Low crowds at Disneyland...change expectations for WDW opening?

I would say WDW is a different beast. They arent having a limited 4-week opening and not blacking out passholders at opening.

If they have a AP preview, that will help a bit, but I would expect it to just be steady and make DHS crowded .. but the extra ROOM to roam may help.

The 6-9 am EEMH should help the crowds, but I would gather that it will be crowded at DHS simply because DHS is SUCH a small park with very few attractions that the crowds will probably be there only for SWGE (and maybe TSL).

no way to know until August :)
 
I'm doing both parks in one trip, so I'll get to see the difference. I think it may not be so busy on opening except for the real die hard SW fans because The Rise of The Resistance won't be open. While there are kids who love the Star Wars movies I do feel Star Wars does attract an older demographic and the adults will enjoy it way more than the kids will.
 
Just thought i'd mention - It was our 60 days out fastpass day on Saturday (6th) for our upcoming trip in September. We had absolutely no issues getting fastpasses for any ride on any day. This includes FOP, SDD and 7DMT. Could that be an indication that crowds will be lower?

Edit - Just to compare, we went in Sept 17 and struggled with a couple. We got them in the end but only through checking each day before our trip and some same day refreshing!

You mean for this September? Which is of course our first day. That SDD 60 day plus fast pass shall allude me yet again 😀
 


I'm doing both parks in one trip, so I'll get to see the difference. I think it may not be so busy on opening except for the real die hard SW fans because The Rise of The Resistance won't be open. While there are kids who love the Star Wars movies I do feel Star Wars does attract an older demographic and the adults will enjoy it way more than the kids will.

Really? Talked to many kids lately? With the new movies in the last few years, it is VERY popular for my seven year olds and their friends. Light saber battles almost every day. We are going to WDW for one day this fall solely to do SWGE for them. My sons have been earning and saving chore money like crazy to afford a Savi Workshop lightsaber, which my son has declared is "the only thing in the world he wants."

The kid fandom runs DEEP. It's going to be nuts and I keep praying they will announce some kind of reservation system to make it less insane.
 
Not to rain on everyone's "60 day out FP selections" parade, but don't count out local AP holders and those staying off property as a huge boost to crowd levels. These are the type of groups that probably won't be focused on FP reservations especially if they're only going for SWGE.
My hope is that they ARE only going for SWGE! We are taking little ones, so we won't be going to GE this visit, and would be thrilled if crowds were lower in all the other areas, which is the reason we picked early September to begin with!
 
My hope is that they ARE only going for SWGE! We are taking little ones, so we won't be going to GE this visit, and would be thrilled if crowds were lower in all the other areas, which is the reason we picked early September to begin with!
APs have park hoppers though and all indications are that a few hours is all you need for SWGE. I would expect other parks to be very crowded.
 


Maybe there’s a slight chance that a massive amount of actual Disney lovers aren’t really Star Wars lovers. I love Disney, like Star Wars, wouldn’t spend thousands to go see it though.

As in I wouldn’t plan a trip just to see Star Wars opened up.

When actual Star Wars fans and not really Disney lovers start to calculate the thousands of dollars it costs to actually go to Disney and see it, they might just bail on it.
 
APs have park hoppers though and all indications are that a few hours is all you need for SWGE. I would expect other parks to be very crowded.
On the other side of that some local AP holders may just go to SWGE and then head home instead of heading to other parks (especially if they are crowded). It could go either way.
 
I am definitely paranoid that everyone is waiting to come to WDW and it will be chaos. I never really considered going to Disneyland but will be there opening day for WDW. I wish they would say something about a virtual queue. I can not camp out for days just to get in on opening day. I also don't want to stand in line in the August heat and still not get in. I am going with one other person on opening day. We plan to get there before 6 am but have not decided how early yet.
 
I did my 60 day FP this morning. I also got SDD, FOP, and 7DMT for each day I was in each of those parks. I even got morning times for several of them. I am fairly hopeful given this. I did end up dropping one of my 7DMT because my first day it was late afternoon and I switched it for a morning BTMRR, but it was there for a party of 6 and was what I snagged initially.

Our FP day was Wednesday. We are doing AK our first night (Sept 8) so we grabbed an evening FP for FoP (6:45pm).. And the earliest we could get slinky on wednesday, the 11th, was 5pm.. But every other FP we booked starts before 11:30am.. Even 7DMT (received 11:25-12:25 FPP). I am really optimistic about this trip! We'll try to ride SDD during EEMH or try to modify for earlier since we don't plan to be at HS that late.. and hopefully I can drop that 5pm fast pass.
 
I personally feel that SWGE is being way over-hyped. Just like Pandora. Granted SW has a much larger fan-base than Avatar, but with only 2 rides and designed based off of the newer movies that long-term SW fans dislike for the most part, I think Disney is not going to get what they bargained for where "packing the parks" is concerned.

DLR was nowhere near as packed as social media made it sound. It was mostly press/media. Additionally, Disney said before the DLR opening that they would not do any marketing and they would allow social media to do it all for them, yet around 30 days after the May opening, commercials for both parks all over the TV. That is telling.

I think they were expecting it to be like the opening of Hagrid's Motorbike, but that just was not the reality.
 
I personally feel that SWGE is being way over-hyped. Just like Pandora. Granted SW has a much larger fan-base than Avatar, but with only 2 rides and designed based off of the newer movies that long-term SW fans dislike for the most part, I think Disney is not going to get what they bargained for where "packing the parks" is concerned.

DLR was nowhere near as packed as social media made it sound. It was mostly press/media. Additionally, Disney said before the DLR opening that they would not do any marketing and they would allow social media to do it all for them, yet around 30 days after the May opening, commercials for both parks all over the TV. That is telling.

I think they were expecting it to be like the opening of Hagrid's Motorbike, but that just was not the reality.

DLR and WDW are way 2 different beasts!!!

SWGE was VERY much limited on crowds during the grand opening to even compare them is mute, as WDW seems to only have EEMH as a way to limit the crowds, I have only seen 1 commercial out here in the west, maybe the pricing increases, whos knows but to call it before it even opens is also mute.....
 
DLR and WDW are way 2 different beasts!!!

SWGE was VERY much limited on crowds during the grand opening to even compare them is mute, as WDW seems to only have EEMH as a way to limit the crowds, I have only seen 1 commercial out here in the west, maybe the pricing increases, whos knows but to call it before it even opens is also mute.....


Why so angry about an opinion? :rotfl2:


We see commercials on TV for SWGE daily, for the record.
 
Maybe there’s a slight chance that a massive amount of actual Disney lovers aren’t really Star Wars lovers. I love Disney, like Star Wars, wouldn’t spend thousands to go see it though.

As in I wouldn’t plan a trip just to see Star Wars opened up.

When actual Star Wars fans and not really Disney lovers start to calculate the thousands of dollars it costs to actually go to Disney and see it, they might just bail on it.

Oh, the Star Wars diehard fans spend just as much money as Disney fans. Maybe even more.
 
Why so angry about an opinion? :rotfl2:


We see commercials on TV for SWGE daily, for the record.

Angry ...........................who you :happytv:, twisty turny just does not hold up here , so calm down its all good!

And for the record I have seen 1 commercial out here for SWGE but to be fair have seen several on WDW but no mention of SWGE so theres that..........:mic:
 
They just announced another round of free dining for fall. Obviously they are not liking what they are seeing at all in terms of vacancy. Free dining at opening of Galaxy's Edge, Christmas, and Thanksgiving? Those numbers must be a disaster at this point.

September 1 through September 18, 2019
November 17 through November 27, 2019
December 8 through December 23, 2019
 
They just announced another round of free dining for fall. Obviously they are not liking what they are seeing at all in terms of vacancy. Free dining at opening of Galaxy's Edge, Christmas, and Thanksgiving? Those numbers must be a disaster at this point.

September 1 through September 18, 2019
November 17 through November 27, 2019
December 8 through December 23, 2019

Exactly what I was just thinking.
Plan is, avoid SWGE opening week (week 1 of my trip) so that all the locals have been and the second week it shouldn’t be too awful! Result!
 

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