Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[rowrbazzle]

Fastpass has nothing to do with parent swap. It is simply giving resort guests a VIP line for 1 or 2 rides a day, at the cost of long lines for everything else

Yeah, I know. I was saying FP would make parent swap a simpler and faster experience. Instead of parent 2 waiting around for 20 minutes to switch out, they'll have to wait for however long the regular wait is (unknown until you get there; maybe plan for 2 hours?). Without any rides for little kids in Galaxy's Edge, they may wind up leaving the land. Either way, it's a longer time for the family to split up.

As for fastpass as a whole, it gives you priority boarding to 3 attractions from the get-go. After that you can add more via the app. It's been really useful for us, but as I said, I get why some folks don't like it.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Even though the raptors aren't walking around an open space, those reactions tho.

Stupid, pathetic mammalian brains! BWAHAHAHAHA.

 

[CinematicFusion]

It literally features places from the movie. Like flos. Its not successful because it taps into route 66...its successful because it is places we know and we can connect to from the film.

To your other point i agree the main attraction isnt open and that could stiffle demand BUT i don't think your average guest is that synced into that info. I dont buy into the (everyone is waiting theory) in DL i think it was clearly a mistake to keep APs out and i think disney has sacrificed alot of land coverage by opening the lands early. When rotr opens i dont think they will get all of the same press all over again....even with a great ride it wint fix the fundamentsl problems with the land as follows.

1. A place you know nothing about that has zero familiarity with the movies.
2. A lack of character that you would expect from a star wars area if you have seem any of the movies. (No droids no aliens etc)
3. A legitimately shopping centric design that disney made no attempt to mask.
4. Disney tried to make places you might somewaht regonize due to art styles etc but you cant so its this wierd middle ground of why is it it like this?
5. So heavily and irreversibly tieing it to new movies making it impossible to see orginal characters etc without making no sense at all.
6. Star wars land is legitimately the NFL mermaid que of lands....yeah it looks gorgeous but where the ____ is the substance?

End rant.

Agree.
I might be way off base here and will get destroyed on this board for saying this but....

Is it possible Galaxy’s Edge also feels lifeless because we know with 100 percent certainty we will never see the original characters in the land. No Luke, Han ,Leia, Vader.
Rubber stamp on it... they will never be part of any ride, show, character walk up.
Does this make a difference to the general public?

*interesting fact... not one new character cracks the top 5 in the all time Star Wars characters list on the internet. I mean I’m sure there has to be one list out there but the majority, no new character cracks top 5. Not Rey, not Ren, and not the other two guys...

That is a big problem!

Han Solo didn’t just land the falcon there, his fuzzy dice aren’t hanging in the cockpit.

Is Star Wars at the end of the day really about Luke Skywalker and gang.
Universal calls their land The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.



(Side note, I believe this is why Solo didn’t do well. We saw Harrison’s Solo die, his story arc was complete. There wasn’t a reason to go see the film)

 

[MisterPenguin]

Is it possible Galaxy’s Edge also feels lifeless because we know with 100 percent certainty we will never see the original characters in the land. No Luke, Han ,Leia, Vader.
Rubber stamp on it... they will never be part of any ride, show, character walk up.
Does this make a difference to the general public?

For the longest time, it didn't matter when riding Star Tours.

 

[CinematicFusion]

For the longest time, it didn't matter when riding Star Tours.

I can't remember ....where did Star Tours take you when it opened originally? Are some of the original characters from the original trilogy in pre-videos? Did the ride take you to the Death Star?
If it took you to the Death Star for example, you as a child could imagine you are Luke Skywalker or with Luke Skywalker flying in the battle to save the galaxy.
You were in the universe where your favorite characters are still alive.

Or did Star Tours just take you to places with zero familiarity?

In Galaxy's edge, Disney has made sure you know the main original cast is Dead and never coming back. You will never see Darth Vader walking the streets of Galaxy's Edge. Disney has promised the paying public that.

I'm not sure that makes a difference, it might not. Maybe no one cares.

It does for one guy...me. Takes a lot of the magic out of the park not seeing original storm troopers walking around with Darth Vader.
...and the office I'm in, we are having a huge discussion right now. Granted, we are all older fans, but people are confused and ed they won't see real storm troopers with Vader inside Galaxy's Edge. They just thought it was a given.
Again, it's an office of 20... small minority in the larger scene of Star Wars fandom and we are older and non of us enjoyed The Last Jedi so need to keep my opinions in perspective.

For you, it might not matter and for many fans it doesn't matter...and that's cool. Part of being a fan, everyone will have a different opinion.

End of the day, Galaxy's Edge will be fine. The created a solid base and it will only get better from here.
And...I'm older, who really cares about the opinion of someone in their 40's?

 

[LuvWDW2]

I can't remember ....where did Star Tours take you when it opened originally? Are some of the original characters from the original trilogy in pre-videos? Did the ride take you to the Death Star?
If it took you to the Death Star for example, you as a child could imagine you are Luke Skywalker or with Luke Skywalker flying in the battle to save the galaxy.
You were in the universe where your favorite characters are still alive.

Or did Star Tours just take you to places with zero familiarity?

In Galaxy's edge, Disney has made sure you know the main original cast is Dead and never coming back. You will never see Darth Vader walking the streets of Galaxy's Edge. Disney has promised the paying public that.

I'm not sure that makes a difference, it might not. Maybe no one cares.

It does for one guy...me. Takes a lot of the magic out of the park not seeing original storm troopers walking around with Darth Vader.
...and the office I'm in, we are having a huge discussion right now. Granted, we are all older fans, but people are confused and ****ed they won't see real storm troopers with Vader inside Galaxy's Edge. They just thought it was a given.
Again, it's an office of 20... small minority in the larger scene of Star Wars fandom and we are older and non of us enjoyed The Last Jedi so need to keep my opinions in perspective.

For you, it might not matter and for many fans it doesn't matter...and that's cool. Part of being a fan, everyone will have a different opinion.

End of the day, Galaxy's Edge will be fine. The created a solid base and it will only get better from here.
And...I'm older, who really cares about the opinion of someone in their 40's?

I completely agree (I’m 45). But the younglings just don’t understand why we feel that way because they didn’t live through the Original Star Wars Mania.

 

[Incomudro]

I suggested this too. Universal has a giant triceratops that walks around and looks very real just to entertain guests around Jurassic World. Why can’t they have a giant bantha? Why on earth did they cut out the aliens? I was very excited by the bounty hunter character.

The entertainment/aliens need to be added back immediately. Wouldn’t hurt to have the drones and droids too. They just thought the public would go for Star Wars because it’s Star Wars.

And perhaps they kind of could have gotten away with opening things up the way they have if they created a land that existed in the films.
But, they didn't and people aren't coming to a land they don't know for interactions that aren't there - at least not yet.
I support the idea of Black Spire, but it doesn't work on its own... Not without the life that isn't there.

 

[mikejs78]

And perhaps they kind of could have gotten away with opening things up the way they have if they created a land that existed in the films.
But, they didn't and people aren't coming to a land they don't know for interactions that aren't there - at least not yet.
I support the idea of Black Spire, but it doesn't work on its own... Not without the life that isn't there.

What land from the films would have been an appealing place to visit?

 

[Incomudro]

The interactive parts they were suggesting were essentially undoable anyway. You really thought they were going to do personal interactions with 20,000 guests each day?

Yes, I knew that was not going to work the way they claimed.
There are what, six people per cockpit, and two turntables of six cockpits?
All day long.
I never believed that it was possible to remotely address the flying performance of even a small fraction of riders.
But still, surely some sort of interaction was going to go on at some level somewhere.
I once said that I imagined things would be done a bit like they were at Adventurers Club in Pleasure Island.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

This is an excerpt from an interview of Bob Iger in a Barron's article posted elsewhere in these forums.

You’re putting a lot of money into the parks. How confident are you about the return there?

The acquisition of these brands and the creation of intellectual property behind them have had a tremendous impact on growing our returns at the parks. When you have Star Wars to market at the parks...Avatar is a good example, Cars Land, we’re building a Frozen land in [Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Paris parks], the interest among the potential audience is higher. It’s not like, “Well, I’m going to ride some nondescript named coaster somewhere that maybe is like, maybe is in India or whatever.” No, you’re going to Arendelle and you’re going to experience Frozen with Anna and Elsa. Or you’re going to fly a banshee into Pandora. Go to Cars Land. We built Radiator Springs. You’re with the characters in that town.

The success of these has allowed us to raise our margins significantly. There’s just more demand for our product than there ever was, because people are coming not just to visit a theme park, they’re coming to experience the stories and the characters, the places, that were part of the movies they loved.

The investment cycle that we’re in is a reflection of that success. Our ROIC, it’s not quite triple where we were, but it’s certainly above our cost of capital. And it’s a good place to put our money.

Do you still feel like you can bring more people through the parks, or is it more about growing ticket prices?

In some, you get more repeat visitation and increased length of stay because there’s more to do. You get more capacity. When Star Wars opens in Anaheim in June and in Florida later in the year, that’s adding capacity. You’re adding 14 acres of land [each], more rides, and more things for people to do. It’s the biggest land we’ve ever built. We’re just getting higher demand on our product spread throughout the year. That gives you pricing leverage. But what we’re also trying to do is be much smarter about pricing strategy, to try to spread attendance and reduce attendance in the peak periods so we can improve guest satisfaction. Crowding is an issue.

Article link: https://www.barrons.com/articles/di...ark-plans-and-learning-from-kodak-51546599600

Is it just me, or is he basically contradicting reality here?

Sure, they added land in HS, but did/are they actually adding rides or did/are they replacing rides that had been shuttered for ages?

The part about "coming to experience the stories and the characters, the places, that were part of the movies they loved" gets to me in a big way because Galaxy's Edge is NOT part of stories or movies we loved. And they've made sure the characters (for the most part) aren't there.

 

[mikejs78]

This is an excerpt from an interview of Bob Iger in a Barron's article posted elsewhere in these forums.



Article link: https://www.barrons.com/articles/di...ark-plans-and-learning-from-kodak-51546599600

Is it just me, or is he basically contradicting reality here?

Sure, they added land in HS, but did they actually add rides or did they replace rides that had been shuttered for ages?

The part about "coming to experience the stories and the characters, the places, that were part of the movies they loved" gets to me in a big way because Galaxy's Edge is NOT part of stories or movies we loved. And they've made sure the characters (for the most part) aren't there.

I really don't think this is an issue at all. As many mentioned, the original Star Tours was popular and didn't feature familiar characters or locales. It really boils down to not enough to do and no entertainment. Throw in droids and aliens and a few more ad hoc streetmosphere shows, along with RotR, and I bet you have a land that's a resounding success.

 

[Incomudro]

What land from the films would have been an appealing place to visit?

Oh, I don't think any of them were workable - and that's why I support the idea of Black Spire.
I'm simply pointing out that at this point Disney hasn't given either camp what they would have wanted.
They went with Black Spire, and so should have gone all in - giving guests an amazing experience.
As of now, they didn't deliver this or that.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I really don't think this is an issue at all. As many mentioned, the original Star Tours was popular and didn't feature familiar characters or locales. It really boils down to not enough to do and no entertainment. Throw in droids and aliens and a few more ad hoc streetmosphere shows, along with RotR, and I bet you have a land that's a resounding success.

I'm right there with @Incomudro as far as the location of Black Spire working if they had gone as all in as was intended...it's the disconnection between what Iger said and the reality of what Black Spire Outpost at Galaxy's Edge actually is that bothers me so much. We have no emotional connection to this land, so it needs things we DO feel an emotional connection to. Sure, the Falcon is AMAZING to see, some of the droids and ships, and the characters from the new movies are pretty cool, but we're talking about what is basically set dressing and characters we don't have nearly the emotional connection to as we do to others. The first paragraph I quoted makes it pretty clear that Iger knows we need an emotional connection to lands that are connected to IP...so where is that connection in regards to Black Spire? THEY REMOVED IT. I agree 100% with everything else you said - especially things to do that aren't tied to $.

 

[rowrbazzle]

Both of your examples take guests to places they know and love to interact with people and places they know and love....oh wait this is black spire outpost? What......

And yet Pandora has been wildly successful. It was a movie many people saw, but few really loved or remembered. And even if they did, the land doesn't feature the movie's characters. It's not really teeming with activity either; there are no Navi walking around. Is it just because Pandora is so cool visually? If Galaxy's Edge looked more "alien" would it be better received than it is?

 

[ImperfectPixie]

And yet Pandora has been wildly successful. It was a movie many people saw, but few really loved or remembered. And even if they did, the land doesn't feature the movie's characters. It's not really teeming with activity either; there are no Navi walking around. Is it just because Pandora is so cool visually? If Galaxy's Edge looked more "alien" would it be better received than it is?

What made Avatar successful was the visuals, cinematography, and imagination used in creating Pandora...it was a sort of character all on it's own, and it's those visuals that people DO remember from the film.

Galaxy's Edge is a land we've never seen in a film...there's no emotional connection to it at all. There is a HUGE emotional connection to the Millennium Falcon, but it's fenced off, so we aren't even allowed to examine it closely aside from the ride. The pricing for Savi's and the Droid Depot are pretty prohibitive for people who aren't already Star Wars fans, and we're not even able to just go and see other people building them. We were promised an immersive land - yet we got a movie set. You simply can't call a land immersive if it doesn't feel like it's a living, breathing place.

 

[CinematicFusion]

What land from the films would have been an appealing place to visit?

I don't think it's the land...it's the characters that makes Star Wars.
That is my opinion. Hoth isn't why we love Empire, we love it because of the interactions and events that happened to the characters on Hoth.

All speculation and in the end it might not matter at all.

J.J. Abrams makes a great Ep.9 that kids want to relive over and over in their minds. That will lead them to Galaxy's Edge.

Simple as that.

That's why we have Galaxy's Edge, because of the success of the films.
If the films, Tv shows aren't successful, Galaxy's Edge will suffer also as the years go by.
My opinion

 

[erasure fan1]

I just don't get why they would make that such a big deal and then just cut it. Disney seems to have consistently suffer with that in modern times where they hype stuff to a degree and then completely lack follow through. Or it just doesn't work as well as promised. But with all the media attention and fan sites (both SW and Disney) following every step of any SW build, how can you say you are going to put things in the land and then just... not

Because Disney is all about the bean counting first and foremost. The way I see it (in my opinion) is they figured they could hype the snot out of Galaxys edge, then cut it back like they always do. And because it’s star wars and Disney, everyone will love it no matter what and just be happy we got something star wars.

If the Studios GE flops,some mighty high up Imagineer heads better role.

I don't really blame Imagineering on this one. I think the mandates came from Iger and Chapek. Imagineering did a great job with what it seems they were told to do.

 

[Incomudro]

I really don't think this is an issue at all. As many mentioned, the original Star Tours was popular and didn't feature familiar characters or locales. It really boils down to not enough to do and no entertainment. Throw in droids and aliens and a few more ad hoc streetmosphere shows, along with RotR, and I bet you have a land that's a resounding success.

Arguably Star Tours offered riders the most iconic moment of Star Wars - attacking the Death Star.
I'm with you that Galaxies Edge can and might be a smash, so long as Disney gives the people what you said - and that RotR delivers.

 

[matt9112]

And yet Pandora has been wildly successful. It was a movie many people saw, but few really loved or remembered. And even if they did, the land doesn't feature the movie's characters. It's not really teeming with activity either; there are no Navi walking around. Is it just because Pandora is so cool visually? If Galaxy's Edge looked more "alien" would it be better received than it is?

Pandora film wise is so forgettable theres no attachment unlike star wars or cars that are both very strong memorable franchises with rich vibrant storys to tell. Nobody goes into pandora and saysays this isnt like the movie because nobody remembers it.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

My take on the Battuu vs existing film location debate is that it's overblown. To me, the design language of the land (architecture, props, even CM costumes) is very recognizable as "Star Wars" without being directly ripped from the films and shows. I believe that gave the Imagineers a lot more creative freedom to craft a unique experience than had they used a pre-existing time and place from the films (which undoubtedly would have either come off as a "book report" or anachronistic "greatest hits" attraction, both of which get heavily panned here on the forums). Personally, I'm excited to experience an original story that fills in the gaps of, and sets up future installments of, the main saga.

That being said, it remains to be be seen if the Imagineers were ultimately able to deliver on that promise and freedom. With so many experiences seemingly cut to save a few (relative) pennies, I'm not so sure. Guest shouldn't have to read the books, comics or download the app to get the narrative that was baked into these cuts.