When would you expect SWGE to be manageable for offsite guests?

[singingpixie]

I'm talking to a group of friends about making a trip to Orlando, maybe sometime in 2020, to visit SWGE as well as Pandora and Harry Potter at Universal. We may do some other park stuff, but those are the big draws. I know it would make sense to wait until the initial rush passes, but I imagine SWGE will be packed for the foreseeable future. When would you plan this kind of trip, and what would your strategy be to see Star Wars with minimal hassle?

I know it's a lot of speculation at this point, but I'm looking to get an idea of a broad-strokes plan to present to the group- ie when we might want to go, how long we might want to stay, and how much we might plan to spend. And, frankly, how many early mornings/late nights/etc to expect- since those kinds of things are fine with me but less so for some of us, lol. I suspect we'd get an AirBnB offsite so we have room to spread out and keep things affordable.

 

[dachsie]

I don't think there is any way to predict this until the land is fully opened. And DHS will be different from DL so you may need to wait a few months to see.

 

[Davey Jones II]

As long as EEMH lasts, probably the only hope for off-site guests is to visit at the end of the evening, maybe an hour or two before closing time.

 

[Therich84]

Well considering that 2 years later Flight of Passage is still regularly 2 to 3 hours I would say a minimum of 2 years. Probably much longer if Rise of the Resistance is as good as I think it will. You will probably need to dedicate a day to Galaxy's edge if you go before 2021.

 

[AllyReggie]

Well considering that 2 years later Flight of Passage is still regularly 2 to 3 hours I would say a minimum of 2 years. Probably much longer if Rise of the Resistance is as good as I think it will. You will probably need to dedicate a day to Galaxy's edge if you go before 2021.

I wonder what the capacity difference is for SWGE compared to FOP?

A quick google says FOP does 1,440 people per hour whereas it has been reported that Millennium Falcon can do about 1,800 per hour. That seems like a fairly large number more to me, almost 1/3 extra capacity. So I think that might aide in keeping the wait times shorter or at least perceptively so.

And Rise of the Resistance, the word on the street is the queue is part of the ride, so... that might make the wait times either so much worse or may in fact speed things up its a huge gamble either way!

 

[mamaofsix]

If you are planning to go in 2020, my bet would be on August and September 2020 as the least busy months that year (avoiding the holiday weekends, of course).

If it were me, I'd consider making a one-night reservation at one of the value resorts and then stay the rest offsite. That way, I'd have those 2 days flanking my reservations to gain access to SWGE extra magic hours and a 60 day fp window.

Happy Planning!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Like others have said, it will be hard to know for sure - especially with the land opening with only 1 of the 2 rides, there will almost be like 2 "grand opening" phases.

One mitigating element is that there are 2 of them, so not like Pandora where there is only one. Also, in early 2020 we will get Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway open that is another new thing to draw to the park - but also might take some crowds from GE

One other factor is all the other new stuff coming in time for WDW's 50th in 2021 - so the Guardians Coaster and Tron being the big ones.

So if you are looking for the best time to go I might say like end of August 2020 - GE will be, basically, a year old by that point, End of August is typically pretty slow, and should be before Tron or Guardians opens