Is SWGE impacting your trip? Discuss your plans here!

[mshanson3121]

Agree with what others are saying - this was a multi-faceted strategic move on their part - trying to improve their year end, boost low bookings, and probably also trying to lessen the insanity that is sure to ensue, perhaps keep it more manageable. Also agree with others that only opening one ride might help with the onslaught. However, on the other hand, I also think that there will be many people who will try and book a trip now because of lower room rates, and thinking the same thing others here are: "Well it's a good time to go since crowds are normally low and only one ride is opening, so most people will wait." As far as school being back in session, for many places school doesn't start until September 6th, so there's time to squeeze a trip in beforehand. But even beyond that, the first week of school really isn't all that important, so it's not like it's really a big deal to miss it. So my guess is that perhaps some people who wouldn't normally consider missing that week just because there were other times they could go, will now do so.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I, too, am disappointed because I thought I was going during lower crowds, due to a later SWGE opening (September 21 - 28). I'm still on the fence about canceling, though my original plans won't change. I had thought to get a 1 day hopper, not sure which 2 parks I wanted to do, though EPCOT was 1 of the 2. Plus a Halloween party ticket, then a couple days at Universal. (Trip with DH and no kids - eliminate princesses, kiddie rides, autographs and we can get a lot done). I had entertained the thought of getting an extra ticket in order to devote an entire day to EPCOT, then divide between HS and AK, but now I'm not sure. I wouldn't try to ride anything, don't care anything about Toy Story Land, but I would like to walk around in SWGE and check it out. I enjoy the vibe in Pandora, so I think I will enjoy the experience, it's just going to depend on the crowds. Hoping for a Rivers of Light type of opening (in that there is a delay due to technical issues) but not counting on it. We are planning on the 2021 celebration and our SWGE trip, so this is unexpected.

ETA: If they come up with a paid event (probably not likely until they see how the crowds go) I would definitely be in.

 

[Sparty1833]

I booked August 31 - Sept 8 and at first I was bummed. We booked because of the low crowds (coupled with free dining, and yes we did the math, we are saving around 375 dollars this way). My wife was freaking out because she was worried about big crowds (she is not a SW fan and my 2 kids [2 and 4 yo] really don't know anything about star wars. Thinking about it, hopefully the other parks wont be as crowded. Also, my parents will be joining us, so I can ditch my family and wait in line for god knows how many hours just to get in the new land and satisfy my inner SW geek ;-)

 

[Minkishly]

I had reservations made for a Mid - Late October Anniversary trip. I was hoping that we would miss SW:GE, but now that I know for sure that it'll be open, I'm planning to change our dates.

Right now I'm considering going during the 2nd to 3rd week of August (we should be leaving on the weekend before the opening). I'm working on the gamble that crowd levels will only go up from that point and it's the final calm before the electric storm. I know August is going to be crowded (what with people also moving their trips to Aug to avoid GE plus the final leg of summer vacation). Right now, crowded is the default in my book. I'm just trying my hardest to be on the lower spectrum, is all.

My other alternative is to push the trip back to Feb 2020. I feel like it's going to be more crowded than it would be in early / mid August 2018 but at least the weather will be cooler so maybe it'll be more tolerable.

Honestly, I'm feeling rather overwhelmed and lost right now. I just hope I make the right call!

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

I'm booked at the BC from Aug 25 - 31. This is our first ever trip to WDW, and was also going to be our one-and-only, because it's so expensive and a long way for us to travel from where we live now in western Canada. We thought SWGE opening in the fall meant into October at least, and so we knew we'd be missing that. Our main motivation for that last week in August was to avoid crowds. While we have never been to WDW, we have done a couple of short (2 times 2 day and one time 3 day) trips to Disneyland when we used to live in California and could drive (5 or 6 hours) there and stay offsite. On our last trip there we had a totally unpleasant experience with crowds on an October Monday - we were naive and had no idea about Halloween crowds (or that people even spent time predicting crowds, etc)! That was shoulder-to-shoulder people, couldn't move crushing crowds, our kids being swept up in the crowd and losing us, and it was awful. So we really wanted to avoid that and hoped to have a reasonably low crowd visit in that little pocket of time between the majority of US schools going back mid-August and Canadian schools going back after Labour Day - something we've been considering for the last year, since we learned of the existence of crowd calendars and realized that this would be a possibility for us now that we live in Canada. We are not going to take our kids out of school during term time, and so this seemed like the only way to get a trip that wasn't at the height of school holidays.

We are all big Harry Potter fans, so we're doing 5 nights/4 days at Universal before we head to WDW. We are also all big SW fans, so in theory, would absolutely love to see SWGE. But knowing that we have two days, Aug 29 & 30 (31 is check-out and fly home day) that overlap with the opening, there's no reasonable chance of us being able to see anything, is there? It'll be total chaos, won't it?

Before this announcement, my DH and I had talked about the pros and cons of us planning this once-in-a-lifetime trip before SWGE opens. Did it make sense to go all the way to Orlando, given that it wouldn't be open? Or should we wait and go late August next year? I thought, yes, let's go this year! We can see everything else, plus our twins will be 13, and seems like the sweet spot to take them to see all the Harry Potter stuff at Universal, and they're still young enough that they will get a thrill out of all of the Disney magic and characters. Then in a couple of years, once the dust settles from opening these new Star Wars lands, we could think about making a trip down to Disneyland to see the Star Wars land there.

I'm not cancelling, because we have so much else set in place for the trip already - plane tickets, our stay at Universal, a visit to Kennedy Space Center. Plus we booked with the free dining package (with a lot of questioning as to whether that was worth it / the right thing for us!), so that won't be available if we rebook. I am feeling like our last 2 days of the trip are a bit up in the air now. I'm not sure what to plan for!

 

[BabybetterDisney]

I know not all of you will agree when I say this, but I really think the way Disney is approaching this is smart. First they said fall, which in actuality is now opening in summer. They are trying to fill in their “slow” season with a partial opening of SWGE. Although it will bring intense crowds, I believe some will hold off traveling to come to Florida until it’s 100% complete, and by then the bum rush and thrill of opening will be over. I think if they waited to open all at once, and it being busy with food and wine, Halloween, Thanksgiving , etc, it would have been pure madness. Not saying it won’t be pure madness now, but Them doing it in phases definitely helps. I’m heading home 8/20, before opening day, but if I was scheduled after opening I wouldn’t change my trip plans. I’d probably just try to avoid HS, depending on access to SWGE, but I’m sure (and I hope) Disney would keep the line entrance to enter the land separate from the rest of the park. Oh, and no fast passes are a smart choice too! It keeps it fair. I predict wait time 11 hours....lmao!

It helps Disney to spread out the crowds before the holidays, yes. It doesn't help me, the one going for the quiet September trip feeling confident because Disney had said "late fall".

 

[tsme]

We had booked in early September months ago to avoid GE & hopefully the skyline (we are staying at BWI & are worried about the impact on IG). So we’re definitely not happy with it opening early. We’re not going to cancel but will probably avoid HS & hope the other parks aren’t bad. I feel pretty annoyed & disappointed about the whole thing. IMO I think the powers that be at Disney knew, at least by January of this year, that they were going to do this opening in early fall/late summer. Not to say there was any evil intent on their part by not sharing with us, but really inconsiderate with regards to their guests. I say this because most of us do book months in advance, planning for months, spending hours online agonizing over every detail, choosing dates that fit our lives & needs. Some booked late fall because they wanted to be there for the opening & some of us booked early with the primary purpose of avoiding the crowds. So yay, upset, maybe a tad angry, but we’re still crazy Disney fans & will still go.

 

[GillianP1301]

We are booked 8/23 - 9/2. I'm not moving the trip, but I am juggling my touring plan a bit to ensure majority of HS time before opening.

I'm undecided on whether or not to attempt opening day. I would go in not expecting to get on the ride, but would love to see the land and just the overall chaos of am opening this big. Do I'm leaving that day on my plan as a pool day and we'll see night before if we are up gir a very early morning.

I already had the AK VIP tour booked for Sunday of Labour Day weekend and I've added the Ultimate Day of Thrills tour for the Saturday just as a way to mitigate the risk of increased crowds at non HS parks over the long weekend.

 

[jsmla]

It’s impacted our late October trip for the better. Both of our adult kids and their spouses (and more importantly, the grandbaby,) now want to join us!

 

[starearedkid]

We are going October 7-12th. My daughter who is 7, got a "second wish"-similar to MAW, no genie pass or anything like that though. Her ONE big thing to do is Toy Story Land. Luckily our trip is during the weekdays days and not the weekend, and that it is a month out from what it opens, so we will have a better game of attack. She will get the DAS and have FP, so hopefully she could get on the slinky dog rollercoaster.

 

[PrincessP]

I booked a non refundable DVC rental for Boardwalk 9/3 - 9/5 a month ago, followed by 3 free nights off site that my DH earned with business travel. Solo trip....(”mom reward” gift from my hubby) because of the low crowds. We used to do our family trips during that time when my kids were small and really miss traveling during that time when crowds are lighter. Now we do our family trip in the early summer.

I went those same days last year and struggled to find things to use my anytime fast passes on b/c lines were so short. I was looking forward to another relatively quiet trip. Maybe I’ll just hang out on my balcony and watch it all from afar. It will be crazy. I have mixed emotions....excited, disappointed, shocked....

I won’t change my trip due to the non refundable DVC rental, but I will likely spend more time by the pool or on my balcony and less time spending money (no crowded restaurants or shops for me....not my idea of fun).

Maybe groups of Dis-ers can book VIP tours together or something. I would be interested in that.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Not really impacting as we are going down for a specific event - so have Aug 6-13 and can’t really shift it

Now if they announce any sort of previews (AP, paid, ecmtc) for like Aug 14th or 15th I could see us extending our trip by a few days to make that

Bigger question is when do we do our next trip - and kids have been asking about going back to Disneyland so maybe do that in 2020 and then plan a few trips to WDW for 2021-2022 for the 50th celebration

 

[cebfennell]

Rented DVC points about 2 weeks ago for August 29-September 2 hoping for the same low crowds we had last year over labor day. Our original plan was to do MK on August 30 since the crowd calendar predicted it as a 2/10 since a lot of people avoid MK because of the MNSSHP that evening. I am hoping it is still a relatively slow day at MK. We were going to do DHS on Saturday but I think we are going to switch to AK instead. Hoping to maybe hit DHS on Labor Day just for our fast passes and the Indiana Jones show.

 

[SweetJulia23]

I’ve gone in September every year since 2014. I’ve realized my trips follow a pattern. Every other year something happens that sort of ruins my trip (hurricanes or unexpected high crowds). I was pretty much expecting something like this to happen this year because last year was great. I guess I can’t complain since I should have known.

I’m annoyed that Disney released all their discounts earlier than in the past to try and trap us into booking before the announcement.

I’m not sure if I’m going to try to join the madness or avoid it. My son was obsessed with Star Wars until about a year ago. He might be over it and not want to wait to get in. If they had opened a few years ago we would definitely be part of the madness.

 

[MistakenLamb]

SWGE has made me increase my time at WDW for my September 23-28 Orlando trip, canceled my previous reservation at Universal to rebook fewer nights there and booked All Star Movies for 3 nights to spend a whole day each at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. First time I’m staying on resort property so excited. Hopefully it’s not too crazy the day we are at Hollywood Studios

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

We are booked for our first ever Thanksgiving trip. I was already worried about crowds due to the holiday, but it's the only time we could get everyone's schedule to work. We are taking DS23 and DS21 and their GFs, so there will be six of us. It's our last WDW trip with them until we have grandkids. I'm very happy that it will be open three months before we get there, but I'm worried about RotR opening right before or while we are there, causing absolute chaos.

 

[jlundeen]

I feel betrayed... and no, while it's a bit better today,I'm not finished being really upset about it.

I purposely booked end of September to be there with my hubby to celebrate our 45th anniversary during a time that should have been a bit calmer - yes, I do want to see SE:GE, I just don't want to see it with billions of folks all at the same time....

But we're stuck. We could cancel everything - resort would be full refund, but between my renewed AP, and my hubby's stand alone ticket, we'd be out about $800, plus have already booked our flights. (non-refundable, $200 charge per person each way).

So we'll be there with you all. But we decided to upgrade our POFQ resort to a AK Villa (If my TA can get through - I couldn't do it on the app) with a balcony so we can sit and decompress with an adult beverage or two after spending time with the human wall that I think the crowds will be.

I'm also changing my plans so that the only way we probably will visit DHS at all is if they offer the EMM.... otherwise... won't get near it.

 

[nicolebridget22]

I’m furious. I’m sorry, but I feel misled and betrayed and angry. I have anxiety, and so I booked our trip for 09/07-09/21 to hopefully avoid the crowds that trigger it. Hearing that SWGE was opening fall/late fall, I felt safe with my choice. I bought airfare.

This was supposed to be my trip to celebrate being cancer free, and now it’s completely ruined. I’m crying right now. I was so looking forward to this.

 

[BasilofBakeryStreet]

It doesn't super impact our trip since we will be there August 19-25, and we can't/won't change it. (I don't think I'd be able to handle the crowds, anyways. And I am totally okay with waiting a bit before going due to that fact.) However, I had a question! Do you think the days before it opens will boost crowd levels? Or do you think it will be less busy since people will be holding out to go after it opens?

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Hi DISers!
Help me understand. How come so many are bothered by this early SWGE opening? I mean Disney is only doing what they set out to do. Bring a new theme into the parks. Now perhaps it's because I'm locked in to certain times I can visit, and late August or any of September isn't it. Also because I'm visiting early June it's not directly or indirectly effecting my trip. Those who are changing dates seem to be doing for early August now. Some even to next year.

I'm not minimizing anyone's feelings as that would be rude. I'm just at a loss on how come so many awesome DISers are truly mad or upset. Is it mainly because a lot of you travel in September for the "quieter" time it brings to Disney and now that is null and void?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to explain.