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

[RobWDW1971]

My guess is GE's is not seen as a failure at all. Probably grades adequate considering it is somewhat barebones of what it can and likely will be in the future. ROtR has to open before we really can tell.

I'm betting 25% of guests at DL yesterday think GE is a new planet on Star Tours. Just wait until they stumble onto the actual land.

Then that would mean the millions of dollars spent on marketing and massive PR launch by the entire Disney synergy machine have been a complete failure.

The hundreds of millions of dollars spent on SWGE are for three attractions: The immersive land of Batuu, MFSR, and ROTR. If it was just about ROTR they could have just built it behind Star Tours with a simple entrance like DL did with Indy and saved hundreds of millions.

The first two parts of the huge expansion are completely open and have been met with an overwhelming tepid response that has generated no FOMO or buzz. People know what it is, have read about it on social media, there are no restrictions or caps on tickets, and the crowds are simply not beating down the door to see it.

The return on this enormous investment will take decades to determine if it was a profitable investment, but the opening on both coasts has so far been a huge disappointment/failure/bust - pick your label.

 

[monothingie]

3PM

Falcon 45
Space 60
FOP 105
7DMT 80
Haunted Mansion 45
Jungle Cruise 65

Hagrids 120.

Crowds are there. Just not at SWGE.

 

[Notes from Neverland]

3PM

Falcon 45
Space 60
FOP 105
7DMT 80
Haunted Mansion 45
Jungle Cruise 65

Hagrids 120.

Crowds are there. Just not at SWGE.

Add FastPass+ to Falcon and the numbers are more comparable.

 

[The_Jobu]

Just a comment about HHN, which used to be my favorite event to go to. The crowds have gotten to be too much. The scares are spoiled due to attendants rushing people through, and you can see what's waiting up ahead. Totally ruined the experience for me. So...not sure what impact this will have on future attendance there. Just saying.

That is really unfortunate. Reminds me of why I stopped going to sci-fi/comics conventions. Used to be a nice sized crowd of like minded individuals paying a fair price. Lots of interaction with the guests. Then as they became more popular and the prices kept going up, they just keep cramming people in there without a care. You cant move, you cant see anything, everything has a line up and you spent all your money on tickets.

 

[Stripes]

There is no way to actually live your Star Wars adventure at GE (unless you count the text based app which does quite literally nothing...)

It actually does some pretty cool stuff!

 

[bclane]

3PM

Falcon 45
Space 60
FOP 105
7DMT 80
Haunted Mansion 45
Jungle Cruise 65

Hagrids 120.

Crowds are there. Just not at SWGE.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying but wait times across all the parks for almost all rides are pretty low compared to a normal day. There are a few exceptions. But even Everest, Safari, and ToT are all 25 min right now. Test Track is 40. The crowds aren’t really there.

 

[jt04]

Then that would mean the millions of dollars spent on marketing and massive PR launch by the entire Disney synergy machine have been a complete failure.

The return on this enormous investment will take decades to determine if it was a profitable investment, but the opening on both coasts has so far been a huge disappointment/failure/bust - pick your label.

So some say. Wouldn't be the first time hoped for results blinded the doomsayers to the truth. A lot of people, myself included, are waiting until RotR opens. This is clearly a phased opening and those paying attention know this. That 25% of Cali guests are not up to speed on what GE is, does not reflect on the marketing. It's that 25% of Cali guests reside in a different universe.

 

[mikejs78]

3PM

Falcon 45
Space 60
FOP 105
7DMT 80
Haunted Mansion 45
Jungle Cruise 65

Hagrids 120.

Crowds are there. Just not at SWGE.

3:30 PM

Falcon 50
Space 110
FOP 105
7DMT 65
Haunted Mansion 40
Jungle Cruise 45

Wait times fluctuate. I don't think the crowds are there. Posting singluar snapshots of wait times don't prove anything.

 

[mikejs78]

3:30 PM

Falcon 50
Space 110
FOP 105
7DMT 65
Haunted Mansion 40
Jungle Cruise 45

Wait times fluctuate. I don't think the crowds are there. Posting singluar snapshots of wait times don't prove anything.

I wonder how much the single rider aspect factors into MF... It currently has a 33 min wait time, as well as the 45 min regular atandby line....

 

[danlb_2000]

My guess is GE's is not seen as a failure at all. Probably grades adequate considering it is somewhat barebones of what it can and likely will be in the future. ROtR has to open before we really can tell.

I'm betting 25% of guests at DL yesterday think GE is a new planet on Star Tours. Just wait until they stumble onto the actual land.

It might not be seen as a failure, but when a billion+ dollar land doesn't meet expectations in it's first few months of operation it has to be making people in Disney management nervous.

 

[RobWDW1971]

.

It might not be seen as a failure, but when a billion+ dollar land doesn't meet expectations in it's first few months of operation it has to be making people in Disney management nervous.

They are beyond nervous - people on this board act like they just opened Aladdin's Flying Carpets. This reportedly $1B project was meant to be a step-function game changer on both coasts that would allow premium pricing across all resorts, higher occupancy/room rates, and change vacation patterns. The incremental spend you need to generate a reasonable ROI on this type of investment is huge, so just achieving anything remotely close to prior years' attendance and spending patterns is a complete disaster. When people say "it's September, it was like this last year" or "the wait times are similar to prior years" they are missing the entire point of this investment.

 

[Mickeyboof]

It actually does some pretty cool stuff!

What part of that was cool...?

 

[RobWDW1971]

What part of that was cool...?

I don't know about you, but I was blown away and felt like I was living the Star Wars adventures I always dreamed of as a child. They should have led with this at the first SWGE launch press event.

In 2019, WDI builds a billion dollars Star Wars land and gives us static droids that (ONLY when you use an app on your smartphone) do less than....

And people are excited about it...talk about low expectations...

 

[lentesta]

@lentesta any insight or commentary?

It's too early to talk about MFSR in WDW. I'd like to see a couple more months of unblocked access in DLR too.

 

[Stripes]

80% Fastpass, 20% standby. No joke. This is the standard and any huge draw attraction is doing this ratio most of the day.

If my experience waiting recently in standby for Radiator Springs Racers is indicative, I'd say this is spot on.

 

[TeriofTerror]

I am hoping these light crowds hold on for a few more weeks until my trip.

Ditto!

 

[Tom Morrow]

If my experience waiting recently in standby for Radiator Springs Racers is indicative, I'd say this is spot on.

It's literally the standard ratio they hammer into every attractions CM. So the biggest draw attractions will be doing this ratio at all times, except at the end of the night, especially once the attraction entrance is closed. This is why I have waited through the entire FoP queue after park close in about 45 minutes, when it would be posted at two hours with Fastpass being used during the day. It's why a full queue at 7DMT and Frozen is only 25 minutes after park close as well.

Smuggler's Run has a short wait time because it is not using Fastpass. I promise everyone this.

Hagrid's has 120 minutes posted because they are still not operating at full capacity and they're adding on 45 minutes minimum to whatever it actually is to account for it's frequent long downtimes.

In other words, everyone pay attention - You CANNOT use the Smuggler's Run wait time as any indication of how popular or busy the land is.

 

[jt04]

It might not be seen as a failure, but when a billion+ dollar land doesn't meet expectations in it's first few months of operation it has to be making people in Disney management nervous.

Possibly. None of us knows for sure the exact reasons they decided to open a partially completed land.

My guess is they are doing this deliberately while studying guest interactions with the land. Then they will add new offerings to meet expectations and build on that slowly over a year or two.

As an example, they could decide to open a new droid depot. Or a new sit down restaurant. They might decide to open a new light saber built shop where you can customize a legacy saber. Maybe new characters will be added as they emerge from the Mandolrian series or SW9. Could even be new droids.

Point is, this is a slow build up with plenty of space to add content. By continually adding new content they will encourage people to revisit.

It amazes me that people still think TWDC is clueless.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The Harry Potter lands at Universal are meant to be 'real' places and they have background music. There needs to be a balance between reality and creating a good theme park environment.

I heard a story of Disney talking with George Lucas on the updated Star Tours and they suggested some continuity issues that would be generated by the branching storylines. George basically said, "who cares, it's fun". I'm sure he deals with those types of questions more than anyone in history and recognizes that if you try to appease 2% of the fanbase you potentially hurt the other 98%.

There needs to be a willingness to bend, and I think that may have to be the evolution of Galaxy's Edge. Different missions for Smugglers Run, different characters walking around the land, perhaps a 3rd ride that takes place in a different timeline. I'd argue that all of that has to be on the table.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that nobody's saying that SWGE outright sucks. It's a big, beautiful land with a theme that's near and dear to (I wager) most of us here. I know I'm in that crowd. Does it mean we can't criticize? No - of course not. This is a discussion forum, and if not here - where? We all have these images in our heads of what Star Wars means to us, what SWGE should be and the reality that's somewhere in between. I think we can all agree that Disney did drop the ball to varying degrees; by their own admission, even. It's a touchy subject... What did y'all expect, I mean, seriously?

When the fervent Toy Story fans show up, I bet there will be hell to pay - you watch!

The land doesn't suck, but it does have a single D-ticket (some would argue E) that isn't enough to anchor a 14 acre land. It's simply not complete right now. Add in the other cuts and it's somewhat logical to see why the crowds aren't showing up.

The other component here is that the appeal to IP based additions is that they're easy to market in year 1. Here's hoping that this results in Disney rethinking that "logic".