Is SWGE impacting your trip? Discuss your plans here!

I was going to say something similar. Fall falls into a certain frame of time & they said it would be late fall, then they said fall, then they announced it would actually be during the summer time frame. If that isn't a lie, I don't know what is. It's all about the money. And all the money grabbing is disgusting. For a company who is supposed to make families' lives full of happiness, they sure failed here.

We finally canceled our reservation & I'm sure this will illicit "Great! More rooms for us!" from those who have no empathy on this forum. I never understand why there are so many unkind people on this forum who are always ready to tear others apart.


I understand how emotional planning these trips can be. I understand your disappointment. I just can’t understand why every single person accuses a gigantic corporation of money grabbing constantly.

They are opening ahead of schedule. It’s the best decision and not just financially. It’s a good decision all around. If they tried to open this land during the holidays it probably would have been an epic chaotic disaster.

They cannot delay an opening in order for guests to avoid it. That makes zero sense. It’s not lying.

I truly feel bad for people who feel they have to change plans or cancel trips. I definitely would not, but I get it.
 
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Thanks for the clarification. There is no doubt that the opening of SWGE will make them a boatload regardless. Just seems a smart move if they want to get people in now. If Rise of the Resistance the only thing not operating no reason for Disney not to push it up. I certainly understand those who wanted to avoid those crowds as I was one as well but I’ll make the best of it. Worst comes to worse I’ll send my wife to AK for day or get her a spa day while I wait on 4 hour lines. Say a prayer for me ;)
 
School starts in the fall (for us that’s mid August). Early September is a low attendance time because schoo, has begun. Memorial Day kicks off the summer season, and we’ve had some pretty nasty winter weather in late March. The calendar dates mark the equinoxes and solstices. That is all.
 
I really don't understand the reaction to calling Disney liars.
The justification for those accusations reflects an expectation that guests should have more control over what Disney does than guests should. The fact is the poster said, "Walt Disney World - Late Fall 2019." The fact is that SWGE will be open at WDW in late fall. All those who based their vacation on it being open by late fall can claim a promise was made to them - and that promise will be fulfilled. On the other hand, those claiming that a promise was made that SWGE would not be open in late August or September made that part up themselves. Disney didn't make that promise. Some could claim that that is a reasonable guess that can be made based on what Disney itself said but those who made that guess can take responsibility for it being incorrect. So while it is reasonable to accuse Disney of being cagey and playing things close to the vest, it is not reasonable to call them liars.
 


School starts in the fall (for us that’s mid August). Early September is a low attendance time because schoo, has begun. Memorial Day kicks off the summer season, and we’ve had some pretty nasty winter weather in late March. The calendar dates mark the equinoxes and solstices. That is all.

Maybe to you. Maybe to some others. But not to all. School starts in early September for us. That would be considered late summer around my neck of the woods.

In many parts of the States it feels like the same season all year long, making people’s perceptions of seasonal timelines different depending on where they live. The calendars are the only thing that make the four seasons universal for everyone.

Disney knows this. They know they are opening in the summer and not the fall as they originally announced.
 
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You obviously don’t follow Disney much. Halloween for Disney starts mid August.

Disney could start the Halloween parties in early August if they wanted to and people would flock to it. But it would still be summer. Even now, there is no mention of the word fall under the special ticketed event website for the tickets. It’s billed as a “Frightfully Festive Event”, because they know it is not starting in fall. I believe years ago when the parties started closer to mid September, it was billed as a fall event.

They don’t deserve to be called out for anything because they did nothing wrong. Yes it’s opening earlier than most thought but Disney never said of it won’t open before September or anything like that.

SWGE is opening in August, the summer. Disney did say it was opening in fall, not August. So yes, IMO, that is the same thing as saying it won’t open in August.

It’s a matter of opinion that it’s negathveky impacting people. For some I’m sure they are very happy it’s opening early. For others like yourself it’s an issue.

Agreed.

There is no lying.

I think their intention was to open in the fall, so I don’t consider it a lie either, just a change in seasons.
 
I do feel for people who had the trip planned based on info out there to dat and now this drastically impacts their trip - likely for the negative

I do feel like Disney always makes scheduling changes so planning with a bit of flexibility is for the best - obviously this is a bigger thange than most

If this really will negatively impact your trip (especially if there is someone in your party with conditions this will make visiting near impossible) reach out to Disney and see what they will do. E-mail George Kalogridis’ office and explainyour situation and see what they can do. I know when they announced the refurb for Caribbean Beach I had contacted them on behalf of a friend who indicated that the closures/construction would prevent them from staying there due to a condition one child had and in the end they upgraded them for free - so Disney does often have good guest recovery


Hopefully this won’t make the rest of DHS and the other parks too crazy. I know when Pandora first opened a lot of the other attractions in AL saw reduced lines ... as low by as Disney can control the lines for GE (a big IF but something I think they know they need to do) I think the rest should be manageable
 


Ok, I get it. Disney wasn't being purposefully deceptive, for many people the word "lie' implies that. They also play fast and loose with seasons, Halloween starts in summer and Christmas doesn't end until late January. It is the Disney bubble after all.

The title of this thread is "SWGE impacting your trip." I tuned in here, looking for assistance on what to do, but not really getting much helpful advice, particularly since cancelling is not an option.

I have always felt that Disney always let too many people into their parks. It makes the experience not worth the price of admission, which is why I ONLY visit during off peak. It appears that going forward, there is no such thing as off peak and thats OK, there will also be no such thing as me visiting the parks any more.

But for this trip; Good news is, money (Within reason) is not really an issue and to clarify; medical, mental health or other issues are not at play here.

There is only two of us...

Some things I am looking into...

1. Visiting places outside of Disney (e.g. Kennedy Space Center.)
2. Desert parties for fireworks.
3. Maximize fastpass (7am 60 days ahead.)
4. Halloween party, although it appears sometimes that is more crowded than the park on a regular day.
5. VIP tours are too rich for my blood, ultimate thrills and chills tour?

What other suggestions do people here have? Since you guys know significantly more about the parks than myself what would you do in this situation?
 
Ok, I get it. Disney wasn't being purposefully deceptive, for many people the word "lie' implies that. They also play fast and loose with seasons, Halloween starts in summer and Christmas doesn't end until late January. It is the Disney bubble after all.

The title of this thread is "SWGE impacting your trip." I tuned in here, looking for assistance on what to do, but not really getting much helpful advice, particularly since cancelling is not an option.

I have always felt that Disney always let too many people into their parks. It makes the experience not worth the price of admission, which is why I ONLY visit during off peak. It appears that going forward, there is no such thing as off peak and thats OK, there will also be no such thing as me visiting the parks any more.

But for this trip; Good news is, money (Within reason) is not really an issue and to clarify; medical, mental health or other issues are not at play here.

There is only two of us...

Some things I am looking into...

1. Visiting places outside of Disney (e.g. Kennedy Space Center.)
2. Desert parties for fireworks.
3. Maximize fastpass (7am 60 days ahead.)
4. Halloween party, although it appears sometimes that is more crowded than the park on a regular day.
5. VIP tours are too rich for my blood, ultimate thrills and chills tour?

What other suggestions do people here have? Since you guys know significantly more about the parks than myself what would you do in this situation?
you didn't really ask for assistance in your first post on this thread, so that's maybe why you only got comments to your actual post.
On your original posts you did hit the nail right on the head: Stay flexible, lower your expectations and make the best of it
That's basically it. Disney has not had a real slow season in years, so having a flexible, realistic plan is the best course of action. I see you already started with the obvious points, the Halloween parties are busy some nights but again, making a realistic plan on that will take you a long way and on this board there is a very useful thread on MNSSHP
I applaud you in recognizing that Disney vacation is not right for you, it's not for everyone and recognizing that is a very smart move you'll be able to spend your hard earned money somewhere better suited for your situation
 
Ok, I get it. Disney wasn't being purposefully deceptive, for many people the word "lie' implies that. They also play fast and loose with seasons, Halloween starts in summer and Christmas doesn't end until late January. It is the Disney bubble after all.

The title of this thread is "SWGE impacting your trip." I tuned in here, looking for assistance on what to do, but not really getting much helpful advice, particularly since cancelling is not an option.

I have always felt that Disney always let too many people into their parks. It makes the experience not worth the price of admission, which is why I ONLY visit during off peak. It appears that going forward, there is no such thing as off peak and thats OK, there will also be no such thing as me visiting the parks any more.

But for this trip; Good news is, money (Within reason) is not really an issue and to clarify; medical, mental health or other issues are not at play here.

There is only two of us...

Some things I am looking into...

1. Visiting places outside of Disney (e.g. Kennedy Space Center.)
2. Desert parties for fireworks.
3. Maximize fastpass (7am 60 days ahead.)
4. Halloween party, although it appears sometimes that is more crowded than the park on a regular day.
5. VIP tours are too rich for my blood, ultimate thrills and chills tour?

What other suggestions do people here have? Since you guys know significantly more about the parks than myself what would you do in this situation?

If money is not a (relative) issue I would look into any paid extra morning or evening hours - though still seem to really have capped crowds and provide a (near) empty park experience

I don’t know what will be offered exactly when you are going but I have found the dessert parties can be a nice break and a bit of reduced crowds for viewing the fireworks - we really enjoyed the Star Wars one we did a few years ago

Just a reminder that FPs can be booked for 60 days out from check in for your length of stay (up to some limit - I think 10 days) so try to schedule your hardest to get FPs (Flight of Passage, Slinky Dog, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway if it is open, etc) for as far out in your trip to get best chance of getting them

Maybe look into some smaller tours? I know our next trip it is just my wife and I and we are doing the Marcelina to Magic Kingdom tour

Try for some pre-park opening ADRs - can get you into the parks early and a bit empty - at least get some photos without crowds

I wouldn’t do the Halloween party just to get lower crowds as that seems to be hit or miss at best. If you do go, try doing rides first and wait for the 2nd parade - things are emptier later in the evening

Just a few thoughts. And if you do want to see Galaxy’s Edge at all, maybe just pick one day to say “I know it will be crazy, I will accept it and just go with it”
 
Anyone have an opinion on if the opening of this land could cause the other parks to be crowded?
 
Anyone have an opinion on if the opening of this land could cause the other parks to be crowded?

There is a thread about this topic if you want to read people’s thoughts over like 8 pages:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/l...ge-will-affect-crowds-at-other-parks.3738475/



Personally I think it will increase it as I think a lot of mega Star Wars fans are coming for this and haven’t been to the parks and will want to at least check the others out while here - but main focus will be DHS

So I think more crowded than would be typical for that time of year but not crazy crowded like the crunch DHS will have
 
There is a thread about this topic if you want to read people’s thoughts over like 8 pages:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/l...ge-will-affect-crowds-at-other-parks.3738475/



Personally I think it will increase it as I think a lot of mega Star Wars fans are coming for this and haven’t been to the parks and will want to at least check the others out while here - but main focus will be DHS

So I think more crowded than would be typical for that time of year but not crazy crowded like the crunch DHS will have
Thanks!
 
Hubby and I are travelling from Australia to WDW 26 Oct - 13 Nov. The main reason for our trip was to run the Wine & Dine races on 1/2 & 3 Nov. When the opening dates were announced we seriously considered cancelling as the races this year coincide with Halloween which was already a concern for us BUT after much consideration we're still coming.
We figure that if you only ever travelled to WDW during 'low' crowd times you'd never go to WDW. Unfortunately it's just a reality these days that there are no more 'low' times left, so those marketing guru's are seriously earning their $$$'s.
We're excited to see the new land and hubby's a HUGE Star Wars fan. We have the luxury of time, so if we want to rope drop, ride the 1 ride and then get out we can. We're also not arriving until 7 weeks after the opening and although I'm sure the crowds will still be insane, at least we'll have an idea of what to expect :)
 
Sep 15th-24th, free dining, POP Century, park hoppers and waterpark passes, also doing MNSSHP. We are NOT cancelling or rescheduling. This will be our 4th annual trip so we're not "new" and won't be eager to see and do it all as we've had quite a bit of time to do a lot of our bucket lists over the last 3 years. However, we ARE Star Wars fans. We intended on coming back in 2021 so visit GE. It is me, hubby and our 4 year old daughter who is a chewie fanatic, and is convinced that she can fly the Millennium Falcon. We enjoyed Toy Story Land last year but honestly HS is NOT our favorite park. We always do morning at 1 park, night at another, for usually 9 days, and last year we only did HS 3 times I think. We did a lot while we were there but we were just done after 3 or 4 hours. Our plan is to visit during the week, depending on what we see from opening day until our trip, we may do EMH or try to do close to park close. We have planned one morning at HS and one night at HS just because we've never seen Fantasmic (I KNOW!), and we hope to get into GE just once, and then we'll be content spending the rest of our trip at the other parks, Springs, and the waterparks. My hope is that Disney KNOWS how huge this is and they have some serious crowd control/organization tactics planned. I did hear great things about increased crowd control over Christmas and New Years this year so fingers crossed! Either way, we treat every trip like it might be our last and a bad day at Disney is better than a good day ANYWHERE ELSE.
 
Sept 21st-29th. Not cancelling and just plan on using park hopper like crazy. Going with a friend who hasn't been to Disney in close to 15 years who's pretty chill and also shares my mutual dislike for HS, even though we both like star wars (HS is not the same HS without Great Movie Ride). We only scheduled a day (maybe even a half day?) for HS. Pop a quick look at GE ("OOOH! I SEE IT IN THE DISTANCE! DONE!"), check out TSL, and then leave. If crowds get crazy at HS, we can walk to Epcot's IG and enjoy F&W, check out the boardwalk, or go back to BLT and walk to MK/resort hop/chill at a CR bar.

As for crowds in other parks, we're both super early risers and are usually both up by 6AM. We plan on just rope dropping and taking advantage of FP+. I'm not planning on booking any ADRs for HS. (honestly, their QS place by Sunset Boulevard is better than all their TS places)
 
We decided to hold fast, and make the best of it. We have park hoppers (not something I had planned on originally but - Free dining!) so we have the flexibility to go elsewhere if HS gets too crazy or my boys just don't want to brave the crowds.

I think a *lot* of the emotion isn't REALLY stemming from the actual opening date (as PP mentioned, the land is going to be open in the fall as promised, so those planning Oct/Nov trips to see it will still get what they came for) as it is stemming from the desire/need/whatever to either 1) be there BEFORE the land opened so as to avoid it, or 2) be there to be FIRST in the land. Which (as pp also mentioned) is kind of a self-imposed expectation. Dis is a business, and they need to start seeing a ROI on the land sooner than later - it makes TOTAL sense that if everything but one ride was ready to go early, they should open early. That's just good business practice. It stinks for people who expected to miss it, or expected to be among the first to see it....but there was never a guarantee for either camp that their expectations would be met with reality.

I kind of view it no differently than when a ride is closed that I look forward to specifically on my trip, or when a ride that was closed is magically reopened while I'm there. It's not what I expected, but it's one facet of a trip that I love taking and will enjoy no matter what.
 

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