Is SWGE impacting your trip? Discuss your plans here!

You have no idea how many scenarios are going through my head once DL SWGE opens.
If it goes really well people might decide to come for opening month and WDW is prepared for it
If it goes really well people might decide to head to DL before WDW opens at all making WDW that more manageable
If it goes really well people decide to book in great numbers and WDW operations is not ready and it's crazy
If it goes badly people will cancel WDW if they were just coming for SWGE
If it goes badly people will book WDW thinking a lot of people are cancelling
People don't book at WDW for fear of it being crazy, creating opening weeks of relative calmness followed by people booking later thinking it will always be calm
....it's exhausting ;)
OMG...you weren't exaggerating were you? I like all your scenarios...it's a tricky thing with lots of guess work. I'm glad we aren't going until November because we'll definitely have more of an idea of what to expect, versus folks who are thinking about all the scenarios you mentioned above. Is there any room in your head for anything else...LOL!
 
2+ months after the announcement of SW:GE and I'm still surprised by so many people reacting negativity. We're going end of Sept into Oct. We picked this time because we wanted to see Halloween and we got free dining the day it opened. When they announced SW:GE we were anxious at first but that lasted 5 minutes - then we realized how exciting of a time it will be and how much we have to look forward to.

Will it be crowded? Probably. But seriously...so what? You're at WDW where thousands of people would kill to trade places with you. Yes, you've paid thousands of dollars for flights and a resort and you want a "perfect" vacation where you're the only family in the park, but a vacation is only as good as your attitude so why STILL be mad about this? For the Aug-Sept vacationers, it's still right when school starts, it's still super hot, it's still hurricane season, only 1 ride is open at SW:GE, and some people did change their plans to earlier to avoid it all.

They're giving us EEMH at 1 park and EMH at 2 other parks to spread out the crowds. If you don't want to get up at 4am to be there for 6am, then don't. It's really no big deal! Keep in mind the people on forums like this are a very small percentage of the people that go to WDW. Your average traveler may not even know about getting in at 6am, about booking ADRS 180 days out, about touring plan strategies, etc. Sure, the 8am PPO breakfasts I booked at MK and AK aren't giving me an advantage anymore, but again - so what? We're still months out so I was able to push them into the 9am hour instead (and can I add that shows just how much availability there still is, that I can change reservations for a group of 6 with no problem). We're traveling with 2 grandparents that I know can't keep up with us but we'll go at their pace and we will still somehow have a magical time. We are huge SW fans and have accepted that we may not get into SW:GE but it will be there for another 50 years.

I don't feel like it was a bait and switch. Some people are just looking to complain about something. Seeing the Disneyland reservation system and virtual queue gives me hope for how they will handle WDW. If it's crazy crowded oh well. You can still have a great trip!
 
2+ months after the announcement of SW:GE and I'm still surprised by so many people reacting negativity. We're going end of Sept into Oct. We picked this time because we wanted to see Halloween and we got free dining the day it opened. When they announced SW:GE we were anxious at first but that lasted 5 minutes - then we realized how exciting of a time it will be and how much we have to look forward to.

Will it be crowded? Probably. But seriously...so what? You're at WDW where thousands of people would kill to trade places with you. Yes, you've paid thousands of dollars for flights and a resort and you want a "perfect" vacation where you're the only family in the park, but a vacation is only as good as your attitude so why STILL be mad about this? For the Aug-Sept vacationers, it's still right when school starts, it's still super hot, it's still hurricane season, only 1 ride is open at SW:GE, and some people did change their plans to earlier to avoid it all.

They're giving us EEMH at 1 park and EMH at 2 other parks to spread out the crowds. If you don't want to get up at 4am to be there for 6am, then don't. It's really no big deal! Keep in mind the people on forums like this are a very small percentage of the people that go to WDW. Your average traveler may not even know about getting in at 6am, about booking ADRS 180 days out, about touring plan strategies, etc. Sure, the 8am PPO breakfasts I booked at MK and AK aren't giving me an advantage anymore, but again - so what? We're still months out so I was able to push them into the 9am hour instead (and can I add that shows just how much availability there still is, that I can change reservations for a group of 6 with no problem). We're traveling with 2 grandparents that I know can't keep up with us but we'll go at their pace and we will still somehow have a magical time. We are huge SW fans and have accepted that we may not get into SW:GE but it will be there for another 50 years.

I don't feel like it was a bait and switch. Some people are just looking to complain about something. Seeing the Disneyland reservation system and virtual queue gives me hope for how they will handle WDW. If it's crazy crowded oh well. You can still have a great trip!

Of course people can still have a great trip. But it probably won't be the trip they planned it to be. I promise that I'm not "looking to complain about something." I'm looking for ways to have the best trip possible. But the abrupt switch makes that harder now.

Every year that goes by increases the planning necessary for that trip to be a great trip instead of one hot, miserable line after another.

Most of us on these boards understand that Disney requires planning (or at least a working knowledge of how the parks operate). We are willing to put in the time necessary for that. There are systems in place, and we come here for tips and tricks to work the systems. We make choices about where to stay, when to go, what to book, etc. Now, we don't all make the same choices because we have different family configurations, different budgets, different preferences, etc. But what we do have is a pretty reliable knowledge base from which to make those decisions. SWGE changes a lot of that.

You see it as empty griping. I see it as expressing fear. And fear comes from the unknown.

Many of us have spent years figuring out how to have the kind of Disney vacation we want, and now the sands have shifted under us. Maybe I'll be able to get the FPs I want. Maybe I won't be claustrophobic just walking through the paths. Maybe the extra extra magic hours will be the best thing ever. Or maybe I'll have a terrible time scoring FPs. Maybe refresh will stop working. Maybe it will be wall-to-wall people, and we won't get those fun little magic moments like when Capt Jack Sparrow just walked through Adventureland unannounced last fall. Maybe EEMH will be a complete zoo with lines rivaling the Halloween parties last year.

Personally, I'm taking DD4, and have no real interest in SWGE, but I had planned to take her to HS. I would like to do the TSL rides with her because she LOVES Toy Story - will those lines be ridiculous from everyone going there after SWGE? I would love to see Beauty and the Beast with her, and do the Frozen sing along, and meet Olaf - will the parks be so crowded that even getting through to those places is hard? Selfishly, I want to hand DD my phone to watch videos for a few minutes while I enjoy the Citizens of Hollywood - will I even be able to find them in the throngs of people? DD would love to do Jedi Training and wear her Rey costume to the park - will there be any signup spots if we arrive at normal opening rather than dark-o'clock? I just don't know.

And the not knowing makes it harder to plan. And the uncertainty creates a certain level of anxiety, especially for those of us who don't do crowds well. And the anxiety gets expressed in questioning, speculating, and, yes, plain old complaining. It's great that you are confident your trip will be just fine. Mine probably will be, too, but I'm going to have to come up with contingency plans that wouldn't have been necessary if SWGE opened in "late fall" or even "fall" as previously announced.
 
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Of course people can still have a great trip. But it probably won't be the trip they planned it to be. I promise that I'm not "looking to complain about something." I'm looking for ways to have the best trip possible. But the abrupt switch makes that harder now.

Every year that goes by increases the planning necessary for that trip to be a great trip instead of one hot, miserable line after another.

Most of us on these boards understand that Disney requires planning (or at least a working knowledge of how the parks operate). We are willing to put in the time necessary for that. There are systems in place, and we come here for tips and tricks to work the systems. We make choices about where to stay, when to go, what to book, etc. Now, we don't all make the same choices because we have different family configurations, different budgets, different preferences, etc. But what we do have is a pretty reliable knowledge base from which to make those decisions. SWGE changes a lot of that.

You see it as empty griping. I see it as expressing fear. And fear comes from the unknown.

Many of us have spent years figuring out how to have the kind of Disney vacation we want, and now the sands have shifted under us. Maybe I'll be able to get the FPs I want. Maybe I won't be claustrophobic just walking through the paths. Maybe the extra extra magic hours will be the best thing ever. Or maybe I'll have a terrible time scoring FPs. Maybe refresh will stop working. Maybe it will be wall-to-wall people, and we won't get those fun little magic moments like when Capt Jack Sparrow just walked through Adventureland unannounced last fall. Maybe EEMH will be a complete zoo with lines rivaling the Halloween parties last year.

Personally, I'm taking DD4, and have no real interest in SWGE, but I had planned to take her to HS. I would like to do the TSL rides with her because she LOVES Toy Story - will those lines be ridiculous from everyone going there after SWGE? I would love to see Beauty and the Beast with her, and do the Frozen sing along, and meet Olaf - will the parks be so crowded that even getting through to those places is hard? Selfishly, I want to hand DD my phone to watch videos for a few minutes while I enjoy the Citizens of Hollywood - will I even be able to find them in the throngs of people? DD would love to do Jedi Training and wear her Rey costume to the park - will there be any signup spots if we arrive at normal opening rather than dark-o'clock? I just don't know.

And the not knowing makes it harder to plan. And the uncertainty creates a certain level of anxiety, especially for those of us who don't do crowds well. And the anxiety gets expressed in questioning, speculating, and, yes, plain old complaining. It's great that you are confident your trip will be just fine. Mine probably will be, too, but I'm going to have to come up with contingency plans that wouldn't have been necessary if SWGE opened in "late fall" or even "fall" as previously announced.
I don't know, this seems to be typical Disney to me. Just when you think you've done everything necessary for the best trip possible, something unexpected happens. I've truly never had to do so much planning based upon speculation, time frames and luck, as I do on a Disney vacation. But we love it, so we do the best we can, and hope it all works out. And inevitably, at least for those of us who won't let anything ruin our vacations, it always does. It's all a matter of perspective.
 


We've been thinking of going this summer with the kids because we have a few Hilton Grand Vacation Club points to use but now I'm thinking of going by myself for a quick 1-2 days right after SWGE opens at WDW and staying on site. I would just do Hollywood Studios and maybe Disney Springs. I want to eventually go with my family (husband and two kids, 5 yo and 3 yo) but this is going to be sort of like a religious pilgrimage for me and they aren't that into it. I'd rather go solo and get to truly geek out and then go back in the spring with the whole family.

I can't be the only person who would go by themselves. Anyone else?
 
Our dates (9/30-10/5) were picked and booked well before the opening announcement. I actually plan on avoiding DHS completely. I still have to talk it over with DW, but she usually concedes these things to me. Being a big SW fan, I'd really like to see it...so the above might change. Hahaha.
 


I can't be the only person who would go by themselves. Anyone else?

"Did we just become best friends?"
"Yup!"

I would totally love to take a few days and go by myself. And if SWGE is that big of a deal for you, I say go for it. DH & I spent a week at WDW last year for our anniversary and it was so much fun. I took DD8 on a quick mom/daughter trip just last month and it was great. I can totally imagine going by myself and doing whatever I wanted. Maybe that's something to add to the bucket list.
 
We've been thinking of going this summer with the kids because we have a few Hilton Grand Vacation Club points to use but now I'm thinking of going by myself for a quick 1-2 days right after SWGE opens at WDW and staying on site. I would just do Hollywood Studios and maybe Disney Springs. I want to eventually go with my family (husband and two kids, 5 yo and 3 yo) but this is going to be sort of like a religious pilgrimage for me and they aren't that into it. I'd rather go solo and get to truly geek out and then go back in the spring with the whole family.

I can't be the only person who would go by themselves. Anyone else?

When Disney said they were building GE I told My Daughters I would be doing a Solo trip just for SW and that is what I am doing.
 
This trip is just the 2 of us as our children are grown. We were last at Disney 30 yrs ago. My DH has some health issues that make long lines unmanageable especially in the morning. He also works a more or less 2nd shift schedule so usually goes to bed about 3:00 am and gets up about 10:00am to head to work by 2:00ish then home about 1:00 am. 6:00 am is in the middle of his “night”. Even if I wake him to go get in line I doubt he will feel very good or enjoy the experience. Disney was always going to be a challenge though a traditional September crowd level felt doable especially if we could purchase some after hours events.
Then GE happened and I am afraid crowd levels will be undoable and that the early morning crowds will make lines terribly long unless one can be there amongst the earliest.
We were there the week of Easter and it was busy. We did not rope drop once like we used to always do. It was myself, DH and our adult son. We will not fight the rope drop crowds and I finding standing in a crowd to enter worse than waiting in line for a ride. We stayed late. It is cooler in the evening. We also stayed off site so could not get that elusive SDD fp. The other option is to get in line right before park closing. DHS closed at 8:30, we got in line at 8:05 and were off right at 8:30. We really did everything we wanted to do in 6 days, even rode Splash Mountain three times, watched the MK fireworks and parade.
It is more important your hubby feels good to enjoy what you can do, and you can do a lot in the evening.
 
2+ months after the announcement of SW:GE and I'm still surprised by so many people reacting negativity. We're going end of Sept into Oct. We picked this time because we wanted to see Halloween and we got free dining the day it opened. When they announced SW:GE we were anxious at first but that lasted 5 minutes - then we realized how exciting of a time it will be and how much we have to look forward to.

Will it be crowded? Probably. But seriously...so what? You're at WDW where thousands of people would kill to trade places with you. Yes, you've paid thousands of dollars for flights and a resort and you want a "perfect" vacation where you're the only family in the park, but a vacation is only as good as your attitude so why STILL be mad about this? For the Aug-Sept vacationers, it's still right when school starts, it's still super hot, it's still hurricane season, only 1 ride is open at SW:GE, and some people did change their plans to earlier to avoid it all.

They're giving us EEMH at 1 park and EMH at 2 other parks to spread out the crowds. If you don't want to get up at 4am to be there for 6am, then don't. It's really no big deal! Keep in mind the people on forums like this are a very small percentage of the people that go to WDW. Your average traveler may not even know about getting in at 6am, about booking ADRS 180 days out, about touring plan strategies, etc. Sure, the 8am PPO breakfasts I booked at MK and AK aren't giving me an advantage anymore, but again - so what? We're still months out so I was able to push them into the 9am hour instead (and can I add that shows just how much availability there still is, that I can change reservations for a group of 6 with no problem). We're traveling with 2 grandparents that I know can't keep up with us but we'll go at their pace and we will still somehow have a magical time. We are huge SW fans and have accepted that we may not get into SW:GE but it will be there for another 50 years.

I don't feel like it was a bait and switch. Some people are just looking to complain about something. Seeing the Disneyland reservation system and virtual queue gives me hope for how they will handle WDW. If it's crazy crowded oh well. You can still have a great trip!
I agree that we should be fortunate to be at Disney but I think a lot of people who know how to plan decided to strategically plan to go in the Fall expecting lower crowds with cheaper fee and before GE opened. Not sure if you've ever been there in September but there's a huge difference in crowd level, and some people care most about that. So strategically planning on a more relaxed vacation knowing Disney is never on time nor early with their projects, I think some are taken aback by this and for good reason. If I knew that GE would be open when we go in September, there is no way I'd book Sept. I might as well have booked in a different season or neat Thanksgiving. I don't even like Halloween!
But I get your point. We should just be thankful that we can get to Disney even if it means not hitting all the rides we had anticipated.
 
Maybe I’m delusional, but I’m more worried about the crowds for the final Illuminations during our trip than for SW:GE. A few years ago, we happened to have a trip booked the week in May that Wishes ended, and what was expected to be nice light early May crowds were larger than we’d ever seen in any of our trips during June, August, September, or even December! Not sure the crowds were due to the final Wishes, but we needed something to blame (besides all the cheerleaders of course)!

That being said, regardless of crowds, I am SO happy we get to see the final Illuminations and possibly (hopefully!) SW:GE! If it’s crazy crowded we’ll deal, we’re mostly there for F&W, so as long as we don’t have to eat off of too many trash cans we’ll be happy!
 
Maybe I’m delusional, but I’m more worried about the crowds for the final Illuminations during our trip than for SW:GE. A few years ago, we happened to have a trip booked the week in May that Wishes ended, and what was expected to be nice light early May crowds were larger than we’d ever seen in any of our trips during June, August, September, or even December! Not sure the crowds were due to the final Wishes, but we needed something to blame (besides all the cheerleaders of course)!

That being said, regardless of crowds, I am SO happy we get to see the final Illuminations and possibly (hopefully!) SW:GE! If it’s crazy crowded we’ll deal, we’re mostly there for F&W, so as long as we don’t have to eat off of too many trash cans we’ll be happy!
I agree, I think Epcot will absolutely nuts on September 30th, and we’re set to be there that day. We’re actually leaving by 5pm and hopping over to see Happily Ever After. I’m hoping a lot of the crowd goes to see the final Illuminations. I’m really excited for Epcot Forever, which we’ll see on October 2nd.
 
So, I didn't expect to make it to WDW this year but will be in the area for work in early September. I looked at hotels today and found a great deal at Beach Club and just couldn't say no. So, well, uh, here we go. I'm only going to have two days plus one night I can be in the park and am planning to take a shot to go to GE. I made a couple trips last year so I'm not terribly concerned about doing other stuff but I'm obviously concerned at how crazy it could be at HS those couple of days. I suppose being at Beach Club will help since I can roll out of bed early and walk or boat over to the park. I guess we're all kind of in a holding pattern to see how things go at DL before we get a ton of information on WDW, right? Definitely hoping for some sort of reservation system for on property folks. It seems there's more availability on property than expected, so it might make sense to try to offer something like that for on property guests to help fill those rooms. I guess that will depend on how it goes at DL, too.
 
I'm going with my best friend Sept 21st-28th. We're coming from the UK and will have been planning/saving for about 18 months and have non-refundable flights, so cancelling wasn't really an option!
I was a bit panicked when they first announced the opening (and annoyed, in what world is August 'Late Fall'?!) but honestly now I just want to enjoy my trip! Neither of us have been to the parks in about 10 years so there is already so much new stuff to see.
On our HS day we were planning to do TSL, ToT, Rockin Roller, lunch at Sci Fi, and Fantasmic - anything else we accomplish on that day is just bonus. My friend is an early riser so she's game to be there for the 6am rope drop, I just have to make sure I'm caffeinated!!
We are Star Wars fans, but we are happy to skip GE if it's too crowded, it was never part of our original plan anyway. This trip is very much about hitting childhood faves for us with some new bits sprinkled in, I don't want to spend hours standing in a line when I could be at the muppets 😂
 
Maybe I’m delusional, but I’m more worried about the crowds for the final Illuminations during our trip than for SW:GE. A few years ago, we happened to have a trip booked the week in May that Wishes ended, and what was expected to be nice light early May crowds were larger than we’d ever seen in any of our trips during June, August, September, or even December! Not sure the crowds were due to the final Wishes, but we needed something to blame (besides all the cheerleaders of course)!

That being said, regardless of crowds, I am SO happy we get to see the final Illuminations and possibly (hopefully!) SW:GE! If it’s crazy crowded we’ll deal, we’re mostly there for F&W, so as long as we don’t have to eat off of too many trash cans we’ll be happy!
I'm with you!! Our Epcot Day is Sept 27th, which is the last Friday IllumiNations is showing and I just think it will be bananas. So now instead we are going to pop to Epcot on the Monday before after our day at Universal (and we can use a FP for the good viewing spot!) and then on the Friday once we're done wandering around Food & Wine we'll go to Disney Springs. Works out better in the end as it's our last night, and gives us a chance to explore Springs but get back to the hotel at a reasonable time to pack rather than fighting through firework crowds!
 
We have reservations at POP for mid-November. We were really hoping to avoid the crowds, so I imagine we will cancel the trip. Maybe we'll explore the Royal Pacific resort at Universal; I hear it's so much better than Disney resorts AND the go straight to the front of the line sounds great! No more trying to get Fast Passes!
We stayed at the Royal Pacific the week before Christmas last year. The resort itself is really nice but nothing that wowed us. The big plus is the skip the line passes for the parks which were included in the room rate (and 5 of us in a room so it was a huge bargain), we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for any ride!!! Also it was nice to just walk from the resort to the parks, no trying to squeeze into a bus to go to the park. We are DVC members so love WDW but our visit to Universal was less stressful.
 
I ended up jumping on a trip with some family for the Final Illuminations on September 30th.

September 30th will be a crazy day for myself. It will be the first time I will see Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (hell yea I will get a cocktail at 7am at Oga's Cantina if necessary), I will get to see Sugar Ray at Epcot (love them or hate them, I love Sugar Ray), and the FINAL Illuminations. What. A. Day.
 
Wow.. thanks for all the posts, finally got through them all in the last couple of days :) I can definitely see both sides of the coin. Disappointed with the early opening and also excited!
We also booked our trip long before the announcement, staying on site from Aug 25 to and flying home Sep 2, Labour Day. We initially wanted to leave by the 31st, but decided we'd love to experience a couple of days of the Food & Wine festival as we have never been. We have however been many times mid to late August and the crowds were usually nice. We really like Star Wars but definitely wanted to avoid the opening week (month... year...?) hoopla. So we booked what we thought (as many others) was a definite safe zone.
I would actually move up our dates and leave home by Aug 28th, but the problem is we have flights already and pretty sure there are fees involved.
Anyway. Now we are just thinking of making the best of it, but still avoiding majority of the crowds.
If Disney comes out with some sort of a reservation system like Disneyland, we will try to at least see the new land. Otherwise we will avoid DHS from the 28th on.
Our plan therefore is to start with DHS at the very beginning of our trip. Possibly also looking at MNSSHP on the 28th. Then leave majority of our MK and Epcot touring for the end leg of our trip.
Hoping this is going to work out... with minimal increase in crowd levels.
Everyone have a great day, we are going to Disney World soon! Pixie dust on all our vacations!
:tink:
 

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