I personally don't quite understand why there's so much negativity because it's not a original trilogy location. Disney never sold this as come relive your favorite Star Wars moments with the characters you grew up with. It was always come experience a NEW location set in the current era of Star Wars. Who knows, maybe these people complaining that it's not the Original Trilogy have been around all along and are just more vocal now that they feel they can blame SWGE's "failure" on it not being the Original Trilogy.
As for the music I really don't understand the no music comments or being upset by CM staying in character while interacting with guests. I may be wrong but there's usually not music playing while I'm walking down the street unless I'm playing it. The intent was to create a "real world" location themed after Star Wars and there is plenty of ambient noise/effects to achieve that. To me blasting the Star Wars theme around all of Batuu would break the immersion more than it would help.
I really hope Disney doesn't start to change things about SWGE just to pander to the vocal (minority?) guests by adding M&Gs, adding OT characters, blasting Star Wars music, or eliminating the "on planet" CM interactions.
I really think everyone is stunned that SWGE didn't open as an instant smash hit with 8 hour waits just to put a toe in the land, so people (myself included) are casting about to figure out how the most popular and valuable IP in franchise history could miss. I've read a lot of theories and offered some of my own, including:
1. Anticipated high crowds scared everyone away.
2. Most non-APs are waiting for ROTR to open before visiting.
3. Disney underestimated its need to advertise and market the new land.
4. Non-local tourists are more likely to visit the land at WDW.
5. Locals predominantly visit
Disneyland; non-APs were never going to come in significant numbers.
6. Disneyland is generally just too expensive these days.
7. There aren't enough family or low-budget attractions for everyone to enjoy.
8. Disney missed out on the nostalgia factor by not capitalizing on the original trilogy, or at least by not using a setting that appears in any of the films.
9. There's something fundamentally "wrong" with the land, e.g., lack of music, too austere/run-down looking, oppressive setting/not joyful, etc.
10. The apparent target market for SWGE (adult males) aren't "Disney people".
A lot of these theories will be tested naturally by the passage of time. If crowds explode after ROTR opens or after the perception of high crowds has passed (six months, probably?), that will say something about theories #1-2. I'm really interested to see what happens in Florida on August 29 (theories #4-5, with a sprinkle of #3 presuming Disney increases its marketing efforts over the next two months). #6 could be tested by offering ticket or room discounts; #7 could be tested by adding back in Jedi Training, a stunt show, or other low-cost, family-friendly experiences. If the main problem is in #8-10, then I don't know how Disney fixes that in the short term, but I'm sure they can work on it over the long term. Though, I suspect we'll have a good sense of whether the main issue is in #8-10 by what happens in WDW next month, since none of these factors will change depending on coast.
