How much will Galaxy's Edge mess up my plans?

That’s the only reason. Just like going to opening night of a new mega-blockbuster movie…

Our family will be there for those dates also… We will be avoiding HS Wednesday and Thursday too

I go to opening nights and weekends of movies because I want to see it myself before the spoilers are everywhere. :slight_smile:

Actually I mostly do the same thing for the same reason. It will be very hard for me to avoid the scores of videos that will flood the internet starting when the DL version opens in May…

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Who was invited to this soft opening for toy story land and Avatar? Was it just media or a paid event.

Pandora’s soft openings were for AP’s. For TSL they just opened the gates to the area and whoever figured it out went in.

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Hey! I was off by a day; so, TSL was scheduled to open on June 30, 2018, but, they had a media-only preview even the day before, on June 29. Then, around 5:00 pm that day, they announced in the park and via social media that TSL would be open to the public for the evening!

So… if you happen to be at DHS during SW:GE opening week, maybe check for the media-only preview event and that might be the lucky day for some people to get a soft opening!

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Re the locals showing up for the opening: I can’t help but wonder if it is something similar to our experience of MK’s 45 Anniversary. We happened to be at WDW and happened to have free time in our plan that day so went to MK. I spent an hour or so in the line to purchase the special shirt, pin and magic band. Most of the people in line around me were locals with AP who were only there to purchase the special souvenirs. The park was very crowded but those locals had only come to get their souvenirs then leave the park.

We are going on the 20th of September too but agree we will wait to see what the crowd level update says.

Was the AP opening for Pandora the before the actual opening…Also was there an additional cost. I realize that what Disney did in the past has no bearing of the new Star Wars land but still just wondering and past AP events for new attractions.

It was before it opened. As far as cost, I don’t know. Perhaps an AP can answer for you?

There were media events for both.

For Pandora, they announced previews about 6 weeks ahead, for a period lasting about a week IIRC, for both AP holders and DVC members who were staying onsite.

Thee were 2 hour blocks, some for AP, some for DVC, and then media later in the day, for each day. They were free. For DVC they were only open for those with an onsite stay, which led to 0% availability once the dates were announced, as people scrambled for one and two night stays. And they booked out very quickly.

I think AP holder previews were open to all the gold and above level, whether onsite or not. I think they were available for longer, many DVCers who couldn’t get into the DVC previews booked the AP events instead.

TSL was totally different. Media events were held, plus CM events before things were finished. They were down to the wire with getting it ready to open. There were some soft openings in the last few days, unannounced.

I know DVC members got special EMH nights much later, maybe August / September - like the Moonlight Magic. Not sure about AP holders, I think they did too. Those were only a couple of nights a week I think, for both groups.

What happens for SW:GE I don’t know. It will partly depend on how things go time wise.

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Thanks for the details. Its best to set expectations low. I won’t count on anything with my lowely weekday select annual pass.

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I don’t think silver passes were good for any previews either. Just gold or platinum. :frowning_face:

TSL grand opening was scheduled for Saturday, June 30, 2018. On the morning of Friday, June 29, they held a soft-opening invited-media-only event. Around 5:00 pm that day, they opened TSL to the public for a few hours. Announced it on social media and word spread like crazy. But, what I’m getting at is that TSL was at least quietly opened to the public the night before.

Totally different than the way Pandora was handled, and, SW:GE seems like a way bigger deal than both Pandora and Toy Story Land combined, so it’s gonna be fascinating to see how this rolls out.

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Probably won’t impact your trip as much as checking in on 8/30 and leaving on 9/8 wk impact mind. What kinda luck do I have? Lol