I visited Saturday for the 5-9pm slot. Big review/thoughts/observations/suggestions dump.
General observation is that the parks are completely dead up until early afternoon... it was so quiet we did every single attraction except for the Frozen show at California Adventure, plus Incredicoaster twice & drinks at the Carthay, by 11:30am. Things definitely picked up once we crossed to Disneyland, but it was still relatively quiet. Star Tours was 20 minutes. Jungle Cruise was near walk-on, Mansion & Pirates maybe 5-10 minutes. Only rides with substantial waits were Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and Splash. (Splash and Matterhorn plummeted by mid-evening.)
Now, check-in. Very, very smooth. Takes place in Launch Bay beginning two hours before your reservation. Massive line that stretched outside, yet we got our wristbands in under ten minutes. Great job to the ops team here. If WDW pursues a reservation system, I suspect they'll use a vacant building (perhaps where they stage Wotto's Grotto? is that still available?) to pull off a similar scheme. Despite the efficiency, however, I have to put forward one significant criticism: at no point during the check-in process did anyone tell me where I was to enter the land. I had to ask, even though I knew from reading online that the staging area was in Critter Country. That's a big red flag and not really fair to people who don't do extensive research in advance.
Now... the problems start. We only had two things on our agenda: Smugglers Run and the Cantina. We knew that for the latter, we had to get there early and be among the first people to get a "reservation" in the virtual queue. We headed to Critter Country just after 4pm to see a fair amount of people hovering around the access point. Once they really started to amass, cast members were dispatched to "disperse" us, loudly declaring that there "was no line" and we would be checked in closer to the Canoes. In hindsight: this was a bald-faced lie and I feel stupid for believing it. What ended up happening is everyone "paced" (we were even encouraged to do so) around the entrance to Hungry Bear Restaurant and the Canoes. Others indignantly remained near the access point, by the restrooms, perhaps under the guise they were eating food from the restaurant (this is the smart, strategic choice that puts you closest, for the record). By 4:15, this area became legitimately dangerous and it cannot continue. Wall to wall gridlock, with "pacers" creating weird crowdflows and poor unsuspecting reservation-less guests just trying to reach (or exit) Splash Mountain caught in the chaos. All the while, cast members continue to declare there is no line...
...until, there was. I have no idea what they did to signal they were opening the staging area, I just felt the entire crowd lurch in one direction. This is where it went from "kind of dangerous" to "unacceptable." There was absolutely a danger of trampling if you didn't have your wits about you, and I nearly lost my companion in the stampede. Shoulder to shoulder, we made our way down to ramp (those waiting by the restrooms cutting most of us off) and to the scanners who checked our wristbands.
From here, they staged us under the railroad tracks until 4:30. We were probably eight or nine people back from the front - not bad. At 4:30, they moved us forward to the X-Wing - necessary, given the increasing masses forming behind us, but unfortunate given the complete exposure to the elements. Still, it was neat to be "in" the land and see the spires up ahead. In a smart move of crowd appeasement, Chewie arrived to cheer us on and interact with people - he even walked down the sides of the crowd to make sure everyone got a good look.
We were near enough to the front to hear the poor cast members attempting to tell us that those wanting to go to Oga's Cantina should follow a hapless woman on the right bearing a Rey-like staff. They had no voice amplification device, so it mostly fell on deaf ears - I really only pieced it together based on, again, what I had read on Twitter. That's unacceptable. Anyone behind us likely had no idea getting into Oga's was going to be a crucible, or how to even attempt to do so. Nevertheless... right at five, we lurched forward again. We kept to the right and managed to be about twenty to thirty people back in the virtual queue, with a "approximately one hour" return time. The texting system was painless and easy. We eventually got our text back in something like eighty minutes - they were "running behind."
I'll pause a moment to say I have no freaking idea how Orlando is going to pull off any of this staging without the third Critter Country entrance, which almost feels specifically designed for this sort of staged entry. I'm not as familiar with Florida's layout as far as its integration into the park... perhaps the old Pixar Place area could be used? Either way, feels like it's going to be a cluster.
Anywho... the land itself is drop dead gorgeous. You feel you're like a foreign, exotic, alien planet. Having been to Istanbul, the comparisons are accurate. The paths are winding and varied enough to make the whole market/city area feel much bigger than it actually is, so props to them. I really adored the marketplace itself - I know many have complained about the size of the shops here, but I didn't really mind? It felt chaotic and kinetic and exciting in the way that Hogsmeade does/did, but the open-air structuring made everything far more breathable. Products were generally pretty cool - I loved the toy shop, especially.
The restrooms were neat, having just enough sci-fi theming with a great background track of disc jockeys narrating an ongoing podrace. The notorious alien emerging from the water fountain was broken, leading to a lot of confused/frustrated photographers.
The Antiquities shop is the real stunner here - gorgeous murals, set dressing, and product design. The animatronic alien in here is really the standout for me in terms of robotics. However, crowd control for this store was horrendous - it's on the smaller side, but we waited 20 minutes for the privilege to enter, and it felt like it could've been much shorter with better queue management. (It wasn't 1 in, 1 out - they would let a bunch of people leave, wait a few minutes, then let a few people in. Weird.) Still, I bought two Kyber crystals as gifts. Reasonably priced and nifty, and I guess there are "chaser" crystals you can find. Super fun.
The Docking Bay 7 menu didn't sound super appealing, so we instead tried Ronto Roasters. Again, this area is a homerun and a great centerpiece for the land. The Pod Racing engine "roaster" is convincingly animated, and the accompanying, complaining droid is hilarious and makes the area feel really alive. I had the Ronto Wrap and thought it was excellent and a decent value, to boot. Companion got the jerky - I had a taste and liked it, but it's very spicy, so be prepared. We tried both Blue and Green Milk - I'll preface and say I'm not an almond/coconut milk drinker (in fact the taste really does not agree with me), but I found both refreshing! They're hard to describe beyond "fruity," but Green definitely has a stronger citrusy taste. Companion really did not care for either and would not purchase again. I would, but not at the $8 asking price... $5-6, yeah, maybe.
The ride was hovering between 15 minutes and 25 minutes but soon rocketed to 65 minutes, where it stayed for the majority of our time period (even during the "lull" middle hours where there's no overlap). We rode twice, once as pilots, the second as engineers. I... actually preferred the engineer position? It's definitely Mission: Space Redux Supercharged, but it felt more fun, and you had a grander view of the cockpit & visuals outside. Piloting was HARD, and you are not given sufficient time to understand the controls before the chaos begins and you're basically screwed. I also do wish the imagery was better; you can definitely "tell" it's being rendered in real time, and that isn't necessarily a good thing. The frame rate skipped quite a bit during our first ride, and yes, the imagery is "darker" than it should be. It feels like the Star Wars cockpit arcade game (the newer ones with updated graphics and an isolated chamber). Basing the Smugglers Run ride on the now-aborted Solo franchise was also a... choice. Yes, there's none of the "Solo" characters, but the ride aesthetic heavily borrows from the production design employed for that film, up to and including the "train heist" centerpiece... which was pretty uninvolving and dull, to be frank. You have a whole universe of exotic Star Wars characters, and we go with... an industrial, nondescript train heist? It's weird people aren't talking about this more - the mission environment is pretty sterile, and there are no characters other than Hondo (who I did like and was well-integrated). I don't really care about anything that's happening, and there isn't a single particularly exciting visual on the screen. The ride is clearly set up for multiple missions, and man, it needs them - not just because variety & reridability is great, but because this one is kind of a dud despite the sparkle of the rest of the ride system. The FUN ride system and presentation is begging for a better scenario.
From a more operational perspective, I'm concerned. The queue moves quickly and the preshow zips by, and it isn't long before you're given your assignment and sent to the Falcon waiting area... which yes, is cool, but you have maybe three minutes before employees shout for you to get into position. It's stressful, and you can feel the anxiety from the employees desperate to keep things moving in the face of incompetent or unorganized guests. You are given basically no time to understand anything (a victim of the way the turntables work - you gotta move FAST), so employees are shouting and urging you to move FASTER. Somewhere, the operational realities of this kind of ride system were not weighed against the learning curve of the interactive experience. I'm not sure what the solution is, truth be told.
For the Cantina, we were summoned back and waited in a roughly 20 minute queue to enter. We watched many people ask how to get reservations only to be told they were SOL. I have to say, though, the interior is... spectacular. It was probably the most well-realized, exciting part of the land - the R3X animatronic is more impressive in person than I expected, and his playlists/banter were excellent (and also debatably raunchy for those who know their French!). We were told it'd be easier if we ordered our two drinks per person all at once, and paid at the same time. Between us, we got the Jet Juice, Jedi Mind Trick, Outer Rim, and Fuzzy Tauntaun. The Jet Juice is a bourbon-based concoction and, while tasty, was underwhelming - it's served in a double shot glass and has a fruity taste. It's less expensive than the other choices and packed a strong punch, but I prefer more drink in my drink. The Mind Trick was very good but not particularly exciting other than its blue color. The Outer Rim was excellent, a creative tequila based beverage with a fruity foam top and spicy flavored salt - would absolutely recommend. The Fuzzy Tauntaun is the real star, though, and is every bit as fun and gimmicky as you've heard. The fizz at the top of the drink numbs your tongue and lips, leading to a strange tingling sensation - and it's fairly strong, too.
So despite how great the Cantina was, it's an absolute nightmare operationally and it cannot continue to operate like this. The reason everyone is saying the servers are rude is because they are being overworked to hell for likely minimal tips. It's a madhouse in there, and if they aren't getting any sort of additional wage bump for dealing with the insanity of the situation, they should frankly quit. It isn't worth it. No idea what happens for Disneyland once there aren't reservation groups to stage the reservation blocks, or what will happen in Florida. My suggestion would be to operate this like Finnegan's does during Horror Nights: a queue into the building, you reach the bar, order a drink, wait for it to be made (allowing you the chance to enjoy the atmosphere and see R3X), and then you leave. They'd have to switch to plastic glassware and allow people to walk around the land with booze, but I see literally no other solution short of a formal, ahead-of-time reservation system that is always completely sold out. (Something that might also help: another spot in the land to get booze, perhaps a Resistance Forest area beer garden.)
The land really needed to open with Rise, as Smugglers isn't sufficiently entertaining as a centerpiece attraction, and there's no compelling reason for guests to travel to the Resistance Forest area... leading to worse crowding conditions. The sooner Rise opens, the better.
I also concur with the reports that the land needs music. I enjoyed the hums of machinery and sounds of spaceships taking off, but music is a key ingredient of the Star Wars recipe, and it's sorely missed here. Some areas felt unpleasantly dead.
That's all I can muster for now - happy to answer any questions people have.