Lack of crowds and Disney's response

[cdatkins]

@Dr.Mickey I am honestly wondering about Disney’s decision to make a SW themed land but basically without any of the epic characters from the original trilogy. I mean even in Smugglers Run, you have Hondo Ohnaka, who most SW fans haven’t even heard of. I know out of my three kids, only one of them will know who he is when we go on that ride.

This is an issue elsewhere too. On the Disney app, the SW avatars you can choose are Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Yoda, R2 and C3PO. No Luke, Leia, Han, Padme, Anakin, or even Rey, Kylo or Finn. I mean I wanted Luke, but he wasn’t available. What gives? You could be pretty much any Disney princess, or any Pixar character, but not the most popular SW characters.

I am sure we will like it, but I could see my crew having basically the same reaction.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I am sure we will like it...

“like” = Nail meet head. I’m in the same boat. I know I’ll “like” SWL- but I won’t love it. It won’t be do or die in the way Harry Potter World is, I love HP World! If they had ROTR running then maybe it would at least reach Pandora level of “must visit because of that one awesome ride”. But they don’t.

And I agree on the characters. Despite being on the young side of life I’m much more familiar with the characters of the original trilogy than the new movies. Basically I just don’t have the emotional attachments to the new ones that I do the old.

 

[azdisneylover]

“like” = Nail meet head. I’m in the same boat. I know I’ll “like” SWL- but I won’t love it. It won’t be do or die in the way Harry Potter World is, I love HP World! If they had ROTR running then maybe it would at least reach Pandora level of “must visit because of that one awesome ride”. But they don’t.

And I agree on the characters. Despite being on the young side of life I’m much more familiar with the characters of the original trilogy than the new movies. Basically I just don’t have the emotional attachments to the new ones that I do the old.

I haven't been to the new land yet, and I am saddened it doesn't have the main SW characters that gave this franchise a beginning. It would be like having Disneyland without Mickey and his fab friends! (Goofy, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto).

 

[Sun_soakin]

The thing about winter is that they have a lot of rides down and lower staffing. IME summer is almost a better time to visit the last couple years

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I know it's easy to play arm-chair quarterback, but I have to wonder how different it would have been had they opened the land when the E ticket ride was operating, i.e. ROTR. I suspect the opening of Pandora would have been very different if it was just the River Navi ride and not Flight of Passage. I think Pandora's success if mostly because of that ride--it's maybe the best in all the Disney Parks. If ROTR was operating, and if it's as cool or better than FOP, I think there would be much bigger crowds. It's all part of the word of mouth that seems to be missing. I agree though, too, that not having more of the original characters and hitting the nostalgia factor for those of us who loved the original trilogy seems to be a misstep. They created a world, but not one people are familiar with or connect with like the original trilogy. Bring out Luke, Leia, Han, Obi Wan, C3PO and R2, and I think people would love it.

 

[ChasRN]

I have a feeling that they sort of missed the target Disney audience with this land. Seems like adults that have money to burn are the main targets. Definitely not kids and families. I'm hearing that it feels cold and doesn't have a heart. I was kind of amazed that there is absolutely no music and it's quite jarring. And just a lack of anything going on that gives it any energy unless you go to build the droid or the lightsabers. And that is pretty expensive. And once you do those, there isn't much of a reason to spend a lot of time in there. I think the other attraction will help, but my guess is that people will be going in and out just for the rides. And not hanging out in the land once they done the rides

 

[poptart90]

So tonight while waiting for WOC, we let the kids play some Boardwalk Games (Pixar Games? I’m only remembering the old name at the moment) Funny thing is that they had two CMs running between the four games...?? Never seen that one before. You walk up, scan card, and wait for someone to show up and run the game. Weird.

Perhaps this is an example of the staffing reduction that was rumored?

 

[az4boys]

Some have said that low crowds are due to AP blockouts. While I'm sure that plays a part, I think there are just too many reasons why many of us are staying away:

1. AP Blockouts for Deluxe (I think that is the only AP affected based on the prior year)
2. Price increases in base price, PH price, and MP price making a 1 day PH ticket with MP nearly $215
3. Much hype over the anticipated HUGE crowds
4. Opening a land with only one ride that gets good but not amazing reviews. The focus seems to be on expensive "experiences" but I'm not sure how much there is for my family with 4 kids.

They can't do anything about #3 and #4 at this point. The blockout/bring 3 friends promo will help a little for #1 and #2, but it will only bring in people that kept their blocked out AP's and their friends which I suspect are mostly locals. If I had a blocked out AP I might be willing to pay an extra $99 once, but not multiple times. As for our out of state family of 6: #1 doesn't mean anything, #3 was obviously overstated and I'd love to go right now, #4 is probably why we won't spend a LOT of time in the land but we'd still like to see it. Our biggest problem is #2. I'm not paying $215 per person for one day. Sure we could go without the PH, but I'm not willing to go with MP so it would still be $165 per person for one day. No thank you. I'll wait until it makes financial sense for us to either get AP's again or go for 3-5 days. (ETA: Even a 3 day ticket is iffy on value. We'll most likely wait until APs make sense)

 

[bwvBound]

I have a feeling that they sort of missed the target Disney audience with this land. Seems like adults that have money to burn are the main targets. Definitely not kids and families. I'm hearing that it feels cold and doesn't have a heart. I was kind of amazed that there is absolutely no music and it's quite jarring. And just a lack of anything going on that gives it any energy unless you go to build the droid or the lightsabers. And that is pretty expensive. And once you do those, there isn't much of a reason to spend a lot of time in there. I think the other attraction will help, but my guess is that people will be going in and out just for the rides. And not hanging out in the land once they done the rides

FWIW, I've started playing the Disney PLAY App for SWGE and am really enjoying it. I think it provides plenty of reason to spend time the new land. The game not only allows one to simply build their own profile through the discovery of hackable control panels and droids, tuning in communications transmissions, scanning cargo and more ... but also gives window to an ongoing tug-of-war between the First Order and Resistance at Batuu. The guest participates in that tug-of-war by changing the state of various control panels: Add a surveillance device for the First Order; Remove the surveillance device in favor of the Resistance; increase security of the device for Resistance; etc.

Lots of fun ... rather addictive. Will draw me back over and over!

 

[BadPinkTink]

1. Opening a land with only one ride that gets good but not amazing reviews. The focus seems to be on expensive "experiences" but I'm not sure how much there is for my family with 4 kids.

And from what I saw yesterday, your family of 4 who just are interested in seeing something new are NOT the target market for SWGE. It's not as kid friendly either the prices of food and merchandise or the experiences, or the characters as Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land. I saw many typical Disney families not having a good time, bored kids, no merchandise bags, kids not liking the food, adults getting frustrated by the citizens of Batuu not knowing anything off land etc etc. However I did see many couples with no kids, older teens and twenty something's, not the typical Disney people, STGE Disney Bounding, with the Savi light sabers, dropping approx $50 each in the Cantina and buying Jedi robes, and tons of other merchandise. There was even a line most of the afternoon for the main shop!

 

[Karin1984]

I was kind of amazed that there is absolutely no music and it's quite jarring.

Wait... I haven't been to SWGE yet, but there is no background music playing? Seriously? With the soundtrack of Star Wars available to them? That is really astonishing. To me the music is what differentiates Disney from other theme parks, how they use the music to set the mood and create an experience. If you walk from one land to the other, from Main Street into a land, the music helps the transition and gives you a little bubble of its own.
No music is truly un-Disney...

 

[Mr Snappy]

And from what I saw yesterday, your family of 4 who just are interested in seeing something new are NOT the target market for SWGE. It's not as kid friendly either the prices of food and merchandise or the experiences, or the characters as Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land. I saw many typical Disney families not having a good time, bored kids, no merchandise bags, kids not liking the food, adults getting frustrated by the citizens of Batuu not knowing anything off land etc etc. However I did see many couples with no kids, older teens and twenty something's, not the typical Disney people, STGE Disney Bounding, with the Savi light sabers, dropping approx $50 each in the Cantina and buying Jedi robes, and tons of other merchandise. There was even a line most of the afternoon for the main shop!

Yup....and this is not by mistake.
There was a HUGE gap in merchandise for older boys and men (or men who act like boys - me )
Other than a watch, I have not purchased any items from Disneyland in 10 years. We are going next month and I have one son who is 21 and one who is 17. Collectively we now plan to spend over $1,500.00 for items in SWGE....AND we will be back in March and are planning to spend more money then.

This "land" is not for the little ones, they have PLENTY of murch and entertainment elsewhere in the park.

 

[Steven G]

There is sound effects (ships landing, flying overhead, taking off, etc.) and other "background" side effects. I think during the mini-show near one of the entrances there is some music during the show, but as a whole, there is no music.

 

[tarheelalum]

I don't know how big of a factor this is but I do personally know a few people who have written off Disney completely due to the direction Disney has taken the Star Wars films. These guys were not Disney fans to start with but huge Star Wars fans that Disney should have tried to convert. There has been some controversy with Disney killing off Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker as fast as they possibly could and downplaying them from the new movies, parks and merchandise. And Disney injecting politics into the films didn't do itself any favors either. I know some people were turned off by this as well.

It baffles me why Disney would do anything to alienate any paying or potential customers. It seems to me they bought the most successful IP ever and they have been trying to reinvent the wheel the entire time they have had it as opposed to just embracing all that made the original trilogy insanely successful and just building on that winning formula. I understand in the corporate world everyone wants to make their own mark to elevate their careers but reinventing the wheel, just so you can say you made something different, usually doesn't work out so well when what you are making is not as good.

 

[Spaceguy55]

This is what I was thinking for awhile. I saw the first movie when it came out but none of the others till last December. The 2 others in the first trilogy were close to being like the first with the right amount of humor. I then thought of why did they kill off Hans Solo, then it occurred to me that he was associated with Indiana Jones so they needed him out so they could move forward with more IP from that.
As far as the new characters , none are as admired as the originals, and that's where I believe is where most fans have been born. Maybe Rey but she's not even close to Princess Leia for us older fans.
How can you be a fan of Kylo when he killed his father, at least Darth didn't kill any of the originals even tho he tried. They should be part of the land , can you imagine a character meet and greet with them "not really them but look a likes" or something, but it would be hard since they have committed to the land as it is now.
I've heard there's room for something else at DHS to the left of ROTR..how about an area that honors the original trilogy, that would get people really excited.
The first 3 movies are what started the fandom so it was decided to make more but they just don't have the draw as the first ones as far as emotional connection, maybe they make more money but that's not going to make people super fans. Plus they are a lot darker than the originals which is what I think makes the first trilogy more loved...just my 2 cents...

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I've heard there's room for something else at DHS to the left of ROTR..how about an area that honors the original trilogy, that would get people really excited...

Rumor has the next expansion phase for both SWGE would be a sit down restaurant. There is apparently also still some room at DLR. With the popularity of Oga’s they’re probably regretting putting that on the back burner...

 

[Spaceguy55]

Rumor has the next expansion phase for both SWGE would be a sit down restaurant. There is apparently also still some room at DLR. With the popularity of Oga’s they’re probably regretting putting that on the back burner...

That would be great if it involved the first trilogy somehow..maybe even a restaurant with the original cantina bar

 

[Spaceguy55]

It should be okay to add the originals somehow since Rey and Chewy are there now and she was interacting with all the originals in the last movie and Chewy as well..so the timeline can't be to far ahead.

 

[swimchick1984]

These guys were not Disney fans to start with but huge Star Wars fans that Disney should have tried to convert. There has been some controversy with Disney killing off Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker as fast as they possibly could and downplaying them from the new movies, parks and merchandise. And Disney injecting politics into the films didn't do itself any favors either. I know some people were turned off by this as well.

I think for Hans Solo it was a request of the actor kill him off. I do not know about Luke, but it was an interesting character arc. Now what are they going to do with Leia is the question.

 

[cdatkins]

FWIW, I've started playing the Disney PLAY App for SWGE and am really enjoying it. I think it provides plenty of reason to spend time the new land. The game not only allows one to simply build their own profile through the discovery of hackable control panels and droids, tuning in communications transmissions, scanning cargo and more ... but also gives window to an ongoing tug-of-war between the First Order and Resistance at Batuu. The guest participates in that tug-of-war by changing the state of various control panels: Add a surveillance device for the First Order; Remove the surveillance device in favor of the Resistance; increase security of the device for Resistance; etc.

Lots of fun ... rather addictive. Will draw me back over and over!

this sounds really cool!