Dumb? Question? Opening day and why does it matter when parking lots open?

[GeneralTso]

What am I missing here? Disneyland question about opening day next week.
I read about parking lots being open at midnight or 2:30 or some ungodly hour.
I thought only guests at the 3 Disney hotels had access to Galaxy's Edge. Where are the cars coming from if they are hotel guests?

 

[BadPinkTink]

1. Guests at the 3 Disney hotels had FIRST option on the free reservations for Star Wars Galaxys Edge
2. Disney opened the reservation system for non hotel guests on May 3, HOWEVER the free reservations were gone within 2 hours.
3. Non hotel guests will be able to go to Star Wars Galaxys Edge and will need somewhere to park
4. Disney is selling special opening day merchandise in the regular shops around the park. Regular park guests will need somewhere to park, as Disney is expecting people to be there all night

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Star Wars fans who don't have hotel reservations and may not even have free reservations will be coming just to be a part of opening day. They may not care about not getting into the new land. Maybe they just want to get the Opening Day merchandise that will be for sale outside the new land. Disney doesn't want these guests clogging the city streets and angering the city of Anaheim. It is safer and easier to have them park in the structure.

 

[socaldisneylover]

I plan on taking the bus, and will arrive a little before 6 AM. I've never been one to camp out all night for something, but have been known to sleep and get up at some ungodly hour like 3 or 4 AM, and Then go wait for a few hours or more. Guess I would be doing it to blow $$$ on some opening day merch, since I don't have a GE reservation.

They'll have several locations selling stuff from what it sounds like. I guess they will have lines just to get into each shop, since I imagine most of those arriving at that hour are doing so primarily for that reason. My only source for comparison was the 50th Anniversary, where they had an insane multi-hour line to purchase the Pin. For this there will be many items to buy, and more than one location. I'm hoping it's not quite as bad as it could be, although I'm expecting it to be.

One would think that the night of June 23 will be as bad or worse. It seems to me that Disney will have to do the same process for the Full Access Opening on 6/24.

 

[BadPinkTink]

so on opening day of Star Wars Galaxys Edge

1. Hotel guests with their free automatic reservations
2. Offsite hotel guests / local people with their free reservations
3. Regular park guests who wait in line during the night as they want to buy the special opening day merchandise

 

[bumbershoot]

This is all reminding me of my ex’s story of his older brother “camping out” for the opening day of Space Mountain. My ex is 9 years younger than his brother so he was too little, and SO jealous.