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

[matt9112]

I’ve been in all of the positions and engineer was my least favorite. With a good crew, I still had fun though (even as an engineer) and I think that ends up being more important to me personally. When people are really into it and having fun it’s hard for me not to enjoy myself too. YMMV. Pilot is the best imo but gunner was fun too since I could watch the screen the whole time and just shoot when the targets were on the screen. It beats FoP for me but only because of nostalgia. If that is taken out of the equation, FoP is the better simulator imo.

Try manually aiming. Calling it the gunner position vs random button pusher sounds better eh? X box feels more realistic. I loved the que and oh cool im on the falcon but man the ride fell flat.

Overall GE looks very pretty but the lack of music bothered me. Even the small mount of entry music is too quiet. What the heck is with all these cast members standing around doing almost nothing. On other planets people just stand around akwardly? The land is boring unless your spending more money. Theres tons of eye candy and the storm troopers are a nice touch as is the overall design of the land. The multi level approach really feels nice and is refreshing. I also enjoyed docking bay 7 but i guess i was one of last to get to use special silverware. I think its hilarious how some things imagineering did clash with ops. Literally cast members waving there arms to keep the automated sliding doors open. The que of smugglers run was also very well done the engine room is really well done but boy is that alot of effects to stop working in three months. The wrap around windowed hallway is also a nice touch and hondo looks great. Sadly this amazing que experience leads to a lackluster simulator SCREEN based ride that is no more intense than fast and furious (shots fired) sure the cockpit looks great and being the pilots can be fun but the other four seats are pretty useless. Im really torn and sadly for how hyped the whole place is i find it underwelming. Upcharge events shouldn't be mandatory to enjoy experiences and waiting in line for an overpriced bar is rediculous however clearly theres die hard fans. On this board i see over and over how happy people are with there 200 dollar light saber and how flying the falcon is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Maybe soon attendance will agree with you. As an aside the raw amount of grown men acting like there 5 to see this or touch that was astounding.

 

[UNCgolf]

Avengers to Age of Ultron lost 150M domestically and even more internationally. Yet the franchise was fine. It happens. TLJ still did extremely well.

Age of Ultron wasn't especially good, though. I'm not making any argument with regards to the future of Star Wars here, just pointing out that Age of Ultron isn't the best example since it's a sequel that's generally considered a much worse movie than the original.

 

[mikejs78]

I'm saying the motivation of the IP based attraction is familiarity, so why not use the version of the IP that people are more familiar with? Instead they based creative decisions on The Last Jedi and Solo which are amongst the more divisive Star Wars stories. Don't get me wrong, it is not the only issue with the land, but it is an issue with the land.

Had they done the multitude of other things I'll list below, the choice of Sequel Trilogy vs Original Trilogy would become far less critical, but when something has faults, we hit on all of them. Some items that are more important are as follows:

• Inability to open both attractions at once
• Not opening the full Cantina/Table Service
• Removing equity actors from entertainment positions
• Cutting entertainment in general (walk around characters, droids, drones)
• Cutting the not-a-bantha attraction

I think it's wrong to assume that the OT vs ST familiarity is real. I've said it before, it's very generational. Millenials I work with care more about Anakin, Obi Wan, and Padme than they do Luke, Leia, and Han. My son and his classmates care more about Rey, Finn, and Poe, along with the characters from Clone Wars and Rebels. I think you're looking at things from a Boomer/GenX lense in this regard..

Regarding your other points, I agree those are all things wrong with the land, other than the last not-a-Bantha attraction. That was unnecessary in my view and I'd rather that the land open with two good attractions and come up with something better for expansion.

Age of Ultron wasn't especially good, though. I'm not making any argument with regards to the future of Star Wars here, just pointing out that Age of Ultron isn't the best example since it's a sequel that's generally considered a much worse movie than the original.

But it still shows that a drop doesn't mean doom and gloom for the franchise. I think predictions for the franchise based on TLJ's box office are hardly definitive. It still made over a billion dollars. We will see what happens with Rise of Skywalker, that will paint a better picture of the current state of Star Wars.

 

[Joesixtoe]

I think it's wrong to assume that the OT vs ST familiarity is real. I've said it before, it's very generational. Millenials I work with care more about Anakin, Obi Wan, and Padme than they do Luke, Leia, and Han. My son and his classmates care more about Rey, Finn, and Poe, along with the characters from Clone Wars and Rebels. I think you're looking at things from a Boomer/GenX lense in this regard..

Regarding your other points, I agree those are all things wrong with the land, other than the last not-a-Bantha attraction. That was unnecessary in my view and I'd rather that the land open with two good attractions and come up with something better for expansion.


But it still shows that a drop doesn't mean doom and gloom for the franchise. I think predictions for the franchise based on TLJ's box office are hardly definitive. It still made over a billion dollars. We will see what happens with Rise of Skywalker, that will paint a better picture of the current state of Star Wars.

TLJ didn't warrant repeated viewings. If it was good, people would have kept going back like they did with TFA. Dude it was a depressing movie that carried over into Solo. Thus why people aren't as excited about 9 as they were for 8.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

But it still shows that a drop doesn't mean doom and gloom for the franchise. I think predictions for the franchise based on TLJ's box office are hardly definitive. It still made over a billion dollars. We will see what happens with Rise of Skywalker, that will paint a better picture of the current state of Star Wars.

I would agree, but I guess I would boil my entire sentiment on this subject down to this: Disney has mishandled the Star Wars franchise as a whole. There shouldn't be this much negativity towards so much of what they are doing. Clearly something is wrong, how severe it is, very hard to say.

I will restate what I had mentioned earlier. I hope that SWGE does well. I want to see more "immersive" lands as they are some of my favorite types of places to visit. I love Harry Potter over at Universal, I love Pandora, and I'm sure I'll end up really enjoying SWGE. I also hope the hotel does well because 2-3 day super immersive experiences like that would be very neat for other IP's.

I also think it needs to be re-mentioned that as many others have stated it seems like a lot of the problems people have with the land could be somewhat easily fixed. What the CM's say to guests, which characters are roaming around, adding a light saber dueling show or something, all of that doesn't require them to bulldoze and start over and that has me excited for what may come to this land over the next few years.

 

[mikejs78]

TLJ didn't warrant repeated viewings. If it was good, people would have kept going back like they did with TFA. Dude it was a depressing movie that carried over into Solo. Thus why people aren't as excited about 9 as they were for 8.

And your source for all this? TFA did extremely well because of pent-up demand and the fact that it was an event film. If you look at it out of context, Empire is also a depressing movie.

Engagement is extremely high for Ep 9, I'm not sure where you're getting your data.

I would agree, but I guess I would boil my entire sentiment on this subject down to this: Disney has mishandled the Star Wars franchise as a whole. There shouldn't be this much negativity towards so much of what they are doing. Clearly something is wrong, how severe it is, very hard to say.

I will restate what I had mentioned earlier. I hope that SWGE does well. I want to see more "immersive" lands as they are some of my favorite types of places to visit. I love Harry Potter over at Universal, I love Pandora, and I'm sure I'll end up really enjoying SWGE. I also hope the hotel does well because 2-3 day super immersive experiences like that would be very neat for other IP's.

I also think it needs to be re-mentioned that as many others have stated it seems like a lot of the problems people have with the land could be somewhat easily fixed. What the CM's say to guests, which characters are roaming around, adding a light saber dueling show or something, all of that doesn't require them to bulldoze and start over and that has me excited for what may come to this land over the next few years.

I agree with you on the things needed to fix the land. As far as the negativity, online Star Wars fans in particular have a history of being extremely negative. The negativity for the Special Editions, for the prequels, etc., anythinfg that isn't the original trilogy as produced from 1977-1983 have had this kind of negativity online. This is a self-perpetuating small minority of people, not representative of normal movie goers who by and large, liked the movie in every statistically-measurable way.

 

[lentesta]

As of today, MFSR was hitting ~1,690/hour this afternoon.

Early morning (before noon) they were at ~1,310/hour. That may reflect fewer people in that part of the park, early in the day.

We'll keep counting this for a while.

Last week's measurements over three days showed 1,660 to 1,690/hour consistently.

 

[UNCgolf]

But it still shows that a drop doesn't mean doom and gloom for the franchise. I think predictions for the franchise based on TLJ's box office are hardly definitive. It still made over a billion dollars. We will see what happens with Rise of Skywalker, that will paint a better picture of the current state of Star Wars.

Right. But the movies that followed it were also better.

I agree, though, that we don't know anything at the moment. TLJ had a drop, and Solo had a significant drop -- but I don't think Solo's success (or lack thereof) necessarily tells us anything about Star Wars as a whole; it could easily just be a movie that most people didn't want to begin with. I expect Rise of Skywalker to be a big success regardless of its quality.

 

[marni1971]

No, it's because Disney got greedy and thought that they could raise prices by double digits over the course of several years, open half a land earlier than planned, and not do any advertising of the land to the general population.

On the contrary, I’ve never seen anything new in Orlando flogged to death so much on TV in the UK than SWL has been.

 

[mikejs78]

Right. But the movies that followed it were also better.

I agree, though, that we don't know anything at the moment. TLJ had a drop, and Solo had a significant drop -- but I don't think Solo's success (or lack thereof) necessarily tells us anything about Star Wars as a whole; it could easily just be a movie that most people didn't want to begin with. I expect Rise of Skywalker to be a big success regardless of its quality.

We have to remember that the MCU is filled with films that are huge (Endgame, Infinity War, Black Panther, Captain Marvel) and lesser films that fill in the gaps but are still considered "successes". Both Ant Man films, Doctor Strange). Solo was in that latter category for Star Wars - it's just that everyone thinks (including Disney) that all Star Wars films need to be of the blockbuster category. If not for the reshoots, Solo would have been a profitable film.

For SW to be successful long term, it needs to embrace smaller films that don't make a lot but build the universe, and have the big blockbusters come out every couple of years.

 

[mikejs78]

On the contrary, I’ve never seen anything new in Orlando flogged to death so much on TV in the UK than SWL has been.

I have not seen anything here in the Boston area. Not one ad.

 

[Stripes]

On the contrary, I’ve never seen anything new in Orlando flogged to death so much on TV in the UK than SWL has been.

There’s definitely been some ads in the Seattle area. I’ve probably seen more ads for Hagrid’s though. It doesn’t help that the ad is cringeworthy, with the “I’ve waited my whole life for this” girl.

 

[marni1971]

I have not seen anything here in the Boston area. Not one ad.

To be honest, I’ve not seen an area specific ad on UK TV since DLPs Space Mountain opened in 1995. And certainly not anything in Orlando.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

We were at a party for my hubs boss two weekends ago, and his boss' kids were there. We all started to talk about Star Wars.

Do they know of Star Wars? Yes.

Have they ever heard of Galaxy's Edge? No.

That was shocking.

 

[SplashJacket]

I doesn’t help that the ad is cringeworthy, with the “I’ve waited my whole life for this” girl.

This x 1000

I have seen more of Hagrid's advertising than Star Wars. The Hagrids advertisements look really cool.

The target audience for Star Wars land is not 5 years olds, or at least it should not be, and yet their ads seem to be catering towards them.

Disney's PR and Advertising teams are absolutely pitiful.

I know a girl who is absolutely obsessed with Disney and goes several times a year despite a roughly 8-hour drive to the parks. Despite this, when questioned about Disney, she downplays her love for it. Undoubtedly, she is trying to be cool... But the takeaway to be had is Disney is not a cool brand.

As for me, I will gladly saw I enjoy Disney, I really do not care what people think, but to other people, Disney can have an overly kid-oriented image which ultimately hurts their brand.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

There’s definitely been some ads in the Seattle area. I’ve probably seen more ads for Hagrid’s though. I doesn’t help that the ad is cringeworthy, with the “I’ve waited my whole life for this” girl.

Question, where are the boys in the commercial?

 

[Stripes]

Question, where are the boys in the commercial?

There‘s the dad, presumably. No boys in the ads that I’ve seen outside of the out-of-focus background.

I suppose Disney thinks they need to cater to the girls because the boys will eat it up anyway? I don’t know if that strategy will work out for them, but I imagine that’s what they’re thinking.

 

[RobWDW1971]

I agree. I think the answer is as simple as "there isn't half as many Star Wars mega fans in the theme park market as Disney thought there was and building a land based on a planet they've never heard of isn't going to get the other half into the gate." Yes, Dorian played a role in the low crowds. But even if Dorian wasn't a factor, the land would still be underperforming.

Like it is at Disneyland with beautiful sunny skies and 75 degrees.

 

[Stripes]

Disney's PR and Advertising teams are absolutely pitiful.

They make some really great ads sometimes. But Galaxy’s Edge marketing has been terrible.

 

[HiJe]

I've seen a ton of ads for SWGE in the Chicago area.