Information is coming in thick and fast about SWGE.
And the more it does, the less excited I become. I’m not saying I’m not excited about it. Just less excited. I think it’s going to be really cool to explore. But it seems like there’s a lot of stuff that only true fans will get excited about — and I’m not one of those.
I wasn’t that excited by the reports of the Millennium Falcon ride (perhaps it was unfortunate that they described it as being similar to Star Tours). The light sabres look kinda cool, but I’m obviously not spending $199 on one. Ditto the robot thingies.
I want to see it. But I dont want to see it with 100K of my closest friends. I’m super concerned about the potential crowd levels for my upcoming trip that I planned a year ago with the thought that GE wouldn’t be open yet. I might grab junior and hit one of the 0600 openings during our trip just to see it, but like you not interested in dropping $200 on a light saber the boy will probably end up chasing the dogs with.
Honestly? I will never consider any of it to be truly Disney and have zero plans to set a toe in the land. I really don’t even bother with Studios anymore as they are a pale shadow of what they once were - in a NOT good way IMHO.
I am pretty excited. I am a big Star Wars fan. I am going at the end of September with two girlfriends for Food & Wine so this is a total, welcome surprise. One has never been to DW and the other hasn’t been since she was a teenager. One of them is a big Star Wars fan and the other is threatening to go back to the hotel and hang out by the pool if it’s too crazy.
After reading all the new information coming out, I’m getting more excited about just hanging out in the land and the bar. I’m surprised how geared to adults the land is (I mean, $200 for a light saber? Not a kid’s toy.).
I’m not excited about all the early morning magic hours and the amount of unknowns for our planning. My original plan was:
*Thur - arrival. HS and dinner back at Yacht Club
*Fri - Epcot
*Sat - MK (fireworks party)
*Sun - AK (WAT)
*Mon - HS / leave in afternoon
The one change I’ve made is changing dinner to HS on arrival night since the closing is now 10 pm and not 8 pm (one of my friends asked that we have a nice, sit down dinner on arrival day since we’re all getting up early for our flights). If necessary, we will make Epcot day HS morning. We also have some flexibility on Sunday night.
I should also note here that I’ve never done the dining plan. Because we are going to spend our Epcot day food & wining (or whining, depending on how crazy it is), I’m feeling pressure to find a way to spend our TS credits. We currently Mama’s at HS on Thur, BOG dinner on Sat, and ???. I have a Landry’s card, Hacienda reservations for Sunday, and 50’s for Monday lunch as the last option.
My friend that is also a Star Wars fan is coming from the west coast, so early morning touring is not ideal. I’m hoping for some more late night hours, or best case a “throw some money at the Star Wars problem” option (which is a major advantage being a bunch of grown-ups vs going with my kids).
I’m a casual fan. The ride queue for Millenium Falcon look very much like Star Tours, as you would expect. What happens on the ride will depend on your fellow “crew” which could be an issue if you’re riding with a young family or just a bunch of strangers. But this is riding on the Millenium Falcon - that takes me back to the excitement of the first movie.
The details in the Land look amazing, pretty much like a film set to me, with things like the signs in Aurabesh (or however you spell it). I’m sure I’ll love looking around and exploring.
But my biggest excitement is probably for the RotR ride. That really is expected to be good. Even the queue is said to be amazing, immersive to the nth degree, like the FoP queue on steroids. And I haven’t seen FoP or Pandora yet!
Honestly, when we go back (December 2020), I can see every other day being at Galxy’s Edge. Maybe more like two or three times for me, but DH will probably be there every other day.
VERY excited for it. This is very much along the lines of something I dreamt up when I was a kid. I’m sad it took this long to become a reality.
The $200 lightsabers are a bit nuts… but they will be “custom” sooo I can easily be persuaded if I can cobble a design that looks good(which is looking very likely). Additionally, the master replicas sabers, of which I have 3, were all north of $100, so it’s not that terrible. Plus the blades will be detachable, which is a very cool feature(my MR ones don’t do that). Walking along with a lightsaber clipped to your belt (and no one speed-dialing the looney bin)is the stuff of dreams.
As far as the land, I was super excited for millennium falcon, until they said it was a team-ride. As a solo traveler, that’s a bit disappointing. I do wish there was going to be more than 2 rides. Supposedly there’s already more in the works, but we’ll see.
Honestly, the worst part about the whole thing is it’s Florida, so walking along in full Jedi garb is going to be an exercise in heat exhaustion.
Not gonna lie, SWGE was a major factor in deciding to become a DVC member.
I will agree with the HS sentiment though. I loved the idea of HS. I’m a huge fan of movies and even bigger one of how they’re made, especially before everything became a special-effects-fest.
To see HS move away from it to become universal-lite is disappointing. It was one of the reasons the great movie ride was one of my favorites.
I feel Disney can return to it, but I also feel guests in general don’t care. They would rather “step into movies”. Which, I’m not wholly unopposed to either (enter the Millennium falcon and I guess TSL). If they want to go that way, I’m sorta ok with it, but we need more rides/experiences (NOT shows) and the theming needs to be flawless.
not a super fan…enjoyed the first 3 original movies… DH and I are children of the 70s so saw them when they were first released… would be happy to check it out but if too crazy would not be bummed if we missed… DS 20 has no real interest and DD 7 hasnt even seen
I wouldn’t say “awful” but not nearly as entertaining when you need to rely on others to get through.
Cause there’s 3 ways this can play out
everything works out great and you all have a good time. (Yay!)
you get a team which are just completely incompetent while you know what to do. So your part is good, but theirs flies you right into a wall and ends the ride. (Boo)
You are the incompetent one and you have “comic-book guy” in the cockpit with you and he needs to make sure you know you suck. (Ugh).
Now, im sure Disney accounted for scenarios 2 and 3, so there’s probably safeguards in place, but still… team rides where the team performance effects the outcome makes me hesitant to jump right in line.
The thing about the Millenium Falcon being like Star Tours and Mission Space is because of the role playing aspect. Only this time, what you do really will affect your ride.
So if the Pilots crash the Falcon, the Engineers will have to repair it. Otherwise you’ll be limping back to base, not flying.
And if you get hit because the Gunners don’t shoot down the fighters, then you will feel the impact.
My wife and I have a Sept 2019 reservation, then they announced SWGE opening in Aug. Ugh - crowds in our normally quiet Sept trip. My first reaction was to cancel, but decided we wouldn’t loose anything to wait and see a little longer. I am a huge Star Wars geek/fan, but just as equally dislike HS park. My adult kids are not happy we would do SWGE without them (2020 family trip).
2nd knee jerk reaction was to right off HS for this trip due to crowds.
Then Disney announced EEMH for resort guests. So as a Star Wars fan, I will very likely take advantage of the EEMH, get up very early and attempt to go into the land and walk around, solo; no ride, no cantina, no light saber build. Would love to just see it.
Excitement meter for the “Land” is high. Dealing with HS and crowds to get there, keep pulling that meter needle down … a lot.
I hate the whole thing. I am so afraid of what it will do to the world and am worried I will never want to go to HS again. It’s more about the crowd than about the land, which even as a non-fan I think looks amazing.
i’m looking forward to it. it looks to be stunning. i hope to explore solo and have time to observe and take in the details, even in a sea of crowds. growing up with the original trilogy (and all the toys, lunch boxes, and bed sheet sets that came with it), it’s exciting to see it come to life as an adult.
i do have concerns that the millennium falcon ride will be too influenced by other riders. on the bright side, having a different ride experience each time is exciting (and i’m sure it has been thought through extensively). the massive wait time aside, imagine how fun it would be to jump back in line and go again for another run!
I’m not a Star Wars mega fan. I’ve seen all the movies, but I don’t own any merch or etc…
IMHO - Disney is copying & pasting the model used to make WWOHP which is a place I really enjoy. (Not a mega fan of HP either, but have read the books / seen films.)
Using that model with Disney magic at the helm I’m sure I’ll be teleported long ago to a galaxy far far away.
I’m definitely excited to see it. However, I’m not even planning a trip for it yet. I’d rather wait until both SWGE attractions are operating and the influx of hyped up SW fans have passed. (Also, I’m not going to pay $200 for a lightsaber even though I paid $60 for an interactive wand)
I’m making plans for late 2021. WDW will be celebrating the 50th + SWGE should be in full operation along with Mickey & Minnie’s RR, Epcot’s Ratatouille + Guardian’s coaster and Tron in MK.
So… while I think SWGE is going to live up to the hype, it’s going to take more than just that one land for me to rush back due to the expected crowds. Plus, I just did a trip this year.
Me, too, on both counts. I actually think the $200 lightsaber is a better value than the $60 wand. I ended up giving mine away to some random kid in the park. I felt ridiculous carrying it around and failing to cast any of the spells.
Typical story: trip planned for “slow” time, since we’re off property taking advantage of my sister’s time share points to reserve 3 (count 'em 3) three bedroom villas (ie 9 bedrooms) for the extended family helping my sister’s granddaughter celebrate a major birthday.
Depending on rope dropping non EMH parks since we’re in the 30 FP category.
Sigh.
At this point I’m working hard at not absolutely hating Disney.
The birthday girl is very good about being positive about this visit. She had expectations of course. Recalculating those expectations. Again.
My daughter is a HP MEGA fan, so not getting one wan’t an option - even though she already has a “regular” wand. We all took turns using the interactive. Over a couple days everybody cast every spell, so I feel I got my $$ worth. - even if it took me a few tries to get used to doing it. Universal was smart to make the interactive wands only $10 more than the regular, it’s almost a no-brainer to just go ahead and get the interactive.
I saw the Vimeo video of the lightsaber workshop build - those lightsabers look pretty neat, a bit large / clunky, but fun. Not $200 neat / fun IMHO - but, again, not a SW mega fan. I think it was smart to not make the “blade” telescoping - those tend to break. My daughter had one of those as a kid. However, a “snap on blade” is another thing I have to carry around. Hopefully, they’ll sell belts / holsters to let you walk around wearing your lightsaber.
