Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Brainleech419]

I was looking at the Disneyland forum, and had to stop. Lots of needless negativity over there.

Fixed it for you

 

[Darth Snips]

In other news, Blog Mickey has a new post talking about their experience at GE. There’s some interesting stuff in here, especially about the operation of Savi’s and Oga’s.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Opening Weekend Impressions at Disneyland

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

Also, I thought this was a pretty interesting read too. I haven’t heard too many folks talk about the integration of the “Datapad” app, but this guy has me pretty excited to see what they end up doing with it in the future.

Incompletely Incredible – First Impressions of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Hard to believe it’s been four years. When the announcement was made that Disney would acquire Lucasfilm, the question of a Star Wars themed land was not if, but when. At the D23 Expo in 2015, the …

davidmdaut.com

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Now that the land is open, it can be confimed that the Falcon ride is not a coaster.

Oh Mylanta I haven't been on the boards much in the last few years except recently but I still see Jimmy Thick is up to his nonsense. Nothing has changed....

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

So, what’s the word on having walk-around characters like Rey, Chewie, Kylo, and Vi in Batuu at DHS? I know TDO rarely (if ever) allows that kind interaction these days.

On that note, do we think the walk-arounds will even stick around in Disneyland once the reservation period is over? There’s gonna be a lot more people in Black Spire Outpost pretty soon; I wonder if park ops will have to change their game plan?

Do we have any insider info on these kind of ops questions?

I definitely don't see the characters out walking around freely in GE at DHS. The crowds were manageable this past weekend because of the reservation system. Once it's a free for all (which it will be as far as we know from day 1 at DHS) then watch out! I don't think they would have the characters out walking freely with the crowd predictions as big as they are. And that's a shame because I LOVE seeing the characters out and about at DLR. Makes me miss the days when I was a kid and they used to do it that way at WDW.

 

[TiggerDad]

My name is Princess Leia on this forum and I am shocked, shocked! that I was not invited to the SWGE opening festivities

Wait, you're not the real Princess Leia?

 

[Mike S]

Wait, you're not the real Princess Leia?

Yeah. She’s actually Princess Vespa wearing headphones

 

[RSoxNo1]

I was looking at the reviews in the Disneyland thread, and had to stop. Lots of needless negativity over there.

Here's the thing though, by all accounts Disney didn't open this with their best foot forward. They opened an incomplete land and without the biggest part of the land for people to gush over, people are going to focus on the few things that are wrong with it.

If the land opened fully with Rise of the Resistance, the complaints about Oga's Cantina and Savis Workshop's wait times and Smugglers Runs shortcomings would be far less impactful.

 

[Lensman]

Here's the thing though, by all accounts Disney didn't open this with their best foot forward. They opened an incomplete land and without the biggest part of the land for people to gush over, people are going to focus on the few things that are wrong with it.

If the land opened fully with Rise of the Resistance, the complaints about Oga's Cantina and Savis Workshop's wait times and Smugglers Runs shortcomings would be far less impactful.

So you, like me, are going to wait for the DHS version to open so we can read reviews of our own needless negativity?

 

[Princess Leia]

Here's the thing though, by all accounts Disney didn't open this with their best foot forward. They opened an incomplete land and without the biggest part of the land for people to gush over, people are going to focus on the few things that are wrong with it.

If the land opened fully with Rise of the Resistance, the complaints about Oga's Cantina and Savis Workshop's wait times and Smugglers Runs shortcomings would be far less impactful.

Oh I definitely agree that RotR should have been opened with the rest of the land. I just feel like the wait times are getting raked across the coals repeatedly, when we all knew it was going to be busy. The lack of RotR does make it a little busier (and I really can’t imagine what things are going to be like once the reservations end), but it’s something Disney guests will have to deal with.

I don’t see DHS having the Oga’s situation, because you can buy alcohol at the rest of the park (Baseline is going to be packed). It does look like TDO sorely underestimated how many people are interested in building a $200 lightsaber though. Having the reservation window allows kinks to be worked out before the true masses are allowed into the park.

 

[drod1985]

I don’t think alcohol is the true draw of the cantina. Everybody in there is an adult, they can buy a drink whenever they please. It’s the low capacity creating demand and the general allure of being in a cantina like the one from ANH that is creating the lines.

Also, Savi’s and Oga’s are low capacity experiences. They were always going to have lines, even if ROTR opened with the rest of the land.

 

[jrhwdw]

I was thinking this morning that it would be nice if DHS could bring back Symphony In The Stars for the second half of 2019 to celebrate SWGE's Opening! That would be Fantastic and Special!

 

[TalkingHead]

I’m mystified by the cantina design.

The things that made the cantina memorable in the movie were the music, the band, and the alien creatures.

So I guess there’s music in this cantina, but the aliens seem like a missed opportunity. If they didn’t want to do a band of AAs, there were other options to make this feel more like a Star Wars environment. Imagine a layout with a second floor, inaccessible to guests, with a few simple AAs of alien customers drinking and grunting unintelligibly. It would sell the idea of this being a Star Wars cantina more than anything I’ve seen so far.

The land looks like a great place to explore, but I’m surprised it doesn’t “read” as being quite like the movies’ universe. I get they don’t want people spending a long time in the cantina, but making it more of an alien-populated spot would’ve helped sell the idea of this being another planet.

Another question I haven’t seen asked - is there any use of forced perspective to make the rocky spires look further away?

 

[matt9112]

I don't think the rule is there for security issues. Disney pay cm's to dress as these characters and 'entertain' the guests. They want the guests to know which people are proper 'characters' that they can interact with and if guests were in full costume that could be confusing.

Take an example of a guest dressed as a Jedi going round encouraging other guests to climb onto a prop for a picture with him or her. The guest could assume they were a legit cast member in costume and do as they say putting themselves in danger.

wonder how universal manages it....huh its amazing...must be like nasa level science. spend potentially thousands for your family to have all these cool things but yeah....dont use them here please.

 

[MisterPenguin]

wonder how universal manages it....huh its amazing...must be like nasa level science. spend potentially thousands for your family to have all these cool things but yeah....dont use them here please.

To me, the guests at Universal wearing a robe in no way looked like their 'CMs'.

 

[LukeS7]

wonder how universal manages it....huh its amazing...must be like nasa level science. spend potentially thousands for your family to have all these cool things but yeah....dont use them here please.

Disney should definitely be able to figure this out. On our last trip to Universal, we actually went in full Hogwarts attire one of the days (dress shirts, ties, robes, etc.). If I remember correctly, nobody mistook us for CMs, though we were asked by 2 groups to take a picture with them. No CMs stopped us or told us we couldn't be dressed in the full attire and there were other guests dressed the same. We even walked through security and the turnstiles in them and they said nothing.

 

[Darth Snips]

I've been trying to figure out more about the Play Disney App and the roleplaying it involves. Apparently, it can actually do quite a bit.

First of all, it's sort of Disney's version of the Harry Potter wands. You can interact with droids, doorways, and ships. One guy said he "hacked" the Falcon and it actually opened an exhaust port and made noise.

Second, it offers the chance for die-hards to learn more about the backstory of the land and its characters. Apparently, there are all kinds of easter eggs and references sprinkled throughout the land hidden in Aurebesh, alien languages, and hidden signals that can be decoded using the app.

Third, there's an ongoing game throughout the land that you can join in. You're supposed to track down various control panels and take control of them for the Resistance or the First Order. Ideally, this will create a constant tug-of-war that will be continuously shifting control of the village between the two sides. This is the closest they have to come to delivering a truly immersive roleplaying game.

Finally, the app is how they can track your "reputation" throughout the land. If you open the app and join the game while in line for the Falcon, it should add the credits you earn on the ride to your account. And, according to one article, if you sit in a booth in the cantina with the app open, it will actually communicate with some lights on the walls that will tell CMs what kind of reputation you have. This is how you could have a bartender remark on your performance flying the Falcon. Unfortunately, it seems like this kind of interactivity is impractical in these crowds, because I haven't seen anyone mention experiencing this kind of conversation yet.

Right now, it seems like the consensus on the app is that it's very limited (and glitchy) in its current state. But it sounds like the framework is all in place for something truly special. It might take a few years to really take advantage of it due to the overwhelming crowds, but I think it will be worth keeping an eye on this "Datapad" experience. We could see some really groundbreaking stuff come out of all this.

 

[Mike S]

To me, the guests at Universal wearing a robe in no way looked like their 'CMs'.

Unless I’m wrong aren’t the only TMs at Uni dressed in house robes the Frog Choir?

 

[Princess Leia]

Unless I’m wrong aren’t the only TMs at Uni dressed in house robes the Frog Choir?

Also in Filch’s gift shop, I think.

 

[mergatroid]

wonder how universal manages it....huh its amazing...must be like nasa level science. spend potentially thousands for your family to have all these cool things but yeah....dont use them here please.

I'm only guessing the logic by Disney here, not claiming it's right or wrong. Interestingly Universal doesn't allow costumes or masks at Halloween Horror Nights, I wonder why?

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

I was looking at the reviews in the Disneyland thread, and had to stop. Lots of needless negativity over there.

Its mostly two users who are constantly bashing everything from how they cant go up the falcon ramp to how hondo is a terrible character and how han should be the only character on the ride. Plus they are constantly complaining about how the land is set in the sequel trilogy and not the original trilogy.