D23 EXPO 2019 Superthread - dates announced!

[DLgal]

I'm having a hard time keeping up... how are they handling Oga's these days? Still have to make a beeline there at opening of our window? Would we still have to arrive very early for our 8am slot to be among those who can get in?

Not only will you need to make a beeline there at 8am, but you'd better be in front of the pack too. They stopped accepting reservations yesterday at 8:10am for the 8-noon window.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

I am not sure I understand people that say "we knew it wouldn't have stuff from the original trilogy, but were disappointed anyway."

I totally agree with you! I feel like most of the criticism around SWGE is that they didn't build a location straight out of the source material. I understand the sentiment as drawing from the source material will definitely play on nostalgia more but I still think they did a good job building something authentic to Star Wars whether it was what everyone wanted or not.

but expected to at least see some classic ships and stuff.

Other than the Falcon which is the most "classic" ship in Star Wars the resistance area has an X-Wing and A-Wing both of which are in the Original Trilogy even if the X-wing is the "new" resistance style.


As far as comparisons to HP I personally wasn't all that impressed with HP in USH. Do I think they did a fantastic job with it yes but just like SWGE is for some, it's not something that will keep me going back to USH.

 

[DLgal]

The John Wiliams group did the music for BSO. It's meant to be more of a background noise in certain spots; after all, you don't get music at your local outdoor mall, right?

All the local outdoor malls here have music playing. Here being Orange County, CA. Outdoor malls are kind of our thing here.

 

[crystal1313]

Seeing the Falcon blew us away! Walking into the Falcon, also equally as impressive! Having a drink in the Cantina, something both my DH and I thought was SO cool. It felt like we were in the movie! The level of detail was incredible. We loved it!

 

[DLgal]

I totally agree with you! I feel like most of the criticism around SWGE is that they didn't build a location straight out of the source material. I understand the sentiment as drawing from the source material will definitely play on nostalgia more but I still think they did a good job building something authentic to Star Wars whether it was what everyone wanted or not.


Other than the Falcon which is the most "classic" ship in Star Wars the resistance area has an X-Wing and A-Wing both of which are in the Original Trilogy even if the X-wing is the "new" resistance style.


As far as comparisons to HP I personally wasn't all that impressed with HP in USH. Do I think they did a fantastic job with it yes but just like SWGE is for some, it's not something that will keep me going back to USH.

Exactly . The x wing isn't the original design. The A wing is a ship from the Clone Wars era. Neither is a classic trilogy ship. These are important details to serious fans.

 

[ateam79828592]

We visited SWGE opening weekend arriving 5/31 and leaving 6/5. We just lucked into opening weekend with the ideal low crowds having booked our 20th anniversary trip for DL before opening dates were announced. As it was only our 2nd DL visit ever, we didn't notice the special edition SWGE DL maps until the 3rd day of the opening. After that we started snagging a couple each time we passed them, and so we came home with a small stack to share with our disboard friends. If you would like a map, please PM me with your address.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

Exactly . The x wing isn't the original design. The A wing is a ship from the Clone Wars era. Neither is a classic trilogy ship. These are important details to serious fans.

The A-Wing first appeared in ROTJ in the Battle of Endor. It was the ship that crashed into the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. Just important details serious fans should know

 

[ImDMous]

We went for our second reservation yesterday morning 8am. We had 2 more people with us this time and the priorities for them were Oga's and MFSR so we decided to get there earlier to get a faster cantina return time.
We were the first car to park in Toy Story at 5:25 and had our own shuttle to the park, obviously no line at security and were in line at the DL gate about 5:45. I think there were about 15 people already there.
They opened the gates at 6 and scanned us in and held us at the train overpass for about 5 or 10 minutes then walked us all to Launch Bay. A bunch of people passed us but very short wait to check in and get our wristbands, they only checked my ID as the reservation maker. Upstairs wasn't open yet so we just went outside to got in the mob at Tomorrowland Terrace. TT was open for breakfast so we had some food and waited around forever.
They finally started walking us about 7:55 and we went all the way into the land in one long walk. Many people pushed in front of us with elbows and backpacks as weapons so we ended up much further back by the time we got to the wristband check.
We just kept moving with the crowd and headed right, falling into the line for the cantina. Before us everyone had to be in the line with their party so we were all together but just a little ways in front of us they started saying only one person so we just missed the cutoff to be in the first group.
They gave us a return time of approx 30 min so we went to look at the shops in the mean time. We got our text about 45 minutes later to return and waited another 10 or so to get in.
We had a spot at the bar, which actually was really great. Last time we were at a standing table that was stuck in the walkway near the door and we just got constantly bumped and jostled. The bar was great and we loved all our drinks. I especially enjoyed the Fuzzy Tauntaun.
We had all our drinks and decided to go to the ride, standby was about 20 minutes. I was pilot this time, we did better than the first trip, but not great. It was really fun having enough people to fill the crew. We went on a second time and switched up our jobs so I was engineer this time. I didn't have trouble seeing from any seats, loved all the motion, and there was definitely a lot of bumping around on our second ride, perhaps they should have a pilot school.
After that we went to the shop part of the Savi's, hadn't done that the first trip and there are a lot of really cool things in there. We had some blue and green milk, which we also skipped the first time. I liked the blue more, but we were a split decision for the group. Finished them both between all of us.
We headed out through the Resistance area to exit by Hungry Bear.

We saw some stormtroopers escorting a First Order captain (she had a great outfit) through their area in the morning and saw Chewbacca in the Resistance area. Never saw Rey this time, haven't seen Kylo at all.

I was glad we got there early. It seems like the first time (on a Saturday) when we were queued in Fantasyland the walk into the land was much more orderly and exciting. This time with the longer distance it was kind of crazy with people pushing ahead and snaking through the groups in front of them.

We had one kind-of Disney hater (but Star Wars lover) actually upgrade his one day ticket to an annual flex pass, so I would consider the land a success.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Oh, one other thing. When we checked in, they did not look at any of the other adult IDs. Just mine (primary reservation holder). She also asked "is five all you have in your party today?" As though she would have let me add one more if I had shown up with one. She saw it said 5 when she scanned my QR code, and we were all standing there so she could see all 5 of us were there. I thought it was an odd question.

She probably asked because current policy allows the primary reservation holder to add/switch a guest at check in. Since you were a party of 5, you (technically) could have added one more person at check in. Disney asks that any guest being added/switched have gov't. issued ID, but, as you noticed, not all CMs are checking.

 

[amyg1975]

Not only will you need to make a beeline there at 8am, but you'd better be in front of the pack too. They stopped accepting reservations yesterday at 8:10am for the 8-noon window.

Sunday? I checked in at 8:27 and got a text to go back at 11:05. Or do you mean they closed the line?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Sunday? I checked in at 8:27 and got a text to go back at 11:05. Or do you mean they closed the line?

The line to put your name on the list at the Cantina can be cut off after a certain point. Lately, it's been about 5-10 minutes after the check in process starts. So on Sunday, for example, when CM started taking names and mobile numbers for Cantina reservations, the list was filled after about 5-10 minutes. I heard that happened on Saturday, too.

 

[njchris]

I did have an issue on my 2nd trip to SWGE. I didn't try for the cantina the first time. But decided for the 8pm-midnight, I would give it a shot. Anyway gave my #.. showed my phone with my # so there would be no mistake. She said it would be around 2 hours and 15 mins wait. I never got the initial text so I went back at 9. Took a few tries to explain I had already given my # but didn't get a text. They looked it up and had the # wrong. The manager had to get another device to update the #. Ok, so then it's almost 11 and still no text. I go back again, and the woman remembered me. I said I haven't gotten anything yet and want to make sure I'm still in the list. She opened up my info, then I got the text to come to the cantina. She forced the text and let me go in. I hope they go to ADR or something that makes more sense than having to beat other people there in the future. Or expand/make a 2nd cantina eventually.

I was pretty far up in the line to get into SWGE, but somehow when I got to the cantina line it was super long. I had no idea how that many people got ahead. Not a lot passed me up on the initial walk.

 

[Lesley Wake]

We loved SWGE, but more music would have been good! We thought the attention to detail was amazing throughout the land.

Did anyone else buy the little wooden poseable stormtrooper and have him fall apart almost immediately? We just got home from our vacation, and when DD set him out and went to pose his arms yesterday, one of his arms fell completely apart?

Contact Disney Merchandising. They are usually really good with helping you out - my sister bought a wine glass at Epcot and it didn't survive the trip home. They sent us a replacement, free of charge and shipping, without us even having to track down the receipt!

 

[twodogs]

I did have an issue on my 2nd trip to SWGE. I didn't try for the cantina the first time. But decided for the 8pm-midnight, I would give it a shot. Anyway gave my #.. showed my phone with my # so there would be no mistake. She said it would be around 2 hours and 15 mins wait. I never got the initial text so I went back at 9. Took a few tries to explain I had already given my # but didn't get a text. They looked it up and had the # wrong. The manager had to get another device to update the #. Ok, so then it's almost 11 and still no text. I go back again, and the woman remembered me. I said I haven't gotten anything yet and want to make sure I'm still in the list. She opened up my info, then I got the text to come to the cantina. She forced the text and let me go in. I hope they go to ADR or something that makes more sense than having to beat other people there in the future. Or expand/make a 2nd cantina eventually.

I was pretty far up in the line to get into SWGE, but somehow when I got to the cantina line it was super long. I had no idea how that many people got ahead. Not a lot passed me up on the initial walk.

We are going this weekend. We have an 11am-3pm and then 8pm-midnight. We want to do Savi’s and the Cantina. Do you think people from the earlier time slot were getting in line for the Cantina when they let your group in? Or will they not let you get on the Cantina list unless you have the wrist band for the time group that was just let in? So for the 8pm time slot, could someone with the 2pm-6pm wrist band who was still hanging around the land at 7:55pm just line up at the Cantina and try to get on the list at 8pm?

 

[Lesley Wake]

We are going this weekend. We have an 11am-3pm and then 8pm-midnight. We want to do Savi’s and the Cantina. Do you think people from the earlier time slot were getting in line for the Cantina when they let your group in? Or will they not let you get on the Cantina list unless you have the wrist band for the time group that was just let in? So for the 8pm time slot, could someone with the 2pm-6pm wrist band who was still hanging around the land at 7:55pm just line up at the Cantina and try to get on the list at 8pm?

They won't let the earlier wristbands get in line when the next people enter. They do monitor it closely there.

 

[twodogs]

They won't let the earlier wristbands get in line when the next people enter. They do monitor it closely there.

Thank you, then I think we have a chance to get both of the experiences in one time between our two reservation times.

 

[ddwlms]

I did have an issue on my 2nd trip to SWGE. I didn't try for the cantina the first time. But decided for the 8pm-midnight, I would give it a shot. Anyway gave my #.. showed my phone with my # so there would be no mistake. She said it would be around 2 hours and 15 mins wait. I never got the initial text so I went back at 9. Took a few tries to explain I had already given my # but didn't get a text. They looked it up and had the # wrong. The manager had to get another device to update the #. Ok, so then it's almost 11 and still no text. I go back again, and the woman remembered me. I said I haven't gotten anything yet and want to make sure I'm still in the list. She opened up my info, then I got the text to come to the cantina. She forced the text and let me go in. I hope they go to ADR or something that makes more sense than having to beat other people there in the future. Or expand/make a 2nd cantina eventually.

I was pretty far up in the line to get into SWGE, but somehow when I got to the cantina line it was super long. I had no idea how that many people got ahead. Not a lot passed me up on the initial walk.

How early did you line up to go into SWGE?

 

[alvernon90]

These are important details to serious fans.

Also, blue milk isn't really that blue.

 

[njchris]

How early did you line up to go into SWGE?

About 7pm near critter country. Got conflicting information that I could wait farther up but I didn't want to risk not being up front. I was probably about 20 feet back which wasn't a lot of people ahead of me.

 

[FSUSammy]

We just got back home to Florida today. Went to SWGE on Friday from 11-3. Had my hubby get in line for the Cantina right away. He ended up being close to the end of the line (I told him to go ahead without me but he stayed back lol) and we luckily got the text right around 2:15. They had told us around 1:45 that if we didn't get a text by 2:15 we probably would not be getting one. Loved the cantina even if the drinks are $$$$. We were able to go on Smuggler's Run several times during our 3rd hour. Since we did Rider Swap so that one of us could stay back with our 9 month old, our son (who is 11) was able to maximize and go on the ride a total of 4 times. He got to try out all of the positions. The longest we waited for the ride was around 20 minutes in the stand by line. Obviously the two times we did Rider swap we breezed through in the Fast Pass line that will one day work. Piloting the Falcon is no joke!

We did the whole Build your own droid experience which was really cool but since we got it towards the end of our window we couldn't really test it out around the land. We plan on taking it back with us in September when we go to Disney world for our little one's 1st birthday and using it here. Probably will do a light saber at that time too. We got to talk to a family at the airport yesterday who had 2 of them and they let us actually hold them and we are sold on getting one now lol Just take all of my money Disney!!!!! Oh we did mobile ordering for lunch at the Docking Bay 7 and was totally impressed by the food there.

Also for anyone wondering about strollers we had no issues going into stores with strollers. Obviously it wasn't allowed in the Cantina so we just used our baby carrier to hold her there. We also had an umbrella stroller so it doesn't have a huge footprint to begin with. There is stroller parking near the Falcon for the Cantina, pictures with the Falcon, and Smuggler's run.

Coming from a family that frequents WDW a lot I really wish they did Fastpasses more like DL does but that's totally not related to SWGE lol Curious to see how they handle the opening in Hollywood Studios in August.