Disney is flooding ABC Networks with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge this week.

[tlmadden73]

The main problem for Star Wars Land is; the ride is just NOT very exciting. The land itself was interesting to view ONCE but I sure wouldn't fight any crowds to ever go back.... and the ride was a HUGE disappointment. (After riding it, we all looked at each other and agreed that it was not impressive at all. One and done for us!) The only plus was we walked right on. If we had waited in a line for it, we would have been really irritated.

And that may be the issue and why I say that Star Wars land is built for "hard core" fans. As a Star Wars fan I want to ride MFSR over and over again .. to get a better score, to get experience in all roles, to notice the details in the chess room, etc. I want to just "live" in Black Spire Outpost .. and hang out in it being immersed like I was when I used to go to a Renaissance Faire.

To non-Star Wars fan .. they may find the ride an over-complicated video game and not much to do or see.

What is it I'm having to get over? The Last Jedi broke some pretty important and established paradigms in Star Wars. Luke's story was completely out of character. Even Mark Hamill had problems with it. Breaking ships with lightspeed objects calls into question every tactic in that universe (even if it did look cool). The list goes on, and I've already rehashed a tired argument at this point.

I don't disagree with you. I am not defending the Last Jedi or saying your opinion is wrong. The Last Jedi was a bad Star Wars movie. I hope IX is better and redeems the mess Last Jedi made.

Not saying this is you, personally, but I just don't understand the people who are complaining about it for 2 years (guys channels on You Tube who make DAILY "Star War is Dead, SWGE is empty!" rant videos. Either dislike it and stop following Star Wars .. or dislike it and move on enjoying Star Wars you do like.

 

[skyp4WDW]

And that may be the issue and why I say that Star Wars land is built for "hard core" fans. As a Star Wars fan I want to ride MFSR over and over again .. to get a better score, to get experience in all roles, to notice the details in the chess room, etc. I want to just "live" in Black Spire Outpost .. and hang out in it being immersed like I was when I used to go to a Renaissance Faire.

To non-Star Wars fan .. they may find the ride an over-complicated video game and not much to do or see.



I don't disagree with you. I am not defending the Last Jedi or saying your opinion is wrong. The Last Jedi was a bad Star Wars movie. I hope IX is better and redeems the mess Last Jedi made.

Not saying this is you, personally, but I just don't understand the people who are complaining about it for 2 years (guys channels on You Tube who make DAILY "Star War is Dead, SWGE is empty!" rant videos. Either dislike it and stop following Star Wars .. or dislike it and move on enjoying Star Wars you do like.

We did not find anything about the ride to be "OVER-COMPLICATED". Lack-luster, yes. Over-rated, definitely yes. Disappointing, yes.
(And for the record, everyone in our party would consider themselves as a Star Wars fan. Not fanatics, just fans)

 

[tlmadden73]

We did not find anything about the ride to be "OVER-COMPLICATED". Lack-luster, yes. Over-rated, definitely yes. Disappointing, yes.
(And for the record, everyone in our party would consider themselves as a Star Wars fan. Not fanatics, just fans)

Wasn't trying to disparage YOUR opinion -- just generalizing. Some will like it .. some won't. Nothing wrong with that. Some probably find FOP to be "just" a Soarin' Clone where you ride a bike instead of a chair, some people find SDMT just a less exciting Big Thunder Mountain.

I am just saying as a Star Wars "fanatic" I probably enjoy it more than a non-Star Wars fan ... because ... I'm IN the Falcon's cockpit!

 

[BriarRabbit]

Wasn't trying to disparage YOUR opinion -- just generalizing. Some will like it .. some won't. Nothing wrong with that. Some probably find FOP to be "just" a Soarin' Clone where you ride a bike instead of a chair, some people find SDMT just a less exciting Big Thunder Mountain.

I am just saying as a Star Wars "fanatic" I probably enjoy it more than a non-Star Wars fan ... because ... I'm IN the Falcon's cockpit!

I was a gunner on a morning Falcon ride and thought it was just meh. I was the last rider one night and piloted the Falcon solo, no pun intended! A really great experience!

 

[sponica]

The main problem for Star Wars Land is; the ride is just NOT very exciting. The land itself was interesting to view ONCE but I sure wouldn't fight any crowds to ever go back.... and the ride was a HUGE disappointment. (After riding it, we all looked at each other and agreed that it was not impressive at all. One and done for us!) The only plus was we walked right on. If we had waited in a line for it, we would have been really irritated.

That's how I feel about seven dwarves mine train...waited an hour for that thing. I'll only go back on if my kid wants to go on. But a video game Millenium Falcon, sign me up.

 

[SaharanTea]

I don't disagree with you. I am not defending the Last Jedi or saying your opinion is wrong. The Last Jedi was a bad Star Wars movie. I hope IX is better and redeems the mess Last Jedi made.

Not saying this is you, personally, but I just don't understand the people who are complaining about it for 2 years (guys channels on You Tube who make DAILY "Star War is Dead, SWGE is empty!" rant videos. Either dislike it and stop following Star Wars .. or dislike it and move on enjoying Star Wars you do like.

Very true. Some folks carry their arguments too long and too far. (I hope I don't.) I Iike to think they are a tiny minority that just get magnified by the internet.

Same with all the social media people that take things too far. I hope it's just that we have a bad habit of pointing out the worst cases. At least, that's what I try to tell myself.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

Kelly and Ryan gave away a trip to SWGE to both DL and WDW valued at 17k this morning

Story on the news tonight about Serena Williams visiting SWGE. Is that really news? Complete with on-set light saber.

Certainly appears the push is on through the various Disney marketing channels.

 

[NoTime42]

I’m not sure if it was mentioned earlier. On Freeform, I noticed an ad for a Sunday night (8e/7c) 2 hour SWGE special hosted by NPH.

 

[seggerman]

Let me restate what I posted earlier, without the snark which ran afoul of TOS. The Disney experience is one which appeals to a broad spectrum but... much of it intentionally (or not) appeals more to females of all ages more than their male counterparts. A sweeping generalization - but what truth there is in generalizations can explain crowd levels. There is not the equivalent, at least in numbers, is there, in the many many meet and greet of princesses, heroines, etc geared to little boys. In contrast, Star Wars is predominately a male preoccupation. Again, there are plenty of girls who like Star Wars and boys who are eager to meet princesses but it's mostly the other way around. So if all there is to appeal to someone is a single ride, well, it's not enough to prompt spending multiple days and thousands of dollars on. But I agree that until the 2nd ride opens the ultimate success of the venture remains inconclusive. And in the end a good ride is a good ride, ditto a great one. I never saw Avatar or Toy Story but I definitely don't want to miss Slinky Dog Dash or Flights of Passage.

 

[Nancyg56]

Personally, I think that Disney overestimated the appeal for the SW fans who are not Disney fans. My DS would rather chew glass and die than go to Disney, but I really thought that he would love this Land. Nope. No desire at all. Add in that it opened in September, had Hurricane warnings that made people change plans, and is not really completed, and any estimates are now down the drain. I don't think the Land will be a flop, but I do think it is kind of like the New Fantasyland. Welcomed, surely, but not the reason to plan a trip.

 

[seggerman]

I've been watching the wait times (my Fastpass day is next Saturday) and... the wait times for SWGE aren't 20 minutes, not [just?] yet. They're more in the hour plus of Toy Story Land. They just didn't maintain the 300 minutes lines of the first day - and if Disney was expecting the crazy lines of Pandora, well, that didn't materialize. But as I posted, let's see what happens when both attractions are open. Oh and thank you Nancyg56 for validating what I said with a real life example. My BF is going to WDW with me - because I'm paying for it - but I had to convince him he might like Soarin - or Pandora. Meanwhile, he's all enthusiastic, not on Star Wars but an obscure character from Lost in Space. Go figure.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Being a huge Star Wars fan I had to watch the special on Free Form : "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Adventure Awaits" and it was very interesting! I learned a lot about the land and the back story. We will visit it next week and so excited!

 

[mcjaco]

Why did Good morning America, the View and kelly and Ryan promote TSL and Pandora before it opened. These shows aren't part of the new TV season.

You're going to compare daily "news" shows to 16 to 18 episode series with specific run dates???

 

[Chumpieboy]

Posters are missing the obvious. The new TV season started this week. This is really the earliest Disney could have done this kind of promotion. Previous lands opened during the TV season, hence the difference in timing. This has been planned for months. I doubt it has anything to do with attendance.

Yeah. It's one thing to scramble a last-minute puff piece to air on your news and "news" shows. Forcing Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest to immediately fly to Orlando for a promo is something that can be done in a panic. But the sitcoms and other scripted shows? That takes a lot more lead time. The producers and writers of Blackish for example have already planned out their season.

It's just not possible to open a land end of August, quickly come to the conclusion that it is a failure and needs some more promotions, get the writers/cast/crew of Blackish to throw together an episode and film it/edit it to be ready to air on 9/24 - all less than a month from the land's opening?

 

[Chumpieboy]

I'm going to bet Disney is a bit worried about it.

And yes, I agree... the hype was all how horribly crowded the parks were going to be. It was going to increase crowds clear throughout all the parks, Hollywood Studios would be horrible etc... We switched our frigging vacation over it! And... what a flop, really.

There's also the long term planning that Disney has imposed on the vacation process and the mistiming/misannouncement of the opening. If you're a DVC member for example you need to have your travel dates locked down 11 months out. When was the opening date announced? Who planned their vacation around seeing SWGE in the late Fall? Who suddenly changed their plans when the August date was announced? The WDW vacation planning model doesn't allow for meaningful last minute vacations if you have to plan meals and FPs months out.

 

[sachilles]

In general I've noticed an upward trend for vacation advertising, not just Disney. Universal is going pretty heavy on TV as well as Royal Caribbean. Though I think Royal Caribbean is a pretty steady advertiser.
I'd be curious to know from those that follow universal if they've seen slow down recently as well, which would indicate a tourism issue and less Disney related.

 

[Chrizwald]

I wonder if people were all thinking Epcot was a huge failure when Disney made Steve Urkel go there?

 

[Anthony Vito]

Just saw the first episode of the season of The Rookie last night (I think it aired this past Sunday night). The reference to SWGE is very minor - Nathan Fillion's character is wearing a SWGE t-shirt during an early scene. I would actually guess that this was NOT part of any marketing but would guess he was just wearing the t-shirt, since he went to SWGE opening day in Disneyland (posted his excitement about it on Twitter).

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I'm worried that our December trip is going to be completely slammed. Between those like myself who chose to wait for both rides to be open, and others who may not have known about SWGE until they saw these advertisements, I'm wondering if it's going to be shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. We went in December 4 years ago and were shocked at how low the crowds were but I don't think this trip will be a repeat of that experience at all.

 

[Moliphino]

I'm worried that our December trip is going to be completely slammed. Between those like myself who chose to wait for both rides to be open, and others who may not have known about SWGE until they saw these advertisements, I'm wondering if it's going to be shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. We went in December 4 years ago and were shocked at how low the crowds were but I don't think this trip will be a repeat of that experience at all.

The crowds have been getting worse in December over the past few years. Last year MK crowds were already horrendous by the 15th. We went in September this year to try to avoid GE, and while that didn't work out exactly as planned, we did wind up with much lower crowds than we had been experiencing in the second week of December over the past few years anyway.