Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opening reports and using Boarding Groups at Disneyland

themeparkchat

themeparkchat

Member
Wanted to note when I rode they appeared to be running at reduced capacity - at least on the left side, they weren't using the last interrogation room. It was also a long wait to be broken out, so I'm guessing it's also short some vehicles today as well.
All effects were working though! Amazing they have been able to have everything running again when they do open for the day. This does not appear to be another Indy, as far as the effects are concerned. And that's awesome considering how many awesome effects are in this ride.
 
M

MoonRakerSCM

Well-Known Member
1st world problems... Left to go eat at Knott's and stock up on some boysenberry punch concentrate...

Going to see how things look when leaving here on if we should head back or not... But I'm not optimistic.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Curious Constance said:
Good point, but since attendance has been stagnant or even in decline since the land opened, I’m assuming a lot of the money spent there would have been spent elsewhere in the park anyway on food and merchandise. I don’t see that this is attracting NEW money above and beyond what they would have already been making before.
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I was in this mindset before but I have recently seen online just how much some people spend at Galaxy's Edge. I am a Star Wars fan, I don't buy any collectibles or anything I just really enjoy the whole IP, I watch the movies, read the Vader comic series, and play any Star Wars video games they make. After browsing online in places like the Galaxy's Edge subreddit or on Twitter and Instagram, some people go absolutely nuts spending wise that I highly doubt would have gone anywhere else in the parks. I see people posting hauls where both people in a relationship build lightsabers and droids, plus they buy a couple of the legacy hilts, or sometimes a lot of legacy hilts, some extra kyber crystals for their sabers, a holocron, some clothes. and some accessories / toys / extras. This doesn't even account for the blue milk or green milk they try, the ronto wraps they try, any drinks they try at the cantina, etc. I have seen a very large number of posts where people buy 1-2 Savi's sabers ALONG WITH about 6-7+ legacy sabers. That's basically a grand sans any extra blades, kyber crystals, covertech clips, etc. I highly doubt the people doing this spending would have gone this wild at the Emporium, for example.

That said, I am completely aware this isn't the majority of guests in Galaxy's Edge, but I don't think it is fair to say this money would have been spent elsewhere in the parks. For me, I really want to build a lightsaber at Galaxy's Edge. I would have to see how much money I would budget myself for merchandise at the parks and see if it would make even a little sense for me to build a saber, as I know $200 is expensive, but I really don't buy a lot of merch when I go to the parks. I will buy a shirt / sweatshirt and maybe a hat, along with a few pins because I like to collect pins and bring some back for my friends as gifts. So taking me for example, I would maybe spend $80 (being generous) on merchandise, the rest is usually spent on food in the parks, but the saber experience is making me consider spending over twice that number for one item / experience. Again, everyone's situation is different, but I definitely believe these experiences and Galaxy's Edge in general are getting money out of people that wouldn't spend it elsewhere.
 
Curious Constance

Curious Constance

Well-Known Member
Smooch said:
I was in this mindset before but I have recently seen online just how much some people spend at Galaxy's Edge. I am a Star Wars fan, I don't buy any collectibles or anything I just really enjoy the whole IP, I watch the movies, read the Vader comic series, and play any Star Wars video games they make. After browsing online in places like the Galaxy's Edge subreddit or on Twitter and Instagram, some people go absolutely nuts spending wise that I highly doubt would have gone anywhere else in the parks. I see people posting hauls where both people in a relationship build lightsabers and droids, plus they buy a couple of the legacy hilts, or sometimes a lot of legacy hilts, some extra kyber crystals for their sabers, a holocron, some clothes. and some accessories / toys / extras. This doesn't even account for the blue milk or green milk they try, the ronto wraps they try, any drinks they try at the cantina, etc. I have seen a very large number of posts where people buy 1-2 Savi's sabers ALONG WITH about 6-7+ legacy sabers. That's basically a grand sans any extra blades, kyber crystals, covertech clips, etc. I highly doubt the people doing this spending would have gone this wild at the Emporium, for example.

That said, I am completely aware this isn't the majority of guests in Galaxy's Edge, but I don't think it is fair to say this money would have been spent elsewhere in the parks. For me, I really want to build a lightsaber at Galaxy's Edge. I would have to see how much money I would budget myself for merchandise at the parks and see if it would make even a little sense for me to build a saber, as I know $200 is expensive, but I really don't buy a lot of merch when I go to the parks. I will buy a shirt / sweatshirt and maybe a hat, along with a few pins because I like to collect pins and bring some back for my friends as gifts. So taking me for example, I would maybe spend $80 (being generous) on merchandise, the rest is usually spent on food in the parks, but the saber experience is making me consider spending over twice that number for one item / experience. Again, everyone's situation is different, but I definitely believe these experiences and Galaxy's Edge in general are getting money out of people that wouldn't spend it elsewhere.
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Sure these people exist, but they’re trying to return a billion dollar investment. That’s a lot of droid and lightsaber builds. Especially when this isn’t just something that sits on a shelf waiting to be picked up and purchased, they've got a limited amount of people that can even do the lightsaber in a day, and they have to pay “actors” to put on a show all day too. And my guess is that since attendance seems on average less or the same and on average guest spending elsewhere in the parks is likely to be down or the same if guests are buying $18 drinks at the cantina or $100 or $200 droids and lightsabers in the shops, whatever blip they’re seeing in sales at the land would probably take a million years to make back the billion they put in. Of course, I have no business sense and no idea what’s really happening. That’s just what my guess would be. Thankfully, for the most part, my son is pretty much past wanting to play with Star Wars toys, so I won’t have to make the tough choice of whether or not to shell out the money for any of that junk. Although, I have a feeling just being there and seeing the droid build option will make him FEEL like he wants to do it, but I’ll have an easy time saying no because I know when he gets home, it would get thrown in a drawer or closet never to be played with again. But if he was younger and would get some long term enjoyment out of it, you can bet if I shelled that kind of money out, I wouldn’t be getting him much of anything anywhere else in the park.
 
themeparkchat

themeparkchat

Member
unmitigated disaster said:
I spent $90 ish in Star Wars Land; I haven't spent that much for souvenirs at Disney Parks in a long time. They're raking in the souvenir dough.
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Fair enough. I'm the opposite though. I love Star Wars but have only bought one $5 souvenir there (chance cubes lol). I'm shocked they haven't come out with anything I'm willing to buy. Heck, I bought that $40 Indy 25 funko pop!

I tend to allocate most of my Disney dollars on food and spend little on merchandise (although I'm closing in on one of those Magic Happens shirts). I'm a big fan of buying shirts you'll be wearing 10 years later. Might have to drive to the Disney Outlet to get a Droid Depot shirt for $6.99 (yes, I saw that on Facebook! And apparently it was ringing up for $1.99! So much for their merch sales, at least in the shirts department).

There's also wide availability for Savi's these days. I'm sure they sold a bunch at first, but now they are either paying CMs in Savi's to not work or only scheduling them based on reservations. Obviously it's probably not a huge issue as one lightsaber would cover their overhead I'm guessing, but still probably not a situation they expected to be in less than a year after opening I'm sure.
 
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Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
themeparkchat said:
Fair enough. I'm the opposite though. I love Star Wars but have only bought one $5 souvenir there (chance cubes lol). I'm shocked they haven't come out with anything I'm willing to buy. Heck, I bought that $40 Indy 25 funko pop!

I tend to allocate most of my Disney dollars on food and spend little on merchandise (although I'm closing in on one of those Magic Happens shirts). I'm a big fan of buying shirts you'll be wearing 10 years later. Might have to drive to the Disney Outlet to get a Droid Depot shirt for $6.99 (yes, I saw that on Facebook! And apparently it was ringing up for $1.99! So much for their merch sales, at least in the shirts department).

There's also wide availability for Savi's these days. I'm sure they sold a bunch at first, but now they are either paying CMs in Savi's to not work or only scheduling them based on reservations. Obviously it's probably not a huge issue as one lightsaber would cover their overhead I'm guessing, but still probably not a situation they expected to be in less than a year after opening I'm sure.
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They seem to seem droids by the bucketful though. I see so many droid boxes when I'm at Disney Studios. (And yeah, I have one. R2B1.. lol)
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Curious Constance said:
Sure these people exist, but they’re trying to return a billion dollar investment. That’s a lot of droid and lightsaber builds. Especially when this isn’t just something that sits on a shelf waiting to be picked up and purchased, they've got a limited amount of people that can even do the lightsaber in a day, and they have to pay “actors” to put on a show all day too. And my guess is that since attendance seems on average less or the same and on average guest spending elsewhere in the parks is likely to be down or the same if guests are buying $18 drinks at the cantina or $100 or $200 droids and lightsabers in the shops, whatever blip they’re seeing in sales at the land would probably take a million years to make back the billion they put in. Of course, I have no business sense and no idea what’s really happening. That’s just what my guess would be. Thankfully, for the most part, my son is pretty much past wanting to play with Star Wars toys, so I won’t have to make the tough choice of whether or not to shell out the money for any of that junk. Although, I have a feeling just being there and seeing the droid build option will make him FEEL like he wants to do it, but I’ll have an easy time saying no because I know when he gets home, it would get thrown in a drawer or closet never to be played with again. But if he was younger and would get some long term enjoyment out of it, you can bet if I shelled that kind of money out, I wouldn’t be getting him much of anything anywhere else in the park.
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I definitely agree they're gonna have a tough time making a return on their billion dollar investment. I also agree that attendance is lower than they expected so they aren't getting more ticket sales from the land being built like they hoped, but I do also think that a lot of people spending money on the Star Wars merch wouldn't have spent it elsewhere in the park. The whole situation is weird, I know they aren't raking in a ton of guests like they hoped to with the land, but I do think that using an IP like Star Wars which has some incredibly dedicated fans has driven merch sales among the people who do go to Galaxy's Edge. Take Avatar, for example, people go to Pandora to ride FoP and explore the land, but I doubt they make very many merch sales there. People will always try the foods in these new lands, and I don't have any hard data, but I would be willing to bet that they make way less money in Pandora from merch sales than they do in Galaxy's Edge.
 
M

MoonRakerSCM

Well-Known Member
SO, it worked... I got on the ride! It was a hectic day of uncertainty, but I finally got on this god forsaken ride. Considering not getting in line until... 7:00pm... and getting the boarding pass as of 8:00am... that was 11hours in 'virtual' line. Disney's scheme worked and we had breakfast in the park, rode several rides, had a few drinks in Carthay Lounge... but we decided to head out to Knott's for some boysenberry preserves/ punch concentrate and a chicken dinner (I hadn't been since they redid the restaurant). Chicken there was still... meh. But it was a lot of food for your buck so, not 'too' bad.

Upon entering the line, we waited probably a good 30-45 minutes until encountering Rey. I will admit, the queue, while bland... had some surprises. While I might be a dirt digger and am biased, suddenly seeing 'ruins' and buried pots in the walls was interesting... made me think about the story behind the secret base...

My experience was top notch, everything worked. The only thing I would say was that maybe we sat in the cell for a tad longer than normal. I didn't know you could hear Finn and others whispering trying to cut the wall open.

Being I knew the whole thing from opening-

- What surprised me the most was the amount of motion in the turntable and escape pod sequences. Quite convincing and pretty awesome.
- The vehicles move at a much faster rate than I had thought they would.
- The scope is awesome and in particular, even having seen videos, the AT-AT room is very impressive.
- Our 'breakout' CMs were AWESOME. She shouted out "Stand back it's still hot!" "Ok, we're with the resistance here to break you out, hurry up!" the energy really made it fun... almost hectic. It was pretty great.

IMO, the entire ride both as a technical feat AND a story telling experience are top of the line. What a great attraction and as an 'overall' experience... a game changer that I can't wait to see what Disney does next for this type of all encompassing experience.

That all being said... I shudder at the thought of next trying to get on... I think a couple sundays from now is when a few friends want to try.

As proof of my experience, I will share a photo of a much covetted view... from the OTHER SIDE of the entrance!

1583726740413.png
 
themeparkchat

themeparkchat

Member
So all BGs were gone by 8:30am today. Somewhat unexpected with how Thursday and Friday went, but I do hear it's Spring Break for many (OC schools are still in session this week though, except for Wednesday). The cutoff was also 72 and not 82 like some days. They did have the ride open pretty late last night...
 
Atomicmickey

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
themeparkchat said:
So all BGs were gone by 8:30am today. Somewhat unexpected with how Thursday and Friday went, but I do hear it's Spring Break for many (OC schools are still in session this week though, except for Wednesday). The cutoff was also 72 and not 82 like some days. They did have the ride open pretty late last night...
Click to expand...

That is MUCH BETTER, to have a half hour, rather than 60 seconds, to get a boarding group. I am getting optimistic about
my upcoming trip! Thanks for the report.
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
Just to chime in my experience yesterday. I got my boarding group probably a few seconds after 8:00 AM and was assigned #92. I forget the exact time, but we got on probably around 3 PM.

For all the talk about reduced travel due to the coronavirus, the park seemed packed yesterday.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
This ride just hates these constant 8am openings. Another day where the ride was late in opening, this time it didn't open until 9:40am.
It's currently at Boarding Group 63, after several hours of steady, cold rain in Anaheim.

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