- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
I don’t participate on the SWGE sub-forum much, but before this thread gets to full on Frank Costanza Festivus status, here’s my TLDR opinion in response to OP’s topics/questions.
For some background, we’re a family of four, kids are 9 and 5. We’re not really SW fans, but in fairness we’re not really movie folks either. It’s not that we’re not fans, we just don’t watch enough movies or follow story-lines at any sort of fandom level for anything. Heck, I’m not even that much of a Disney fan – I’d fail miserably at any Disney movie trivia contest. Movies, shows, TV series, etc, just aren’t our thing.
But I am a fan of themed environments, entertainment, family fun, and vacation memories/experiences. My love of WDW as a destination stems from those four things more so than some inherent fandom of any IP. So that is typically the lens I use when it comes to the parks.
As for SW, DW and I of course know the original trilogy from our childhood. Our children have been exposed to various SW references over time – the parks, Disney channel, etc – but I can’t say either has ever watched any SW-related show in any material detail. They know things like Darth Vader, Chewie, Stormtroopers and some of the more commonly seen pop culture SW references, but don’t really know anything more current in any significant detail (nor do I really). I ran the Star Wars Half Marathon earlier this year. That is the extent of my family’s SW cred.
Overall Thoughts: What is Working, What Isn’t?
So what’s working?
Who is the Audience for this Land?
I personally don’t think it’s that complicated – it’s for the 52 million visitors that go to WDW every year. Simple as that. The fandom is too niche for that to be the sole audience, so it has to appeal to the middle ground of theme park goers and fans alike. The really deep stuff is great for the fans, but mostly lost on folks like me - and that's OK.
Immersion: Is it something guests want? Is there too much/too little? Thoughts on the removal of the Star Wars names for the food?
While I don’t mean this to in any way take away from those who enjoy immersion, role-playing, etc, I find it a bit much and is not something that particularly appeals to us. But it doesn’t materially interfere with our enjoyment either, so I’m sort of indifferent, for the most part.
The first time we went DS9 was wearing a t-shirt with Stormtroopers on the front. I think DW may have bought it on the sale rack at Target just to have something SW themed. Well, little did I know the shirt would incite so much ‘immersion.’ Multiple CMs over our few hours in the land made “do you know bucket heads?” and “you’re friends with bucket heads!” type of comments/accusations… most were playful, some a bit ‘too’ into character, if you ask me. Not going to lie, it was sort of hard for my 9 year old to process the fuss and after a while he wanted nothing more than for me to buy him another shirt somewhere. I mean, we ultimately laughed about it afterwards – but it certainly was a new layer of theme park entertainment we had not experienced before.
On another visit we had made lightsabers, which I was carrying in their cases. Stormtroopers and some commander type character (sorry, don’t know name) came up to us and wanted to inspect the lightsabers. I half-froze (ok, fully froze) not really knowing what to do… DS9 legit ran off and hid behind a trash can (and proceeded to do that the rest of the day whenever we saw them)…. DD5 sat there laughing at both of us.
So I don’t know… it was kind of fun, and also kind of unwanted.
I still have this instinct to say “no I’m not on the dining plan” when a CM tells me my order is “15 credits.” Seems like that could be confusing for some?
Full immersion is sort of broken anyway when you buy something and they give you a bright blue WDW bag.
I just used 335 words talking about immersion, good grief! I guess ultimately my take is it’s not something I really want / care for, but it’s great for those that enjoy that kind of thing, so all good.
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Anyways, that was way too long – sorry! – but lots of ground to cover! Ultimately, as a non-SW person, this land fits my definition of quality theme park entertainment – a visually interesting place, two rides, places to eat and shop. I can just pass through (like one does at most lands anyway) or I can stop for a while.
DS9 has taken to repeating Hondo's "and I take all the profits" line in a way elementary school kids like to beat jokes to death... DD5 talks about "the ride where you push the buttons" frequently. We love Disney for those precious little moments here and there, and this place seems ripe to continue to add to the fun.
I come here and read all these references to planets, timelines, characters, books, canon, etc, and it’s all sort of mind-numbing to a person like me. I love that people are seeing something they care passionately about come to life in physical form, but I’ll be honest, I have no want or desire to really understand that level of backstory behind any of it. Same with Pandora – I’ve never seen that movie but I enjoy the product of the land immensely. Both seem to coexist just fine. To me, both stand on their own without any additional “work” on my part, but I can go learn more if I so choose by books/movies.... probably just about the way it should be.
While there are times I find the various arguments that have popped up from both sides on threads like this (and others) exhausting and frankly a bit of a turn off to stopping by / contributing, I do love seeing various opinions and totally admire the passion! Crazy how the land inspires such different feelings among all of us.
Thanks for reading, even if you just skimmed.
For some background, we’re a family of four, kids are 9 and 5. We’re not really SW fans, but in fairness we’re not really movie folks either. It’s not that we’re not fans, we just don’t watch enough movies or follow story-lines at any sort of fandom level for anything. Heck, I’m not even that much of a Disney fan – I’d fail miserably at any Disney movie trivia contest. Movies, shows, TV series, etc, just aren’t our thing.
But I am a fan of themed environments, entertainment, family fun, and vacation memories/experiences. My love of WDW as a destination stems from those four things more so than some inherent fandom of any IP. So that is typically the lens I use when it comes to the parks.
As for SW, DW and I of course know the original trilogy from our childhood. Our children have been exposed to various SW references over time – the parks, Disney channel, etc – but I can’t say either has ever watched any SW-related show in any material detail. They know things like Darth Vader, Chewie, Stormtroopers and some of the more commonly seen pop culture SW references, but don’t really know anything more current in any significant detail (nor do I really). I ran the Star Wars Half Marathon earlier this year. That is the extent of my family’s SW cred.
Overall Thoughts: What is Working, What Isn’t?
So what’s working?
- Incredible physical environment – it’s stunning, breathtaking really. As a theme park person who appreciates and takes much enjoyment from place-making – this fact alone carries so much for me.
- The daytime/nighttime experiences offered at both Pandora and now SWGE are really quite impressive – meaning I’d make a point to visit during both times of day during any given trip. If we see routine 8 or 9pm closings at DHS we should all be crying foul. And this land is just begging for a return of DHS PM EMHs – c’mon Disney.
- I notice more land audio each time I go. Little noises, sounds here and there. The spaceship landing/taking off noise is like a surround sound movie theater and is pretty bad (non-approved DIS word). I would have never thought about music being lacking if not for reading it as a criticism around here.
- Great (and interesting) food options – the shrimp and noodle salad from the quick service place is among the best quick service options in any park (note, I called it the “shrimp and noodle salad from the quick service place” because I’d have to actually go look up the names of each since I don’t know them off the top of my head… maybe that’s a problem).
- Obviously I can only speak for myself, but I find MFSR tons of fun. Sure, some of the positions / roles / guest education could be a little more crisp to make the experience better for everyone (especially those with only one opportunity to ride). I enjoyed it and the kiddos begged to go again. That’s surely a sign something is working.
- We’ve spent more time in SWGE over the first two months of its existence than we ever did in Pandora. Pandora is great – but it was so packed and lines so long at first, we didn’t bother w/out a FP. I’ve loved the ability to make more casual/unplanned visits to Batuu so far. TBD how that continues to play out with shorter hours and both rides open.
- The mat to play with built droids is great!
- I will concede that DHS is my least favorite park and the park we as a family have spent the least amount of time visiting. It was commonly the “skip” park on many trips. With TSL last year and now SWGE, DHS finally has some more appeal to us. Having all four parks operating with multiple major headliner level attractions/lands is a good thing for all WDW park visitors – spread people around! (Even if it has only gone from a no day to ½ day park for us!)
- I love whatever they are doing with the reservation system for Savi, Oga, Droid Depot as they seem to keep adding new supply in big chunks at various points. I thought all was lost for getting spots for a recent trip, but was able to find them a few weeks out after a big dump - thanks to posters around here.
- I’m fond of places like Trader Sam’s so I get the Disney small themed lounge concept, but Oga’s doesn’t really do it for me. Maybe my opinion is skewed because we have the kids and standing at a high top (in our case) just isn’t going to fly for more than a few minutes. This is the only physical place in the land that I don’t quite understand / seems to fall short in my opinion. It could have easily been 2-3x the size, with maybe an outdoor patio. I’m sure they didn’t want some “giant bar” smack in the middle of the land, but sure seems like it could be more. I might just be the wrong target demo though.
- Not saying I want to be able to buy a Mickey Bar in SWGE, but as a parent I wouldn’t mind a few lesser-themed (read, basic) food carts in the land. Sure we can walk next door to TSL for the basics, but sometimes you just want something close by. Batuu can’t have a vendor selling some basic ice cream flavors to outpost children? Or a cart to buy the squadron lager other than the restaurant?
- I get the lack of way finding signage is “just the way things are” with immersion trends these days, but to me it’s a bit hard to find the exact locations of some things at first. Maybe this supports more exploring of the land and is a good thing, not sure.
- I’ve personally never quite understood building the exact same thing on both coasts. I think one land in DHS would have been plenty, at least to start.
Who is the Audience for this Land?
I personally don’t think it’s that complicated – it’s for the 52 million visitors that go to WDW every year. Simple as that. The fandom is too niche for that to be the sole audience, so it has to appeal to the middle ground of theme park goers and fans alike. The really deep stuff is great for the fans, but mostly lost on folks like me - and that's OK.
Immersion: Is it something guests want? Is there too much/too little? Thoughts on the removal of the Star Wars names for the food?
While I don’t mean this to in any way take away from those who enjoy immersion, role-playing, etc, I find it a bit much and is not something that particularly appeals to us. But it doesn’t materially interfere with our enjoyment either, so I’m sort of indifferent, for the most part.
The first time we went DS9 was wearing a t-shirt with Stormtroopers on the front. I think DW may have bought it on the sale rack at Target just to have something SW themed. Well, little did I know the shirt would incite so much ‘immersion.’ Multiple CMs over our few hours in the land made “do you know bucket heads?” and “you’re friends with bucket heads!” type of comments/accusations… most were playful, some a bit ‘too’ into character, if you ask me. Not going to lie, it was sort of hard for my 9 year old to process the fuss and after a while he wanted nothing more than for me to buy him another shirt somewhere. I mean, we ultimately laughed about it afterwards – but it certainly was a new layer of theme park entertainment we had not experienced before.
On another visit we had made lightsabers, which I was carrying in their cases. Stormtroopers and some commander type character (sorry, don’t know name) came up to us and wanted to inspect the lightsabers. I half-froze (ok, fully froze) not really knowing what to do… DS9 legit ran off and hid behind a trash can (and proceeded to do that the rest of the day whenever we saw them)…. DD5 sat there laughing at both of us.
So I don’t know… it was kind of fun, and also kind of unwanted.
I still have this instinct to say “no I’m not on the dining plan” when a CM tells me my order is “15 credits.” Seems like that could be confusing for some?
Full immersion is sort of broken anyway when you buy something and they give you a bright blue WDW bag.
I just used 335 words talking about immersion, good grief! I guess ultimately my take is it’s not something I really want / care for, but it’s great for those that enjoy that kind of thing, so all good.
-----------
Anyways, that was way too long – sorry! – but lots of ground to cover! Ultimately, as a non-SW person, this land fits my definition of quality theme park entertainment – a visually interesting place, two rides, places to eat and shop. I can just pass through (like one does at most lands anyway) or I can stop for a while.
DS9 has taken to repeating Hondo's "and I take all the profits" line in a way elementary school kids like to beat jokes to death... DD5 talks about "the ride where you push the buttons" frequently. We love Disney for those precious little moments here and there, and this place seems ripe to continue to add to the fun.
I come here and read all these references to planets, timelines, characters, books, canon, etc, and it’s all sort of mind-numbing to a person like me. I love that people are seeing something they care passionately about come to life in physical form, but I’ll be honest, I have no want or desire to really understand that level of backstory behind any of it. Same with Pandora – I’ve never seen that movie but I enjoy the product of the land immensely. Both seem to coexist just fine. To me, both stand on their own without any additional “work” on my part, but I can go learn more if I so choose by books/movies.... probably just about the way it should be.
While there are times I find the various arguments that have popped up from both sides on threads like this (and others) exhausting and frankly a bit of a turn off to stopping by / contributing, I do love seeing various opinions and totally admire the passion! Crazy how the land inspires such different feelings among all of us.
Thanks for reading, even if you just skimmed.