Effect of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge on Crowd Calendar predictions?

I’m trying to pick optimal dates to visit Disneyland (coming from WA state), while attempting to stay respectful of my kids’ school schedules - they are in high school, they start Aug 29th. It looks like everyone is saying early November is good, and it appears according to the crowd calendar that late August is actually pretty quiet - but they can’t possibly be figuring in the crowd numbers due to the new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening, right? I would think that all the crowd predictions would be elevated due to the new land opening, or have they already configured this into the predictions?

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Early November is a fantastic time as it’s in between Halloween festivities & before Christmas decor/Festival of the Holidays start up around the 2nd week of November. My sister-in-law’s favorite time to go is then because of the lower crowds & usually perfect weather. Her only complaint is that it’s a small world (a favorite for both her kids) is always down to add the Christmas/Holiday overlay. Space is usually down as well (for 1-2 days to take off its Halloween overlay) as well but if you go 3 days or more, it wouldn’t be an issue. Lately they have been doing the fall Dapper Day that first Sunday of November, so that day may bring in a bunch of crowds, but is usually fun people-watching & also usually not nearly as bad as days when school is traditionally not in session.

That being said, factoring in for Galaxy’s Edge, I would not count on anything near low crowds for a trip. Picking an optimal week will probably still be your best bet for lowest crowds, but I expect that anytime after Galaxy’s Edge will all just be crowded. I think in the absence of a known opening date, the predictions have been left to stand not reflecting the craziness that Galaxy’s Edge will bring.

A few things to consider in late August are:

  • Annual Passes that are subject to blockout dates will start getting those blockouts lifted around that time & it will be their first crack at seeing Galaxy’s Edge (and they will have all been blocked out from Disneyland since early to mid June).

  • D23 is this year at the end of August so will likely bring big crowds with it before/after the convention dates- this will also be a lot of major fans’ first crack at Galaxy’s Edge

That being said, another time that may be good (but totally doesn’t adhere to the rule of staying respectful of school schedules) is early September since school has started back & less parents are willing to pull their kids out right at the get-go.

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Short answer is nobody really “knows”. So much will depend on the actual date, how they handle the opening (announced or unannounced, reservations, previews, etc.

Thanks for the insight!

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also, I believe TP crowd calendars are wait times vs actual crowds in the park. so, yes, we don’t know for sure. but it may also be possible that the hoards will be at Star Wars and other areas may not see the increases for those staying away from Star Wars. or the mass will be so large with nowhere to go, they go everywhere. fun times LOL, and I’ll be there in July…

So true. They’ll have to establish a baseline for what GE attraction wait times will mean for 1-10 CLs and I do believe that the initial craze for everyone to see & do it while it’s new will be quite high so who knows? That 9 hr wait for Rise of the Resistance could still mean the park is at a CL6 :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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