Galaxy’s Edge Dec 17?

[qbacreative]

We have a trip scheduled on December for 4 Days at Universal Studios, Last Christmas was our first Disney experience, We went to Disney World and visited Magic Kingdom (2 Days), Animal Kingdom and Epcot (2 Days), we skipped Hollywood Studios because we didn't think it was worth it at the time.

We are now considering visiting Disney and Galaxy’s Edge on Dec 17, but since “Rise of the Resistance” will open on in Dec 5, the crowds should be massive on the 17.

Here are some of the arguments against going that we are having.

Hollywood Studios:
There are not Fast Passes for any of the two Galaxy’s Edge rides, so rope dropping is our only hope, but waking up at 3 or 4 am is something we are not willing to do, especially with kids.

Magic Kingdom:
Since we were there last December it is better to wait to 2021 when the new Tron ride will open.

Epcot:
Same as Magic Kingdom, so we should wait till Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 2021.

Animal Kingdom:
We are having a hard time with this one because we loved Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest, so we are considering going to this park because nothing new seems to be coming up, but maybe it is better to leave it for our next trip to Florida in 2021, so we don’t take more days from our Universal Studios trip and keep things more relaxing.

Maybe our next trip to Disney should be on 2022, because by 2021 there is a chance that they haven’t added fast passes yet for the new rides, like what is happening now with the Galaxy’s Edge rides.

Do you guys know how long Disney took to add fast passes to Flight of Passage after it first open? We did it on last December and it had Fast Pass.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

[TravelandLeisure]

It’s hard to predict what crowds will be like after ROTR, but the opening date is actually December 5, not 13. So you would be there close to 2 weeks after opening. I would imagine it will still be pretty crowded.

We also had this debate of delaying our trip, but ultimately decided to go this year and then again in 2021 or 2022. I just couldn’t stay away for that long!

We are now considering visiting Disney and Galaxy’s Edge on Dec 17, but since “Rise of the Resistance” will open on in Dec 13, the crowds should be massive 4 days later on the 17.

Do you guys know how long Disney took to add fast passes to Flight of Passage after it first open? We did it on last December and it had Fast Pass.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

I think FOP had fast pass immediately after it opened. I honestly can’t think of any other ride WDW has delayed opening fast pass.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks TravelandLeisure, for the reply. And thanks for the correction. I guess it opens at Dec 5 so is a bit better than the 13 for us

Will Disney World still have the extra extra magic hour by December when we visit?

 

[TravelandLeisure]

Will Disney World still have the extra extra magic hour by December when we visit?

I wish I knew! My Hollywood Studios day is completely up in the air—it’s virtually impossible to plan with no information. With that being said I wouldn’t be surprised if at least DHS did some kind of extended EMH after Nov. 2, even if they decide to wait until after ROTR opens to resume it.

 

[AP1209]

Thanks TravelandLeisure, for the reply. And thanks for the correction. I guess it opens at Dec 5 so is a bit better than the 13 for us

Will Disney World still have the extra extra magic hour by December when we visit?

I wish I knew! My Hollywood Studios day is completely up in the air—it’s virtually impossible to plan with no information. With that being said I wouldn’t be surprised if at least DHS did some kind of extended EMH after Nov. 2, even if they decide to wait until after ROTR opens to resume it.

Yeah, I would suspect they will extend extra extra magic hours once ROTR opens up. With the new ride plus holiday season it should be pretty busy.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks TravelandLeisure, Agree, it will be nice if they extend the extra extra magic hour for the Dec 5 ride.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks AP1209 for the reply, I think I'll stay away. Is not easy to justify paying all that money to wake up at 5am without even knowing if we would be able to make it into the new rides. We'll wait for 2022 when all the new rides will be open and should have fast passes by then.

We like to rode drop knowing that we will be doing the ride again with our fast passes later on in the day, but this wouldn't be the case with Galaxy's Edge rides. It will be a one time thing probably after many hours of waiting.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I don't necessarily think RD is your only hope to ride the SWGE rides. Remember, there are no FP+ for anyone and they are controlling crowd capacity with virtual ques at the moment. Of course, Dorian is impacting crowds right now, so we don't have a great sense of what standby waits will be on a consistent basis. I would keep coming back to this forum over the next 2 months or so and read reports regarding the virtual que and even randomly check Smuggler's Run wait times on the app to get a sense of what wait times might be throughout the day. Personally, if DHS were my pick, I would buy the ticket, add it to MDE, make my Tier 1 choice (I would try for SDD) and then either enter SWGE prior to VQ being activated or just join a VQ and enjoy DHS until our SWGE boarding time is available. If you plan on spending the entire day at DHS, you will get into SWGE at some point if you join a VQ. You could also try to make a reservation at Oga's which guarantees you admittance to SWGE up to an hour before your ADR time.

 

[AP1209]

Thanks AP1209 for the reply, I think I'll stay away. Is not easy to justify paying all that money to wake up at 5am without even knowing if we would be able to make it into the new rides. We'll wait for 2022 when all the new rides will be open and should have fast passes by then.

We like to rode drop knowing that we will be doing the ride again with our fast passes later on in the day, but this wouldn't be the case with Galaxy's Edge rides. It will be a one time thing probably after many hours of waiting.

I completely understand your thinking. Seems a lot of people are waiting until 2021 or 2022. These trips are expensive so people want to make sure they get the most value out of the trip. Plus the new ride opening in December this year it's going to have problems. People waiting hours only to be told they the ride is shut down. It could be a giant cluster.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks DisneyWishes14, I see your point. So the virtual queue are already happening in Galaxy's Edge? So we don't have to wait in line? kind of like a fast pass

I guess virtual queue plus the rope drop is promising because we can do the rides twice!

Hopefully they will have virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance as well.

Where do one book the virtual queue? Physically within the park at the ride entrance or in the app before getting to the park like fast passes are done?

Btw what is SDD?

 

[focusondisney]

Thanks DisneyWishes14, I see your point. So the virtual queue are already happening in Galaxy's Edge? So we don't have to wait in line? kind of like a fast pass

I guess virtual queue plus the rope drop is promising because we can do the rides twice!

Hopefully they will have virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance as well.

Where do one book the virtual queue? Physically within the park at the ride entrance or in the app before getting to the park like fast passes are done?

Btw what is SDD?

The virtual que is only to enter Galaxy’s Edge, not specifically for the ride. You join the que thru MDE once you are in the park. You can leave the park while you wait for your return time if you want. Then you get a notification when your return time comes up. When you enter GE, you still have to wait in line for the ride. At least, that is my understanding of how it is working. I haven’t done it myself yet.

Also, virtual que is only used when the land (GE) is at capacity. If you get there at rope drop, they probably won’t even be using it yet. So you would just go right into the land & get in line. If they initiate the VQ after you are in GE, you wouldn’t need to join since you will already be in.

SDD....Slinky Dog Dash.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks focusondisney, I just learned that DHS got their tier system rearrange, so now I can only book one of the rides, and the other two fast passes are just for shows.

My family doesn't really care about shows. My kids are small but they are thrill seekers when it comes to rides, my youngest is 8 and she just reached 54" without having to keep cheating, by wearing wheelies shoes to be able to ride the big rollercoasters with us, my wife and I just follow.

My kids won't care for SDD and the other kids rides, they want the rock and roll rollercoaster and tower of terror.

So now with the new tier system we can only do fast pass for one of the two big rides and then watch two shows we don't care for, so we can waste the two fast passes and then try to get a ride again? Now definitely we are not going until all that none sense hopefully change by 2021.

 

[RoboFlyer]

This may not help you, but I'm heading down on December 10th for one day at Disney specifically for Galaxy's Edge. Recently I was starting to get nervous about heading down there a week after Rise of the Resistance opens. But after seeing how they handled the opening day of Galaxy's Edge with the virtual queues, I'm FAR more confident than I was.

My concerns for you would be not having any reservations if you wanted to do things like the Cantina or a Lightsaber. I have those experiences booked already.

The other concern is the ride capacity and reliability of Rise of the Resistance. I know I've read rumors of a lot of breakdowns. If that's the case, that could throw things into disarray. But if they can keep riders moving the same way they've been able to with Smuggler's Run, I honestly don't think crowds are going to be THAT much of a problem.

My current plan is to rope drop Rise of the Resistance, then get in line for Smuggler's Run. I also intend on spending my entire day there from open to close, so I should be able to do just about everything. My biggest concern is honestly my Fast Passes interfering with my time in Galaxy's Edge. If I'm in line for RotR, I may not want to leave the land so I can do SDD.

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks for the reply RoboFlyer,

If we go that would have been my stragety as well, rope drop "Rise of the Resistance" and then line up for the "Smuggler's Run", with the hope of riding those again during the day, but if I can't barely justify going without fast passes for those two, I just can't justify having fast passes 60 days in advance, and being able to use it for only one other ride we care for, because of the new tier system.

We did Pandora twice last year during Christmas week, without lines, one was rope drop, we were literally the first at the park's gate, by the time we got to the actual ride we were in the first group, so we just walk into the ride, then after 10 am we walked in again with our fast passes. We did the same thing for every park we went to, sometimes doing our favorite rides 3 or 4 times with no real wait.

I just can't justify this trip without an strategy of a second chance of riding every ride we want with less than 10 minutes wait.

We have to come back by 2021 or 2022 anyway, when ever Guardian of the Galaxy and Thorn have fast passes.

My wife is going to be happy, because I was trying to squeeze too much in one week, we wanted to do all the parks this time before Dec 20 to avoid the biggest crowds. So we are already doing one day at SeaWorld, one day at Busch Gardens and 4 days at Universal Studios, we got unlimited Express Pass and Quick Queue Unlimited for all of it, so it should be a relaxing endeavor

 

[butterscotchcollins]

If we go that would have been my stragety as well, rope drop "Rise of the Resistance" and then line up for the "Smuggler's Run", with the hope of riding those again during the day, but if I can't barely justify going without fast passes for those two, I just can't justify having fast passes 60 days in advance, and being able to use it for only one other ride we care for, because of the new tier system.

Can I just ask why waiting in standby is a potential dealbreaker? I get why guests are serious about saving time and not wasting it standing for hours in line just to do 1 thing, but in HS if you can only have 1 FP for an e-ticket attraction, at some point you're going to be waiting in lines anyway. I would recommend taking the time to do GE instead of skipping - I'm not even a SW fan and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience this past weekend!

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks butterscotchcollins,

I don't like spending my vacation standing in line, we'll sacrifice waking up before everyone else and do one big queue that opens up the park for us, we did this in AK, MK and Epcot last year, one big line with the payoff of being in front of even the extra magic hours crowds, going from ride to ride ahead of the crowds, then relax explore the park and around 10 am we started our fast passes. That stragety for us was a way not to do lines and repeat many individual rides, if is not this way or with some kind of unlimited fast pass like Universal Studios, I personally can't justify paying thousands of dollars to stand around all day waiting for a 2 minutes ride.

If there are ways to avoid it I will do my best to achieve it, I guess it may sound irrational but thats just me.

If is only one fast pass forever, I guess will travel to California Disney, I'm not going to Disney with one fast pass. In MK we divided the park in two days to be able to have 6 fast passes.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Thanks butterscotchcollins,

I don't like spending my vacation standing in line, we'll sacrifice waking up before everyone else and do one big queue that opens up the park for us, we did this in AK, MK and Epcot last year, one big line with the payoff of being in front of even the extra magic hours crowds, going from ride to ride ahead of the crowds, then relax explore the park and around 10 am we started our fast passes. That stragety for us was a way not to do lines and repeat many individual rides, if is not this way or with some kind of unlimited fast pass like Universal Studios, I personally can't justify paying thousands of dollars to stand around all day waiting for a 2 minutes ride.

If there are ways to avoid it I will do my best to achieve it, I guess it may sound irrational but thats just me.

If is only one fast pass forever, I guess will travel to California Disney, I'm not going to Disney with one fast pass. In MK we divided the park in two days to have 6 fast passes.

I think that's totally reasonable and justified! I would just hate for you to dig your heels in so hard that you miss a really fun, cool experience if they don't add FP by December. I think if you RD during EMH (provided they have them then), or even can join a Virtual Queue if those are necessary on that day, you'll be able to experience it and still get other things done in the park that you want within a reasonable amount of time. Good luck!

 

[qbacreative]

Thanks butterscotchcollins very kind of you for sharing concern.

Just to add insult to injury with the GE thing, I learned the virtual lines are not even for the ride, is just to enter the area and wait in a big line.

As I said we are coming back when the two new big rides are done in Epcot and MK so we are just postponing the experience in HS for a more practical time, when all of these are sorted out, and we can have our fast passes back.

 

[RoboFlyer]

I think that's totally reasonable and justified! I would just hate for you to dig your heels in so hard that you miss a really fun, cool experience if they don't add FP by December. I think if you RD during EMH (provided they have them then), or even can join a Virtual Queue if those are necessary on that day, you'll be able to experience it and still get other things done in the park that you want within a reasonable amount of time. Good luck!

I'm honestly pretty happy that there's no FP+ available for GE for the immediate future. It puts everyone on a (relatively) equal footing. I know there are going to be the jerks that elbow their way to the front, but you also don't need to be up at 7AM refreshing MDE 60 days out before realizing that a lot of the best times were taken by those who were 60+7 days out from their trip. I understand those are the rules, but there's an odd disconnect I have with it.

It really does seem like Disney is trying to make it so that everyone who wants to experience GE is able to do so without taking up their whole day. Because the quicker they can get people out of that land, the quicker more people can experience it.

I'm still a little nervous about attempting RotR a week after its opening, but I'm also really excited.

 

[qbacreative]

I don't really understand, this sense of fairness with the equal plain field thing, they are selling a product and they created tiers system that give privilege to people like my family, that are willing to put more money in their packets, to be able to consume their product without standing in line for hours to have it.

This is a business no a charity. If they remove the paying privileges or don't change their business model so consumer don't have to wait for hours to experience their products, I will never go back to their business