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"Galaxy's Edge is a failure!" they said. "The diligence of Disney is free fallThey said, "It's a financial means disaster!" they said.
What Florida said, "Pssh, hold my blue milk.
Nobody knew exactly what to expect for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World on Thursday, August 29th. The tension certainly persisted in the air. The resorts did not seem to be out of stock and the Fast Pass packages in other parks seemed strangely easy to claim as the day approached. During the summer, the media was heavily criticized by Disney, saying that park attendance was down – that the Disneyland Galaxy Edge felt too empty to succeed. The prognosis was not ideal for one of Disney's largest investments to date.
Whatever the obstacles encountered by Disney at the opening of Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland, they clearly learned from these mistakes. Calling the opening of Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World as an absolute success is a euphemism. The fans did not just baptize the new Disney territory – they disrupted the Force by emitting a number of visitors such as Disney had to adapt quickly to the unexpected demand.
Here's our hands-on experience of Galaxy's Edge's opening day …
The crowds were crazy, so Disney rolled with
Image: Alex Parker (Thanks, Alex and Shane!)
Camping for the first time is a long-standing tradition for Star Wars fans. Never underestimate the zeal of this fan base. Disney Studios Hollywood Studios was scheduled to open at 6am on August 29th. You would expect people to want to arrive early for such long-awaited land, but no one should arrive until 4 am, is that right?
FALSE.
At midnight, people were already arriving and camping for the opening of Galaxy's Edge. The reports we heard indicated that a number of zealous guests had been turned away when they had attempted to take up early seats in the queue or camp on the parking lot. Some have even been warned that if they stayed, they would be technically intrusions. Despite this, the cars started queuing all night outside the Hollywood Disney Studios, stretching well on the road leading to the main arteries of the station.
Around 3 am, Disney opened the floodgates to allow people to line up properly outside the park. The parking spaces at Disney's Hollywood Studios soon began to fill up and fans gathered in front of the Hollywood studios. Our friends present described this atmosphere as a madness barely contained. The brilliant suns had not even risen on Batuu yet and the crowd had already exceeded the earth's capacity levels. The excitement was in the air and the madness was going to intensify as the 6 o'clock approached.
Disney did something absolutely unexpected: they opened the park early.
Image: Alex Parker
Around 5 o'clock in the morning, Disney opened its doors and Star Wars fans filled the Hollywood Disney studios. Hollywood Boulevard filled wall to wall with a swarm of people as thick as any 4th of July Magic Kingdom crowd. Forget zone 51: this crowd was ready to storm the Black Spire. We have heard several unconfirmed reports of guests almost trampled by eager visitors, and a confirmed case that members of the cast have been pushed by dishonest guests. We never got clear details about it, but some cast members in other parts of the park (especially in Star Tours) definitely looked a little tired by the morning wild.
Fortunately, this madness has dissipated as the crowds have been absorbed by the lines for Smuggler's Run, Oga's Cantina and the products derived from the earth. Well before 6am, the line to Millennium Falcon: The smugglers' race swelled in 300 minutes.
A surprisingly sweet morning
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
"The 10-hour lines are not a sign of success," said Bob Chapek, chairman of the board of Disney Parks and Resorts recently. "This should be seen as a sign, frankly, of failure."
At the official opening of the park at 6am, Galaxy's Edge had already reached full capacity. Most of the theme park openings are associated with spooky lines, but Disney would not make the same mistakes as with the opening of Pandora – and would not make the same mistake as Universal Islands of Adventure with the lines to 14 hours met at the opening of the roller coaster of Hagrid Motorbike Adventure.
We arrived at the Disney's Hollywood Studios shortly after 6am. It turned out that it was actually a great place. The car park was incredibly fast and hardly anyone cared to use the tram to get to the entrance square. The new security checkpoints went incredibly well and the security agents were pleasantly friendly for all the madness they had endured in the morning. My husband and I, Disneybounded, are smugglers. So I was afraid to bounce back because we did not look like Batuu, but we did not have a problem. As people lined up to enter the park, Disney was already sending members of the cast to announce that Galaxy's Edge was at full capacity and hand out cards explaining how to use the country's virtual queue.
When Disney tried to use reservations at the initial opening of Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge, they encountered a problem: they may have underestimated the country's potential as a crowd sponge. We have already talked about this concept at Theme Park Tourist. The lanes and other lines help the crowds to "mop up" away from the arteries so the park does not feel stressed. By getting rid of reservations and using virtual queues, Disney turned Galaxy's Edge into an ideal crowd sponge without turning the entire Hollywood studio into a massive, miserable chain.
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega
Using the virtual queue was incredibly easy. We have just discovered My Disney Experience, clicked on the Galaxy's Edge information button and signed up. We found ourselves in the boarding group 19 with an estimated time of arrival at "Morning". This evolved over the next hour in "Late Morning" as Disney better understood the time that fans were staying in the country. Disney did not use the four-hour limit he had set up at Disneyland, a prospect that certainly made people wait a little longer. However, it ended up being a good thing: people could spend as much or as little time as they wanted to batuu.
Although some attractions do not open until 9am, there was plenty to do for impatient fans wishing to travel to Galaxy's Edge. In a smart move, Disney created a line near Fantasmic where guests could line up to pick up merchandise on the day of opening. You even received a flyer with the opening day goodies listed along with their prices while you waited online to speed up the process. It was definitely a good size line that prevented more crowds. We knew we were going to spend money at Dok Ondar later. So we chose to do some walks while we waited.
For the first time I remember at Hollywood Disney Studios, all of the park's E-Ticket attractions were accessible to everyone. We shared an empty car on the Tower of Terror with two other fans. Rockin 'Roller Coaster was a little busier, but the line was moving so fast that they did not even need the crowd to stop to watch the pre-show. Star Tours was (as expected) more busy hair, but even though we got there in less than 15 minutes. At 7 o'clock in the morning, we were chatting in the Star Wars Launch Bay store, chatting with a member of the extremely friendly cast of the morning run (we ended up with a patch of the opening day and a pin after all – I think that she used a Jedi-minded trick on us). They were barely in groups 5 to 11 at that time, so we were ready not to enter Galaxy's Edge before the afternoon. Our friends who were inside sent an SMS stating that they had already ridden the Smuggler's Run 3 times through the single runner line (for more information about this later) .
We enjoyed a quiet Starbucks breakfast at Echo Lake when my phone rang and the time arrived. It was not even 8am yet. We finished our meal and headed to the entrance to Galaxy's Edge near Grand Avenue. We went through about 3 layers of aligned members: one who asked our boarding party based on the honor system, a second who confirmed our group with our magic tapes and a third who made sure to what no one is going through. I had a hard time believing it was happening, but with almost no expectation, we headed for Galaxy's Edge … and it was as spectacular as we had hoped.
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