Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (Disneyland)

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

As a consumer and Star Wars fanatic (also not a Disney Hater, just saying) there a few things that have turned me off from this land:

- Took them a tad too long to open imo. The HYPE for Star Wars was at its peak during The Force Awakens. Truly, I think Disney not opening this lands sooner, and around that time, has proven to hurt them. While Solo is not the judge for how all Star Wars films will do in the future, the money was down quite a bit for a Star Wars film. The Last Jedi realllyyyyyy did sour a lot of hardcore fans. Opening a new land based on the divisive new trilogy, with a new location no one is familiar with, is a MAJOR risk. The quality of the land isn't awful, of course, but imagine going to Tatooine!!! Missed opportunity there and Ive felt that from the start.

- Not opening Rise of The Resistance but thats already been discussed.

- Seems like a forced shopping mall thats well Star Wars themed. Someone has brought this up here before but its a really strong point. The shops at WWOHP work so well because they are real stores in the films. So they become an attraction in itself. Other than the way too small Cantina, these are all forced stores. Im not someone who personally is into shopping, so this couldn't be less appealing to me personally. Granted Im not everybody so I understand not EVERYTHING will appeal to me, but without opening Rise, this feels like a super well themed Star Wars shopping mall. So Im not sure how to feel about that. Again, the original location doesn't help here.

- Scaring away the public. Have we ever seen a company advertise to not come? Idk, id want overflow (reasonably) if I were Disney. Make as much $ as humanly possible and they played it safe. Don't ever expect that again from them lol.


Improvements can be made of course. But entertainment sounds desperately needed.

 

[nigelUK]

So reservations to build a $200 light sabar pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to build a $100 driod pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to buy drinks in the cantina pretty much sell out daily. Wait times for the ride around 90 mins and the land isnt shoulder to shoulder with guests meaning happy customers giving them more time to spend money in shops. The land its self I would see as a major hit and printing money for Disney. However the impact of much lower than expected crowds on the rest of the park may be a bit more of a worry.


That said if its mostly APs that arent going (who I am guessing wont spend any where near as much as the tourist in the parks after there initial out lay of the AP) and the people in the park are ones that have paid on gate then again win for Disney!!!


As others have said lets see what happens in Orlando at the end of August before we judge but to me it’s a win so far.


On the point that if this isnt seen as a hit by the Disney big wigs it may have an impact on future investment. I just don’t see that. In Calli they are already commited to the Marvel expansion and in Florida their main rival are about to build a whole new gate so they will have no option but to invest big just to tread water

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So reservations to build a $200 light sabar pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to build a $100 driod pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to buy drinks in the cantina pretty much sell out daily. Wait times for the ride around 90 mins and the land isnt shoulder to shoulder with guests meaning happy customers giving them more time to spend money in shops. The land its self I would see as a major hit and printing money for Disney. However the impact of much lower than expected crowds on the rest of the park may be a bit more of a worry.

There are no reservations to make droids (plenty of photos around of empty droid depot) and plenty of experience from those in the land of empty shops and restaurants.

 

[nigelUK]

There are no reservations to make droids (plenty of photos around of empty droid depot) and plenty of experience from those in the land of empty shops and restaurants.

Was under the impression they gave you a time to come back when busy so sort of a reservation but you will have more info than me I guess. Point been they are selling $200 & $100 merch A LOT and that is more than the gate price!! Plus they have managed crowds so people actually enjoy their time in the land (yes they have over managed it maybe a little to much). Also this has replaced what? A BBQ restaurant it’s a massive win for them

 

[shiekra38]

Took them a tad too long to open IMO. The HYPE for Star Wars was at its peak during The Force Awakens. Truly, I think Disney not opening this lands sooner, and around that time, has proven to hurt them.

I agree, Star Wars is kind of in a weird spot right now. Last Jedi was super polarizing on purpose, Solo was boring and a waste of time, and people seem to have lost interest in the next installment.

I know Iger says Star Wars is Disney's biggest property, but I wonder what the impact of an Avengers Land would have been at this time.

It's interesting that Disney has been partnered with Lucasfilm for a long time and never did anything with Star Wars, and then all the sudden they inundated the parks with it.

As I said before, it's awesome, but it's late.

To make yet another comparison to Hogsmede, it opened when the Potter craze was in full force. Diagon opened directly after the series wrapped. Both were open at prime times.

I'm not sure if Disney is delusional enough to think Star Wars hype is at a peak right now after The Last Jedi, but I could be wrong. I think Iger is smarter than that though.

 

[Scott W.]

Was under the impression they gave you a time to come back when busy so sort of a reservation but you will have more info than me I guess. Point been they are selling $200 & $100 merch A LOT and that is more than the gate price!! Plus they have managed crowds so people actually enjoy their time in the land (yes they have over managed it maybe a little to much). Also this has replaced what? A BBQ restaurant it’s a massive win for them

I've heard numbers ranging from $500 million to $1.3 billion for Galaxy's Edge (Each not both and that number is rising as long as Rise is shut) and if it's the latter, even if they do a million dollars a day in Galaxy's Edge, it's going to take 4 years to get that money back and if people are avoiding the rest of the park, the overall income is dropping.

 

[smoaT]

So reservations to build a $200 light sabar pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to build a $100 driod pretty much sell out daily. Reservations to buy drinks in the cantina pretty much sell out daily. Wait times for the ride around 90 mins and the land isnt shoulder to shoulder with guests meaning happy customers giving them more time to spend money in shops. The land its self I would see as a major hit and printing money for Disney. However the impact of much lower than expected crowds on the rest of the park may be a bit more of a worry.


That said if its mostly APs that arent going (who I am guessing wont spend any where near as much as the tourist in the parks after there initial out lay of the AP) and the people in the park are ones that have paid on gate then again win for Disney!!!


As others have said lets see what happens in Orlando at the end of August before we judge but to me it’s a win so far.


On the point that if this isnt seen as a hit by the Disney big wigs it may have an impact on future investment. I just don’t see that. In Calli they are already commited to the Marvel expansion and in Florida their main rival are about to build a whole new gate so they will have no option but to invest big just to tread water

It's not a win. Top brass is worried, hence the new AP promo to bring a friend and a comeback of the Main Street Electrical Parade to bring people in. Disneyland projections were off the charts. That's what project Stardust was for, that's what the new parking structure was for. Heck, we even got very detailed instructions on what to do when in the park. They assured everyone that if the park hit capacity, you would be allowed in. They even implemented boarding groups, which were not needed. Yes, they are selling merch, but not the boatloads they expected to sell. If the land is empty there is only so much people can buy. Believe me, this was not the opening they were looking for

 

[nigelUK]

I heard numbers for Hagrid at $300 million with no food or merch locations so that will take even longer to pay back but doesnt mean its not going to be a sucsses (when they get the thing running like it should). Point been both Disney & Universal have to invest in parks to bring in the bucks. I dont see how SW:GE isnt seen as a win for all theme park goers and Disney themselves

 

[smoaT]

I think that Potter and GE share a lot of parallels but Potter translates better into a theme park environment. Take Butterbeer and Green/Blue Milk as the prime example.

Oh no... not that. All 3 butterbeers are good. I didn't like any of the milks. It baffles me that they chose the flavors they chose. The current formula is awful. I expect that they will change it soon

 

[Mad Dog]

I agree, Star Wars is kind of in a weird spot right now. Last Jedi was super polarizing on purpose, Solo was boring and a waste of time, and people seem to have lost interest in the next installment.

I know Iger says Star Wars is Disney's biggest property, but I wonder what the impact of an Avengers Land would have been at this time.

It's interesting that Disney has been partnered with Lucasfilm for a long time and never did anything with Star Wars, and then all the sudden they inundated the parks with it.

As I said before, it's awesome, but it's late.

To make yet another comparison to Hogsmede, it opened when the Potter craze was in full force. Diagon opened directly after the series wrapped. Both were open at prime times.

I'm not sure if Disney is delusional enough to think Star Wars hype is at a peak right now after The Last Jedi, but I could be wrong. I think Iger is smarter than that though.

One additional point. When Disney opened the Star Wars encounter area in conjunction with an outdoor stage show, storm trooper mini parade, more film shorts in Star Tours, and and a SW projection show at DHS a couple of years ago, they did it with a lot of marketing flair, so much so it seemed like an expansion area, even though it wasn't actually a coherent land. And before that it was SW Weekends. . So for fans of the franchise the GESWL is certainly the 'biggest budgeted and largest scope' of all the Star Wars, but it's just the latest in a long term life of the SW franchise at Disney, one in which they've done a pretty decent job. The Disneyland SW stuff hasn't been as extensive as DHS, but it's still be pretty long lived. Bottom line; This is a long lived IP at Disney, not something brand new like Potter at the time of the Hogsmeade opening, so it's really unfair to compare GESWL opening with Hogsmeade's opening.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I can care less about story continuity... the land would be so much better if you can see both the new and old characters. Switch them every hour or so.

 

[Mad Dog]

I heard numbers for Hagrid at $300 million with no food or merch locations so that will take even longer to pay back but doesnt mean its not going to be a sucsses (when they get the thing running like it should). Point been both Disney & Universal have to invest in parks to bring in the bucks. I dont see how SW:GE isnt seen as a win for all theme park goers and Disney themselves

I wouldn't put much stock in that $300 million dollar figure that received the typical internet hype without examining where it came from. The figure came from a Tampa Bay newspaper interview with an employee of a local theme park consulting firm. It was just a guess estimate from that employee without any real credibility. I would seriously doubt Universal would budget anywhere near that figure for Hagrid. Maybe Disney would, but that's completely out of the ball park of what Universal spends on individual attractions. Not Universal, or any other source, has backed up the guy's guess.

 

[SkiBum]

At what point do you price some people out? The cost of building a lightsabre is pretty dang high. Seems like the other shops would also have high costs for souvenirs. There really is a point on the demand curve that just eliminates people. Heck, we're taking to buying food from local grocery stores when we go to WDW and eating that instead of onsite food. Same would be true for going to DL. I just can't fathom spending as much on SWGE merchandise no matter how nice the land is. Plus, as others have stated, DL doesn't seem to have the same amount of outside tourists coming in but typically pulls in the majority of the guests from CA. I could be wrong on that assumption, though, and it wouldn't be the first or last time.

Of course, I'm also in the camp of wishing that Disney would build great individual rides that could have a nice courtyard area but that don't need entire themed lands. I don't know what the costs are for each SWGE land but, for the estimated costs (Forbes reported $1.0B for Disneyland's alone), we only get two rides. With Rise of the Resistance not running, the land feels very underwhelming. Again, I'd rather have three to four new rides (if Disney could get the costs under control) for the same amounts of money spent on the land.

 

[Freak]

I got to experience Galaxy's Edge yesterday after being away for a while in Europe. I am currently a peasant SoCal Select pass, and one of my buddies with a Platinum Pass was nice enough to get me a $100 park hopper with that deal going on. I stayed from opening until closing.

Of course the first thing we did was Smuggler's Run. I am totally convinced that Hondo Onaka is the best AA in the entire resort. People who saw that on my Instagram story kept asking me if that was an actor. It blew my mind how fluid his movements were and how he was able to lift his legs and shift his weight around. two or three of my rides involved single rider so missing out on the pre-show was kind of a bummer on those rides. While we were waiting in the "lobby" for one of our rides, some sirens went off and the lights were flashing. The CMs were yelling for someone to push the red button at the far end of the room to make it stop. Even before the ride started, there was already some interactivity. We were able to get a whopping six rides on that thing the entire day and managed to have all three positions. Out of all of them, I think Pilot is the most fun, but I'm still indecisive to whether I think Engineer or gun is my least favorite. Gun is kinda fun because you get to shoot at the bad guys, but at the same time, it's a little boring as it mainly involves just holding down the button to shoot. Engineer is more interactive as you get to push all of the light up buttons to fix the ship and fire the harpoons at the train you're going after; but at the same time, it is kinda distracting when you want to see what's going on. I was also a little surprised how aggressive the motion is. When you crash into something, man that ride punishes everyone for screwing up. You can really feel that jolt.

I really liked how they disguised both entrances to make it seem cohesive as one hallway but allow for multiple cockpits for capacity. On one of the two rides I did single rider, I ended up with a group that had someone in a wheelchair. When it was our turn, I discovered something really cool: When you enter the right hallway, there is another door. I always thought that to be an emergency exit, but no; it's actually the wheelchair access entrance. It's a copy of the same hallway that you would normally enter, but it's designed for wheelchair access. It was almost a totally different experience. Where the hatch would be to cover the other end of the hallway to maintain the cohesiveness, to the right was an elevator entrance for wheelchairs. While it would normally be a fast-paced experience to get you in there ASAP, it was a lot more slower-paced. You had an extended video with Hondo talking about your mission and a moment where he would complain about something not working. After that, the CM would discuss everyone's roles, and we saw the previous party leave the cockpit and go to the exit.

It was really neat to do the "wheelchair version" of the ride because it felt like an extended cut of the ride. The cockpits are all on a rotation that rotates out, but this one clearly was just "on its own", independent from all of the cycles. This was very apparent as 1) The pacing for the loading was much slower 2) When you go in, there screen is blank. Normally when the ride begins, there is an image, and you can see and feel the ship "rotating". Here, the image just fades up, moves forward, and then takes off. 3) The ride was at least 30 seconds longer because there was a bonus mission! After you collected the Coaxium (Spelling?), you would go into space and get attacked by tie fighters. Although it was not long, it was cool to see an extension of the ride. The only downer about it is if you damage the ship, there's no cues to make that apparent when you exit as the next party would be waiting in the wheelchair access. It was really neat to see an alternate experience of the ride. Overall, I think it's a really fun ride, but it's not got enough to anchor the entire land. I did enjoy it more than Star Tours but I can see why people would think otherwise. Either you will love the ride or you'll be tepid about it. The interaction really cuts the line down the middle as to whether it's fun for people or not.....but I loved it!

Whew! That was a lot of time discussing the ride. Now for the rest of the land but will do it quickly as I want to get this into one post. Let's discuss food and drink. Didn't eat at Docking Bay 7 as I didn't feel like paying $16 for a fairly small plate. I had a breakfast Ronto Wrap which tasted good, but was a galactic hot dog. The texture of the meat was a little rubbery. The blue milk was actually tasty (Didn't try green). It tasted like a jolly rancher shake. I think they made a good balance of making it enjoyable and making it as "realistic" as possible. What would you expect from milk of a bantha? We went to Olga's. Side note: I was surprised that you can line up as early as 8:30 to get in there. You could see a small line of people in there trying to get in that early. You can tell who the true alcoholics are. So I got the Gamorean ale and Batuu Bites. My buddy got the lager one (Couldn't remember what it was called) and the Slug Slinger. I liked my ale. I had a sip of both of my buddy's drinks and we liked the lager he got but both disliked the Slinger as it was too minty. The Battu bites were....interesting. It looks amazing, but some of it I liked, some of it I thought tasted weird. Don't know if I'll get that again. I'm actually more interested in trying their non-alcoholic drinks next time I go. The sound better and are far cheaper. lol I really loved the atmosphere of the Cantina. Rex was great and I loved how the whole thing "shut down" and had to restart. I do think it was a missed opportunity to not have the OG Cantina band play. Like, c'mon. That's what everyone was expecting....but oh well.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Was under the impression they gave you a time to come back when busy so sort of a reservation but you will have more info than me I guess. Point been they are selling $200 & $100 merch A LOT and that is more than the gate price!! Plus they have managed crowds so people actually enjoy their time in the land (yes they have over managed it maybe a little to much). Also this has replaced what? A BBQ restaurant it’s a massive win for them

Yes lightsabers are expensive and the land will generate more revenue than a bbq place. That's not the point anyone is making. Instead we're saying a historically empty resort does not generate a profit, especially one that is staffed as if it's going to get historically LARGE crowds. "Happier guests spend more!" is true but doesn't counter the fact there are very few people at the resort. If I'm the only person in the park I'll probably spend more than if there were 80,000 in there, true. But at what point is the tipping point where adding more guests doesn't add profit? I'm willing to bet Disney is way below that point. To put it this way: what is more profitable: 15,000 guests in a park each spending $200 or 50,000 guests at the resort spending $70 each (especially factoring in the costs of running a resort as if it was staffed for 45,000 guests).

Disney's actions, both before and after June 24, show they were expecting many many more single day ticket and multi-day ticket guests than they received.

I'm not saying SWGE is a failure or that this is the new normal, I'm saying the whole "they sell lightsabers that are more expensive than a bbq place and fewer guests make happy guests who spend more" story doesn't hold actual water.

I heard numbers for Hagrid at $300 million with no food or merch locations so that will take even longer to pay back but doesnt mean its not going to be a sucsses (when they get the thing running like it should). Point been both Disney & Universal have to invest in parks to bring in the bucks. I dont see how SW:GE isnt seen as a win for all theme park goers and Disney themselves

Hagrid is probably close to $300m but not quite that number. The goals of both additions are different too, Hagrid has a land full of these merchandise and food options that it is feeding into already.

 

[smoaT]

Yes lightsabers are expensive and the land will generate more revenue than a bbq place. That's not the point anyone is making. Instead we're saying a historically empty resort does not generate a profit, especially one that is staffed as if it's going to get historically LARGE crowds. "Happier guests spend more!" is true but doesn't counter the fact there are very few people at the resort. If I'm the only person in the park I'll probably spend more than if there were 80,000 in there, true. But at what point is the tipping point where adding more guests doesn't add profit? I'm willing to bet Disney is way below that point. To put it this way: what is more profitable: 15,000 guests in a park each spending $200 or 50,000 guests at the resort spending $70 each (especially factoring in the costs of running a resort as if it was staffed for 45,000 guests).

Disney's actions, both before and after June 24, show they were expecting many many more single day ticket and multi-day ticket guests than they received.

I'm not saying SWGE is a failure or that this is the new normal, I'm saying the whole "they sell lightsabers that are more expensive than a bbq place and fewer guests make happy guests who spend more" story doesn't hold actual water.



Hagrid is probably close to $300m but not quite that number. The goals of both additions are different too, Hagrid has a land full of these merchandise and food options that it is feeding into already.

Exactly. We are not yet at the point of calling it a failure, but there is evidence that we might head up there though. The merch argument doesn't hold any water. Those denying that Disneyland wasn't expecting way more crowds are just ignoring facts

 

[shiekra38]

Exactly. We are not yet at the point of calling it a failure, but there is evidence that we might head up there though. The merch argument doesn't hold any water. Those denying that Disneyland wasn't expecting way more crowds are just ignoring facts

More of a surprise....or subverted expectations

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Exactly. We are not yet at the point of calling it a failure, but there is evidence that we might head up there though. The merch argument doesn't hold any water. Those denying that Disneyland wasn't expecting way more crowds are just ignoring facts

We’re not even heading that way, just wait till September.

 

[Freak]

Overall, I think it's a great land; not to mention it's phenomenal at night.....it's beautiful, insanely detailed....it just feels incomplete. That's because Rise wasn't open. Even though Falcon was a lot of fun, it's not a strong enough ride to carry the land.

The seclusion of this was also really neat. When I walked through the forest, it felt like I was at WDW. I always wanted to see a "land" at WDW that had the feel of AK and Pandora and I feel GE satisfies that.

I think this is an extremely solid addition for DL and WDW. I would say it's almost on-par with Diagon Alley, but I hesitate as I would have to see how Rise is. For now, I think I give the edge just slightly to Diagon. While the land was great, there was a lack of familiarity with the place. I'm convinced this would have done better and I would have liked it more if this was set on Tatooine. I totally think they could do most of the stuff they pulled off here if this was set in Tatooine. You could've had the cantina with the band from the first one, the queue for Milennium Falcon or Rise around Jabba's palace....you would have to change the story a bit to make it work, but I totally think they could do it. You could have the foresty area where Rise is have the sand people and the Tuskan Raiders. Again, the land is cool don't get me wrong, I felt like it was a huge missed opportunity to put me into a world I'm already familiar with. Yeah, I get it, continuity, canon consistency, blah blah blah. Even if they didn't do Darth Vader or something, they could've at least stuck with a land that everyone knows. Besides, if they did that and Rise of Skywalker underperforms, they could always say, "eh, let's forget that ever happened" and bring the original characters in.

Another side note: What a huge missed opportunity to not have Dex's diner from the Clone Wars in the land! I know it's on another planet, but who's to say he can't move. With prequel memes being huge, I would give anything to get a pic with an AA Dex. "HEEEHHEEEYY OL' BUDDY!" That would've been better than Docking Bay 7.

As I'm writing this out, I'm realizing how much opportunity they missed by not having it set on Tatooine. That's like the central hub for all of Star Wars. It's great, but it could've been a lot better for all the reasons I mentioned.

 

[smoaT]

We’re not even heading that way, just wait till September.

There is plenty of evidence now that it is not the runaway hit they expected. There is no denying that. Failure? Time will tell, but things not looking good as of now