Is Star Wars Galaxy's Edge flopping?

[Guest]

dailymail/travel/t...axys-Edge.html

This can't happen in Orlando, can it? There must be many Disney Execs feeling warm under the collar.

Your views?

[neatfrk]

Disneyland and Disney World are two totally different animals; each with vastly different dynamics behind crowd levels.

It does appear that things out in Anaheim are not performing to expectations; but that does not mean Orlando will also deliver a disappointing launch.

Clearly, Disney made some mistakes with GE (just do some lite Googling...you'll find oodles of criticisms and commentary on the "ghost town" that is Disneyland right now; lots and lots of opinions on why that is. Those mistakes aside, I wouldn't use the performance of the GE California launch as an indicator of how the Orlando version is going to go.

[Guest]

I'm shocked at how poorly it's been received.

[neatfrk]

I'm shocked at how poorly it's been received.

See more...

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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.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Hopefully. It will show them they cannot keep exploiting their Guests.

[neatfrk]

Hopefully. It will show them they cannot keep exploiting their Guests.

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Sadly, I think you are right and a part of it is simply the straw that finally broke the camel's back. If you strip away all of the opportunities to buy horribly overpriced food and ridiculous merchandise ($25,000 full size droid anyone?) all you are left with is one attraction and a bunch of photo ops that are already blase a few weeks in. Perhaps when the headline attraction opens (and WDW will open with both functional) it may help breathe new life into GE...however the inescapable trend is growing distaste for the gouging over everything at Disney these days. The chorus of people beginning to vote with their wallets may final be audible. Disney execs cannot turn a blind eye to what is going on in Disneyland much longer.

Just look at this week when WDW announced free dining for dates late in 2019. They aren't doing that to earn goodwill...they see soft bookings and are trying to boost attendance to avoid a second underwhelming GE launch.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by neatfrk

Sadly, I think you are right and a part of it is simply the straw that finally broke the camel's back. If you strip away all of the opportunities to buy horribly overpriced food and ridiculous merchandise ($25,000 full size droid anyone?) all you are left with is one attraction and a bunch of photo ops that are already blase a few weeks in. Perhaps when the headline attraction opens (and WDW will open with both functional) it may help breathe new life into GE...however the inescapable trend is growing distaste for the gouging over everything at Disney these days. The chorus of people beginning to vote with their wallets may final be audible. Disney execs cannot turn a blind eye to what is going on in Disneyland much longer.

Just look at this week when WDW announced free dining for dates late in 2019. They aren't doing that to earn goodwill...they see soft bookings and are trying to boost attendance to avoid a second underwhelming GE launch.

See more...

I think that the theming is outstanding. The ride is also brilliant and I will do it some time this year or next. All credit to those who brought this to fruition and I know that can't be done for a few bucks.

However the Execs then dive in with their grubby noses in the trough and yet again fleece their loyal customers. Disneyland has totally alienated their loyal customer base

Do that in business and you are dead in the water. Sad.

[Guest]

Talk about alienating your core base, "It comes as annual passes for the park have been blocked out across dates in June, July, and August. There are one million annual pass holders".

As my daughter said last night, if she was an annual pass holder, this would be the last year she would ever take one out.

[Nimbus]

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.

See more...

Given that all but one of the reasons you just quoted also apply to WDW then, based on your reasons, WDW's launch will be just as bad as DLR's.

However, I don't think most of the thing you listed are major reasons why DLR is quiet at the moment. I think the main reason is the last one. The hype put off locals and one million AP holders have been blocked out (Disneyland park typically gets 1.5 million visitors a month).

Because even if the rest of your points were valid, why would the rest of DLR be so quiet? It's not just GE that's quiet but the whole park (apparently). You'd expect DLR would be as busy as normal during Summer, but it isn't.

I still expect GE at WDW to be very busy in the first week or two (like it was at DLR in California). Whether it continues to be busy throughout the end of September and October remains to be seen - but I certainly wouldn't go expecting it to be quiet.

[400ixl]

As mentioned you cannot compare the two parks. Disneyland is predominantly a locals park with annual passes who have been blocked out during the launch. Hearing a British accent there is not that common.

It has also been over exaggerated and not as empty as they have made out.

Hopefully it will still be quieter is a couple of weeks when we have a day there.

WDW is predominantly a tourist park.