Is Star Wars Galaxy's Edge flopping?

[joe 70]

I hope for my sake that the Mark of a successful opening doesn’t have to be a 14hr queue!

[StorybookCircus]

According to Inside the Magic, Smuggler’s Run just has its millionth guest. Surely it’s busy if more than a million people have been on the ride since opening day- there must be many more visitors who just pop in for the atmosphere, drinks and souvenirs or are too young (or motionsick!) to ride.

Edit: here’s the link to the story: insidethemagic/2019/07/m...nth-rider-ba1/

[BevS97]

Blocking out AP holders is a pretty poor move. I could potentially see a handful of dates such as July 4 but not 3 months.

[scoobydooby]

Disneyland. You had to stay in an expensive onsite hotel to get in. You’re a loyal ‘local’ (in US terms) AP holder and they told you to effectively sod off. You got charged a sit down table service meal for a nasty snack box. $200 for a toy weapon. Beyond the reach of most kids and die hard 40 plusses once the vloggers and Star Wars die hards have been and gone. You believed your own hype. Epic fail. However. WDW could learn, recover and exploit their very different visitor base. Unless inward facing greed screws it up again. At both parks opening the minor ride first was foolhardy.

[400ixl]

Originally Posted by BevS97

Blocking out AP holders is a pretty poor move. I could potentially see a handful of dates such as July 4 but not 3 months.

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It's always like that on California. Different levels of AP have different block out periods. Some of which are all the way through the school holidays. They just applied it to the more expensive ones this year. So it has only been different for a minority of AP holders.

[jnc2345]

It's not flopping. Cali will never see the peaks in attendance WDW gets, just the way it is given the high volume of locals. Couple that with the AP block out and Rise of the Resistance not being open yet, and it makes sense.

[DadToThree]

Originally Posted by neatfrk

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If you dig in to the reasons why... it does kind of make sense.

- They set the whole land at a point in time totally devoid of classic and beloved characters. There is no resonance with Luke, Leia, Vader, Han, etc.; so there's no real anchor point for the older generation (speaking as a proud member!).
- Newer generation not as connected to Star Wars (much more so to Marvel Universe) and much as it pains me to say - the latest SW movies haven't really been all that amazing.
- They opened without the main attraction.
- The attraction that is open by many accounts is a glorified video game (I've heard Mission Space with cooler setting).
- The rest of GE is retail space; at prices the average person has real difficulties spending.
- Disney's hype machine was in full warp mode for months leading up to launch. That likely turned off many of the locals who decided to punt until a future date. In addition annual pass holders and cast members were blacked out (think this has since been lifted) further reducing crowds.

Hindsight is always 20/20... but does sound like a brewing mess for Disney Parks; considering the enormous price tag of GE. Hopefully WDW launch goes better.

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I think this is spot on. Essentially the over hype was too much I think and actually turned people off because there was talk of mike long queues etc.

That said Smugglers Run is about to receive its millionth rider, so can’t be too bad!

I do agree that in Orlando it could well be greeted entirely differently though.

[kirkdalewdw]

if it can just stay this quiet till after I go in October, that would be great

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I'm somewhat surprised WDW are offering discounted stays for Disney Visa card holders for the period

7/15/2019 – 9/28/2019

Minimum 2 night stay and 2 day base ticket.

Art of Animation - 25%, All Star Sports- 25%
Port Orleans Riverside - 20%
Coronado, Gran Destino Tower, Water View - 30%
Animal Kingdom Lodge & Saratoga Springs 35%

[iloveholidays1]

I think Disney disregarded their bread and butter guests (annual pass holders-blocked from even going) in favour of one off guests in Disneyland, so it's backfired! Just think of all the lost income from food, drinks and gifts. Disneyworld is a different ball game, managed in a different way, we'll have to wait and see what happens.