So, you’re ready to go to Batuu — but are you ready to go TWICE?
What do I mean twice?! No one’s even been to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney World and you’re already talking about going twice?!
Yes, I am. And so is Disney — it seems they are planning on you going twice. And soon. Maybe even twice this year.
By the end of January, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will have had FOUR Grand Openings. Two on each coast, in under nine months. Seems crazy for one land, right?
Well, it’s true!
Disney initially announced that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would open in Disneyland in Summer 2019 and Disney World would follow in Fall 2019. For a lot of people, they assumed this meant June – August through Disneyland, and September through November at Disney World.
In March of this year, Disney announced Galaxy’s Edge was opening ahead of schedule! Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would officially open on May 31 in Disneyland and August 29 in Disney World — but missing one major detail. The highly anticipated, state-of-the-art, all-new attraction, Rise of the Resistance, would NOT be opening with the rest of the land, and instead, would have a Phase II opening at a later date.
Just recently, it was announced that Phase II of Galaxy’s Edge (AKA Rise of the Resistance) would open in reverse order. This time Disney World gets to go first. The new attraction is set to open on December 5, 2019, with Disneyland to follow on January 17, 2020.
So naturally, with two openings in each park, people are going to go TWICE.
It seems as though Rise of the Resistance was further behind schedule than the rest of the land (to be fair, it’s like four rides in one and sounds amazing) so instead of pushing back the entire land opening on both coasts, they decided to do two openings.
But am I crazy — or is December 5 still TECHNICALLY fall? (Yes, it is. Winter doesn’t officially start until December 22.) So couldn’t the whole land have opened together — at least in Disney World?
Clearly, they weren’t sure when Rise of the Resistance would be ready until just recently, but was it jumping the gun to go ahead and announce Disney World dates before seeing if everything in the completed land could open together? Perhaps not, but in my opinion it does seem to be a smart tactical move to open the land in phases.
While some people are going to hold off until the entire land is complete, a lot of Disney fans are going to want to check out the new immersive land ASAP.
Die-hard Star Wars fans are going to go as soon as they can — after all, they’ve been dreaming of traveling to the galaxy far, far away for more than 40 years.
And therefore, you can bet that those in both camps who can, will be back for a second trip to Batuu when Rise of the Resistance opens.
By opening the land in two phases, Disney is guaranteeing that least some fans — whether Disney or Star Wars (or both!) — are going to pay to visit twice, in just a few months.
Impressive. Most impressive.
What do you think? Will you be visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge TWICE in one year? Let us know in the comments!
Need more Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge info? Don't miss these posts:
- What We Saw When We Visited Disney World’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios!
- Get the 411 on This Disney App Before Galaxy's Edge Opens
- Everything We Know So Far About Oga's Cantina
- You'll Never Guess Who You'll See at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
- So Much to Buy! Preview Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge's Stores and Merchandise Here!
- Brand New Details! Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
- New Updates for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
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Somebody can have my spot. I don’t even want to go once.
I planned a Disney World trip in January 2019. Checking in on December 7. We got lucky to be able to see both in one trip
I’m not a big fan of the new land. The ride is fun and all, but I wouldn’t wait longer than 30 minutes for it. Everything else is pretty lame. They pretty much force people into the land if you get there at rope drop which is alittle annoying. They literally force everyone there and straight into the line for smugglers run
Any more Disney is a rip off and a Hugh scam.haven’t truly been family friendly or truly original in years.
Me and my family just came from Disneyland and DCA last week the crowds were by no means dead but not like they normally are especially at this time of the year. The lite crowds are probably a combination of a couple things with Disney blocking out annual pass holders and other people just waiting out for Rise of the Resistance so they don’t have to go back twice. And a couple of other reasons for the lite crowds maybe people got scared of the huge crowds that everyone was projecting, so they chose to stayaway and lastly that not to many people are mentioning is the annual price hike Disney slaps everyone with maybe they just priced some people out. Personally, I would wait till Rise of the Resistance opens to visit Galaxy’s Edge its pretty cool but at the same time it’s a little lame and that’s coming from a hard-core Star Wars geek. Its kind of like a movie set you just walk around snap a few pictures ride Smugglers Run and your pretty much done it took us three hours to get through the whole place. Unless you plan on getting ripped off with two-hundred-dollar lightsaber or a if you want to drop a hundred bucks on a droid that is more like two hundred after you pick up some accessories for it. We were at Disneyland for three days and hit Galaxy’s Edge fist thing in the morning the first day got it all done and never set foot inside it again. Has impressive has it is there’s something about it that just isn’t making it a home run.
My understanding is that the park is more of a marketplace with exception to smuggler’s run. And why is there hardly any original/prequel trilogy characters present (if any)? I think that’s a huge misstep. There is so much they could’ve done with past lore… visit Degobah, cloud city, jabba’s palace… instead, we visit some outpost on a planet no one cares about. And $150 a person? No thanks.
We had anticipated taking a trip to Disneyland, and more of California this summer. Once we found out that the entire land would not be open we pushed that trip back. Now that Marvel attractions are going to be added as well, my son wants to wait for those… travel from PA to CA is expensive, and we’ve been to Disney World several times.
OH NO NOT TWICE!!!!!
(1) If you live nearby and are such a fan you’d go twice, you were already going to go more than once. Otherwise you’d just wait for the second ride to open.
(2) If you travel to Disney, you either wanted to go in the summer (in which case you’re grateful SOME of it opened in time), or you’d be smart and wait.
It’s only a “trick” if you’re stupid.
I don’t think many people are getting fooled by the two openings. Disney World held out for as long as they could on free dining which has always been offered during the fall months and had their hand forced to offer free dining. They were expecting resorts to sell out because of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening up at the end of August and that hasn’t been the case. All these price increases are causing more people to look for other options for vacations and also other lodging options. Disneyland in California has been said to be a ghost town because of the blackout dates on many annual passes. I believe Disney thought many people wouldn’t want to wait for the blackout period to end and would opt into buying general admission tickets. That hasn’t been the case. Greed will be the ultimate downfall sooner or later.
At Disneyland it has proven to be a very bad move for Disney, crowds have declined significantly since Galaxys Edge opened and in fact Smugglers Run rarely has a line that exceeds 40 minutes, except first thing in the morning or if multiple other major attractions break down at once. You would have thought that they would have learned their lesson about the bad idea of opening in phases with Pixar Pier, but they clearly didn’t and they are suffering now. It is so bad that they are cutting entertainment, reducing staffing, etc. because of the major financial hit that Galaxys Edge that cost something like a billion dollars is proving to be a flop, at least from a financial perspective.