What's with the wait times!? (hint.. they're low)

[planodisney]

Unless your a huge Disney or Star Wars fan, I’m not sure the East Coast even knows about this. Yes I know it was on GMA 1 day but I don’t know if that even registered to people as being in Anaheim.
I live in Texas and there has not been 1 single bit of marketing of any kind here as well as no national marketing period.
Meanwhile we are being hit over the head 5 times a day with Hagarids Motorbike. My kids, 9 and 6, are dying to ride Hagarid, and know nothing about GE except what I’ve told them once.
I don’t understand The lack of marketing. It’s as if Anaheim has been reprimanded to do absolutely nothing to compete with WDW in terms of nationwide marketing. I’ve actually seen USH on a couple of national broadcasts advertising, but never DLR.

 

[TP2000]

The opening weekend is over and wait times this Monday afternoon continue to be abnormally low, although noticeably busier than this Saturday when wait times were mostly in the 5 to 15 minute range for the E Tickets. While it's a bit busier, it's still a great day to go to Disneyland!

The June Gloom overcast cleared away quickly today and at 4:00pm on Monday afternoon it is bright and sunny and 73 degrees, so the water rides have longer lines now compared to this weekend.

Radiator Springs Racers - 45 Minutes
Splash Mountain - 45 Minutes
Matterhorn Bobsleds - 30 Minutes
Hyperspace Mountain - 30 Minutes
Incredicoaster - 30 Minutes
Grizzly River Run - 25 Minutes
Indiana Jones Adventure - Temporarily Closed Currently
Soarin' Over California - 25 Minutes
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 20 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy - 20 Minutes
Star Tours - 20 Minutes
Millenium Falcon: Target Run - 20 Minutes
Haunted Mansion - 15 Minutes
Submarine Voyage - 15 Minutes
Pirates of the Caribbean - 10 Minutes
It's A Small World - 5 Minutes
Jungle Cruise - 5 Minutes

The rest of the D and C Tickets in both parks are mostly between 10 and 30 minute waits, except for Midway Mania which is 45 minutes, and 30 minutes for Peter Pan. Alice and Roger Rabbit, Goofy's Sky School, Dumbo and Teacups and Storybook Land Canal Boats are 20 minutes, Explorer Canoes and the Pixar Reach-A-Round are 15 minutes, Mr. Toad, Monsters Inc., Snow White, Pinocchio are 10 minutes. Mater's and Luigi's and Golden Zephyr and Silly Swings and Jumpin' Jellyfish are 10 minutes.

The Little Mermaid omnimover is its usual walk-on 5 minutes self. At WDW that one is considered some hugely impressive D+ Ticket that requires a Fastpass booked two months in advance.

 

[TP2000]

Unless your a huge Disney or Star Wars fan, I’m not sure the East Coast even knows about this. Yes I know it was on GMA 1 day but I don’t know if that even registered to people as being in Anaheim.
I live in Texas and there has not been 1 single bit of marketing of any kind here as well as no national marketing period.
Meanwhile we are being hit over the head 5 times a day with Hagarids Motorbike. My kids, 9 and 6, are dying to ride Hagarid, and know nothing about GE except what I’ve told them once.
I don’t understand The lack of marketing. It’s as if Anaheim has been reprimanded to do absolutely nothing to compete with WDW in terms of nationwide marketing. I’ve actually seen USH on a couple of national broadcasts advertising, but never DLR.

That was a directive from Bob Iger directly six months ago. Keep the marketing budget low to nonexistent. I think it's obvious they went too far and thought the neckbeard bloggers and a perky spot on Good Morning America would be more than enough.

https://orlando-rising.com/star-wars-galaxys-edge-not-going-to-take-much-marketing-says-disney-ceo/

Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger sounds confident that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be a major success when it opens in Disneyland and Walt Disney World later this year — enough so to joke that marketing expenses will be low.

“I’m thinking that maybe I should just tweet, ‘It’s opening,’ and that will be enough,” Iger said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “I think we’re going to end up with incredibly popular and in-demand product with these two new lands.”

Given the popularity of the Star Wars brand and nearly four years’ worth of hype among theme parks fans, drawing attention doesn’t seem to be a concern for Iger.

“It’s not going to take much marketing to do that,” he said. “That’s a signal that I just sent to our parks and resorts people to keep that budget really low.”

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Unless your a huge Disney or Star Wars fan, I’m not sure the East Coast even knows about this. Yes I know it was on GMA 1 day but I don’t know if that even registered to people as being in Anaheim.

They've been running ads in Southern Ontario and Western New York for weeks, stating the opening for both Disneyland and WDW. There was a commercial during the NBA finals game last night.

 

[shambolicdefending]

That was a directive from Bob Iger directly six months ago. Keep the marketing budget low to nonexistent. I think it's obvious they went too far and thought the neckbeard bloggers and a perky spot on Good Morning America would be more than enough.

Time to beat this drum a little louder...?

Iger and co. are guilty of some serious arrogance and out-of-touch-ness if they were really banking on the neckbeards to be beating down their door. At best, the hardcore nerd community is seriously divided on Disney Star Wars. Some of them are flat out hostile after what they let Rian Johnson do with The Last Jedi.

The mini-backlash that Solo experienced should've been a clue that maybe they haven't exactly endeared themselves to the fanatics the way they wanted...

 

[planodisney]

While Mermaid is more popular at Magic Kingdom, we never use a fastpass and I don’t think we have ever waited more than 10-15 minutes in the stand-by line. Don’t forget it’s in a park that has more than twice the attendance as DCA and less attractions than DL. So it’s automatically going to have a little longer wait time.

 

[The_Mesh_Hatter]

Blockout dates were just lifted for cast member sign ins. Seems like they’re correcting for their overzealous crowd control.

 

[TP2000]

Blockout dates were just lifted for cast member sign ins. Seems like they’re correcting for their overzealous crowd control.

What are the dates? I imagine they are weekdays?

 

[Disney Irish]

Time to beat this drum a little louder...?

Iger and co. are guilty of some serious arrogance and out-of-touch-ness if they were really banking on the neckbeards to be beating down their door. At best, the hardcore nerd community is seriously divided on Disney Star Wars. Some of them are flat out hostile after what they let Rian Johnson do with The Last Jedi.

The mini-backlash that Solo experienced should've been a clue that maybe they haven't exactly endeared themselves to the fanatics the way they wanted...

I'm sorry, I respect your opinion, but I don't think one has anything to do with the other.

What we are seeing is not some backlash over TLJ. What is being seen is two things, Disney being extra prepared (something they don't do often) and the normal park going public staying away for fear of wall-to-wall crowds (something that most experienced during Cars Land opening just 6 years ago).

If it was the other way around and it was wall-to-wall crowds then it would have been "Iger and co are guilty for not preparing for the mega crowds that Star Wars would bring in".

Everyone sits there and derides Disney for not doing something about crowding. And then when they finally do for a land opening they get criticized that its a failure because they're out of touch with the fans of the lands content.

 

[The_Mesh_Hatter]

What are the dates? I imagine they are weekdays?

Every day from now until the 16th

 

[shambolicdefending]

What we are seeing is not some backlash over TLJ. What is being seen is two things, Disney being extra prepared (something they don't do often) and the normal park going public staying away for fear of wall-to-wall crowds (something that most experienced during Cars Land opening just 6 years ago).

I actually agree with you. The decision to use a reservation system is probably the biggest reason crowds are so low right now. The second-biggest reason is probably AP blackouts.

But, I think there's a larger point be made about the brand, as well. Some of us have wondered all along if there are really THAT many people willing to endure stupid crowds and high prices to see SWGE. There's no shortage of Star Wars nerds in the world (I'm a mild one, myself), but most of them just aren't that passionate about what Disney has done, so far. Glancing over some of the online SW communities this week, there's a lot less chatter and discussion about SWGE than one might expect. The Star Wars subreddit has a few photos of original trilogy (*cough*) actors at the dedication ceremony, and not a ton else. A couple of other things here and there, but no rush of selfies in front of the Falcon or in-depth ride reviews. The only place I'm seeing those is on Disney sites.

Seems like that might be indicative of something...

 

[chadwpalm]

Blockout dates were just lifted for cast member sign ins. Seems like they’re correcting for their overzealous crowd control.

I really wanted to have a low-crowd park when I go on Friday!

 

[Disney Irish]

I actually agree with you. The decision to use a reservation system is probably the biggest reason crowds are so low right now. The second-biggest reason is probably AP blackouts.

But, I think there's a larger point be made about the brand, as well. Some of us have wondered all along if there are really THAT many people willing to endure stupid crowds and high prices to see SWGE. There's no shortage of Star Wars nerds in the world (I'm a mild one, myself), but most of them just aren't that passionate about what Disney has done, so far. Glancing over some of the online SW communities this week, there's a lot less chatter and discussion about SWGE than one might expect. The Star Wars subreddit has a few photos of original trilogy (*cough*) actors at the dedication ceremony, and not a ton else. A couple of other things here and there, but no rush of selfies in front of the Falcon or in-depth ride reviews. The only place I'm seeing those is on Disney sites.

Seems like that might be indicative of something...

I don't think we can say its indicative of anything right now. The land has been opened for only 4 days, so there is no trend to be gleaned just yet. My opinion, just based on my own internal poll of the SW fans in my family (some hardcore, some mild), is they are waiting for the crowds to die down just like the general public.

So let's wait and see how the rest of the summer goes before we start banging the "SW FANS HATE DISNEY AND SW:GE" drum.

 

[chadwpalm]

Why would anyone book their summer trip to Disneyland two weeks before they are able to go and see Galaxy's Edge?

 

[SuddenStorm]

Disney literally built two of these and is opening them months apart from each other. Walt Disney World is already considered by many to be the far better vacation option, and receives far more national marketing that Disneyland. I imagine there are many who are just planning on going to Galaxy's Edge when it opens there.

So we've got:

• A land opening without it's main attraction.
• A strict reservation system preventing many from visiting this week.
• The strictest pass blockouts we've seen
• A recent ticket price increase
• An identical land that's opening in a couple months- that has to decrease some demand for the Disneyland version
• A divided Star Wars community that's not happy with Disney's management of the franchise
• A land without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, C3P0, R2D2 which also has to minimize demand from the older generations of Star Wars fans.
• A CEO who's so overconfident that he didn't provide much of a marketing budget, thinking Twitter would be enough.
• This online expectation that the place would be packed- which has to get some people to hold off on their vacations.

Yeah, I'm not surprised by the crowds right now- let's see how they are when reservations are up and when WDW opens.

 

[shortstop]

Disney literally built two of these and is opening them months apart from each other. Walt Disney World is already considered by many to be the far better vacation option, and receives far more national marketing that Disneyland. I imagine there are many who are just planning on going to Galaxy's Edge when it opens there.

So we've got:

• A land opening without it's main attraction.
• A strict reservation system preventing many from visiting this week.
• The strictest pass blockouts we've seen
• A recent ticket price increase
• An identical land that's opening in a couple months- that has to decrease some demand for the Disneyland version
• A divided Star Wars community that's not happy with Disney's management of the franchise
• A land without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, C3P0, R2D2 which also has to minimize demand from the older generations of Star Wars fans.
• A CEO who's so overconfident that he didn't provide much of a marketing budget, thinking Twitter would be enough.
• This online expectation that the place would be packed- which has to get some people to hold off on their vacations.

Yeah, I'm not surprised by the crowds right now- let's see how they are when reservations are up and when WDW opens.

Pretty much this. Even if we are surprised by the low crowds, I can’t imagine Disney is surprised, considering they had complete control over all of this, most notably the availability of reservations.

As an aside, I’d like to throw my name in the mix of younger Disneyland ‘purists’

 

[shambolicdefending]

My opinion, just based on my own internal poll of the SW fans in my family (some hardcore, some mild), is they are waiting for the crowds to die down just like the general public.

Well, this is kind of my point. If everybody is waiting for the crowds to die down, when are the crowds actually going to show up? The hardcore SW fanatics are supposed to be the ones CREATING the crowds, not waiting them out. Don't misunderstand, I have no doubt that it's going to get really crowded once the reservations open up. But, maybe we're seeing early indicators that it won't be as intense and long-lasting as a lot of people thought.

So let's wait and see how the rest of the summer goes before we start banging the "SW FANS HATE DISNEY AND SW:GE" drum.

You are right about this. Far too early to do anything but speculate right now.

 

[DanielBB8]

Galaxy’s Edge seems to provide the Star Wars experience, but it’s all merchandising. Plus, it’s a fake Star Wars that’s not backed by anything from the movies. No familiar locations. Omission of main characters except for Chewbacca that leads one to miss just about everything Star Wars. Whatever it is, it’s by design. I would not predict whether the public receives it well. They just have to see it and decide or maybe they won’t.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Disney just lifted the ban on Disneyland for cast members...

 

[TP2000]

Every day from now until the 16th

Darnit! I really wanted to go this Saturday with light crowds due to all the employees being blocked out.