I will be there this weekend. I will report back.
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Still very low crowd levels and short waits even on headliners. I haven’t seen a single use of the Boarding Pass system other than the June 24th opening, but I didn’t check on July 4th. In any case, I think you’ll have a very nice trip unless something major changes in the next week (doubtful).
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Thank you everyone who has contributed to this topic. It helped me plan my visit to Disneyland over the Fourth of July week. And successfully so.
Wonderful trip. Got into SW:GE three times, and saw almost all that I wanted to see. I nabbed a reservation to Oga’s Cantina by signing in right after 7:00 a.m. one of the mornings, and got a time of 6:30 p.m. for that day. I was told the Savi’s Workshop reservations were often gone for the whole day by mid-morning, so I didn’t try that. I would like to have that show experience, but don’t actually want a $200 light sabre.
SW:GE is extraordinarily impressive. It is fundamentally different from any other “land” in the park, and I’m wondering how that will play out over time. I do think some casual guests making the rounds of Disneyland will find it a bit austere and aloof. It isn’t immediately warm or cuddly.
But it is awesome. The level of detail is insane. I’m not necessarily a huge SW fan, but find the resonance and depth of that mythology extraordinarily impressive. They’ve done it justice, big time. Food both fun and good.
Lovely surprise: “Enchanted Tiki Room” is just a fantastic show. The humor and songs are a bit cornball and out of date, but the over-all vision of the show still comes through. “Let’s just make the whole room come to life!” It’s wonderful.
And the full-blown stage show “Frozen” at the Hyperion in DCA is breath-taking. I work in theatre, so I know how difficult it is to tell a story with such vivid and nimble focus. No arbitrary “opening number” or extraneous dancing. Just lovely characters and powerful story. Brava!
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I wonder if they’ll monetize that eventually. My kids actually do want a $200 light sabre but our family of 4 wouldn’t all be able to share the experience if we did it. I’d be willing to pay an extra $25 or possibly $50 for the 4th person to be there too.
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Oh, great idea! Me too. I would love to just attend and observe!!!
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Everyone paying can bring one guest. I’ve thought of asking folks by themselves if I can be their guest.
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Yes!
We headed in one day not realizing it was an hour long. We had MP we had to use so we had to leave. The next day at DCA we all were eager to go in and see the show in its entirety. We live musical theater and this show did not disappoint.!!!
Yes, that occurred to me as well. But kind of awkward to do… Let me know if you give that a try.
I’ll bet that Disney is pondering how to introduce some kind of “observer” status. We could be Force Ghosts!
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do you have to be in the park to make a res for oggas?
No - you can make the reservation from home beginning at 7am on the day you plan to visit (no reservations in advance).
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I made Oga reservation from my hotel room first thing in the morning.
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Same here.
I just checked recent wait time trends for MFSR and it is still peaking in the morning, but occasionally closer to noon (rather than 9am as it was for the first month or so) and then tapering off after that.
Here’s yesterday, where CL was a 9. The peak wait time is 150 minutes after 12pm. This is more like what I would have expected the first month of operation would be like.
It kind of stings my pride as a fan of both DLR and SW to see Hagrid attracting such large crowds and lines. But it’s important to note that MFSR has both a very high capacity (1800 riders per hour) and almost never breaks down entirely, due to four largely independent ride systems. Hagrid purportedly has up to a 2500 rider per hour capacity, but as we know all too well, it is rarely performing at capacity and often is not running at all due to weather or mechanical difficulties.
I think it’s clear that Hagrid is the more popular ride (in terms of enthusiasm), but I think more people are experiencing MF on a daily basis, even with (because of?) the long lines at Hagrid.
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I’m sure that Rise of the Resistance will flip the tables. I know that in my initial digestion of SW:GE offerings I was very “eh” on Smuggler’s Run thinking, “I could take or leave that ride” and “I really wouldn’t want to wait longer than 30-45 min for it”.
On the other hand, Rise of the Resistance has appealed to me like a flame to a moth. I must see it & me, myself alone will be willing to wait an hour or two for it. With the kids, probably a little less than that, but we’ll find out here in just shy of 6 months.
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Yes, the public-relations dynamics of all this are fascinating to me.
Did DLR do TOO GOOD of a job in handling the appetite for SW:GE?
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The nearly month-long reservation period was filled up online in under two hours. Just think of what would it have been like if there were no advance reservation system at all for that first month.
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And in MFSR, it seems that they have built a very high-capacity ride. How easily those lines could double in length if they hadn’t done that.
So, strangely, Disney seems to be getting dinged for planning it all out so well. Why does success = long lines of bored, sweaty guests?
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I think it’s important to note that they are getting dinged by a small swath of the park enthusiast crowd who cares about this stuff.
A more important factor is that all the people who actually attended Disneyland this summer and had a pleasant, low-wait, low-crowd experience are now going to have positive associations with DLR and will want to come back again in the future. Despite my love for DL, the last few years of near-constant crowds, even in formerly “slow” periods, have made me hesitant to book a trip, and made me wonder if DL would ever NOT be crowded ever again.
This slow summer might be worth the investment to bring large crowds back in the years ahead.
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Since DL started offering half-price Park Hoppers to AP members until the end of August (I assume to make up for all this low attendance), the crowds look like they’ve risen back to normal-looking summer levels (from what I’ve observed at the parks).
I wonder if people will expect the same lull when RotR opens. Personally, I think that guests who’ve been tracking the SW:GE low-crowd-phenomenon (and maybe regretting not taking advantage of that) might think the same will happen when RotR opens, thus maybe being more likely to take a chance and venturing to the parks. And I think if enough people do that, then the parks might have the ridiculous crowds that everyone expected (but didn’t happen) for MF, especially because many people are specifically waiting for RotR to open up, since why book a trip to see one ride when you can wait and see both. And on top of the people who waited, you’ve got the people who have already experienced the current SW:GE are dying to see RotR.
Yes, June and July were unexpectedly blissful at the parks (and I wish I’d gone more, but at least I got to go at all). I would be really, really surprised if it happened again for RotR. And, yes, if I go to the parks on a rainy Tuesday in February and the wait times are any more than 20 minutes, I’m never going back again either. 
(oh, and thanks for all the data!!! These graphs are great!)
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I think this is true, but I’m worried. Micechat had a rumor article that Imagineering is still struggling to get RotR to work and they are worried there will be significant downtime once it opens up. Hopefully that rumor is not true (or that the issues will be resolved), because crowds are going to be very disappointed if they plan a special trip to either DL or WDW and are unable to ride the flagship attraction at the new land. It will be like Hagrid except with a lot higher stakes.
Personally, I am planning to wait a bit and see how lines are before I decide to make a special trip early next year. If not, I will experience RotR at my planned trips in May (WDW) or August (DL) 2020.
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Wow, great article. I didn’t know any of that stuff about the original plans for SW:GE, but it explains why I’m just “meh” on the whole land. I usually just tell my non-SW-fan friends that it’s a cool looking, pricey outdoor mall with a ride. That C Ticket ride sounded amazing. 
And your worries are certainly merited if that article is correct. I’m lucky in that I’m about 45 min from the park, so I can pop by and see whether the new ride causes mayhem or not, but I totally understand why anyone who has to make major plans would want to wait.
I’m still blown away at how cool SW:GE could’ve been. Shame.
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