In case you haven’t heard 😉 , opening dates have been announced for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland (May 31, 2019) AND in Disney World’s Hollywood Studios (August 29, 2019). So… how do such high levels of anticipation (to put it mildly) affect the logistics of opening?
Let’s talk about it…
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will open in TWO phases in Disneyland
. The first — beginning, of course, on May 31st — will welcome guests to the Planet Batuu to experience elements of the land including one of the two attractions — Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
The second phase, to take place “late this year,” will see the opening of the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction. According to Disney, “In light of tremendous demand, Disney made the decision to open the land in phases to allow guests to sooner enjoy the one-of-a-kind experiences that make Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge so spectacular.”
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ©Disney
Additionally, Disneyland guests visiting between May 31 and June 23, 2019 will need valid theme park admission and will be required to make a no-cost reservation, subject to availability, to access the land. Information on how to make a reservation has not yet been released, but will be available at a future time on Disneyland.com and via the Disney Parks Blog. However, Disney did confirm that “Guests staying at one of the three Disneyland Resort hotels during these dates will receive a designated reservation to access Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during their stay (one reservation per registered guest); valid theme park admission is required.”
Additionally, while Galaxy’s Edge will be open during regular park hours, it will not be included in Extra Magic Hour or Magic Morning at Disneyland park.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios
Valid theme park admission
will be required, of course, when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens in Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios.
Entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios
It was also shared that “A reservation will not be offered or required to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the Walt Disney World Resort.” Disney confirmed that Galaxy’s Edge will be open during Extra Magic Hours, and that “during Extra Magic Hours guests staying at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels can spend extra time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios enjoying select attractions.”
Hollywood Studios
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will also have a Phase 2 opening in Disney World later this year.
Disney likewise advises that more information will be shared at a future time on Disneyworld.com and on Disney Parks Blog.
FastPasses for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
I know we’re all itching to reserve FastPasses for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. However, this statement has just been released by Disney: “For your vacation planning purposes, please be aware that Disney FASTPASS service, including access via Disney MaxPass, (at Disneyland park) and Disney FastPass+ service (at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) will not initially be offered at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.”
For ALL of the information above, Disney has also stated: “Capacity for the parks, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and its experiences is limited. Access to the park, land and experiences may be restricted or unavailable depending on guest demand and other factors.”
Stay tuned!!
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Last week my family and I booked our Disney vacation for the first week in September… I am excited about Star Wars, but disappointed that it will likely cause a major increase in the crowds. We were hoping that Star Wars would open later in the fall so as not to effect the typically low crowds that time of year. Bummer
Booked for Sept a while back. Mixed emotions…. Excited that Galaxy’s edge will be open. Not happy that I’ll be at WDW with 1 gazillion of my closest friends during a “slower time” of the year.
We use touring Plans every time we book our plans every time we book our vacation to Disney World . already the crowd calendar has increased for The beginning of September . since we go for food and wine festival we may avoid Hollywood studios altogether .
Not pleased. My wife and I are taking our two sons (ages 4 and 1.5 at time of trip) from Sept 21st-27th. We were hoping for lighter crowds. And we booked during this time because of GE opening “late fall”. And then they did this.
I FULLY believe they decided to open it early due to the fact that they were worried about it being VERY slow this early fall due to people holding off for GE. Now Disney world is going to be insane from Aug 29th till forever.
But for real though. How big of a difference will crowds be at all parks due to this? I know HS will be crazy. But will it slam all parks the week I will be there?
It looks like they are discontinuing early morning magic once galaxys edge opens? The last available date is August 28th. September 2nd would be the next EMM but you can’t get tickets online but EMM for magic kingdom is available on September 3rd. So bummed as I was looking forward to EMM. Can you guys confirm?
Kyle, we’ll get into it!
Cody, it’s impossible to know for sure. The expectation is that crowds will be unprecedented for Galaxy’s Edge, but whether that will lead to massive crowds at the other three parks is unknown. One might expect DHS to stay high — which might pull crowds from the other parks but which might also mean more people to disperse to other parks when they’re not at Hollywood Studios. We’re going to be bringing some thoughts to DFB about this. Stay tuned!
So two weeks ago my husband surprised our son and I and said we were going to Disney world and we will be there that while week and I have already made breakfast reservations for 8:10 at the Hollywood and vine for the character meal…and jts for that Thursday(opening day)…will this effect us getting in…and my son loves toy story and muppets so could that mean the rest of the land might not be as crowded. Thanks for the info 🙂 love your YouTube channel it was so helpful when we had our first trip last year
Kayla, we haven’t heard anything about Galaxy’s Edge impacting morning ADRs. I expect you’ll be able to get in for your reservation, and while the other areas of the parks will likely be a busier, it’s likely that Galaxy’s Edge will absorb a lot of the additional crowds. Have a wonderful trip!
Are either of the GE attractions restricted for back issues, etc?
For WDW, it says, “Disney confirmed that Galaxy’s Edge will be open during Extra Magic Hours, and that “during Extra Magic Hours guests staying at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels can spend extra time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios enjoying select attractions.”” Any idea what they mean by “select WDW resort hotels?” Could they only be allowing those staying at luxury resorts to go during extra magic hours?
I think this opening will cause a crowd mass the likes have not been seen at HS.
We booked our Disney vacation months ago to take our girls for their very first trip. 2 weeks before we are to arrive the new Star Wars is set to open. How do you think this will effect our trip? We were hoping for lower crowds at this time.
Wow! Ok, two things:
First, “Galaxy’s Edge will be open during regular park hours, it will not be included in Extra Magic Hour or Magic Morning at Disneyland park.”
Why in the world not?! Demand will be INSANE; I anticipate that crowds will be (even with entry controls) cheek-to-jowel jammed packed (think intersection of Adventureland/New Orleans Square/Frontierland just about in front of Pirates). Not extending the hours makes no sense to me at all.
Second, “please be aware that Disney FASTPASS service, … will not initially be offered at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.” Again, why not?! If Fastpass is a useful tool for Disney and guests to have the best and maximized experience, why in the world would guests NOT be able to fastpass this?
Third, “Capacity for the parks, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and its experiences is limited. Access to the park, land and experiences may be restricted or unavailable depending on guest demand and other factors.”
Does this mean that Disneyland, Willie Wonka-style, will close the gates and not let anyone in once ‘capacity’ is reached? This might not be a bad (although sad) policy, for safety’s sake, but I don’t think in all my years I’ve EVER read that Disney might restrict access.
I’m years-of-breathless-anticipation eager to go to Batu’u, but I’m actually feeling a surprising amount of anxiety at the prospect. Given how Disney has been (not?)managing Disneyland crowds in recent years, I don’t have high hopes. I don’t want to wait a year for things to settle down, but I might just have to :(. That said, I’ll keep posted to see how it actually turns out; maybe they’ve got a rabbit in that hat and all will be well.
Paula, no word on this yet.
Shelley, no word on this yet.
Regarding Disneyland Star Wars opening, I honestly feel that it should have it’s own entrance from outside as California Park does Star Wars land. Guest will be trafficking down main street of Disneyland with no intention of staying in the Disneyland area or appreciating Disneyland. All it will do is inconvenience the true Disney fan .
Since they announced the new Star Wars area, there has been an expectation that it would be crowd controlled and some sort of a reservation system was anticipated. I am surprised Disneyland is only having it for the first month. I would have expected it to be longer and to possibly continue depending on how things went in the first month or so.
My guess for not having Fast Passes is that the queue is heavily themed and skipping it would take away from the experience. Last year my family had a member in a wheelchair at Universal Hollywood, and while it was nice not to have to wait in line for the main Harry Potter ride, it was so sad to walk through the side and not get to enjoy even a moment of the themed fun. We truly missed that part of the experience.
I am imagining Galaxy’s Edge opening to be worse than Pandara Avatar was. Those who were there when Pandora opened…remember how long you stood in line for the rides. My family is going last week Sept and we will have the best time…no matter what we get to particpate in or not. Just prepare for lots of people!!!
Disney World will have a reservation times for entrance into Galaxy’s Edge. It is my understanding that resort guest will be given their times first. You will be given a window of time to visit Galaxy’s Edge and ride Smugglers Run. I don’t quite get how they will get people to leave, maybe these will be extra wrist bands similar to the ones they give out for Disney After Hours. Maybe they will be colored to designate certain times. I think this sounds like a good proposition so that people can actually enjoy their time in Galaxies Edge instead of just fighting the crowds. It will somewhat cut down on the wait times for Smuggler’s Run, but I would expect this will make HS in general the most busy park for a while. I haven’t heard how long they plan to run this system.