Are you going to DLR this summer or skipping it due to SWGE crowds? I can't decide!

[HydroGuy]

OP, if you think the crowds from SWGE are going to die down anytime soon, I think you are wrong. Pandora opened at WDW in 2017 and the queues are still 4+ hours long. I was there opening day LOL. Going back in a month for another crack at FOP.

I guess I am saying that I would not let SWGE hold me back from a visit to DLR. If so, you better not plan a trip for the next 3 years!

 

[imjen]

I would go ahead and book a hotel or two as long as you know there is a no penalty cancellation policy. That way, if you do have to cancel, no problem.

That is a good idea! We would be driving so it wouldn't be a big deal to cancel the hotel. Might come up with a Plan A and Plan B vacation for that time frame. lol

 

[imjen]

OP, if you think the crowds from SWGE are going to die down anytime soon, I think you arr wrong. Pandora opened at WDW in 2017 and the queues are still 4+ hours long. I was there opening day LOL. Going back in a month for another crack at FOP.

I guess I am saying that I would not let SWGE hold me back from a visit to DLR. If so, you better not plan a trip for the next 3 years!

My main concern is how crowded the rest of DL and DCA will be. Do you think it will be super long lines and crazy cramped walkways everywhere or the worst will be over by SWGE? I have not been there when the park was at capacity or near a highly anticipated land opening. I'm not really sure what to expect. Dh and I went to WDW last fall for his first time (my 2nd), and while it was crazy over at Pandora, we were able to get FP+for FOP and rode Navi right at opening with about a 40 min wait. It wasn't too bad crowd wise wandering the land right after that. The rest of Animal Kingdom was fine. Do you think SWGE will be similar and the rest of DL and DCA will be typical summer crowds?

 

[HydroGuy]

My main concern is how crowded the rest of DL and DCA will be. Do you think it will be super long lines and crazy cramped walkways everywhere or the worst will be over by SWGE? I have not been there when the park was at capacity or near a highly anticipated land opening. I'm not really sure what to expect. Dh and I went to WDW last fall for his first time (my 2nd), and while it was crazy over at Pandora, we were able to get FP+for FOP and rode Navi right at opening with about a 40 min wait. It wasn't too bad crowd wise wandering the land right after that. The rest of Animal Kingdom was fine. Do you think SWGE will be similar and the rest of DL and DCA will be typical summer crowds?

Crowds at SWGE are crowds at DL and (to some degree) DCA. When I was at AK for Pandora opening weekend the rest of AK was not that bad. We had FPs for FOP and NRJ and Pandora was nuts. If SWGE is crowded that does mean the rest of the park is crowded. If the queue for each new ride is 4 hours long that will suck up probably 8,000 people to each ride (if each ride has 2,000 people per hour capacity). So 16,000 people in line for SWGE, plus people exploring the land, shops and restaurants. With DL park topping out on the worst of worst days at 80k people (I think). I doubt summer days will hit that except maybe the first week SWGE opens. That does not make DL park terribly crowded if there are say 60 people there mid-day and 16-20k people are in SWGE.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

It was a tough call for me. I don't want to take the kids near SWL until I know what the line situation and strategies are, so we booked for Thanksgiving hoping that will be enough time. Initially, I was planning to go in late June for a short trip with just my older son, but I think it's going to be too insane. I read somewhere that lines on opening day might be a 6+ hour wait and to ride both rides, eat, and get merch, it's going to be about 13 hours of line waiting just for SWL. I am assuming that won't be much better for most of the summer. So...I'm waiting. Part of me would love to go in that first mad dash of people over summer, but it's just not worth it. My family and I decided to take a spring break trip instead to celebrate the last time Disneyland will ever resemble sane for a while.

 

[friedela]

We are totally skipping the entire madness that will ensue this summer. And we are one-timers most likely AND we love Star Wars. But there is nothing under the sun that I am prepared to wait for hours to see, nor deal with crushing crowds for. To us it's not worth it. Hence, the reason we chose to go right before summer I am hoping that there are a bunch of people who are holding off until the opening of SWGE and the park will be quieter for us in May, but I suppose there are other people who have the same plan as us. Who knows.

 

[friedela]

Dh and I went to WDW last fall for his first time (my 2nd), and while it was crazy over at Pandora, we were able to get FP+for FOP and rode Navi right at opening with about a 40 min wait. It wasn't too bad crowd wise wandering the land right after that. The rest of Animal Kingdom was fine. Do you think SWGE will be similar and the rest of DL and DCA will be typical summer crowds?

Just remember that Star Wars has a HUGE fan base. CRAZY huge. Far bigger than Pandora... I don't think you can compare the two. As I read on Tom Bricker's blog, "The opening of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge will completely redefine what 'crowded' means".

 

[Butterfly123]

It was a tough call for me. I don't want to take the kids near SWL until I know what the line situation and strategies are, so we booked for Thanksgiving hoping that will be enough time. Initially, I was planning to go in late June for a short trip with just my older son, but I think it's going to be too insane. I read somewhere that lines on opening day might be a 6+ hour wait and to ride both rides, eat, and get merch, it's going to be about 13 hours of line waiting just for SWL. I am assuming that won't be much better for most of the summer. So...I'm waiting. Part of me would love to go in that first mad dash of people over summer, but it's just not worth it. My family and I decided to take a spring break trip instead to celebrate the last time Disneyland will ever resemble sane for a while.

This was my thinking...by next summer I can see what strategies might help manage the lines. It will still be busy, but I think things will have settled in a bit. It made it not so hard to just switch next years vacation plans with this years Disney plans.

 

[friedela]

OP, here is an article that might help you decide:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disneyland-planning-guide/

Scroll down to the heading, "To Visit Disneyland.... or Wait?"

He will cover all of your concerns. It's really a matter of how much do you love Star Wars? Do you love it enough to brave the crowds and lines? There's no right or wrong answer, just whatever you feel you can handle.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

My daughter and I normally go every spring break but are pushing it until the second week of October (her fall break). DD is a huge SW fan and can't wait to go. I'm not a SW fan at all, but it will be our last mother/daughter trip before she leaves for college.

 

[abnihon]

We’re DW vets and not really familiar with DL MaxPass. How do we think it will work with SWGE? How early would you have to be in the park to grab a FP for those rides opening summer?
I’m picturing park opening at 7am and all SWGE FP for the day gone in the first few minutes and only to people who were lined up to get into park before 6am.
Does that sound about right??

It scares me less at DW because of FP+. We were there opening weekend of Pandora and I got FP for FOP and NRJ 60 days out and we just walked past the line into Pandora. And hope to do the same when we go to DW for SWGE in 2020.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We’re DW vets and not really familiar with DL MaxPass. How do we think it will work with SWGE? How early would you have to be in the park to grab a FP for those rides opening summer?
I’m picturing park opening at 7am and all SWGE FP for the day gone in the first few minutes and only to people who were lined up to get into park before 6am.
Does that sound about right??

It scares me less at DW because of FP+. We were there opening weekend of Pandora and I got FP for FOP and NRJ 60 days out and we just walked past the line into Pandora. And hope to do the same when we go to DW for SWGE in 2020.

Read this very good thread to learn about MP and how it works at DLR: "Maxpass/Fastpass: an overview and some strategy" by @Skyegirl1999 - www.disboards.com/threads/maxpass-fastpass-an-overview-and-some-strategy.3726246/.
No one can really know right now how MP will work with SWGE because no official information has been given about that yet. When the announcements come, you'll find the news on this board! So keep watching here for updates.
We do know that Disney has been working on this for a long time and that they will have some kind of plan for when SWGE opens. If their plan doesn't work out as hoped, they'll adjust it until it works better. You've said you might try to visit before SWGE opens -- then you won't have to worry about the whole MP and SWGE issue. And you've said you might not visit until early August -- by that time there will have been lots of reports and information posted here about how everything works at SWGE and how to use MP for it. If you do want to see SWGE, as long as you wait until a little later in the summer to visit, you'll have plenty of time to study all the news here so you'll know what to do when you get to DLR.

 

[monorailrabbit]

I feel the same way. We're even thinking of swapping back to WDW this year. We'll hit closer to opening date there, but at least we can avoid the Star Wars park if we want to. Having it invade our castle park is a big downer for me.

This. We were going to go during summer/fall this year, and decided to go fist week of March instead. We are SW fans, but want to be able to escape the madness if need be. We are planning to head to WDW to check it out before we come back to DLR for it. Sadly, this will likely be our last trip to Land for a few years - next year we are planning our first Alaska cruise. 2021 we'd like to get back to World for the new Guardians ride. 2022 is probably the next time we will make it out to our favorite place on earth, maybe by then things will have calmed down a bit!

 

[HydroGuy]

Just remember that Star Wars has a HUGE fan base. CRAZY huge. Far bigger than Pandora... I don't think you can compare the two. As I read on Tom Bricker's blog, "The opening of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge will completely redefine what 'crowded' means".

I agree but do not want to push Pandora too far down the list. It is popular, it was something epic and new, and it was and remains to be super crowded. As I have posted elsewhere WDW did a phenomenal job handling it. I hope Disney connects the WDW folks who worked and planned Pandora opening with the DLR SWGE folks so they learn something about managing crowds.

I suspect the whole thing will be quite manageable once you are inside DL with 15-20k people tied up in SWGE queues and inside the land. I suspect the impact on DCA will not be anywhere near as much as some people seem to think.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We are going on August 6th for six days just for Star Wars land! Count me amongst the crazy. But we’re also fortunate enough that we go frequently- we were just there last August and in December so it’s not the end of the world to me if it’s busy.

My son and I are meeting some friends from out of state there that are purely going just for SWL. They’ve never had interest before in Disney until this. I imagine SWL is going to pull many folks in that mold. My hope is that many won’t be experienced vets and not be there at Rope Drop or using MaxPass. So that’s something to consider too- much of the new crowds coming will likely be newbies and if you come prepared with a strategy and spend enough days there to see it all... should be fine.

At least that’s what I’m hoping.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... I suspect the whole thing will be quite manageable once you are inside DL with 15-20k people tied up in SWGE queues and inside the land. I suspect the impact on DCA will not be anywhere near as much as some people seem to think.

I've wondered about this, too. Were you at any of the 24 hour parties at DLR? The difference between being inside the parks and being outside in the esplanade was like night and day. Inside the parks was crowded, but as long as management and CMs were in control and on top of things, it really wasn't that different from other very crowded, high energy times, e.g. NYE. For a newbie, it might have seemed overwhelming. But if you'd already survived NYE or Christmas Week at DLR, it wasn't too different. But outside the parks? It was ugly. We were shocked by the news footage because we never felt any of that inside the parks. Inside DL, I don't worry so much. Outside the parks, if there are gate closures, I really hope TDA learned some serious lessons on crowd control and crowd safety from those parties. And I agree that DCA will handle its crowds better with the wider walkways and more spread out ride areas.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I wonder if SW:GE will have all of their FP attractions connected in network or outside. Didn't they leave RSR separate for a while when Carsland opened?

SW:GE may actually make it a lot easier to get FPs for other attractions if they are connected, but if you can hold SW:GE FP and RSR FP at the same time, it'll make it even more important to be fully up to speed with MP and getting to parks as early as possible to start booking them.

 

[HydroGuy]

I've wondered about this, too. Were you at any of the 24 hour parties at DLR? The difference between being inside the parks and being outside in the esplanade was like night and day. Inside the parks was crowded, but as long as management and CMs were in control and on top of things, it really wasn't that different from other very crowded, high energy times, e.g. NYE. For a newbie, it might have seemed overwhelming. But if you'd already survived NYE or Christmas Week at DLR, it wasn't too different. But outside the parks? It was ugly. We were shocked by the news footage because we never felt any of that inside the parks. Inside DL, I don't worry so much. Outside the parks, if there are gate closures, I really hope TDA learned some serious lessons on crowd control and crowd safety from those parties. And I agree that DCA will handle its crowds better with the wider walkways and more spread out ride areas.

I was not at the 24 hours parties. And only once have I had a bad crowding experience entering DL or DCA. It was on a Sunday morning where they had a CHOC Walk and the parks did not open until 10AM. Since the CHOC Walk was happening, they apparently did not feel at liberty to scan folks into the parks ahead of official opening and hold them at ropes. So the Esplanade was super confusing at rope drop with queues from the DL and turnstiles so long they kind of intermixed int the middle.

Other than that one day, I have never had a terrible experience. I just read about it here and on other Disney news sites.

 

[alvernon90]

I suspect the whole thing will be quite manageable once you are inside DL with 15-20k people tied up in SWGE queues and inside the land.

I'm hoping this is right -- and made even more correct by thousands of people waiting in line just to get into SWGE so they can wait in line for everything else.

But I'm doing what others in the thread have suggested, and that's booking a room at DLH in mid-July and waiting to see what happens. My hope is that the initial crush will have died down a bit and that the AP holders will wait until they are unblocked, thus leading to crowds no worse than a typical holiday season. But if all reports are that it's a nightmare after July 4th, I'll gladly let someone else overpay for the DLH room and wait until next summer.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Other than that one day, I have never had a terrible experience. I just read about it here and on other Disney news sites.

It was, um... memorable, that's for sure, and probably the only time I've been truly scared at DLR. People spitting at CMs, yelling profanities, ready to riot by the look and feel of it. And we never felt or heard any of it until we left the gates. Really hoping TDA has their act together on SWGE opening because I never want to go through anything like that again.