cost $870 million adjusted for inflation opening day in 2001. (Same year as DisneySea)
Garbage costs money too, just less.
BubbaQuest
Well-Known Member
Could be. And it's also way too early to celebrate Halloween, in my opinion. Like singing Christmas Carols on November 10th.
But the crowds are bumping up at Disneyland tonight quite noticeably, regardless. They just aren't flooding into Star Wars Land to ride the Falcon and buy Blue Milk. They are flooding into DCA to see the new decorations and ride Monsters After Dark!, or heading into New Orleans Square to wait in growing lines for the first day of Haunted Mansion Holiday. Disneyland is open until Midnight, DCA is open until 10pm.
Now at 6:45pm Pacific, the wait times have bumped up further for everything but the Falcon;
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 90 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 105 Minutes
Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween - 30 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 25 Minutes
At 9:45pm Eastern, with DHS open until 10pm, the Falcon at DHS remains at a 35 minute wait.
This is frightening to me. The one thing I wanted SWGE to do is to disperse the crowds. It looks like the AP swarm is still a thing.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
When you look at the Disneyland App tonight, the first day of HalloweenTime and a warm and beautiful Friday evening in SoCal, the crowds are arriving en masse and E Ticket wait times are swelling to 60 minutes or higher. But the crowds are focusing on the seasonal Halloween rides and Falcon is just sort of sitting there at the back of the park stuck around 30 minutes after 7:00pm Pacific.
DHS has closed now as its after 10pm Eastern, but the Falcon at WDW seems to have closed with a 35 minute wait time.
I just find this very interesting! This can't be how this was supposed to work in 2019.
BoarderPhreak
Well-Known Member
Like I said... When it was built. Not adjusted.
mikejs78
Premium Member
That doesn't....make a lot of sense for comparisons sake.
Movielover
Well-Known Member
But they’re selling all those $200 light sabers and $9 blue milk...
Steph15251
Well-Known Member
Also HHN nearly always gets crowds ,not surprised
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
That's never been my experience and with APs for most of the last 25 years, I've had a lot of experiences... Crowded at opening? Yes but I know exactly how big that space is at Universal and it's never like that on a normal morning at any of the WDW parks (or a normal morning at Universal, for that matter)
Steph15251
Well-Known Member
Well that is for HHN so it is not surprising
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Before I post this info as the Disneyland fireworks light up my den windows here on a hill 7 miles east of Disneyland...
I should admit that all this talk of Star Wars trilogies and which generation likes which trilogy makes my eyes glaze over.
I only know of Star Wars in general, and am not knowledgeable enough to tell you which trilogy is which. I just know that I saw Star Wars in '77 at the Cinerama theater in downtown Seattle, and saw the "new" Star Wars at the Cinepolis theater in Dana Point in '15. I don't know much else about Star Wars fandom other than that, as I imagine most Americans do.
That said, at 9:45pm Pacific time on Friday evening something definitely is going on. The local AP's showed up tonight and went straight to Anaheim's big HalloweenTime E Tickets that opened for the season today. Here are the wait times right now as the fireworks continue...
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 55 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 55 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 20 Minutes
That can't be a concept exclusive to Southern California. For whatever reason, the paying customers of Disney theme parks in general aren't dying to get on the Millennium Falcon without question. I would love to hear what everyone's thesis is on why this is happening.
My hunch? It's a combination of several factors; focusing on the wrong Star Wars characters, Mr. Chapek cutting out all the entertainment and interactive stuff that would have made Star Wars Land unique, not opening with the WOW! E Ticket that the Resistance ride promises to be, having the Falcon ride being slightly underwhelming from a rider experience, and then throw in a messy marketing message for both coasts and a big hurricane scare for opening weekend in Orlando.
I don't know what the answer is, but from what we saw this week at DHS and what we saw tonight at Disneyland for the opening of HalloweenTime, something is definitely going on.
I should admit that all this talk of Star Wars trilogies and which generation likes which trilogy makes my eyes glaze over.
I only know of Star Wars in general, and am not knowledgeable enough to tell you which trilogy is which. I just know that I saw Star Wars in '77 at the Cinerama theater in downtown Seattle, and saw the "new" Star Wars at the Cinepolis theater in Dana Point in '15. I don't know much else about Star Wars fandom other than that, as I imagine most Americans do.
That said, at 9:45pm Pacific time on Friday evening something definitely is going on. The local AP's showed up tonight and went straight to Anaheim's big HalloweenTime E Tickets that opened for the season today. Here are the wait times right now as the fireworks continue...
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 55 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 55 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 20 Minutes
That can't be a concept exclusive to Southern California. For whatever reason, the paying customers of Disney theme parks in general aren't dying to get on the Millennium Falcon without question. I would love to hear what everyone's thesis is on why this is happening.
My hunch? It's a combination of several factors; focusing on the wrong Star Wars characters, Mr. Chapek cutting out all the entertainment and interactive stuff that would have made Star Wars Land unique, not opening with the WOW! E Ticket that the Resistance ride promises to be, having the Falcon ride being slightly underwhelming from a rider experience, and then throw in a messy marketing message for both coasts and a big hurricane scare for opening weekend in Orlando.
I don't know what the answer is, but from what we saw this week at DHS and what we saw tonight at Disneyland for the opening of HalloweenTime, something is definitely going on.
SplashJacket
Well-Known Member
Back in my day, I made a living on 25 cents a day! Now you Millenials get $7.25 an HOUR and complain! How ridiculous!
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
No argument here. Just disputing the claim that all Disney parks look like that every day at rope drop 'cause they don't.
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MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Been reading the back-and-forth about how it's great and not so great all week.
As anyone who reads my posts knows, I'm fairly critical of modern Disney management. That's my only warning before the following:
I snuck out of work and headed up to WDW for a late afternoon with my son. Not exactly a local as it's a bit under a two hour drive but we got there shortly after 6pm. Smuggler's Run had a 45 minute wait. We went straight back to that part of the park and looked around briefly, took a few pictures, and got in line.
Of note is that the fancy AA was in Disco Yeti mode this evening and when I asked if it had been down all day I was told that he had been on a scouting mission all day.
I then asked if they expected him to be back tomorrow and the response was, they were expecting him back but given his busy, unpredictable schedule, it was impossible to say.
I find this troubling that just one week and one day after opening, they're having issues here on a copy of an animatronic they've already had up and running for a couple of months on the west coast.
I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big Star Wars fan. I've seen all the movies in theaters (the first three during re-releases since I wasn't born for one and then way too young for the other two) but I've read and watched none of the other stuff. I have friends that are 501st which have gotten me into a SW Celebration with media passes so I've had some exposure to the people who really are fans which is how I know I'm definitely not.
That said:
I was impressed by the land. As someone who has no emotional attachment to any of the established locations, it didn't bother me that this wasn't one from one of the movies (yet) but it's worth noting that my seven year old son recognized it as the place Star Tours has been landing for a while now at the end of that ride.
Side note - they really need to find a way to integrate that ride. If they could work out a way to get you into the land from the other side it could become a two-way travel attraction similar to the Train at Universal and they'd get a TON of future mileage off this classic attraction. (two experiences for the price of one existing attraction which would justify it's existence outside of the land one one side)
The area after the tunnel offered an impressive view of the rock work and settlement in the distance but felt completely lifeless. I suspect this will change some when Rise opens since the entrance is right around this area. Still, I feel like they could have something more other than trees, a few static photo ops, and a drink cart.
Live entertainment of some sort could fix that problem if it remains once Rise opens but of course, TDO isn't known for shelling out for that.
Also, having Storm Troopers at the entrance for the Rise ride where there is a gunner tower would have been a nice touch and made it look like something that fit in the here-and-now rather than just having regular cast members there to explain that's not the ride entrance you're looking for* and making it obvious you are walking past a closed experience.
The sense of scale was amazing. We all know how forced perspective works or doesn't (looking at you, Beast's Castle) but here it really does. The fact that everything at ground level really is huge to begin with and that one side of the whole land is basically a massive wall of hidden show buildings probably helps with this but the mountains all look genuinely huge (especially at night) and the settlement area around where the Falcon's parked is great in terms of atmosphere.
Speaking of the Falcon, they make really great use of that as a set piece both in the land with multiple viewing levels and photo op areas (one that is a nice Hollywood-sign-in-the-distance viewing kind of area) and waiting in line giving you many chances to view it from all angles. This part was very well done.
I've seen mention here about a few roaming characters but in our two hours or so of total time in the area, I can say we never saw anything but other guests and regular cast members. No Troopers or anything. It did feel really odd as others have mentioned to be in this settlement and basically see nothing of anyone that actually looks like they belong there.
Cast members outfits all look too nice and new to blend with the decaying environment.
There were definitely some nice touches. My son really liked the droid turning the rotisserie meats by the realistic jet rocket that was being used to "cook" them. There were a few things like this hidden away in areas to be found but it really feels like there should have been more of this.
Permanently parked droids in the market place or around the open areas with some blinking lights and very basic movement seem like they would have been an easy addition. A water feature that involved some kind of aqueduct (think waterside Morocco before the restaurant ate most of that) setup with droids or pipes squirting water like the dancing fountains at Imagination would have been another easy way to add some more energy to a part of this area - maybe that would even have worked well in the dead entrance space towards the front of the land.
Smugglers Run is definitely an E-Ticket. Those saying it isn't need to seriously re-calibrate their expectations.
It's a Small World is an E-ticket for cripes sake! This definitely qualifies.
The ride is not blow-your-mind amazing but from the point where you go down the runway to load which feels like an actual rickety runway when walking (had the AA been working, I might have said from there) to the waiting area "inside" the falcon to how you get in and what you do, it's everything that qualifies most attractions Disney offers as E-tickets. The fact that they managed to find a way to create an experience like this that could feel intimate with a group as small as six and do it on a scale large enough to work in a Disney park is amazing.
My son was even impressed when we left that we were actually "in a different place" since the entrance/exit didn't lead back to where we started.
That said, the show of "damage" that had been hyped which appeared to be just some flashing strobes to somehow loosely resemble sparks wasn't all that impressive to me.
We rode twice. The first time, we had non-English speakers as the two pilots which was frustrating because they sat back and did nothing. (what a waste) We got the most basic score because of this and someone in that pod was deprived the opportunity of jumping us to light speed because of them taking up those seats.
At night, we noticed that some of the ships had "exhaust" coming out of them which was a nice subtle touch we didn't notice during the day but overall, the fact that most of these things all seem pretty static like "set pieces" with cast members standing by to make sure you don't try going over the very in-your-face obvious barricades and barriers was a bit of a letdown. Maybe some basic droid activity puttering around appearing to do maintenance? That would at lest justify them being walled off.
Pandora not having "locals" doesn't seem so out of place. It's like a giant nature preserve but here, in a place so obviously established by intelligent life and being in the Star Wars universe, it's odd that all of that life appears to be plain old vanilla human.
The sparseness of droids is puzzling since they aren't union and by the nature of the IP could have been very basic by AA standards. Given what I'm sure they paid for the rock-work, I find it hard to believe some really simple stuff like that with minimal articulation to survive the outdoor enviorment would have broken the bank.
Overall it was fun. I get a lot of the criticisms of the land, though. I don't know that I necessarily feel that the passion expressed with some of that criticism is warranted but I get the meat of the actual complaints.
Again, I'm also not a big Star Wars fan so I had no hopes and dreams to be crushed.
Given what they've already done, the things I felt were off are largely things that can be fixed with not a ton of effort.
The question is, will they be fixed?
Management may not feel the need to once regular park crowds start to occupy the space which they eventually will, regardless of if Disney improves anything further or not.
Again, some of this may change with the main ride coming online. That dead area may end up with too many people in it to handle much and may therefore not seem so dead when that happens but only time will tell.
It's odd that there weren't more crowds. If DL had been hit hard, I'd understand with most of the fans having hit up the one that opened first but given the size of the fandom and the population within driving distance, I really would have expected it to be busier despite the hurricane scare earlier in the week - more people like us there.
*see what I did there?!
As anyone who reads my posts knows, I'm fairly critical of modern Disney management. That's my only warning before the following:
I snuck out of work and headed up to WDW for a late afternoon with my son. Not exactly a local as it's a bit under a two hour drive but we got there shortly after 6pm. Smuggler's Run had a 45 minute wait. We went straight back to that part of the park and looked around briefly, took a few pictures, and got in line.
Of note is that the fancy AA was in Disco Yeti mode this evening and when I asked if it had been down all day I was told that he had been on a scouting mission all day.
I then asked if they expected him to be back tomorrow and the response was, they were expecting him back but given his busy, unpredictable schedule, it was impossible to say.
I find this troubling that just one week and one day after opening, they're having issues here on a copy of an animatronic they've already had up and running for a couple of months on the west coast.
I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big Star Wars fan. I've seen all the movies in theaters (the first three during re-releases since I wasn't born for one and then way too young for the other two) but I've read and watched none of the other stuff. I have friends that are 501st which have gotten me into a SW Celebration with media passes so I've had some exposure to the people who really are fans which is how I know I'm definitely not.
That said:
I was impressed by the land. As someone who has no emotional attachment to any of the established locations, it didn't bother me that this wasn't one from one of the movies (yet) but it's worth noting that my seven year old son recognized it as the place Star Tours has been landing for a while now at the end of that ride.
Side note - they really need to find a way to integrate that ride. If they could work out a way to get you into the land from the other side it could become a two-way travel attraction similar to the Train at Universal and they'd get a TON of future mileage off this classic attraction. (two experiences for the price of one existing attraction which would justify it's existence outside of the land one one side)
The area after the tunnel offered an impressive view of the rock work and settlement in the distance but felt completely lifeless. I suspect this will change some when Rise opens since the entrance is right around this area. Still, I feel like they could have something more other than trees, a few static photo ops, and a drink cart.
Live entertainment of some sort could fix that problem if it remains once Rise opens but of course, TDO isn't known for shelling out for that.
Also, having Storm Troopers at the entrance for the Rise ride where there is a gunner tower would have been a nice touch and made it look like something that fit in the here-and-now rather than just having regular cast members there to explain that's not the ride entrance you're looking for* and making it obvious you are walking past a closed experience.
The sense of scale was amazing. We all know how forced perspective works or doesn't (looking at you, Beast's Castle) but here it really does. The fact that everything at ground level really is huge to begin with and that one side of the whole land is basically a massive wall of hidden show buildings probably helps with this but the mountains all look genuinely huge (especially at night) and the settlement area around where the Falcon's parked is great in terms of atmosphere.
Speaking of the Falcon, they make really great use of that as a set piece both in the land with multiple viewing levels and photo op areas (one that is a nice Hollywood-sign-in-the-distance viewing kind of area) and waiting in line giving you many chances to view it from all angles. This part was very well done.
I've seen mention here about a few roaming characters but in our two hours or so of total time in the area, I can say we never saw anything but other guests and regular cast members. No Troopers or anything. It did feel really odd as others have mentioned to be in this settlement and basically see nothing of anyone that actually looks like they belong there.
Cast members outfits all look too nice and new to blend with the decaying environment.
There were definitely some nice touches. My son really liked the droid turning the rotisserie meats by the realistic jet rocket that was being used to "cook" them. There were a few things like this hidden away in areas to be found but it really feels like there should have been more of this.
Permanently parked droids in the market place or around the open areas with some blinking lights and very basic movement seem like they would have been an easy addition. A water feature that involved some kind of aqueduct (think waterside Morocco before the restaurant ate most of that) setup with droids or pipes squirting water like the dancing fountains at Imagination would have been another easy way to add some more energy to a part of this area - maybe that would even have worked well in the dead entrance space towards the front of the land.
Smugglers Run is definitely an E-Ticket. Those saying it isn't need to seriously re-calibrate their expectations.
It's a Small World is an E-ticket for cripes sake! This definitely qualifies.
The ride is not blow-your-mind amazing but from the point where you go down the runway to load which feels like an actual rickety runway when walking (had the AA been working, I might have said from there) to the waiting area "inside" the falcon to how you get in and what you do, it's everything that qualifies most attractions Disney offers as E-tickets. The fact that they managed to find a way to create an experience like this that could feel intimate with a group as small as six and do it on a scale large enough to work in a Disney park is amazing.
My son was even impressed when we left that we were actually "in a different place" since the entrance/exit didn't lead back to where we started.
That said, the show of "damage" that had been hyped which appeared to be just some flashing strobes to somehow loosely resemble sparks wasn't all that impressive to me.
We rode twice. The first time, we had non-English speakers as the two pilots which was frustrating because they sat back and did nothing. (what a waste) We got the most basic score because of this and someone in that pod was deprived the opportunity of jumping us to light speed because of them taking up those seats.
At night, we noticed that some of the ships had "exhaust" coming out of them which was a nice subtle touch we didn't notice during the day but overall, the fact that most of these things all seem pretty static like "set pieces" with cast members standing by to make sure you don't try going over the very in-your-face obvious barricades and barriers was a bit of a letdown. Maybe some basic droid activity puttering around appearing to do maintenance? That would at lest justify them being walled off.
Pandora not having "locals" doesn't seem so out of place. It's like a giant nature preserve but here, in a place so obviously established by intelligent life and being in the Star Wars universe, it's odd that all of that life appears to be plain old vanilla human.
The sparseness of droids is puzzling since they aren't union and by the nature of the IP could have been very basic by AA standards. Given what I'm sure they paid for the rock-work, I find it hard to believe some really simple stuff like that with minimal articulation to survive the outdoor enviorment would have broken the bank.
Overall it was fun. I get a lot of the criticisms of the land, though. I don't know that I necessarily feel that the passion expressed with some of that criticism is warranted but I get the meat of the actual complaints.
Again, I'm also not a big Star Wars fan so I had no hopes and dreams to be crushed.
Given what they've already done, the things I felt were off are largely things that can be fixed with not a ton of effort.
The question is, will they be fixed?
Management may not feel the need to once regular park crowds start to occupy the space which they eventually will, regardless of if Disney improves anything further or not.
Again, some of this may change with the main ride coming online. That dead area may end up with too many people in it to handle much and may therefore not seem so dead when that happens but only time will tell.
It's odd that there weren't more crowds. If DL had been hit hard, I'd understand with most of the fans having hit up the one that opened first but given the size of the fandom and the population within driving distance, I really would have expected it to be busier despite the hurricane scare earlier in the week - more people like us there.
*see what I did there?!
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TiggerDad
Well-Known Member
Sounds like all they need to do is slap a few pumpkins on top of the Falcon, if the crowds are there to see decorations. But I am not sure why we are having this discussion in the DHS thread.Could be. And it's also way too early to celebrate Halloween, in my opinion. Like singing Christmas Carols on November 10th.
But the crowds are bumping up at Disneyland tonight quite noticeably, regardless. They just aren't flooding into Star Wars Land to ride the Falcon and buy Blue Milk. They are flooding into DCA to see the new decorations and ride Monsters After Dark!, or heading into New Orleans Square to wait in growing lines for the first day of Haunted Mansion Holiday. Disneyland is open until Midnight, DCA is open until 10pm.
Now at 6:45pm Pacific, the wait times have bumped up further for everything but the Falcon;
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 90 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 105 Minutes
Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween - 30 Minutes
Millennium Falcon - 25 Minutes
At 9:45pm Eastern, with DHS open until 10pm, the Falcon at DHS remains at a 35 minute wait.