Galaxy's Edge Performance and Evolution Discussion

[yulilin3]

I find it humorous that it’s apparently unreasonable to expect Disney to base a new themed land around the actual product and not just tangentially related. That would be like if Harry Potter land was a generic London suburb with a few characters walking around and they explained it away with “well they COULD be here in suburban London”.

I think it’s reasonable to be disappointed that GE isn’t actually based on any of the intellectual property it is supposed to represent.

What is the actual product?
At least 30 times its been explained that you cannot compare SW to HP, HP has 3 distinct locations in 6 books, Diagon alley, Hogwarts and Hogsmead, that's it. Easier to recreate the entire experience of 3 locations from 6 books into two theme parks

 

[DetroitDisney]

HP takes place all over the place, most of which is IN the castle which you don’t really get to explore in the land. Diagon alley is a really small part of all 7 novels. But the point is that they built something tangible that puts you in the movie. They didn’t build something completely random and expect you to be excited because maybe some characters from the books might have gone there once.

The obvious choice would be iconic locations from the original or prequel trilogy. The new movies are mostly great but less iconic in their locations. People would love to walk through Endor, a model Hoth base, take a trip into the Death Star, the Mos Eisely Cantina, etc.

 

[yulilin3]

HP takes place all over the place, most of which is IN the castle which you don’t really get to explore in the land. Diagon alley is a really small part of all 7 novels. But the point is that they built something tangible that puts you in the movie. They didn’t build something completely random and expect you to be excited because maybe some characters from the books might have gone there once.

The obvious choice would be iconic locations from the original or prequel trilogy. The new movies are mostly great but less iconic in their locations. People would love to walk through Endor, a model Hoth base, take a trip into the Death Star, the Mos Eisely Cantina, etc.

Pinpoint 1 location that says "Star Wars" for ALL fans.
You named 4.
Universal recreates diagon alley in Studios and Hogsmead and Hogwarts castle in IOA ( in the books these two are easily connected)
Disney gave us a location filled with star wars, ready to explore, so many recognizable things and yet new.
The task to make all SW fans happy is an impossible one, each person has their favorite locations and others that they don't care for.
For the experience of all the iconic locations Disney would need an entire park and not just a land
Also, there's a very vocal group that just HATES everything that has been done to SW ever since Disney bought LucasFilm, these people are filled with anger and will voice their opinions and of course, people just love regurgitating what they say without a second thought.
I don't care if people dislike the land, I don't love everything about it, or everything about Disney or everything about SW, but understand where the Imagineers and LucasFilm are coming from.

 

[mesaboy2]

I haven’t been to GE yet, but will be there in a few weeks. As an older dude with deepest roots in the OT, I already know it is not designed nor set the way I would have done it. That said, I am looking forward to seeing it and expect to be impressed.

 

[yulilin3]

I haven’t been to GE yet, but will be there in a few weeks. As an older dude with deepest roots in the OT, I already know it is not designed nor set the way I would have done it. That said, I am looking forward to seeing it and expect to be impressed.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts

 

[DetroitDisney]

Pinpoint 1 location that says "Star Wars" for ALL fans.
You named 4.
Universal recreates diagon alley in Studios and Hogsmead and Hogwarts castle in IOA ( in the books these two are easily connected)
Disney gave us a location filled with star wars, ready to explore, so many recognizable things and yet new.
The task to make all SW fans happy is an impossible one, each person has their favorite locations and others that they don't care for.
For the experience of all the iconic locations Disney would need an entire park and not just a land
Also, there's a very vocal group that just HATES everything that has been done to SW ever since Disney bought LucasFilm, these people are filled with anger and will voice their opinions and of course, people just love regurgitating what they say without a second thought.
I don't care if people dislike the land, I don't love everything about it, or everything about Disney or everything about SW, but understand where the Imagineers and LucasFilm are coming from.

I don’t recall saying that I hated what Disney is doing to Star Wars. Outside of the Last Jedi, I have really enjoyed everything Disney has done with Star Wars.

GE is huge. They easily could have recreated several places in that space, especially if they put some inside (see Hoth base, Death Star, etc). I don’t think they needed to recreate everything to “make everyone happy”. My argument is that creating something that doesn’t reference any of the core IP is a worse solution than selecting two of less popular iconic locations.

And I’m happy you enjoy it. I don’t. And it seems that a lot of people seem to agree based on the crowd levels and feedback on Smugglers Run. We all just want to get to explore and love the parks we obsess about. I, like many others, feel that Disney missed the mark. That doesn’t take away from your experience.

 

[yulilin3]

I don’t recall saying that I hated what Disney is doing to Star Wars. Outside of the Last Jedi, I have really enjoyed everything Disney has done with Star Wars.

GE is huge. They easily could have recreated several places in that space, especially if they put some inside (see Hoth base, Death Star, etc). I don’t think they needed to recreate everything to “make everyone happy”. My argument is that creating something that doesn’t reference any of the core IP is a worse solution than selecting two of less popular iconic locations.

And I’m happy you enjoy it. I don’t. And it seems that a lot of people seem to agree based on the crowd levels and feedback on Smugglers Run. We all just want to get to explore and love the parks we obsess about. I, like many others, feel that Disney missed the mark. That doesn’t take away from your experience.

I never said you hated what Disney is doing, human nature makes people who disagree more vocal, that was my point. There are people who don't like the land and are very vocal about it, moderating these boards i have to read all posts and can tell you there are more people that like it, that one's that dislike.
The people that like it, come, post their thoughts and leave. The folks that dislike it, post and come back over and over again with the same argument.
As for the crowds, it is a fact that September was the slowest in the last 10 years, the crowds have been steadily picking up, the attraction is steady at a 45 min to an hour wait
Of course the land can be improved with simple things and I hope they continue to evaluate the offerings
In the meantime I'm at the land once a week and love seeing everyone's faces when walking around, encountering the characters and taking pictures

 

[elleherself]

I think you said the magic word: expect.
Some people were expecting Luke and Leia and Tattooine and Mos Esley...
Never expect anything from Disney other than what they tell you they will provide

Never expect anything from Disney except LESS than they tell you they will provide. I was excited for the land as it was originally announced, even as someone that's not a Star Wars fan. But no dining club experience, no reputation that follows you in the land, no aliens to chat with at the bar... they promised a level of immersion that has never yet been seen at theme parks, but they haven't delivered.

Edit: And I think that's my main problem with all of it... people have blamed the fans for the disappointment, saying that their expectations were too high. But for a 2 billion dollar expansion, it feels like a whole new park could have been created for that kind of money. Tokyo DisneySea cost 3 billion to build and is widely regarded as the greatest Disney park in the world with amazing detail in the lands, rides, and attractions. Disney is the one that has hyped this up as the greatest addition ever built, they are the ones who promised we would all be blown away by the depth of detail and immersion. No one is saying they didn't build a cool new area that is just fine, but compared to what could have been, compared to what was advertised, it's under delivered.

 

[yulilin3]

Never expect anything from Disney except LESS than they tell you they will provide. I was excited for the land as it was originally announced, even as someone that's not a Star Wars fan. But no dining club experience, no reputation that follows you in the land, no aliens to chat with at the bar... they promised a level of immersion that has never yet been seen at theme parks, but they haven't delivered.

Edit: And I think that's my main problem with all of it... people have blamed the fans for the disappointment, saying that their expectations were too high. But for a 2 billion dollar expansion, it feels like a whole new park could have been created for that kind of money. Tokyo DisneySea cost 3 billion to build and is widely regarded as the greatest Disney park in the world with amazing detail in the lands, rides, and attractions. Disney is the one that has hyped this up as the greatest addition ever built, they are the ones who promised we would all be blown away by the depth of detail and immersion. No one is saying they didn't build a cool new area that is just fine, but compared to what could have been, compared to what was advertised, it's under delivered.

I agree they need to do more with the land, all that you mentioned was planned and for whatever reason we don't have it yet but I'm hoping Disney adds it eventually

 

[fatmanatee]

I really wish they would add new scenarios to Smugglers run. It gets old doing the same mission over and over again. Currently, the ride isn't much fun unless you're the pilot.

I think they'll actually do this. No reason why they couldn't change the simulation.

 

[fatmanatee]

I am blown away that they didn’t recreate the cantina from Tatooine and instead opted for “Ogas Cantina”, which misses the mark for me. Yeah it’s interesting inside, but if they just put in an animatronic band playing the music from the original movie then holy hell would people love it. Instead it’s just generic, with really pricey and disgusting drinks. Nobody at my table liked their drinks.

People do love the cantina. I loved it, and I'm going back next time I'm there. It was packed when I went.

 

[ksromack]

Nobody is ever happy no matter what Disney creates.

Except me. I'm happy. Love Galaxy's Edge and I look forward to whatever they have planned in the future.

hey, I'm happy too. We can make a club

I am not hard to please. I see the good in most everything. Maybe I'm not representative of most people, which is perhaps unfair of me since I can't expect everyone to be as easy to please as myself. I find it much easier in life to be cautiously optimistic and be happily surprised as opposed to be disappointed if something isn't exactly what I would have done. I just think Disney did an amazing job with the land. It is unlike any other land they have built. We aren't all going to agree with everything and that's ok.

I haven’t been to GE yet, but will be there in a few weeks. As an older dude with deepest roots in the OT, I already know it is not designed nor set the way I would have done it. That said, I am looking forward to seeing it and expect to be impressed.

I guess I'm older too since I was 13 when A New Hope came out and I vividly remember seeing it in the theater and I'm pretty sure later at the drive in. I loved the original trilogy and shared this love with my father who also loved them and Disney in general. He would have LOVED the land that Disney built.

 

[rteetz]

GE is huge. They easily could have recreated several places in that space, especially if they put some inside (see Hoth base, Death Star, etc). I don’t think they needed to recreate everything to “make everyone happy”. My argument is that creating something that doesn’t reference any of the core IP is a worse solution than selecting two of less popular iconic locations.

I think that would’ve been a mistake to put several different locations into one land. That doesn’t work on this scale with the level of immersion one expects. Disney has stayed several times they went through the process and looked at doing places like Tatooine and others but it just didn’t work for the theme park setting they wanted.

 

[rteetz]

I think they'll actually do this. No reason why they couldn't change the simulation.

I agree. They had other missions planned from the start. There is concept art showing such.

 

[monkyby87]

HP takes place all over the place, most of which is IN the castle which you don’t really get to explore in the land. Diagon alley is a really small part of all 7 novels. But the point is that they built something tangible that puts you in the movie. They didn’t build something completely random and expect you to be excited because maybe some characters from the books might have gone there once.

The obvious choice would be iconic locations from the original or prequel trilogy. The new movies are mostly great but less iconic in their locations. People would love to walk through Endor, a model Hoth base, take a trip into the Death Star, the Mos Eisely Cantina, etc.

There has been tons of discussion about why HP makes for a better, and frankly easier, immersive theme park land. There's really only a handful of iconic HP locations, most all of which are present in Universal. Diagon Alley may not be a huge part of each movie/book, but other than that the only other location that's really know and popular is Hogwarts/Hogsmeade. That's it. In Star Wars, you now have 9 movies with dozens of locations across several generations. And frankly, as iconic as Tatooine and Mos Eisley are, they actually aren't in the movie all that long. The set piece that is in the movie the most is the Death Star. And as cool as it might be to walk through a corridor, it wouldn't make for a good theme park land. Spaceships, lightsabers, and the force are a big reason why people love Star Wars. That's hard to recreate.

As a huge Star Wars fan, I can easily see that the HP land is one of the best them park land experiences across any theme park, but it was also the easiest to recreate. It helps that the main shopping areas in Diagon Alley are an attraction themselves. You don't have anything like that in Star Wars aside from the cantina, which is represented in SW:GE. People might love to walk through those locations you mentioned, but that's all it would be, walking through. Disney chose a good route, in my opinion, making an original location that allows them to do what they want and tell what stories they want. With Star Wars continually being produced, and new films and shows being made, it doesn't make a lot of sense to use one or two locations from old movies.

As for as the evolution of SW:GE, I can almost 100% guarantee they'll keep adding and changing things in the land. Why wouldn't they? As the Star Wars franchise keeps moving, they'll want to keep the park updated and current. They could easily add shows and more events as time goes on. It's only been open for a handful months after all, with the main attraction not open yet.

 

[WebmasterDoc]

A little late to the party as usual, but wanted to share a few thoughts (after reading through the entire thread this morning).

DW and I were SWGE 3 weeks ago today. Since we were staying onsite, we decided to take advantage of EEMH, setting our alarm for 4:15am to get to our bus stop at 5:15am. The bus arrived about 5:25 and we were off to join EVERYONE ELSE at DHS to do the same thing we wanted to do.

After the long security lines, we entered DHS right at 6am and just followed EVERYONE ELSE to SWGE. Since it was well pre-dawn, the area was difficult to get our bearings. There were CMs from Oga's standing at their entrance trying to entice the mass of humanity passing by that they had Blue Milk and COFFEE - no waiting, no ADR needed.

We finally reached the Falcon (still in the dark except for movie-magic stage lighting), and spent the next 20 minutes with fellow adventurers - all with different levels of expectation and experience. I found the winding queue a bit disorienting, but very well done with tremendous attention to detail. We consider ourselves SW fans, but admittedly have not kept up with the level of immersion apparent from our queue friends. We did NOT previously know about Hondo, but the pre-show clarified that nicely and we were soon off to view the holochess table and received our assignments. DW and I were right and left pilots, with a family of four serving as gunners and engineers.

While the trip was fun, it was about a 6 on a scale of 1-to-FoP for us. Sort of a cross between Mission Space (without the centrifugal motion) and Star Tours. Enjoyable, but no longer on our MUST do list.

After disembarking the Falcon, the sun was just starting to come up, so we spent awhile getting our bearings. We continued to be impressed with the attention to detail apparent every step of the way. We did not go back to Oga's but visited the shops, enjoying the atmosphere. One in particular (sorry, I did not retain the name) reminded us of The Adventurer's Club (Kungaloosh) just for the mountings and assorted objects on the walls above.

We were ordered to "Keep Moving" by a pair of Storm Troopers, but otherwise failed to see any other streetmosphere people (or was that a term from another era)? I did ask the Batuuan who assisted us on the Falcon how ling he has been here at Batuu and his response was "All of my life".

After exhausting all we cared to see at GE this trip, we exited DHS, walked past the dormant Skyliner station (this was 2 days after the late-night closure event), and boarded a bus to MK where we made it past the scanners in time for rope drop at 8am.

All in all, we did greatly enjoy SWGE and look forward to returning for RotR on our next WDW visit. Maybe we'll even try some Blue Milk then!

 

[monkyby87]

Also, everyone keep in mind that all of these topics and posts are from about the same 50 people, myself included. That's not nearly enough to draw any wide conclusions or generalizations.

 

[ELLH]

I’m late to the party but regarding the popularity of the land, I’ll add my own $0.02:
We are going in a couple weeks. Myself, wife, DD9. Huge Disney fans. Casual SW fans. And while I’m only a casual SW fan, I’m an absolute fan of Disney Imagineering (it was my motivation for becoming an engineer).

However, The Last Jedi killed any excitement for me. I really thoroughly enjoyed TFA as well as the “original” trilogy. I was excited about TLJ as were my wife and kid. Fully expected we would watch that movie multiple times like we did TFA. We saw it at the theater opening night. And we only hung around for the entirety because we held out hope (no pun intended) it would get better. We haven’t seen it since. And have had zero desire to. *For me* it was an abysmal movie. And with that, I lost interest in the franchise. I’m not a SW fanboy who is bashing Disney here (that would be my bro-in-law). It was just such a disinteresting/bad movie for me that it made me lose interest in what comes next. Which is incredibly ironic because, as we all know, the purpose of the movies and the land is to go as a one-two punch; the movies get you excited about the other stuff and the other stuff gets you excited about the movies. But it had the opposite effect on me.

Now, I’m NOT looking to veer this to the topic of movie discussion, per se. I realize others prefer X/Y/Z movie more than another. If you loved TLJ, that's great. I'm not looking to debate the movies. My point is simply that, as a passionate Disney fan who very much looked forward to seeing what Disney would do with future films and ultimately SWGE, The Last Jedi soured me on SW. While I won’t be seeing it immediately, I’m hoping Rise will change things for me and if/when it does, maybe my enthusiasm for SWGE will change. But for now I’m kind of “meh” on SW as a whole and I have to think I’m not the only one who has had this same reaction by the recent movie(s). I know some die-hards who are still upset about TFA and it has had the same effect on them that TLJ had on me.

 

[Farro]

Oops, meant to quote a different post -

@CampbellzSoup said "I think people are measuring the success of the Star Wars land on the insane hype that these “disney influencers” were elevating it to."

Can't add much as we haven't been there yet, but looking forward to it.

But yes to this quote. There were people, on these boards even, that said to any poster who doubted that the opening was going to be a crazed mob scene that we were naive, head in the sand, etc., as if I were crazy for suggesting it.
People were acting like you wouldn't even be able to get in the land for months! And then it opened and...it was nice!

That may be why some are saying this land "failed". It could never have lived up to the hype that it was getting as far as expected crowds.

 

[sponica]

I've been thinking more about perceived failure/dashed expectations, whatever you want to call it.

The original trilogy has had 40 something years to percolate in peoples minds about what star wars is or isn't.....Harry Potter DID NOT have that generational uphill battle. Whereas that other star franchise has had it at least 2 to 3 times if not more (disclaimer, while I'm a casual SW fan I'm a "yes i own blueprint/schematics of the ships of the fleet" star trek fan).

I just want it to be July so I can drink all the colored milk and get a fuzzy tauntaun, sorta fly the falcon and join the resistance....and explain to my toddler that star wars is for all not just her. Seriously when I had the Rise of Skywalker trailer on, she literally gave a stink eye and said "MY STAR WARS"