I wasn’t intending to be there for SWGE opening week. However, Disney’s definition of “fall” has completely pooched our quiet trip. We arrive September 1st. We’re not canceling, since we have flights booked that can’t be changed, but we’re wavering about whether we’ll go anywhere near HS that week.
DH and I are both huge SW fans, as are about 90% of our friends, and we’re savvy enough with the extent of SW fandom to realize that opening week will be mayhem. What makes the SWGE opening so much more likely to be way more packed than the HP opening is the age and discretionary income of much of the fan base. There’s a whole generation of 40-50+ yr olds that were kids/teens when the first SW movie came out, and they’ve been waiting decades to have an experience like this. We/they aren’t going to blink or think twice about paying through the nose for the sure-to-be-announced upcharge events, either.
It’s a difficult dilemma. We desperately want to see SWGE, but we are realistic about the fact that the opening is going to be way more crowded than most people realize. And we can’t even use the DL crowds as a measuring stick, since they have a reservation system for the first few months and WDW doesn’t. I would love to join in the optimism of the PPs who feel it will be less crowded than the HP opening, but sadly, I think it’s going to be bigger than most people think.