Criticisms of Galaxy’s Edge

[BabybetterDisney]

I am a Star Wars fan. I watched A New Hope on TV when I was a teenager back in the 80s. I was blown away. To this day, it is the most awesome movie I’ve ever seen.

When I first heard that Disney was building a Star Wars Land, I was rather excited until I saw a picture of it. It is not a land from Star Wars. It looks somewhat like Mos Eisley and the description sounds like Mos Eisley, but it isn’t Mos Eisley. The Millennium Falcon is stuck in there for no apparent reason.

Mos Eisley is a dump. It looks like some third world country in Africa. Even Obi Wan describes it as “you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” I wish Disney would build a Star Land that features a more slick and modern scene of Star Wars with stunning architecture that doesn‘t resemble anything on this earth. But Galaxy’s Edge isn’t even Mos Eisley.

In Galaxy’s Edge there is no Luke. No Leia. No Han. No R2D2. No C3PO. No Darth Vader. But there is Kylo Ren. I am awestruck by Darth Vader and repulsed by Kylo Ren. I am also repulsed by the Disney Star Wars movies. I watched 2 of them, both with Kylo Ren in it. The first one out of curiosity, the second one because DS20 talked me into it. Will never listen to DS20’s movie recommendations ever again. And I consider all Disney Star Wars storylines as fan fiction and to be rejected from my personal Star Wars universe.

Galaxy’s Edge costs a billion dollars, twice as much as Pandora for the same size area. I feel that Disney is doing this out of love for its own Star Wars creations. They think they can just build something, pump a lot of money into it to create “amazing details”, slap the title “Star Wars” on it, and it will sell like hot cakes. The Disney Han Solo movie proved them wrong on this, but they haven’t learned.

The producers of Galaxy’s Edge announce that when people see Galaxy’s Edge, grown men will cry and kiss the ground. Not me. I think the Disney grown men will cry when they see that Galaxy’s Edge isn’t going to make near the money they were hoping for. People will flock to it, no doubt. It is called Star Wars after all. But will they flock more than twice as much as Pandora? Being that it cost twice as much, it has to also have twice the draw just to be as good as Pandora. And Star Wars is supposed to be more popular than Pandora.

Disney could have built two different Star Wars Land in two parks so that fans can go to both, but they chose to build the same thing. They are so incredibly arrogant. But just because George Lucus sold out to Disney doesn’t mean Disney inherited his genius.

I am going to treat Galaxy’s as “generic Sci-Fi land that Disney spent a billion dollars to build.” Such a land is still worth seeing -- anything Disney spent a billion on is naturally worth seeing. But that’s all it is. Like the Disney Star Wars movies, it’s not true Star Wars for me, and I will treat it as such.

In my coming WDW trip in September this year, I will try to squeeze into SWGE, take a quick look around, then get out. Ten minutes tops.

In our future trips, I will get my family of 4 one fastpass each to the Resistance ride, being that it sounds like a family ride, and one fastpass for the Falcon ride for DS13. (DS13 will give up one of his avatar fastpass for it.)

The problem with the Resistance ride is that it takes too long at (rumored) 28 minutes, similar to the Ellen’s Universe of Energy ride. Most of it is Disney indoctrination about the Resistance, a Disney creation. I have zero interest in the Resistance and my kids are going to be bored with it, so I don’t want to be in it more than once per WDW trip.

It is rumored that Disney will have both paid and free fast passes for the SWGE rides. I am confident that I can get one free fastpass, just one, out of our 10 day park tickets. I am not paying for fastpasses, especially because I don’t know how often the ride will break down. Currently, the paid fastpasses for Club Level guests are $50 per person, and I don’t want to be out $200 for a ride that I only want to go on once. I can’t wait around for the ride to work again, when and if it does. If a ride breaks down during our free fastpass, like it did with Slinky Dog last summer, at least it didn’t feel so bad.(OK, maybe it felt pretty bad, but imagine you are also out $200.)

I feel that Disney, out of arrogance, has missed out on the incredible opportunity of building a true Star Wars Land. The could have used the billion dollars to build 5 cheaper Star Wars rides instead of just two and allow many more people to go on them while waiting a lot less time.

If Disney promises an instant refund for fastpasses with broken rides, then I am willing to pay for the fastpass for the Resistance ride. I am also willing to pay a lot more to see Luke, Leia, Han, and a bunch of other dudes in the original trilogy on the rides. A Star Wars Land without them is like a Disney Land without Mickey and Donald. It is not acceptable.

But all in all, I accept what I cannot change and will make it work for my family.

 

[rteetz]

Not rumors or news so moving.

That said Disney built this land this way for specific reasons. They didn’t want to be stuck in one movie or scene. They wanted a land that had familiarity but was new and allowed for exploration. This land isn’t in any film but does show up as a reference in some books. This was all intentional. They first started with a less ambitious land and were told we need bigger, bolder, and better.

 

[DanBoris]

I am a Star Wars fan. I watched A New Hope on TV when I was a teenager back in the 80s. I was blown away. To this day, it is the most awesome movie I’ve ever seen.

When I first heard that Disney was building a Star Wars Land, I was rather excited until I saw a picture of it. It is not a land from Star Wars. It looks somewhat like Mos Eisley and the description sounds like Mos Eisley, but it isn’t Mos Eisley. The Millennium Falcon is stuck in there for no apparent reason.

Mos Eisley is a dump. It looks like some third world country in Africa. Even Obi Wan describes it as “you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” I wish Disney would build a Star Land that features a more slick and modern scene of Star Wars with stunning architecture that doesn‘t resemble anything on this earth. But Galaxy’s Edge isn’t even Mos Eisley.

In Galaxy’s Edge there is no Luke. No Leia. No Han. No R2D2. No C3PO. No Darth Vader. But there is Kylo Ren. I am awestruck by Darth Vader and repulsed by Kylo Ren. I am also repulsed by the Disney Star Wars movies. I watched 2 of them, both with Kylo Ren in it. The first one out of curiosity, the second one because DS20 talked me into it. Will never listen to DS20’s movie recommendations ever again. And I consider all Disney Star Wars storylines as fan fiction and to be rejected from my personal Star Wars universe.

Galaxy’s Edge costs a billion dollars, twice as much as Pandora for the same size area. I feel that Disney is doing this out of love for its own Star Wars creations. They think they can just build something, pump a lot of money into it to create “amazing details”, slap the title “Star Wars” on it, and it will sell like hot cakes. The Disney Han Solo movie proved them wrong on this, but they haven’t learned.

The producers of Galaxy’s Edge announce that when people see Galaxy’s Edge, grown men will cry and kiss the ground. Not me. I think the Disney grown men will cry when they see that Galaxy’s Edge isn’t going to make near the money they were hoping for. People will flock to it, no doubt. It is called Star Wars after all. But will they flock more than twice as much as Pandora? Being that it cost twice as much, it has to also have twice the draw just to be as good as Pandora. And Star Wars is supposed to be more popular than Pandora.

Disney could have built two different Star Wars Land in two parks so that fans can go to both, but they chose to build the same thing. They are so incredibly arrogant. But just because George Lucus sold out to Disney doesn’t mean Disney inherited his genius.

I am going to treat Galaxy’s as “generic Sci-Fi land that Disney spent a billion dollars to build.” Such a land is still worth seeing -- anything Disney spent a billion on is naturally worth seeing. But that’s all it is. Like the Disney Star Wars movies, it’s not true Star Wars for me, and I will treat it as such.

In my coming WDW trip in September this year, I will try to squeeze into SWGE, take a quick look around, then get out. Ten minutes tops.

In our future trips, I will get my family of 4 one fastpass each to the Resistance ride, being that it sounds like a family ride, and one fastpass for the Falcon ride for DS13. (DS13 will give up one of his avatar fastpass for it.)

The problem with the Resistance ride is that it takes too long at (rumored) 28 minutes, similar to the Ellen’s Universe of Energy ride. Most of it is Disney indoctrination about the Resistance, a Disney creation. I have zero interest in the Resistance and my kids are going to be bored with it, so I don’t want to be in it more than once per WDW trip.

It is rumored that Disney will have both paid and free fast passes for the SWGE rides. I am confident that I can get one free fastpass, just one, out of our 10 day park tickets. I am not paying for fastpasses, especially because I don’t know how often the ride will break down. Currently, the paid fastpasses for Club Level guests are $50 per person, and I don’t want to be out $200 for a ride that I only want to go on once. I can’t wait around for the ride to work again, when and if it does. If a ride breaks down during our free fastpass, like it did with Slinky Dog last summer, at least it didn’t feel so bad.(OK, maybe it felt pretty bad, but imagine you are also out $200.)

I feel that Disney, out of arrogance, has missed out on the incredible opportunity of building a true Star Wars Land. The could have used the billion dollars to build 5 cheaper Star Wars rides instead of just two and allow many more people to go on them while waiting a lot less time.

If Disney promises an instant refund for fastpasses with broken rides, then I am willing to pay for the fastpass for the Resistance ride. I am also willing to pay a lot more to see Luke, Leia, Han, and a bunch of other dudes in the original trilogy on the rides. A Star Wars Land without them is like a Disney Land without Mickey and Donald. It is not acceptable.

But all in all, I accept what I cannot change and will make it work for my family.

I am a Star Wars fan and have been since I saw A New Hope in the theaters in 1977. I would like to address one point in your post, that of choice of location. This really doesn't bother me. Star Wars has very few iconic locations that I would want to visit. The land will give us two of the most iconic locations, the inside of the Falcon, and a Mos-Eisely-esque cantina. Every movie introduced new locations, but there was always something that made them feel part of the Star Wars universe. I will be perfectly ok with them creating a new environment for this land, as long as I feel like I am in the Star Wars universe when I enter the land, and from everything I have seen so far I think they will achieve that.

P.S. The Falcon is there for a reason, you will just need to read some of the books to find out why.

 

[KenHutch]

When Star Wars came out I was 16 and working at the only theater in the area and I go to watch Star Wars 27 times on the big screen. And even after the abomination called The Last Jedi the love is still there. So far I have loved what video I have been able to see of Galaxy's Edge. I have turned my 10 year old god daughter into a Star Wars fanatic. She is already making a list of everything at Galaxy's Edge that she wants. I will give them another chance when #9 comes out. My only mantra is the director of The Last Jedi must be stopped before he tried to direct again.

 

[e-rod jedimaster]

I am a Star Wars fan and have been since I saw A New Hope in the theaters in 1977. I would like to address one point in your post, that of choice of location. This really doesn't bother me. Star Wars has very few iconic locations that I would want to visit. The land will give us two of the most iconic locations, the inside of the Falcon, and a Mos-Eisely-esque cantina. Every movie introduced new locations, but there was always something that made them feel part of the Star Wars universe. I will be perfectly ok with them creating a new environment for this land, as long as I feel like I am in the Star Wars universe when I enter the land, and from everything I have seen so far I think they will achieve that.

P.S. The Falcon is there for a reason, you will just need to read some of the books to find out why.

I am also a huge Star Wars fan who saw the original movie at 9 going on 10 years old in theaters in 1977 and was blown away ever since. I agree with pretty much everything stated but also see the point brought up in earlier post about a more iconic/well known Star Wars location which who knows could be addressed in the future if land expanded upon at some point. I have heard talk of possibly connecting Galaxy's Edge to Star Tours eventually since not too far away but that would entail relocating Muppets so take with a grain of salt. This would be pretty cool if they do this and say go with a Coruscant theme which could include the Jedi temple, that could tie into existing Jedi training. I think the possibilities could be endless since the premise is a totally immersive Star Wars experience. Very much looking forward to Galaxy's Edge as well as possible future expansion if any. May the Force be with you all, enjoy!

 

[GPC0321]

The only thing I need is John Williams' epic score playing on loop in there. As long as that's happening, my mind will be in "Star Wars mode" and I'll be grinning.

I wish we could allow the place to actually open before we start criticizing it.

 

[Justplainchy]

What happened to $100 a person for 10 minutes?

I agree with the above posters: I've been a star wars fan since I was a kid: granted, I was born in the late 80s so I didn't get to watch it until then, but I grew up with the films. I understand why Disney didn't recreate a land that already existed -- they needed one that will allow them to do the immersive aspects they're planning without having to be constrained by canon. The land seems amazing, and the more details that come out make it seem even more like it will be more spectacular than people are expecting. I think if it were a set straight from a movie; people would spend the whole time trying to "spot the differences" instead of being pulled into that immersive bubble Disney is known for. While I'm also aware that only having two rides will lead to long waits, I think Disney is really working on, again, rides that are revolutionary rather than phoned in for the sake of short lines (see: FoP--they could have just done Soarin 2.0. They didn't and it's amazing). They knew with Star Wars they had to get it right.

I'm sorry you're already so against this land and it seems against the decisions Disney is making. Thankfully, we can chose to spend our money elsewhere if Disney World is no longer meeting our needs.

I, for one, can't wait for GE and will be spending a whole lot of my money and time there

 

[luvsJack]

I am not that big of a Star Wars fan so really have no dog in the hunt, but taking a place from the movies would not have limited them as much as some of you seem to think. Look at Hogwarts and Diagon Alley in Universal. They are EXACTLY from the books (and movies). And people love both of them. Nor is it limiting Universal. No one is "looking for what is different" because honestly it looks like you just walked in to the movie or the book.

Perhaps that is what some Star Wars fans are wanting. To just walk into the movie.

 

[DLgal]

My husband feels a LOT like the OP. He is a die hard fan and as soon as he heard that the RotR ride was themed to the newer films, he lost a HUGE amount of interest. He doesn't care at all about Rey, Kylo, etc. He isn't a hater of the new movies, per se, but he feels like Disney is "putting all their eggs in one basket" so to speak, in so heavily themeing this land to it's own creations since acquiring Star Wars.

My husband, his whole life, has dreamed of a Star Wars theme park where he could step into the movies he loved. I agree that Disney made a critical error in "creating" a new planet in the SW universe for the purposes of this land. I agree they are being arrogant in building 2 of the exact same thing on both coasts. This isn't the Star Wars universe that the fans want to see.

Even my kids, who are casual SW fans at best, will be very disappointed to not see R2D2, C3P0, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Leia, Luke, Boba Fett, etc, at SWGE. They really dropped the ball here because now they cannot ever have these characters in those lands, so what was even the point of creating the land in the first place if not to integrate these characters and give them a place to live in the parks?

 

[GPC0321]

I must've missed the announcement that none of the classic characters will be in Galaxy's Edge. Chewy, 3PO, and R2 all appear in the newer films, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't be represented in some way. Are they scrapping the Chewy meet-and-greet? The other two weren't characters you couldn't meet or see walking around anyway, but I'd think they will have some sort of presence in GE, even if it's just on merch?

Disney has the difficult task (in all areas, not just GE) of trying to reach out to the younger/newer fans and generation while still appealing to the older, more nostalgic generation.

I'll give Galaxy's Edge the benefit of the doubt. Once I've seen it, I'll be able to decide whether it lives up to my expectations. If it does, awesome. If not, no biggie. There's a whole World down there and GE is just one small corner of it.

 

[luvsJack]

I must've missed the announcement that none of the classic characters will be in Galaxy's Edge. Chewy, 3PO, and R2 all appear in the newer films, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't be represented in some way. Are they scrapping the Chewy meet-and-greet? The other two weren't characters you could meet or see walking around anyway, but I'd think they will have some sort of presence in GE, even if it's just on merch?

Disney has the difficult task (in all areas, not just GE) of trying to reach out to the younger/newer fans and generation while still appealing to the older, more nostalgic generation.

I'll give Galaxy's Edge the benefit of the doubt. Once I've seen it, I'll be able to decide whether it lives up to my expectations. If it does, awesome. If not, no biggie. There's a whole World down there and GE is just one small corner of it.

I was curious about that too. Just seems like those classic characters would almost be a need for it. I found this article https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/disney-vacations/star-wars-galaxys-edge-inside-look but it only mentions Luke and Leia not the others. It does state that its set in present time. Does that make a difference on the characters? It reads like they are making a "whole new world" for Star Wars. Using things that are recognizable in name but allowing for their total creativity and not that of the past movies. Guess we will just have to see how it goes.

I think some will love it and some will hate it but isn't that the way it always goes? LOL

 

[GPC0321]

I think some will love it and some will hate it but isn't that the way it always goes? LOL

Amen to that!

 

[kimmar067]

.....sooooooo, OP, tell us how your REALLY feel.... [BTW, I totally get what you are saying....I too am a fan of the original trilogy from the 70s-80s and didn't care for any of the later ones....]

 

[kimmar067]

My husband feels a LOT like the OP. He is a die hard fan and as soon as he heard that the RotR ride was themed to the newer films, he lost a HUGE amount of interest. He doesn't care at all about Rey, Kylo, etc. He isn't a hater of the new movies, per se, but he feels like Disney is "putting all their eggs in one basket" so to speak, in so heavily themeing this land to it's own creations since acquiring Star Wars.

My husband, his whole life, has dreamed of a Star Wars theme park where he could step into the movies he loved. I agree that Disney made a critical error in "creating" a new planet in the SW universe for the purposes of this land. I agree they are being arrogant in building 2 of the exact same thing on both coasts. This isn't the Star Wars universe that the fans want to see.

Even my kids, who are casual SW fans at best, will be very disappointed to not see R2D2, C3P0, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Leia, Luke, Boba Fett, etc, at SWGE. They really dropped the ball here because now they cannot ever have these characters in those lands, so what was even the point of creating the land in the first place if not to integrate these characters and give them a place to live in the parks?

....well put....I would love to see Jabba the Hutt...