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

[DoleWhipDrea]

I was at Disneyland’s Batuu last Friday and went to Hollywood Studios in the late afternoon today.

I love them both. Do I wish I was rich so that I could have picked up a droid and lightsaber? Sure. Was my experience ruined because I was on a budget? No. Black Spire Outpost is beautiful, I got to pilot the Millennium Falcon with my husband (a childhood dream come true), I actively helped the Resistance by hacking things all over with my data pad, and I had some delicious food and beverage. I can’t wait for Rise of the Resistance to open. And I’m glad the new offerings are balancing out the parks more. Hollywood Studios desperately needs exciting attractions.

Finally, THANK YOU to all of the amazing cast members! You guys deserve many moons and stars!

 

[TP2000]

Isn’t it a little higher than that, due to the ADA pods? We were loaded into one (no wheelchair in our party), so I know they’re using them.

Don't think so. The 1600-ish number comes from a few Disneyland CM's on another website. An Imagineer backed up that number on the same website.

Unless some other CM and/or Imagineer can come forward and explain that the 1600-ish number is somehow incorrect and tell us what the number actually is, 1600-ish per hour seems to be accurate.

 

[Rteetz]

 

[TP2000]

Well, that's an interesting queue option they obviously didn't use today. Thank you!

 

[SpectroMan93]

Well, that's an interesting queue option they obviously didn't use today. Thank you!

You were saying?

 

[TP2000]

You were saying?

At 8am they needed it, but for how long? It's a simple little backstage area though, so it's probably not part of their long term plans. Just the opening day crowd management plan.

The regular Falcon queue appears to be using the same area they use at Disneyland once the line goes beyond 60 minutes or so; a "backstage" area framed in by Star Wars cargo containers in the blacktop parking lot once planned to be the supper club restaurant that Bob Chapek cut from the budget a few years ago. Immersive!

 

[Gezz]

Some random thoughts from today:

The land overall is really well done. I'm at best a casual fan of the IP, but it felt like Star Wars to me.
I thought there was plenty of background sounds and didn't feel like music was missing.

We waited about 2 hours for the ride, with probably about half the time being within the land, and not in any kind of queue structure. This required a lot of staff to try and manage and seemed a bit chaotic. I'm surprised there wasn't more queue line built, but I guess they are expecting fast pass to greatly reduce the number of people in the queue.
The queue itself was also kind of boring - Star Tours is much better! We haven't done many standby queues this trip, but I was expecting better.

The ride itself was fun, but I have a big issue with the poor overall 'show' that I experienced.
We were led into the room with Hondo before he had finished the previous spiel, and then had a while of him not really doing anything. We were then forced to leave while he was only halfway through, so didn't get a clear understanding of the ride setup.
Then when watching the preshow video before entering the cockpit we were forced to leave pretty soon after it had started. I asked to wait until the video finished, but it was made clear that I couldn't and that I had to move on into the cockpit.
This all led to none of us really knowing what was happening or what we were supposed to be doing. I can't imagine WDI designed the ride to be experienced in this manor.

I played around with the datapad game a bit, but again I don't think it was very clear what to do. I think I hacked some panels, but I was expecting more physical changes in response. And I have no idea what side I was working for!

I think the land really needs the second ride up and running. My daughter commented on how it was so much bigger than TSL but only had one ride!

 

[TP2000]

The ride itself was fun, but I have a big issue with the poor overall 'show' that I experienced.
We were led into the room with Hondo before he had finished the previous spiel, and then had a while of him not really doing anything. We were then forced to leave while he was only halfway through, so didn't get a clear understanding of the ride setup.
Then when watching the preshow video before entering the cockpit we were forced to leave pretty soon after it had started. I asked to wait until the video finished, but it was made clear that I couldn't and that I had to move on into the cockpit.
This all led to none of us really knowing what was happening or what we were supposed to be doing. I can't imagine WDI designed the ride to be experienced in this manor.

This similar experience, although not quite as severe, has been noted at the Disneyland version too.

It's a great example of how Theme Park Ops can screw up the best laid plans of Imagineers and their Billion dollar park expansion. But Bob Chapek thinks that all those Ops CM's that don't really know what they're doing have a "backstory" and so you don't need actual AGVA performers and professional actors to keep you entertained. Just don't expect to flow through the queue and pre-show like WDI intended you to, and you'll be fine.

Buy a droid! Buy a light saber! Try the charcuterie plate at the Cantina! Just open your wallet and keep moving, please!

 

[marni1971]

Don't think so. The 1600-ish number comes from a few Disneyland CM's on another website. An Imagineer backed up that number on the same website.

Unless some other CM and/or Imagineer can come forward and explain that the 1600-ish number is somehow incorrect and tell us what the number actually is, 1600-ish per hour seems to be accurate.

I’d heard an actual of around 1750. Rise should be slightly less.

 

[TP2000]

I’d heard 1700-ish so that would match. But don’t take it as gospel.

I think that's best case, every once in awhile. The CM's on the other board said that hour after hour after hour, during the average 16 hour operating day, 1600-ish an hour was the best they could hope for at the Falcon ride.

But once a turntable or two closes temporarily for technical reasons, the number drops instantly to 1200 or 800 per hour. And then the wait time gets bumped up instantly by 30 minutes or more.

And on July 18th Disneyland officially admitted that the hourly capacity of the Falcon ride during it's first 45 days of operation was 1,388 riders per hour. https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...es-1-388-riders-per-hour.956576/#post-8788025

The real story here is that 1600 to 1700 per hour as a best case scenario is fairly miserable historically for E Ticket attractions. 1400 riders per hour as a more realistic average over the course of an average day is even more miserable.

Pirates and Small World and the Disneyland/Disney World Railroads can all do north of 2500 per hour. Coasters like Big Thunder and Everest and Incredicoaster can do north of 2000 per hour. Omnimovers since the 1960's can do north of 2000 per hour. Etc.

Allegedly the Resistance ride has a slightly lower hourly capacity than the Falcon ride does, when it's able to run for more than 10 minutes at a time.

 

[I am Timmy]

To all who purposely didn't come because you were afraid it would be crowded....thank you very much.

Were you able to use the das ok? We'll be there in Dec., my son gets it as well. How does it work in GE? Also, what happens when you enter the ride? I've been reading that people are given colored cards, but not sure how people are broken down into groups. We will be 3, so I'm going to be paying attention to all of this to give my son a rundown ahead of time on what to expect - sorry for the questions!! Is there any way to make sure someone gets, say, pilot on any given run? Thanks for any help!

 

[mikejs78]

This similar experience, although not quite as severe, has been noted at the Disneyland version too.

It's a great example of how Theme Park Ops can screw up the best laid plans of Imagineers and their Billion dollar park expansion. But Bob Chapek thinks that all those Ops CM's that don't really know what they're doing have a "backstory" and so you don't need actual AGVA performers and professional actors to keep you entertained. Just don't expect to flow through the queue and pre-show like WDI intended you to, and you'll be fine.

Buy a droid! Buy a light saber! Try the charcuterie plate at the Cantina! Just open your wallet and keep moving, please!

Your schtick is getting tired. Give it up already...

 

[mikenatcity1]

Well, the land will ultimately have two rides. That’s the same number of attractions New Orleans Square has, and NOS is maybe the best theme park land ever. But what is there to do in NOS besides the attractions, eat and shop? Just enjoy the ambiance.

Granted, the two rides in NOS are two of the best rides ever built. But that doesn’t change the fact that SW:GE will have two rides also, and RotR will probably be fantastic. So you have the rides, eating and shopping... that’s just pretty par for the course, I guess. Beyond that, you kind of just have to enjoy the theming and ambiance... both of which it seems SW:GE excels at. I like how large the land is, that means there’s more to explore.

I do agree, though, I hope they add more roaming aliens and droids. I’m not holding my breath, though. I’ll still enjoy it without those things, as they aren’t a dealbreaker. But it would have enhanced the experience.

I think comparing NOS and GE to each other is hard- one has been around for 50+ years, includes 2 of the most loved attractions in the park and is a side land that a lot of people use as a cut through. If you look at the size alone, NOS doesn't hold a candle to GE. I will admit- I walk through NOS sometimes purely for the theming- I DO feel like i've stepped into another location when i'm there. But I don't know if Disney's intention (now) is to have people spend hours there and get immersed in the culture.

If you also look at it, the food offerings alone blow GE out of the water- 2 sit down, 1 counter service and multiple window services. Gosh...the way I talk makes it seem like NOS is superior...i'm going to have to sit down and think on this one... Thanks for the comment! I'm really having a think now

 

[DryerLintFan]

How are the lines and everything day two?

 

[VaderTron]

85 Minutes for Falcon right now.

 

[Lirael]

I don't think we'll be able to truly gauge if it's a success or not until...january/february

The opening weekend tragically fell right before Dorian, which -regardless of how it ends up- is being currently being treated as a major threat. People are cancelling plans.

Then there's the fact that the E-ride won't be open until December. Not everyone can go to Disney every few months/every year, so I think many may be waiting to go there when they can experience the land in full (I certainly am).

 

[wserratore1963]

SWGE DAY 1!
Smugglers Run twice!

 

[VaderTron]

I don't think we'll be able to truly gauge if it's a success or not until...january/february

The opening weekend tragically fell right before Dorian, which -regardless of how it ends up- is being currently being treated as a major threat. People are cancelling plans.

Then there's the fact that the E-ride won't be open until December. Not everyone can go to Disney every few months/every year, so I think many may be waiting to go there when they can experience the land in full (I certainly am).

Really there was hardly anyone who canceled plans for opening day. It wasn't even seen as a major hurricane until yesterday. And most haven't left yet who already traveled down for opening. We got a very close look at what would have been had no storm been churning in the Atlantic threatening to land the following week.

Of course, the rest of the weekend's numbers into the beginning of next week will be altered by those who leave/cancel plans.

 

[DryerLintFan]

I don't think we'll be able to truly gauge if it's a success or not until...january/february

The opening weekend tragically fell right before Dorian, which -regardless of how it ends up- is being currently being treated as a major threat. People are cancelling plans.

Then there's the fact that the E-ride won't be open until December. Not everyone can go to Disney every few months/every year, so I think many may be waiting to go there when they can experience the land in full (I certainly am).

This is like saying the Mariah Carey movie Glitter flopped because it opened on 9-11.

If anything, the hurricane made it busier at HS yesterday. Which seemed pretty successful from watching online.

 

[mikejs78]

Really there was hardly anyone who canceled plans for opening day. It wasn't even seen as a major hurricane until yesterday. And most haven't left yet who already traveled down for opening. We got a very close look at what would have been had no storm been churning in the Atlantic threatening to land the following week.

Of course, the rest of the weekend's numbers into the beginning of next week will be altered by those who leave/cancel plans.

I know at least 3 people who cancelled travel plans because of Dorian and who weren't there yesterday. And that's just me.