Bob Iger Mentions the Official Disneyland Star Wars Opening Date

[dina444444]

Not at DLR! I don’t even know that DLR reached capavity at any point over the holiday season this year? (MK in WDW did.) Balancing our the crowds at DLR is extremely difficult and the ticket buyer vs AP is just such a hard equation for them them to nail down out here.

They reached capacity for a little while between the 26-29 but not for hours on end.

 

[ThistleMae]

Never been to DL. Planning a trip in November. My daughter's been a few times and she loves it. We typically do DW, but a change is always good. It will be interesting to experience DL and the New Star Wars, Galaxies Edge. We are only in preliminary planning, so I hope it all comes together.

 

[Violetspider]

For advantages, we don't know exactly what yet. Right now hotel guests have access to parks 1-hour earlier, with the actual park alternating (i.e. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday it's at Disneyland and Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday it's at DCA). However, the days at Disneyland also coincide with "Magic Morning", which people can get if they buy a 3-day or longer ticket. So the Disneyland one isn't as worthwhile because there are many more people, while DCA is much emptier with only the guests of the 3 hotels. It's been speculated they could move Magic Morning to DCA, or maybe have some days with just hotel guests, but we won't know until closer to the opening. I know a friend and I will be staying at a Disney hotel that weekend to try and take advantage of this extra time.

I sure hope they move MM to DCA and open SWGE to resort guests during EMM. I'm going in December, having not been to DL since 2005. That was pre-fast pass era, I've never experienced anything but WDW FPP. MaxPass is going to be like a shotgun wedding. Everything is going to be like new for me and I'm already panicking that I won't have the necessary skills to both get in SWGE and get on both rides during my stay. Silly I know, but I can't help but be concerned. Hope there's a boat load of tips and tricks discussed here once the land opens. We neophytes are going to need all the help we can get.

 

[CO2CA]

I'm going to be the dissenting opinion here and think that while SWL will be busy and at capacity surrounding this summer, I think it'll eventually taper off. By Christmas/next year it'll just be a popular "land", the same way that RS gets during peak times.

 

[midnight star]

I'm going to be the dissenting opinion here and think that while SWL will be busy and at capacity surrounding this summer, I think it'll eventually taper off. By Christmas/next year it'll just be a popular "land", the same way that RS gets during peak times.

I'm praying that somehow everyone overthinks the whole thing, and it's not as crazy as we all hoped.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I'm praying that somehow everyone overthinks the whole thing, and it's not as crazy as we all hoped.

I kinda feel like this will be true. I think it will be crazy (and probably chaotic) when it first opens, but then there are a LOT of people purposefully avoiding the parks for awhile, which may balance out the people coming specifically for SW.

At the very least, I think there will be pockets of the summer that won’t be too crazy. No way to know when they’ll occur, but I think they’ll happen.

 

[Dtw002]

We want to go to DL before Star Wars opens, but have to go in mid June because of school. I know everyone is thinking late June; does anyone know though when Disney typically makes an official announcement? Think it will be soon (mar/April) or could it be only a few weeks before? I want to book flights, etc but if we can’t make it before Star Wars than we don’t want to go when it first opens

 

[Violetspider]

I kinda feel like this will be true. I think it will be crazy (and probably chaotic) when it first opens, but then there are a LOT of people purposefully avoiding the parks for awhile, which may balance out the people coming specifically for SW.

At the very least, I think there will be pockets of the summer that won’t be too crazy. No way to know when they’ll occur, but I think they’ll happen.

The fact that DL attendance is primarily AP makes for such a completely different phenomenon than WDW attendance. My only experience with a new land comes from the opening of Pandora World of Avatar at AK. I was there a few days after opening and it was insane. The land closed daily by 10:00 AM due to capacity with a standby line to get in that seemed to go on forever. Even your FastPass+, if you scored one, wouldn't get you in until 15 minutes or so prior. The initial standby waits for Flight of Passage were about 4 hours. To this day the waits are still 90+ minutes. Even now, onsite guests generally can't even score FastPasses 60 days out for the first day or two of a trip. You have to try for your third day or beyond. That's all for a movie that many were claiming not to have particularly liked. So, now were talking Star Wars. I lived in SoCal for 21 years. I don't remember meeting many people who weren't fairly significant fans of the franchise. I'm envisioning chaos and madness for many, many months. But like I said, I only have my WDW experiences to go by.

 

[WonkaKid]

Up until a few months ago, I looked forward to the opening of SWGE. Like many people, however, I’ve grown more apprehensive lately. I hope I/we don’t look back at the pre-Star Wars park as “the good old days before Disneyland became insane.” Crowds have been a challenge for the past few years, as we all know. I hope this expansion doesn’t push DL over the edge. It could become the place that everyone calls “The addition that was secretly a subtraction.”

 

[Skyegirl1999]

The fact that DL attendance is primarily AP makes for such a completely different phenomenon than WDW attendance. My only experience with a new land comes from the opening of Pandora World of Avatar at AK. I was there a few days after opening and it was insane. The land closed daily by 10:00 AM due to capacity with a standby line to get in that seemed to go on forever. Even your FastPass+, if you scored one, wouldn't get you in until 15 minutes or so prior. The initial standby waits for Flight of Passage were about 4 hours. To this day the waits are still 90+ minutes. Even now, onsite guests generally can't even score FastPasses 60 days out for the first day or two of a trip. You have to try for your third day or beyond. That's all for a movie that many were claiming not to have particularly liked. So, now were talking Star Wars. I lived in SoCal for 21 years. I don't remember meeting many people who weren't fairly significant fans of the franchise. I'm envisioning chaos and madness for many, many months. But like I said, I only have my WDW experiences to go by.

I do think it will be insane when it opens; I’m just not sure it will stay consistently insane for months afterward, especially during the summer when ALL APs below Signature are blocked out of DL. It might! I feel like the fear of crowds is spooking a LOT of people - and especially if/when it IS super crazy when it opens - even more people (particularly locals) will hear about that and stay away for awhile, which may help balance out the tourists coming specifically for Star Wars.

I guess a lot may depend on how good the land is and how well the crowd control is handled. Word of mouth may bring in more people or drive some away... who knows? It could be mayhem all summer... I just kinda think that sometimes, it won’t be.

 

[Violetspider]

I do think it will be insane when it opens; I’m just not sure it will stay consistently insane for months afterward, especially during the summer when ALL APs below Signature are blocked out of DL. It might! I feel like the fear of crowds is spooking a LOT of people - and especially if/when it IS super crazy when it opens - even more people (particularly locals) will hear about that and stay away for awhile, which may help balance out the tourists coming specifically for Star Wars.

I guess a lot may depend on how good the land is and how well the crowd control is handled. Word of mouth may bring in more people or drive some away... who knows? It could be mayhem all summer... I just kinda think that sometimes, it won’t be.

I hadn't considered the summer block out dates for certain APs. That will of course help matters to a degree. My December trip will be more open to most AP levels, the exception being the weekends. I have to hope for school and work schedules keeping the local numbers lower during the week. I don't know though. I do have a Thursday, Friday and Monday to work with. If that's not enough then....wow!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I hadn't considered the summer block out dates for certain APs. That will of course help matters to a degree. My December trip will be more open to most AP levels, the exception being the weekends. I have to hope for school and work schedules keeping the local numbers lower during the week. I don't know though. I do have a Thursday, Friday and Monday to work with. If that's not enough then....wow!

Ahh, December. Yeah, no idea what things will be like by then. Are you also visiting on Saturday/Sunday?

 

[HydroGuy]

I find it kind of humorous that lots of folks have been saying "DL has not added a new E-ticket ride for nearly a quarter century! All the other parks in the USA have gotten one or more in recent years! When is DL going to get a new, big ride?".

And now that DL is getting it, they are saying "Oh no! The new rides are going to make DL way too crowded!"

Sort of like they want a new E-ticket ride, but just not a very good one...

 

[Violetspider]

Ahh, December. Yeah, no idea what things will be like by then. Are you also visiting on Saturday/Sunday?

Yes, and I will be at DL on Saturday for my birthday. I think that's probably the worst day to try to get in SWGE though.

 

[MillauFr]

I think people will avoid DL in droves once it first opens and crowds will not be nearly as bad as they thought.

 

[deedubb]

A crowded DL is still better than no DL. I'm going!!!

 

[flyingjay]

Up until a few months ago, I looked forward to the opening of SWGE. Like many people, however, I’ve grown more apprehensive lately. I hope I/we don’t look back at the pre-Star Wars park as “the good old days before Disneyland became insane.” Crowds have been a challenge for the past few years, as we all know. I hope this expansion doesn’t push DL over the edge. It could become the place that everyone calls “The addition that was secretly a subtraction.”

I hope so too Rob. But to me, this is why it's not all bad that prices have gone up so drastically and consistently. I do think the last price hike priced a big chunk of people out. I am confident it will be nutso this summer, but I strongly believe it will come back to "normal" again. It might be three, six, 12 months...but the shine will wear off. And then we'll really notice the infrastructure upgrades (stardust/parking) that have been going on over the past year.

For my family, we are able to make it again this April (we're from Canada) before it really gets crazy. My kids (8, 6, 4, and newborn) could care less about SWGE...I'm so glad the timing worked out the way it did...plus they have an excellent Canadian resident discount on right now. After this trip, we are going to wait to come back till the hype has died down. And if we're priced out, then we're priced out. As much as I LOVE DLR...this is not all there is.

I know that it will be different for locals such as yourself. You have to "endure" the craziness over the summer (first world problems). But I think it will just be a season and won't last as long as some are predicting. My prediction is that after the Christmas overlays get switched out in January, the parks will seem less (albeit slightly) crowded overall than they do now...mostly because of the infrastructure and that there is a whole new section of park to eat up park guests and even out the crowds.

 

[gdrj]

I think people will avoid DL in droves once it first opens and crowds will not be nearly as bad as they thought.

Two thoughts on this.
-Yogi Berra quote “Nobody ever goes there anymore — it’s too crowded.”

-Any one who avoids DL will be replaced with non DL fans who are Star War fans 10 fold.

We unfortunately are making our 1st trip to DL (East Coasters) and unfortunately it is in June. I'm hoping for a 30 to 45 day work stoppage on Star Wars, I have no interest in SW or the mess it will create.

 

[sherilaine]

The average DLR guests does not research like this, they do not over think, they don’t watch the Disneyland news. They show up and get what they get. I don’t think people will avoid it as much as you think cause I don’t think they will even know that is a strategy!!

 

[PatMcDuck]

Right now hotel guests have access to parks 1-hour earlier, with the actual park alternating (i.e. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday it's at Disneyland and Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday it's at DCA). However, the days at Disneyland also coincide with "Magic Morning", which people can get if they buy a 3-day or longer ticket. So the Disneyland one isn't as worthwhile because there are many more people, while DCA is much emptier with only the guests of the 3 hotels. It's been speculated they could move Magic Morning to DCA, or maybe have some days with just hotel guests, but we won't know until closer to the opening. I know a friend and I will be staying at a Disney hotel that weekend to try and take advantage of this extra time.

During the summer of the 60th celebration, they just had the early mornings for resort guests (and some ticket holders) in both parks each day, if I remember correctly. Unless it was just DL every day and DCA some days. Ugh I forget.

So that is possible, too, and they keep DL park open until midnight all summer, some years. I would love a late night party ticket, even it was 12-3 am. I would pay! Disney take my money!!