Well, I think Disney has done a much better job with Episodes 7 and 8 than Lucas did with Episodes 1, 2, and 3. I’m not sure “purity” is what we want! 
5 Likes
I’m worrying about my possible jan 2020 trip there. I’m not a SW fan but I would still love to see it of course. I’m wondering if it will really be that crazy, assuming it opens late fall. I guess it’s hard to predict and we won’t know for sure untill it has opened, but it’s interesting to read these viewpoints.
Out of curiousity, could someone give a rundown of how it went down with Pandora? Were there casualties? It opened on 05/27/2017, what was it like right after and from there onwards in terms of crowds? Do yoy experts think SWGE will be comparable or bigger/worse?
I agree with you on that!
You can’t even compare the fandoms of Avatar and Star Wars. Star Wars peeps are crazy and there are a lot more of them.
4 Likes
This is going to come off rude, but I don’t mean it to be but: then they’re not purist fans. Purists fans already were disenfranchised when Lucas launched the prequels and destroyed years of books, games, canon, and what have you. Disney retreading old ground making crappy movies just dashed hopes that the franchise could be saved and brought back inline with what was remembered.
Truthfully though, outside of the latest movies being very meh, I really don’t see anything Disney has done differently with the franchise. Since 1983, Star Wars merch has always flooded the market. There’s always been costumes, books, horrible one-off specials, and toys. I think, if anything, Disney just opened the door to keep Star Wars still relevant which allows for the latest tech to be applied to everything. Which, I think, is a good thing.
5 Likes
Here’s how it’s going down for us. As I’ve mentioned before, my family did The Great Disney Adventure in 2015 with 30 ppl. Afterwards, none of us had any intention of doing that again. It was super stressful for several people in the group, including my own kids. I had a blast. Enter in a cousin’s new boyfriend, never been to Disney and hears about SWGE. He has managed, against all odds, to bring us to the point we’re at now, planning The Great Disney Adventure 2.0 in Oct 2020 with 35 ppl. I think for someone that has never been to disney to convince 34 other people to go back in a large family trip is indicative of his fandom (and influence). I don’t think he’s an anomaly. I think that Star Wars fans are going to be romanced by the marketing efforts and many a trip will be planned. I have no doubt that it is going to be like nothing we have ever seen before.
4 Likes
AGREE!
2 Likes
No doubt there are those out there like that. But I’m starting to have my doubts that it will be to the degree we’ve all been fearing.
Take your case. How did your cousin’s boyfriend hear about SWGE to begin with? From your cousin, perhaps? One who has already been to WDW anyhow?
I think of HP. I know people who are HP fans, but who didn’t even know Universal had a Wizarding World of Harry Potter to visit until we started talking about it. I think those who are Disney fans, and maybe amusement park fans in general, will have heard of SWGE. But those who are Star Wars fans I don’t think will automatically know about SWGE. I mean WE ALL know because we’ve all been drinking the proverbial Kool-Aid.
So, I think those who are already WDW/DL fans will likely want to make a return visit to see SWGE if they are Star Wars fans. (Others will avoid it!) This is much in the same way that we decided to return to Universal last year simply because of the opening of Diagon Alley. We’d already been to Hogsmeade and figured we’d not return. But Diagon Alley opened, so we did go back.
So, the question really comes down to how to many ADDITIONAL vacationers will there be who weren’t already planning to do a Disney trip in the next couple years anyhow. Aside from initial opening, which will draw the largest crowds, I’m just starting to doubt it will increase nearly as much as we’ve been fearing.
Increase? Yes. But discussions to this point have suggested it is apocalyptic in nature. I’m starting to think it will be more like Y2K.
The difference is Universal doesn’t televise a Christmas Parade every year and have a Potter featurette every 3rd commercial. Disney does. The Christmas parade this year prominently featured Galaxy’s Edge.
2 Likes
In the UK I know tons of people who have never been to any theme park or to the US and want to go to Universal for Harry Potter. There are a lot of adverts here. I can’t believe it’s that much different over there. They must advertise.
Not that I watch a lot of TV, but compared to Disney, Universal doesn’t really advertise from what I can tell. I seem to remember a campaign about a year ago about “they’re older now, so go to more mature rides” for Universal, but that was pretty much it.
That surprises me.
1 Like
Yup, agree. Especially considering, if nothing else, they can ride Disney’s coattails and lure some of the crowd away.
1 Like
But, again, that’s for people ALREADY familiar with Disney.
BTW, I’m setting aside opening day(s). Even HP, when it opened, saw 10 hour waits. That is no where near the case now. So I’m talking about after the very initial opening.
Truth is, despite me being a huge SW fan (and even a fan of the latest movies, for the most part), I see far more interest in HP than SW. Not that there isn’t SW interest. But I just mean I think HP has supplanted SW in terms of overall cultural significance.
In either case, I haven’t seen a Disney nor Universal advertisement in ages, other than on websites related to the subject.
Oh sorry, so you know the one person who isn’t familiar with Disney? How is Caveman Carl these days? 
1 Like
I know a LOT of people who have never been to Disney. I know far more who haven’t than have.
1 Like
I know multiple people here on the west coast who have been planning and saving to go to DLR when SWGE opens (not typical Disney fans, haven’t been in years). While it may not be as bad as we fear, I do believe it will be insane and unlike anything we have experienced before. I reference the current Disney Star Wars events to confirm this (SW themed DAH selling out in record time). Although I do suspect that some of the frenzy will be diminished once WDW SWGE opens, due to DLR opening first. But all this is conjecture and we won’t have to wait too long to see what the out come is.
2 Likes
“Not been” and “not familiar” are two very different things.
I also know plenty of people who haven’t been and are now interested because of Star Wars. Now, of course they have no idea what it’s going to offer, but they know Disney is getting “stuff.”
My point is it’s certainly not flying under the radar and Disney is doing everything it can to make sure you know about it. Including adding it to trailers of Disney movies (like Mary Poppins)
2 Likes
Indeed. I’m really not interesting in about the first day/week/month after it opens. I’m curious to see what happens after that, though.
I’m not ashamed to admit it that when they re-released the Special Edition original trilogy back to the theaters umpteen years ago, I literally went to the theater the morning it opened (this was before ordering movie tickets on line was the norm) and bought my tickets for that evening’s showing. Even went into work late. I wasn’t going to miss it, since I had been too young to see A New Hope in the theater when it came out.
I’m, by definition, a SW fan. But I no longer care about being the first to see something. I mean, seriously, I never bothered seeing Solo. I figure I’ll rent it one of these days!
3 Likes
You seem to have missed the whole point. You mentioned the parade. Only folks whe have BEEN to Disney would know anything about the parade.