Why Disneyland’s $1 billion Star Wars land isn’t a bust despite flat attendance - OCR/SCNG

[Disneyland/DCA]

They should just apply the already known successful Glow Fest formula to star wars land. Whatever festival wdi makes up is happening on battu today, everyday and it attracts all walks of life.

Install permanent festival decor and additional bars and food booths along the too wide, desolate path that isn't the "meh marketplace." Increase f&b sales and eases the strain on the indoor bar.

Now pipe specially created music throughout the land and sell the soundtrack. Now put some bands on the already built stages, and bring out characters during show times to interact with the guests. No need to trick me into stopping for a "show" about chewy screaming at a spaceship 10ft above me or waste the large gathering space in front of kylo's ship.

Storywise it still works. Why wouldn't Rey and chewie come to a party? Why wouldn't they let a space pirate use their ship while they're on the planet? Why wouldn't kylo be following them and/or crash the party on his own accord? Why wouldn't we as guests leave the party and stumble upon the resistance base? Or why wouldn't the resistance purposely come this particular "day" to recruit drunken cannon fodder?

Also in my opinion the #1 problem with star wars land is the scale. It's off-putting in the context of the rest of the park. I don't know about anybody else but I do feel a difference in my body when standing in the land too long, and especially when looking out the window of the falcon queue. Its not quite nausea, but it's close. I think i could care less that it looks like a s h i t hole as long it matched what was presented over the rest of the parks 85 acres. It might even be charming at that point. But even when a real place like New Orleans steps aside for Disneyland's scale while star wars land refuse to and then gets in my face about it, it just doesn't sit well with me. Luckily somebody made the wise decision to hide it from the rest of the park.

 

[Mac Tonight]

They should just apply the already known successful Glow Fest formula to star wars land. Whatever festival wdi makes up is happening on battu today, everyday and it attracts all walks of life.

Install permanent festival decor and additional bars and food booths along the too wide, desolate path that isn't the "meh marketplace." Increase f&b sales and eases the strain on the indoor bar.

Now pipe specially created music throughout the land and sell the soundtrack. Now put some bands on the already built stages, and bring out characters during show times to interact with the guests. No need to trick me into stopping for a "show" about chewy screaming at a spaceship 10ft above me or waste the large gathering space in front of kylo's ship.

Storywise it still works. Why wouldn't Rey and chewie come to a party? Why wouldn't they let a space pirate use their ship while they're on the planet? Why wouldn't kylo be following them and/or crash the party on his own accord? Why wouldn't we as guests leave the party and stumble upon the resistance base? Or why wouldn't the resistance purposely come this particular "day" to recruit drunken cannon fodder?

Also in my opinion the #1 problem with star wars land is the scale. It's off-putting in the context of the rest of the park. I don't know about anybody else but I do feel a difference in my body when standing in the land too long, and especially when looking out the window of the falcon queue. Its not quite nausea, but it's close. I think i could care less that it looks like a s h i t hole as long it matched what was presented over the rest of the parks 85 acres. It might even be charming at that point. But even when a real place like New Orleans steps aside for Disneyland's scale while star wars land refuse to and then gets in my face about it, it just doesn't sit well with me. Luckily somebody made the wise decision to hide it from the rest of the park.

The one absolutely best aspect of Star Wars Land is that it is 100% avoidable.

 

[truecoat]

How does bringing in the classic characters do anything to change the perception of Batuu? If anything Batuu should be able to exist without any characters. Since the classic characters have been in Tomorrowland for over a decade, moving them to another part of the park doesnt add anything to the experience at all.

When I talk about inconsistency in criticism, this is exhibit A. This seems like nothing more than trying to pull Batuu into the middle of an already existing culture war between old and new inside the existing fan community. Batuu would be better for staying out of it, and keeping all the old characters dead.

The new characters don't have any staying power. You go to the MF and who the f is Hondo? Someone I have to look up on my phone for a clue? The Falcon was in three of the greatest space battle scenes of all time. Been there done that? Yes, but it's better than stealing crap from a train for a person I don't give a $%*& about.

Bringing back the classic characters will make it more familiar to the general public. They might end up with an attachment to the land instead of viewing it as a Star Wars cosplay mall. The whole thing along with the new trilogy comes off as bad fan fiction.

The Mandalorian on the other hand has it going on.

 

[Mac Tonight]

The new characters don't have any staying power. You go to the MF and who the f is Hondo? Someone I have to look up on my phone for a clue? The Falcon was in three of the greatest space battle scenes of all time. Been there done that? Yes, but it's better than stealing crap from a train for a person I don't give a $%*& about.

Bringing back the classic characters will make it more familiar to the general public. They might end up with an attachment to the land instead of viewing it as a Star Wars cosplay mall. The whole thing along with the new trilogy comes off as bad fan fiction.

The Mandalorian on the other hand has it going on.

Would people accept a Harry Potter World that didn’t prominently feature Harry, Ron, or Hermione??

Or do we suppose they’d be just fine with things centered around “extended universe” characters like Reginald Wafflehouse and Petunia Flufflepot? Or everyone’s favorite Gremlin, Haydook Babaganoosh.

 

[Screamface]

As I and others have said, GE feels like a theme park that didn't have the rights to Star Wars but tried to make something similar.

 

[HairyChest]

I took my mother and brother to Rise of the Resistance for the first time. I was really excited to hear their impressions after we rode. They both said it was ok. "Very big and seemed expensive but I wouldnt wait more then 15 minutes for that". Again, they arent Star Wars fans but they are big Disney themeparks fans.

There are people who enjoy Batuu and there is nothing wrong with that. The attention to detail is fantastic. But thats what gets me even more heated is they spent all this money and time and even had a plan that wouldve made it more successful but Kathleen Kennedy put a stop to the original plans (as revealed in an interview by someone working on Galaxy's Edge) and made it into this. It's a place some people like and alot of lifelong fans I know don't like, instead of a place fans would LOVE AND newbies would want to be in.

The worst excuse is "People are just tired of Star Wars". If that was the case, mandalorian wouldn't be successful, People wouldnt keep watching the movies on Disney + and cable TV, there wouldnt be a rerelease of empire strikes back in theaters, etc. I as a fan can barely wait for more star wars. They keep making bad decisions though.

 

[Screamface]

The worst excuse is "People are just tired of Star Wars". If that was the case, mandalorian wouldn't be successful, People wouldnt keep watching the movies on Disney + and cable TV, there wouldnt be a rerelease of empire strikes back in theaters, etc. I as a fan can barely wait for more star wars. They keep making bad decisions though.

Yeah, it's just newspeak to cover up that people don't like the sequel trilogy. Well,it's not even that they don't like it, it just doesn't resonate or connect with people the way other Star Wars has. They're disposable. Despite the sequels, people are favourable to a lot of the Disney era produced stuff. People like Rogue One, Solo, Mando and the latest season of Clone Wars. While I haven't conducted polling, the general consensus I have gathered from people I know and online in what aspects of the Star Wars community I visit is that people will revisit Solo and Rogue One multiple times before the sequels.

Even if they put the new Han Solo guy on the Falcon ride and it'd be better received than Hondo Ohcord. Have something to do with him, Chewie, running from Jabba, dropping Spice when confronted by an Imperial bulk cruiser.

 

[TP2000]

They should just apply the already known successful Glow Fest formula to star wars land. Whatever festival wdi makes up is happening on battu today, everyday and it attracts all walks of life.

Install permanent festival decor and additional bars and food booths along the too wide, desolate path that isn't the "meh marketplace." Increase f&b sales and eases the strain on the indoor bar.

Now pipe specially created music throughout the land and sell the soundtrack. Now put some bands on the already built stages, and bring out characters during show times to interact with the guests. No need to trick me into stopping for a "show" about chewy screaming at a spaceship 10ft above me or waste the large gathering space in front of kylo's ship.

Storywise it still works. Why wouldn't Rey and chewie come to a party? Why wouldn't they let a space pirate use their ship while they're on the planet? Why wouldn't kylo be following them and/or crash the party on his own accord? Why wouldn't we as guests leave the party and stumble upon the resistance base? Or why wouldn't the resistance purposely come this particular "day" to recruit drunken cannon fodder?

Also in my opinion the #1 problem with star wars land is the scale. It's off-putting in the context of the rest of the park. I don't know about anybody else but I do feel a difference in my body when standing in the land too long, and especially when looking out the window of the falcon queue. Its not quite nausea, but it's close. I think i could care less that it looks like a s h i t hole as long it matched what was presented over the rest of the parks 85 acres. It might even be charming at that point. But even when a real place like New Orleans steps aside for Disneyland's scale while star wars land refuse to and then gets in my face about it, it just doesn't sit well with me. Luckily somebody made the wise decision to hide it from the rest of the park.

Your idea there is brilliant. Truly brilliant.

Although the irony is that as much fun as Glow Fest was, for that brief and special summer that it existed, it wasn't done by WDI or even Disneyland's Entertainment department.

That was the scandal, as some of us remember. Glow Fest was mostly done out-of-house and it showed that you don't have to wear a plastic nametag and work in a TDA cubicle to create something magical. And I hate the word magical!

But your point is well made. Star Wars Land feels lifeless and dead and oddly out of scale to the rest of the park. It is in desperate need of just a single ounce of the Disneyland charm that exists by the gallon beyond its tunnel portals, even with the slightly larger footprint it has in Anaheim compared to the shoehorned, smaller version in Orlando.

Star Wars Land needs an overlay. A fun, witty, charming overlay that doesn't take itself so drearily serious. It needs a party. And maybe Vi Moradi could even try a new tint from the Clairol ColorSilk line for the occasion?

 

[waltography]

They should just apply the already known successful Glow Fest formula to star wars land. Whatever festival wdi makes up is happening on battu today, everyday and it attracts all walks of life.

They even already have a festival in-universe they could implement for Black Spire Outpost: Batuuan Harvest Festival. Add some color, add some life, draw from night markets and bazaars, and add entertainment for god's sake.

I don't think WDI's approach with making an original land like Batuu was flawed, but it made the land vulnerable thematically were cuts to happen (as they did by opening day). Batuu failed because it didn't have life and it had nothing to endear fans and guests alike. Supporting the life of the land with a flimsy app and grating "language" was a non-starter without the rest they promised.

 

[Screamface]

They even already have a festival in-universe they could implement for Black Spire Outpost: Batuuan Harvest Festival.

Ah yes, the Star Wars harvest festival everyone is so familiar with!

From such widely read Star Wars novels as the 1984 children's book "The Ewoks' Hang-Gliding Adventure " or an episode of the Ewok cartoon. Or from the 25th issue of the "X-wing Rogue Aquarden" comic book from 1997.

Like Batuu it's meaningless. I don't want to be pessimistic, they, of course, can do new stuff but they need to better connect to the fans and the general public whose knowledge isn't that great. It's why the "life day" idea was lame. Made up or obscure festivals that mean nothing to anyone, will not connect to people.

"Honey, do you want to take the kids to Disneyland for the Batuu Harvest Festival this weekend?" will be said by no one. I mean, it could grow into something but that's long term but they don't have the luxury for that at the moment.

Fall of the Empire celebrations, have an illuminated Death Star painted weather balloon during a fireworks display, culminating in a giant firework to appear as if it blew up. Would get people. I'm sure the Imagineers could find some way to suspend X-wings on wires, drones, have deployable screens to project x-wins above the land.

Battuu has all the spires and stuff, what if the land was built where they could replace the facades, rock towers can become buildings on cloud city. Mix it up for events. Turn the land into a giant pink birthday cake!

 

[BuzzedPotatoHead89]

As many have said... SWGE leaves much to be desired but I do think it’s still redeemable. The land lacks life, and “character“. Further the “characters” that do exist (in terms of the Batuu villagers) don’t match the setting as is currently established. Sequel trilogy arguments aside, the most compelling component of the land is RoTR in part for this reason. But in the marketplace and with MFSR there seems to be a storyline that was worked into the theme that was not translated into the actual experience.

Really I’ve come to the conclusion the “war torn” appearance of Batuu can only work (in terms of both enjoyability and believability for me) if there is an actual appearance of a war/conflict going on within the land. Meaning beyond merely the walk around Kylo, Chewie and Rey who mostly roam around the to pose with the elaborate props and greet guests.

Otherwise because of the appearance tattered buildings, ambient noise, and drab earth tones, what you’re left with just feels depressing and desolate. Like an abandoned movie set, or where you just arrived 2 hours after the last guests left the party. Had it been known that the staff budget would have been cut to shambles I genuinely think it would’ve been best to go with a more festive/warm appearance (if not more recognizable too).

If the mostly empty catwalks and stages were used for mini-stunt shows with variations of characters, like more than a pair stormtroopers, smugglers/Pirates, and even mandalorians wandering around the land it would be much more believable.

 

[SuddenStorm]

If the people who made Galaxy Edge did Star Tours, you wouldn't have gone to the Death Star and done a trench run.

Interestingly enough, this generation of Imagineers did take a stab at Star Tours. They took out the trench run and reduced the ride to a billboard for the latest film.

 

[SuddenStorm]

ROTR is weird for me. I agree that in some ways it’s groundbreaking and yet I don’t find it to be very much fun.

I'll never forget when I hopped on Rise during an unannounced cast preview back in early December after trying a few times but having the ride break down prior to me getting to that corner of the resort in time.

I mean, as far as die hard Disneyland fans go I've been obsessed with that park since I was a child. So to have the opportunity to ride the park's first E ticket in my lifetime (sorry, Target Run doesn't count) prior to the ride's official open should have been a defining moment for me.

Instead, I was impressed with some of the staging and effects but got off the ride, went 'meh', and took a right to head back to Harbor Pointe instead of going left and hopping back in the 15 minute line.

Talk about a swing and a miss.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Or from the "Great Exodus of Batuu" that lead to all of the bounty hunters, aliens, Jedi, and droids to flee leaving it abandoned and sad?

I remember some Disney exec or Imagineering intern or someone in a promotional video talking about how you'd be in Oga's, and a bounty hunter would tell you Hondo's put a price on your head... due to your poor performance on the Falcon simulator.

Still waiting for that to happen.

 

[socalifornian]

As many have said... SWGE leaves much to be desired but I do think it’s still redeemable. The land lacks life, and “character“. Further the “characters” that do exist (in terms of the Batuu villagers) don’t match the setting as is currently established. Sequel trilogy arguments aside, the most compelling component of the land is RoTR in part for this reason. But in the marketplace and with MFSR there seems to be a storyline that was worked into the theme that was not translated into the actual experience.

Really I’ve come to the conclusion the “war torn” appearance of Batuu can only work (in terms of both enjoyability and believability for me) if there is an actual appearance of a war/conflict going on within the land. Meaning beyond merely the walk around Kylo, Chewie and Rey who mostly roam around the to pose with the elaborate props and greet guests.

Otherwise because of the appearance tattered buildings, ambient noise, and drab earth tones, what you’re left with just feels depressing and desolate. Like an abandoned movie set, or where you just arrived 2 hours after the last guests left the party. Had it been know the the staff budget would have been cut to shambles I genuinely think it would’ve been best to go with a more festive/warm appearance (if not more recognizable too).

If the mostly empty catwalks and stages were used for mini-stunt shows with variations of characters, like more than a pair stormtroopers, smugglers/Pirates, and even mandalorians wandering around the land it would be much more believable.

The entire point of that run-down look stems from Lucas’ desire to have the galaxy feel “lived in” for the original trilogy. It just doesn’t work when there’s only a few walking around to live in it at limited points of the day. If they’re including the guests most of us are out of character in our earth clothes, RIP 4 Keys

 

[GimpYancIent]

The entire point of that run-down look stems from Lucas’ desire to have the galaxy feel “lived in” for the original trilogy. It just doesn’t work when there’s only a few walking around to live in it at limited points of the day. If they’re including the guests most of us are out of character in our earth clothes, RIP 4 Keys

Droids? What about the interactive droids?

 

[smooch]

Even if they put the new Han Solo guy on the Falcon ride and it'd be better received than Hondo Ohcord. Have something to do with him, Chewie, running from Jabba, dropping Spice when confronted by an Imperial bulk cruiser.

I'm sure they would use the actor from Solo because it would be easier, but I would love if they developed a younger CGI version of Harrison Ford as Han Solo for the ride in the same way they created young Luke and Leia for TROS when Luke is training Leia. It would take more time and money so I doubt it would be done. I haven't been on the ride so I don't know how you see the characters you're communicating with if it's like a screen to the side like Star Tours or if they pop up on the main screen in a transmission, but if you used a CGI young Harrison Ford and then applied to projection effect used for every transmission in Star Wars then I think it could look pretty dang good. That's my pipe dream, though, I don't expect it to happen but it would be a fantastic way to get the actual old characters into the land and not Disney's dollar store Han Solo.

Really I’ve come to the conclusion the “war torn” appearance of Batuu can only work (in terms of both enjoyability and believability for me) if there is an actual appearance of a war/conflict going on within the land. Meaning beyond merely the walk around Kylo, Chewie and Rey who mostly roam around the to pose with the elaborate props and greet guests.

That sentence about creating an actual appearance of war / conflict going on just made me realize how they missed an opportunity to do a show with Stormtroopers firing their blasters and "missing" their target and they could set up little blast effects around the show scenes. Imagine if some of the Stormtroopers were firing at Rey or Chewie or the blue haired girl (I genuinely forgot her name, is it Vi or something?) and when they miss there could be an impact past the actor with a puff of smoke and a flash. Of course that would mean they'd need to implement shows, but that would be a cool idea to actually give meaning to the war torn aesthetic they have created, it would show why the town looks the way it does.

Also, I just wanted to give my two cents. The couple of Star Wars fans I have as friends that have gone to the land have said they find the land boring. They told me it's cool to look at but it's empty and doesn't have much to do, unless you want to spend a couple hundred dollars extra on an already expensive vacation. They don't like the locked timeline aspect, they said they wished Han, Luke, Leia, and Vader were there at least. These are friends who aren't big theme park fans, they'll go to Disneyland every so often but they aren't critical fans like we on the forum are. They didn't go to the park specifically for Galaxy's Edge but since they were going anyways they were excited to see the land and while they did enjoy it they all told me they were let down in different ways. Comparing that to my Disney Park fan friends who either work at the park or want to work there or who live down there so they have APs and will stop in for lunch and leave I have been told by all but 1 of them that the land looks cool but there isn't much to do. These people (for the most part) didn't watch Star Wars before the ST and thus it was basically their introduction to the land so they enjoy the characters and don't care about the lack of OT characters and even they say there's so few characters. They could've added Poe or Finn but they added the blue hair girl that didn't exist until the land opened. These friends seemed to enjoy the land more than my Star Wars fan friends did, but they got bored of the land pretty quick. They would stop in most of the times they went to the park either to get food / a drink and walk around and look at the shops and enjoy being in a new land, but they got bored of it pretty soon after. They complained there's nothing to do unless you spend money there, that the first ride that opened was pretty boring compared to other rides in the park, and even when RotR opened the fact that you could only ride it once a day meant there was no reason to stay in the land. They would go to the parks and just completely ignore the land, they said they could have more fun in any other area of the park. One of my friends literally preferred grabbing some food and sitting along the Rivers of America by Critter Country and people watching / enjoying the atmosphere of the canoes and the rafts and the Mark Twain going by rather than visiting the new billion dollar land and that seems to be a common consensus here.

I know that's anecdotal evidence but the attendance numbers seem to back up the same sentiment: attendance did not increase. The land did not pull in all the Star Wars fans like they claimed it would, instead it served as an extra place for the people who would already visit Disneyland. But even then those visitors seem to lose interest over a short amount of time and go back to the rest of the park. That's the point of this whole thread which seems to have been lost to @el_super arguing about the critical evaluation of the land by everyone else. The land did not accomplish its goal. All the press events and statements from Disney made the claim that Star Wars fans who weren't theme park fans would go out of their way to visit Disneyland, so they had to widen walkways and block out CMs around opening and create a boarding group system for the land because so many people would want to be there. Yet when the land opened to the public the park was empty and took a long time to recover from the absolute decimation of attendance numbers. You can go watch the videos from when GE opened, the park was so empty it was astounding. Yet the crowds never came. GE was never packed to the gills, but the bar and lightsaber events were sold out / full because of how poorly planned they were operationally speaking, they have such limited numbers of how many guests can experience them per day that it created a false sense of business. Disney said the park would be packed and it was the exact opposite and then this article tried to flip the tables and give people the idea that Disney did not plan for massive crowds and that they just wanted to increase spending. They lied and changed their tune because of what happened and we are calling that out because Disney tries to flip everything they do as a success even when it was a failure, which it was. In comparison to what Disney wanted to happen and expected to happen the opening of the land was a genuine failure, that isn't speaking to the execution / idea of the land, it is just the factual truth.

 

[tirian]

hahaha what trees did he add? Grizzly Peak airfield?

Quick digression:
The “Imagineering” documentary makes a really big deal out of the trees Iger supposedly added to CarsLand. Of course, the docu also implies CL was fully developed as an expansion long before WDI knew Pixar was working on “Cars.”

The documentary’s script loosely combines a few facts (a Route 66 blue-sky proposal, the disaster of DCA 1.0) and strangely ignores the truth (Pixar and WDI worked together on CarsLand) to tip-toe around Lasseter’s involvement.

It’s an unnecessary lie; just credit CarsLand to Pixar and WDI, and move on. But the final two episodes of “Imagineering” play fast-and-loose with many projects to make Iger look like a savior. Somewhere on the boards, members have documented all the errors in the final two episodes, such as crediting Iger and WDI with Haunted Mansion Holiday. The two scripts straight-lie repeatedly for no reason whatsoever—except someone’s botched PR job.

So yeah, back to the trees. There’s a two-minute segment about trees to proclaim, “Iger to the rescue!”

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Quick digression:
The “Imagineering” documentary makes a really big deal out of the trees Iger supposedly added to CarsLand. Of course, the docu also implies CL was fully developed as an expansion long before WDI knew Pixar was working on “Cars.”

The documentary’s script loosely combines a few facts (a Route 66 blue-sky proposal, the disaster of DCA 1.0) and strangely ignores the truth (Pixar and WDI worked together on CarsLand) to tip-toe around Lasseter’s involvement.

It’s an unnecessary lie; just credit CarsLand to Pixar and WDI, and move on. But the final two episodes of “Imagineering” play fast-and-loose with many projects to make Iger look like a savior. Somewhere on the boards, members have documented all the errors in the final two episodes, such as crediting Iger and WDI with Haunted Mansion Holiday. The two scripts straight-lie repeatedly for no reason whatsoever—except someone’s botched PR job.

So yeah, back to the trees. There’s a two-minute segment about trees to proclaim, “Iger to the rescue!”

And then, within 90 days of those episodes premiering Iger stops being CEO. What a waste.

 

[tirian]

Would people accept a Harry Potter World that didn’t prominently feature Harry, Ron, or Hermione??

Or do we suppose they’d be just fine with things centered around “extended universe” characters like Reginald Wafflehouse and Petunia Flufflepot? Or everyone’s favorite Gremlin, Haydook Babaganoosh.

@el_super — I’m interested in your opinion. Truly. No offense; I’m not trying to start trouble.

You’ve argued this point many times in defense of SWGE—enough to make me wonder if you have a personal attachment to it IRL — and I’m truly curious to know how you’d apply the same logic to a Wizarding World without its best known characters. Would it work? Could it work?

Because here’s the main thing: I don’t think the new planet was a bad idea. It looks so much like Tatooine, does it really matter what it’s named? IMHO, the big issue involved the selected IP. WDI and Lucasfilm expected the new trilogy to be a bigger cultural hit than it was*, and they thought this sort of time-locked comic-con cosplay was the solution guests wanted. They thought it was the next step to bringing guests into a theme park universe. IMHO, they also didn’t consider that IRL, the queues, overpriced crap, and time schedules immediately destroy any semblance of world-building they attempted.

*Don’t quote box office numbers. Plenty of movies make tons of money and disappear from the public consciousness. Culturally, classic SW still reigns over the prequels and sequels, not to mention the EU or cartoons. Only “The Child” merch stands alongside classic SW sales, and that’s because people see a cute baby version of Yoda.