As awesome as this ride apparently is, I still think GE will continue to underperform. Almost everyone I know is already “over” GE; they have a “been there, done that” attitude towards it as virtually everyone who has gone feels underwhelmed. The ridiculous price increases and the ride being based on the new Disney trilogy don’t help that. I think it will be fairly busy the first day but after that, it will continue to merely distribute crowds than add them to the park, at best.
“But it’s literally the best dark ride on earth!” Haven’t watched the videos, but from what I’ve heard, it would not surprise me. Even if it is and if a good chunk of the GP seem to agree, even then I doubt it will help GE. Even if the ride was not working, they should’ve made an effort to open with the land. Everyone just seems over GE and Disney Star Wars in general. You can make the argument that the Mandalorian is revitalizing SW, but when nobody cares about the grand finale of the conclusion of the Skywalker saga...
At this point Disney has been having the GP sit at the table all of this time just feeding them salads and breadsticks, delaying the main course while having them pay for the whole thing. Now when they finally offer the main course, they all say, “nah we’re good. We waited too long.” They’re underwhelmed by that meal that they overpaid. This is the SW:GE situation. As excited as I am for the new ride, even I feel a bit jaded towards Disney with their greedy nonsense approaching this new expansion and how they treated Star Wars.
To be brutally honest, as awful and contradictory as this sounds, while I look forward to the ride as a theme park fan, I really hope this continues to underperform after the ride opens. I hate to say that as I want theme parks to be rewarded for their efforts, but with Disney being so greedy and raising their prices to oblivion, and how they treated Star Wars, I really want this to be the humbling blow to Disney where everyone finally says, “enough.” I think Avengers campus will suffer the same fate. But hey, if this ride “saves” GE and brings in the crowds, then good for Disney. But I would be really surprised if this brings the crowds that they hoped for, especially if they’re dumb enough to think that this addition will justify another price increase. I’ll say it one more time: No matter how good the ride is, the GP will look at it and say, “Bleh, new Star Wars”. “Bleh, don’t feel like shelling out hundreds of $$$ to go back.” Us theme park fanatics don’t care, but average joe who barely checks in on the theme park scene would. That’s who Disney needs to reach out to and they blew their shot.