Well, I am excited of a new land to see at Disney and I do love star wars!
However, I’m also totally bummed that I planned a trip down there the last week of August, got great deals on a hotel (before they announced SWGE opening) and got free tix from my airline miles. It was going to be a nice fun vacation with just me and my 5 year old, on a slower crowd week, and now its likely going to be packed.
Its not going to make me cancel my vacation, but now I’m basically opting out of going to HS at all, because the few days before it opens is likely going to be packed with people, just as much as opening day and beyond.
It’s disappointing for me, but I’m also not cancelling my trip and I’m just going to have to adjust my expectations.
Soo, I’ll be avoiding HS after opening, and only going the few days before If I can score slinky dog FP’s.
I am both excited and nervous. Excited because the opening of GE will be a dream come true for DH and he is so excited. We are going opening day in WDW and have a VIP tour booked. I am getting nervous because they still won’t say whether VIP tours will have GE access and they don’t know when they will know. I am dreading having to line up/camp out just to get into the land. I really hope they announce the plans soon so I can stop stressing about it and get some plans in place. But, I think it will be amazing, as long as they do some crowd control so you can enjoy it.
So infinitely much information is now available after the press preview.
I was particularly interested in Tom Bricker’s account. He stressed that the land itself was as much of an attraction (if not more) than the MF ride. And this is my guess as to how I’ll feel. That being said, the theming of the queue will be a big part of the ride experience.
I also spotted this on twitter, which was very interesting:
Same here (7 out of 10, big fan, kids who are huge fans) except that I didn’t have to reschedule our trip as our checkout date is Aug 27. SWGE opening actually precipitated this trip – when it was initially announced that increased our desire to take the kids to DL or WDW, but DH pointed out we should make our first WDW visit before it opens. He’s happy to leave the planning of trips to me as long as I don’t overschedule our days – he would be a Liner at heart in his queue-avoidance if it didn’t involve any advance planning.
Having never been to WDW I don’t have any attachment to how DHS was before and it does seem like a weird fit at DL but I haven’t been there forever either. I’m tentatively very excited to see it in a few years, maybe with a stay at the SW hotel.
Re. it bringing a new anti-princess demographic, yes. But I feel Disney marketing has unnecessarily created that demographic – both DS7 and DS11 loved Disney movies until a few years ago when they started feeling like they were not designed for or targeted at them. We still read books and watch other movies with female protagonists (they loved Captain Marvel) so it feels like their anti-princess stance could have been avoided. My nieces share the Star Wars fandom with my sons but are way less into Marvel. I see both (the anti-Marvel and the anti-princess) stances as a fairly direct, possibly intended, consequence of Disney’s marketing. They all love Harry Potter (and I love HP, princesses, super heroes, Mary Poppins, Tigger/Piglet, Star Wars, etc. etc.) and I’m kind of glad Universal was more willing to give JK Rowling control. I’m totally excited to visit WDW but, though they seem to be getting better lately, I don’t trust Disney’s this-is-for-girls-and-this-is-for-boys approach not to have flavoured things if they’d been working on HP.
Have an amazing time, @lolabear_la. I’m vicariously disappointed for you about the cost and only one accompanying person for Savvi’s Workshop.
I hope your trip is good despite the wrench SWGE opening threw into it, @DIsneyCubs.
Maybe this attraction is a good one to use the chicken exit after doing the queue, so a person can skip the stress. In a way, this ride sounds like Star Tours crossed with Mission: Space but with a lot of nasty stress.
I’m middle of the road excited. I’ve had a long-planned “Christmas Trip” for the 2nd week in Dec., so it will definitely impact my trip. But it only mildly concerns me. DHS has always been my least favorite park (even the “original” version when it was still a working studio), and if it’s too crazy, it won’t break my heart to skip it entirely; there’s always the next trip in a few years.
I have loved SW ever since I saw the original the weekend after my HS graduation. The original trilogy was almost as perfect as you could get - except for the Ewocks. Other than Jar-Jar and the horrible acting by Hayden Christiansen, I even enjoyed most of the prequal trilogy. I’ve had a hard time getting into the final trilogy; I just don’t really care about any of the characters, and having a greasy looking, zero charisma, emo-goth dude as the prime villain just doesn’t work for me. Rogue One and Solo have both been more entertaining than the 2 “numbered” films; I hope they can pull it out with No.9.
To me, Star Wars will never be “Disney”. Nor will Marvel, Indiana Jones, or even the Muppets. These were all someone else’s original creations that Disney bought and has capitalized on. Today’s young kids, who will only know them as being “Disney” won’t have this problem, but this 60 year old guy who grew up with them does.
As for the “land”, yes, I’m looking forward to seeing it. As I said, I enjoy SW very much (although I couldn’t sit through Clone Wars because both the animation and writing were so horrible, and have never tried Rebels, and have never read a SW book), so I am looking forward to seeing the land - to marvel at how well it’s done as much as anything. If RotR is open, then I will probably do whatever it takes to see SWGE (short of paying hundreds of dollars). If it’s just MF open, then I’ll check out the land if it’s not “too hard”. Again, being old, I want to be entertained by a ride; I have no need nor special desire to have to interact with it (and a bunch of strangers). I have never been interested in most video games - I remember friends in college spending hours in front of a Space Invaders console and just thought “Why?”. Maybe this is why I find TSM to be the most over-hyped ride in WDW… I guess I’m just a dinosaur.
So that’s my take on SWGE. I’m actually more excited about seeing Pandora and TSL than I am SWGE…
Yes! At DLR, when you cross over Harbor Blvd and start walking up the Esplanade, both times I have been to DLR I notice a point where you really hear the Disney music and you don’t hear any more of the street noise. I think I have l almost started skipping both times. Completely unconscious.
For everyone’s sake, I hope SWGE is better than music on the Esplanade. I just equate that to “first time” excitement
Now I know what you’re talking about. Since o enter from the Mickey and Friends parking lot near DTD, I wasn’t familiar with the esplanade. Love how Disney USA music to get you into the total experience.
Our trip is for 2-7 Sept. and we’ve been planning it for almost a year. I’m excited and dreading it at the same time. We either go this first week of Sept (my birthday) or first week of Dec., Sept won out because it was so much cheaper and less crowded. We do have dining reservations for Brown Derby on the 3rd and I’m wondering if we can even get in the park, and if so, will we be able to ride ToT and all of our old favorites. I still don’t know whether we should cancel or not.
Looks great and exciting… BUT… (caution - the following might offend some)
I was lucky to be at the grand opening of Tower of Terror. Wonderful ride but did Rope Drop and still had 3 hour wait. Same feelings about Galaxy Edge. I’ll avoid it like the plague. I’m going in a few weeks to WDW w family so timing out perfect. Won’t get back for 2 years and probably still will avoid HS, if The Mouse’s minions don’t hike up prices to the stratosphere.
