Is SWGE impacting your trip? Discuss your plans here!

[SweetJulia23]

LOL, me too. It'll be hot as Hades, and now insanely crowded too. Jeeze, maybe we'll get a hurricane?

Anything is possible. In 2017 I had Harvey cancel my flight into Orlando and Irma cancel my flight out. Had to drive out in the zombie apocalypse.

 

[SweetJulia23]

If you visit the SWGE hard ticketed event thread & read about all the ppl willing to dish out thousands to see the land & experience the attractions, IMO there is no way there won’t be crowds like nothing WDW has ever seen. Usually there are ppl on these boards complaining about too many hard ticketed events, not begging Disney to let them sign up to spend over $1000 for just one day in one.

I wish they would stop. The more people who post they’re willing to pay insane prices the higher they’ll be.

 

[sugcarol]

DHS is 135 acres and SWGE is only 14 acres, [Toy Story Land is 11 acres], to me that is a set up for disaster. Our trip is 12/7-12/13/19. I have no hope even being able to get into SWGE to walk around much less ride the rides with it being that small.

 

[Runnsally]

DHS is 135 acres and SWGE is only 14 acres, [Toy Story Land is 11 acres], to me that is a set up for disaster. Our trip is 12/7-12/13/19. I have no hope even being able to get into SWGE to walk around much less ride the rides with it being that small.

I remain optimistic, but worth noting that the largest thing in that 14 acres won’t even be open...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Looking for everyone's thoughts. Our trip was booked for 8/22 - 8/29. We are not going to be going to the parks on the 29th, and really don't want to be part of the madness of opening. Wanted everyone's thoughts though on when they expect crowds to pick up the day(s) prior to GE opening. Is the weekend before (8/24 & 8/25) going to be busy too? Thanks all.

I don’t think that much. Now, if they were going to have FP for the ride, maybe people come in early so they can try to book that at 67 daysor whatever but not really much incentive to get in way early now

 

[shmeer]

With the pending opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge having an impact on lots of upcoming vacations discuss what your plans are here and how you plan to either attack or avoid the crowds. Will you move your trip or will you keep it? Or are you canceling altogether?

Let us and others know!

I have canceled our plans. We booked in October hoping that it would open after that date, but it didn't happen. I think it's going to be a toss up as to the crowd levels due to the fact that the entire land isn't going to be open, but we didn't want to chance it. Some people may be waiting to go until everything is up and running, some may have turned their back on the franchise due to the most recent movies (lot's of disappointed fans from what I've read), others may be waiting to make it during Christmas. My hubby and I go for our anniversary each year and we are so bummed about not going. It was such a hard decision to make as it's been an annual tradition, but lets' face it Disney is expensive, and that's a lot of money to spend to get there and be miserable.

 

[shmeer]

Husband & I (and my parents) are taking our 2 year old daughter -- her 1st trip -- Sept 10-14, and going to be honest, we are pretty bummed about this whole thing. We were really hoping for low crowds so we could at least have room to wiggle LOL. We will avoid HS all together this trip, and hope the other parks are not COMPLETELY Overrun!
We did contemplate cancelling but due to the fact my husband has already put in for time off at work, it's not easy to change, we'll go.... hopefully our little girl can still meet Vee, Mickey, Minnie & the gang.
Really hoping this trip isn't a complete bust. But I'm trying to be positive & think that a day at disney is a better day than sitting at work -- Even if i'm not riding rides! At least the food's good!!

We had originally thought that avoiding the park all together would be a good idea, but knowing that they will only have 1 maybe 2 rides open I think all the parks will be seeing Christmas time crowds because of the overflow.
And the food, yes it is the best! Do yourself a favor and check out the food and wine festival if it is going on when you are there. Take the whole day to do it, and pace yourself. There is so much food that you will fill up quickly.

 

[Galexia]

My daughter and I have booked a trip from Aug 28th-Sept11th. We can't change our dates because our flights are nonrefundable.
When we first heard about GE opening we were so excited..then apprehensive about crowd levels. Now we are going to tweak our plans a little and take it as we find it!
We are going to go to HS on the 29th Aug knowing we won't have a hope of seeing GE but just to take in the energy and excitement!!

 

[vacationer1954]

I wish they would stop. The more people who post they’re willing to pay insane prices the higher they’ll be.

Disney has far better ways of discovering both what guests are willing to pay for and how much they are willing to pay.

 

[BabybetterDisney]

When I first heard the announcement I got into a complete panic, but I thought it was just me, that nobody else was feeling it. Then I got on disboards to find out that I wasn't special at all; a lot of people felt the same panic. But in the last few days, after carefully thinking about it all, I decided that it won't be such a big deal as I first feared. That the crowd level outside DHS will go up by 10 or 20%, but it's going to be 5 or 6 out of 10, not 10 out of 10. We are not going to be packed that tightly, except for DHS. And even DHS might clear out a little if I can go later like around 9:30 p.m., being that they will likely open till 10:30 p.m. daily as they did for TSL opening.

So I adjusted my trip plans, originally expecting light crowds but now I'm expecting moderate crowds. It will still be OK, with the added benefit of the possibility of squeezing inside SWGE at some point, and seeing SWGE this year instead of next year.

At first I was going to look for paid events to get myself into SWGE, but now I'm no longer going to throw away money because I believe I will be able make it in there for no extra cost at night. Plus WDW might decide to give out free reservations later (like Disneyland), even if they aren't doing that right now.

Reasons I'm confident that SWGE won't turn WDW into a zoo:

1. All Disney pundits I've read agree that the increase to other parks will be mild.
2. All Disneyland Disney hotels still have all room categories open. They are booked up for August 29th, yes, but not after that. And being that people get a free reservation to their SWGE by booking a Disney Hotel, Star War fans have not flooded the reservations like I thought they would.
3. Disneyland is only offering SWGE reservations for about a month. Which means they must not be expecting it to be necessary after a month, let alone when WDW's SWGE opens.

The parks are still going to be more crowded, which I'm not looking forward to, but I will make it work for my family and accept my losses -- rides I will miss, time lost waiting in longer lines for rides and transportation and food ordering and everything else, being in a bigger crowd than I'm used to.

It will still be cool!

 

[rteetz]

Disneyland is only offering SWGE reservations for about a month. Which means they must not be expecting it to be necessary after a month, let alone when WDW's SWGE opens.

They are doing it to help control crowding not because they think it wont be an issue.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

When I first heard the announcement I got into a complete panic, but I thought it was just me, that nobody else was feeling it. Then I got on disboards to find out that I wasn't special at all; a lot of people felt the same panic. But in the last few days, after carefully thinking about it all, I decided that it won't be such a big deal as I first feared. That the crowd level outside DHS will go up by 10 or 20%, but it's going to be 5 or 6 out of 10, not 10 out of 10. We are not going to be packed that tightly, except for DHS. And even DHS might clear out a little if I can go later like around 9:30 p.m., being that they will likely open till 10:30 p.m. daily as they did for TSL opening.

So I adjusted my trip plans, originally expecting light crowds but now I'm expecting moderate crowds. It will still be OK, with the added benefit of the possibility of squeezing inside SWGE at some point, and seeing SWGE this year instead of next year.

At first I was going to look for paid events to get myself into SWGE, but now I'm no longer going to throw away money because I believe I will be able make it in there for no extra cost at night. Plus WDW might decide to give out free reservations later (like Disneyland), even if they aren't doing that right now.

Reasons I'm confident that SWGE won't turn WDW into a zoo:

1. All Disney pundits I've read agree that the increase to other parks will be mild.
2. All Disneyland Disney hotels still have all room categories open. They are booked up for August 29th, yes, but not after that. And being that people get a free reservation to their SWGE by booking a Disney Hotel, Star War fans have not flooded the reservations like I thought they would.
3. Disneyland is only offering SWGE reservations for about a month. Which means they must not be expecting it to be necessary after a month, let alone when WDW's SWGE opens.

The parks are still going to be more crowded, which I'm not looking forward to, but I will make it work for my family and accept my losses -- rides I will miss, time lost waiting in longer lines for rides and transportation and food ordering and everything else, being in a bigger crowd than I'm used to.

It will still be cool!

I firmly believe that it's all in the attitude and expectations and you seem to be on the right path. We are there for a 9 days with 2 DHS days planned, we either get in or we don't. Simple as that. Will we have the nice "low crowd" and "quiet" vacation that was originally planned? Nope, so we adjust the plan and be prepared with other plans if needed.

And knowing ahead of time what *might* be is better than not knowing. In 2015 we went in September expecting low crowds, to my surprise it was packed due to a religious holiday that I was unaware of. I think there may have also been some weather issues coming and people had moved their trips. It was just packed and waaaaay more crowded than predicted and I wasn't mentally prepared for it. It was not a pleasant trip, not because it was so crowded, but because my expectations were smashed all to pieces. I learned from that trip to have back up plans and be ready to adjust.

The sky is not falling...

 

[KarenP64]

So, if everything is packed & days in the parks aren't pleasant because of being so crowded, what other things are there to see & do in the area? We could still use our Disney resort as "home base" & explore some other things in the area.

 

[Rach3975]

We check in opening day, so we will zero reports to go off on how to handle DHS. I thought about completely avoiding SWGE but my 4 year old is dying to go on slinky dog dash since we missed it last year and our other kids love the Aerosmith coaster and tower of terror. So I’m trying to decide if I should plan to go to DHS on Saturday August 31 which was original day we had planned or move it until Monday September 2 hoping for more fast pass availability. Not sure if crowds will really be any different. Wish I would have planned out trip a couple weeks later so I would have at least some info on how things were planning on at SWGE!

Tough call because of the holiday weekend! I'm guessing 9/2 is your last day there? Maybe more people will already be heading home Monday if they need to get back for the work/school week. But it sounds like we'll know a lot more about how access will be handled before you reach your FP day. Maybe make ADRs in both parks you're considering for now so that you have options when we know more.

 

[BabybetterDisney]

They are doing it to help control crowding not because they think it wont be an issue.

Not that they think it won't be an issue, but they must think it won't be as big an issue after a month. Or maybe they are too lazy to offer it after the first month, I don't know, but I'm still taking it as a good sign .

 

[rteetz]

Not that they think it won't be an issue, but they must think it won't be as big an issue after a month. Or maybe they are too lazy to offer it after the first month, I don't know, but I'm still taking it as a good sign .

I disagree with your thinking here. I think they do think it will be an issue which is why they are limiting it for that first month to get their bearings on how everything will work. Then everyone will have access after that.

 

[BabybetterDisney]

I disagree with your thinking here. I think they do think it will be an issue which is why they are limiting it for that first month to get their bearings on how everything will work. Then everyone will have access after that.

I don't understand. Why will everyone have access after that? And how does that mean it will still be an issue? Why are they limiting reservations for the first month if it's just as big of an issue after?

 

[rteetz]

I don't understand. Why will everyone have access after that? And how does that mean it will still be an issue? Why are they limiting reservations for the first month if it's just as big of an issue after?

They are limiting during the first month as a sort of soft opening. They are using that time to get their bearings on how the land will operate successfully.

 

[yulilin3]

also DL is very much a locals park. there is one tier of AP called deluxe ap. These ap have blocked out dates starting June 20th, by DL asking for reservations from May 31st to June 23rd limits access even more to these and other aps, after that 2 tiers of ap will be blocked out for the entire summer until almost the end of August, leaving more space for the 2 upper aps and day guests.

 

[Crystal_Marie]

I was orginally booked for December and already moved to September hoping to avoid the crowds. We are now booked Sept 8th through 14th. Than the announcement came. I'm thinking this is the Disney gods way of telling me I need to see SWGE. Today was my 180 day mark and I was able to get every reservation I wanted including the Fantasimc dining package, so I'm thinking the crowds will not be so bad