Is SWGE impacting your trip? Discuss your plans here!

[jhoannam]

If having "lighter" crowds is the most important factor I would move the trip up to August. If things get crazy like Disney is expecting I don't think crowds will be lighter in January.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Background: This will be my son's first (4) and my husband's second Disney trip. I LOVE Disney; my husband could care less. However, my husband does love having fun with our son, so this was supposed to be a trip to "ease him into it" and hopefully we can become an every year (or at least every other year) Disney vacation family.

Important info: My husband HATES crowds. I was going to rely heavily on utilizing FPs, play areas for my son (Tom Sawyer Island, Fantasyland splash pads, Boneyard) and nice dining experiences to be less ride/crowd heavy, and to be able to tour from 9 - 12 and then 4 - 7 to avoid the highest crowd times.

Original Plan: In January, I booked our trip for 9/11 - 9/15. Perfect for light crowds, a nice short trip to visit 3 of the 4 parks, including seeing Toy Story Land, which is my son's favorite movie. Plan was MK, AK, DS (1/2 day), Disney Springs in the evening, and then head home. We got BoG for our MK day and Tusker House for our AK day. Not too much, not too little, juuuust right.

and then: The big announcement - so much for a peaceful vacation, two weeks after the opening of Galaxy's Edge! I did lots of re-jiggering our plan. After much debate, I decided that we would just skip DS all together. We could still do MK, AK, and then another half day at MK, since I think my son will love it. We would avoid any EMHs, avoid MK on the Halloween Party. Still OK.

AND THEN: Found out this past weekend that there will be Extra Extra Morning Magic hours at MK and AK - so 7 am opening for us! We would have had NO problem getting to any of the parks by 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. opening, and maybe even by 8 a.m. However, there is just no way I'm getting a 4 year old and my husband to a park for a 7 a.m. opening time. Not. Happening.

So should I move my trip? Due to work and other vacation commitments, the only other dates that really work for us would be 8/14 - 8/18. Crowds are projected to be higher overall during that time; however, we could visit DS and see Toy Story Land, and we would avoid the EMHs and still be able to be at the parks for opening.

The only other option would be to postpone entirely and try for the first week of January. However, I feel like that's a crap shoot - what if Disney opens the other Star Wars ride then? Then I'm right back in the same boat, AND I've delayed the trip another 5 months (I have not been to Disney in 6 years due to having kids - I am ready to get back to my happy place!)

What are your thoughts???

Go for August. By that time the crowds will start to thin as southern schools open for the year. Summer is now more of a "low" season than just about any other time.

The truth is that we simply have NO IDEA what the crowds will be like in September. Clearly, Disney is thinking the parks will be completely packed. And they might be. But there are also some people who will delay until Star Wars is completed, and others who just plain will not pull their kids from school so soon after it opens, even for SW.

I was planning September. Then got depressed when I heard the news of the opening. But now I'm thinking I might want to do it anyway, and just have a really good touring plan, and retreat to the hotel pool if crowds get too ridiculous in the parks. This will also be my 4-year-old's first 'real' trip to WDW (she was an infant last time). I figure the things she'll want to do are probably the easier-to-get FPs, so we should be okay. Maybe I'm wrong, but in my head, the person who goes for the opening of Galaxy's Edge is not the person who will be competing with us to get into Enchanted Tales with Belle.

If I had the vacation time available, I'd move the trip to August for more of a 'sure thing,' but I already have two weeks of PTO for other family trips in August, so it's a no-go for WDW. No matter how much "higher overall" the current crowd predictors are for August, I think the crowds will still be lighter than in Sept.

 

[ClapYourHands]

AND THEN: Found out this past weekend that there will be Extra Extra Morning Magic hours at MK and AK - so 7 am opening for us! We would have had NO problem getting to any of the parks by 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. opening, and maybe even by 8 a.m. However, there is just no way I'm getting a 4 year old and my husband to a park for a 7 a.m. opening time. Not. Happening.

What are your thoughts???

My other thought is that you go in September, you don't need to be there for the 7am opening. You really don't. Unless Disney is doing something vastly different with EMH than in the past, EMH will be a free-for-all with no fast passes. If you wait until official opening time, you can go on attractions with your FP. Just book them one after the other, starting with the first hour the park is open. In between rides, use the strategies you were planning on anyway - Tom Sawyer's island, etc. Lots of people have great trips on much higher-crowd times like Thanksgiving and Christmas because they have a solid touring plan.

 

[WaltsMartini]

Unless Disney is doing something vastly different with EMH than in the past, EMH will be a free-for-all with no fast passes. If you wait until official opening time, you can go on attractions with your FP. Just book them one after the other, starting with the first hour the park is open

Thank you for talking sense into me!

You are right - we can do our FPs for 9, 10, and 11 as we had planned AND have some bonus rides from 8:15 - 9. Also, the only BoG ADR I could get was late breakfast at 10:20, so that will actually work out well if we can get ourselves there early.

I also anticipate that my son will really like the Wilderness Explorers game at AK and the animal trails, so we won’t actually be doing many rides at AK.

And - I must remind myself - a crowded day at Disney is better than the best ever day at work!

Thanks for your help with my #firstworldproblems

 

[ClapYourHands]

Thank you for talking sense into me!

You are right - we can do our FPs for 9, 10, and 11 as we had planned AND have some bonus rides from 8:15 - 9. Also, the only BoG ADR I could get was late breakfast at 10:20, so that will actually work out well if we can get ourselves there early.

I also anticipate that my son will really like the Wilderness Explorers game at AK and the animal trails, so we won’t actually be doing many rides at AK.

And - I must remind myself - a crowded day at Disney is better than the best ever day at work!

Thanks for your help with my #firstworldproblems

Glad you're feeling more comfortable with your trip. I really think with a 4-year-old, you'll be fine. If you had older kids (or adults) who really wanted the headliner rides, it might be a bit trickier - not impossible, just more planning. But there are so many less-popular rides to choose from at MK that you should be fine, and AK has so few rides littles can go on that it doesn't matter.

I really have zero interest in spending three hours in any park with a 4-year-old with no access to FP.

 

[Pucks104]

So WaltsMartini, I see that you are struggling with a lot of the same mixed feelings I have had about our September trip. DH and I talked about it some more and have decided not to cancel our trip just yet. We were both really looking forward to seeing Disney and I truly wish they had been more transparent with guests about their SWGE plans. Then folks that really wanted to be in the crazy could have scheduled their trip and those that really wanted to avoid SWGE opening could have scheduled prior to the opening. We are going to wait a bit longer before making a final decision about keeping the trip or canceling. I have found planning this trip to be more stressful than I had hoped.

 

[Superchikk]

We will be at ASMu 9/8-9/14.

We hadn't planned on a Disney trip this year, but when they dropped FD in January, we decided to go for it. Booked the trip and revealed to the kids a few weeks later. Our plan was to have a bit of a relaxed trip this time, enjoy F&W, and try a few new restaurants. Then, the SWGE announcement came.

Don't get me wrong, we are huge Star Wars fans. But we had planned on it opening after our trip and did not want to deal with that level of crowds. We debated canceling, but we'd already told the kids and they are SO excited. We considered changing dates, but the FD booking window was closed and that would easily make a $1500 difference in our trip, including the cost difference to change flights. So we decided to make the best of it, planned our days and made our ADRs. We also decided to do a HEA Dessert Party since we know MK will be crowded on non-party days.

And then Disney announced the Extra, Extra Magic Hours. Sigh. My family will be fine to get up super early one morning to make it to HS and check out SWGE. But there's no way we can manage early mornings like that every day. I like that they've added extra hours, but I do wish some of them were evening hours.

I know I will likely need to re-plan some of our days. Our FP day is in July, so I'm holding off until the end of June to look closer at each day. Hopefully, by then we'll have some data from the SWGE opening at Disneyland and will have some idea of what we're dealing with.

I'm really trying not to be a Debbie Downer, but it's frustrating to have booked under the impression that SWGE would be open after our trip, and then find out it opens 10 days before. We will make the best of it and have fun but it would definitely be easier without all the surprises.

 

[RedWolf95]

DH can’t change his week of vacation to earlier so September 16-23 is our vacation week. We booked our Disney trip in September specifically because SWGE was to open in late 2019 and we would not have to deal with those crowds. There is so much that we haven’t seen at Disney that SWGE wasn’t really something we felt we would even have time for so we decided to book before it opened. Now we are right in the middle of the first few weeks of SWGE. Disney’s expanding park hours as much as they have causes me to be even more concerned about crowds than if they had done nothing. The cost of personnel hours, extra ride maintenance due to longer hours of operation, extra food, security, etc. are business expenses that impact the bottom line and no business is going to spend that money unless they feel like they absolutely have to.

Preface this by saying that yes it will certainly be busier than normal and I'm leaning towards skipping DHS all together, BUT I'm not convinced that the expanded hours at AK and MK are because Disney has determined that all of the parks are going to be overly crowded and so they needed the extra hours at those parks. Their reaction of expanding park hours and particularly adding the EMH for two months at AK and MK could be to help alleviate the concerns that many are expressing that might be holding guests back from planning a trip those months simply because the guests are anticipating all the parks will be insane.

They could be adding these hours so guests will see it as an opportunity to get into AK and MK early everyday before the perceived onslaught and therefore entice guests to book more onsite rooms. They may believe that the fear of the crowds could be suppressing people from planning vacations in those first couple of months and they want to throw an incentive out there (other than discounts) to increase onsite bookings. By opening the parks early, particularly for onsite guests, that allows for getting into those parks early, getting alot done and then have a relaxing break in the afternoon before going back for the evening which could make a trip in September a lot more palatable than opening at 9am every day and it being difficult to squeeze in a mid day break.

Looking at availability the first week after SWGE opens (9/2-9/8) there are Standard rooms and many other categories still available at each of the All Star resorts, Pop Century, all the Moderate resorts, etc.... Expanding that to 9/2-9/13 still has lots of room categories available at those resorts. Sure this is just a snapshot, but it is right after SWGE opens and at less than 4 months out if the vacation bookings were indicating to Disney that the crowds were going to be a huge concern I would think the room availability would reflect it. The cost of a couple extra hours of opening MK and AK early may not be nearly as costly as a lot of unsold rooms and fewer tickets purchased due to people fearing all the parks will be slammed from the minute they open.

So the additional EMH at AK and MK may simply be just another enticement, without having to offer discounts, to increase occupancy rates and ticket sales that Disney might currently see as being below expectations.

 

[aaylasecura]

I'm booked at Pop Century September 8 - 14. It's my first solo trip to WDW and I'm a former cast member from the College Program.

I booked my trip in January when they dropped Free Dining. I look for this every year and had to cancel last year due to a trifecta of bad timings (lost my job, got in a car accident, and Hurricane Florence came through making it impossible...yes, literally impossible...to leave or enter NC). I started out with a lot of excitement about this trip. Especially since it's my first return to the Food & Wine Festival in over a decade (really the main reason for booking this time window).

Then they dropped the SWGE opening date and I thought, why in the world did you say late fall and then decide for the end of August? That's a HUGE turn around. For the past few months, I hadn't really put too much thought into it. I remember the trip reports from TSL opening a few Junes ago and yes, there were five hour waits for the rides, but everything else (for it being the height of summer) seemed just fine. I tried to remain rational with myself that there are only so many rooms available for guests to book so in the middle of the week, crowds can only get so high.

In the middle of Spring, Disney started releasing logistics for Disneyland's opening on SWGE. Once again, rationalized this out to be Disneyland, a park with much smaller capacity, parking, etc. They really do have to put some thought into that park because there aren't four parks and two water parks to spread people across.

THEN DISNEY RELEASED EXTRA, EXTRA MAGIC HOURS and now I'm super worried about crowd levels. Adding three hours at the top of the day and noticing that they extended park closing to 10 p.m. nightly, an extension of about two hours over normal, for DHS started to fuel the worry bot inside me. The nice thing is that after reading a handful of posts on this thread, it seems like a lot of people aren't willing to get their kids up for a 6 a.m. opening. That's starting to make me feel a little better. If I can be there for 6 a.m. rope drop, I can probably get quite a lot done in the park before the sun even starts to glisten on the Tower of Terror (one of my favorite morning views).

I general, I have years and years of planning knowledge with a little extra to boot for being a former cast member. I tend to plan out my mornings minute-for-minute. As long as crowds stay low to moderate for EEMH, I really do think I can get a lot done in all four parks. I usually leave for a nap around 1 p.m. because my body can't handle height-of-the-day sun and return to the parks around 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. to stay until park closing. Hopefully being a solo traveler will give me an advantage on grabbing day of fastpasses in the evenings, even to the smaller attractions.

The anxiety of waiting for them to release WDW SWGE logistics is really starting to build in me. Like, as soon as I know their game plan, I can solidify my game plan. Hopefully they get their stuff release before my fastpass booking window starts in July.

 

[ThistleMae]

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

Now that I've had some time to process this bomb they've dropped, and to go through the stages of grief for the loss of any semblance of a pleasant vacation, I have to admit...I still haven't come in off the ledge. I still feel sucker punched. For 2 reasons. 1) SWGE effectively removes HS from my touring plan, I won't attempt to go near it on my 2 week trip. And it makes me angry that I'm getting even LESS value for my money now, as an entire park is no longer available to me. The value of my trip is already inherently compromised due to all the people and the lines they generate-lines for buses, lines for security, lines for food, lines for rides, lines in shops (sometimes even just to walk through!), lines for bathrooms, lines for characters, and waiting for spots for parades and fireworks. Can I expect to even get on 6 rides in a day (including FP)? Can't help but think I'm paying a ton of money to just...stand in lines, and spend more money. Add to this the emotional distress of being crammed in anywhere with a lot of hot, tired, entitled people...and I am also paying a premium to be run over with strollers and ECV's and to be yelled at by their operators. I was in MK on the 45th anniversary (crowd level 7/10) and I witnessed some of the ugliest human behavior that I have ever seen and experienced anywhere else in the (real) world. I never wanted to be in that environment again. And 2) I feel like Disney doesn't care about the quality of the guest experience anymore, not every guest anyway. The way they deliberately withheld SWGE opening date, and said it would be fall/late fall and then dropped it on us in the summer when those of us who are extremely adverse to crowds would be willing to travel...it feels like a personal affront. There seems to be only very few short windows for people like me to visit during the year anyway, but Disney is still actively trying to stuff the parks at those times too. I get it, they're a business, but I thought they were also one of the few businesses that truly valued the quality of the customer's experience. I see now that I was naive about that.

So, I have to avoid an entire park for my trip, and probably afternoons at all the others. I will have to hide out at AKL more than I intended (I know, first world probs, but still...). That's how SWGE will impact my trip. But I think I have also learned that this will be my last trip to Disney for a long time. WDW is not for those of us suffering from anxiety. We are clearly not welcome. I'm sorry, I wish I could see this another way but I'm just not there yet. I'm envious of those who can just brave the hordes, my life would be so much easier if I could do that.

I don't want to sound preachy...but going into this with negative energy will guarantee you have a miserable trip...sorry.

 

[ThistleMae]

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.

Pandora is 12 acres and I thought it was really small, so you have a good point.

 

[ThistleMae]

Posted on another thread, but looks like it fits better here...

Well, I've tried adding on 1 day before or one day after my 09/19 - 09/27 trip with nothing but the Polynesian Villas and Beach Club coming up for my party of 5. A bit pricey for me and I do not want to do a split stay. Currently booked at the CBR. When I looked at the Poly rates, it gave a disclaimer about SWGE and the park , land, and attractions having limited capacity. UGH! We really are locked into our dates, so we can't reschedule. We have 7 day base tickets and are there for 8 nights (hoping to add one more night). During our stay, MK closes at 6pm for MNSSHP several nights, so I think we'll go ahead and buy tickets for one party night. Original plan was to spend 2 days in MK, EP, AK and one day in HS, but I'm not so sure about HS now. I went ahead and subscribed to Touringplans for the first time ever to hopefully get an idea on crowd calendar estimates, but figure that won't really be accurate until early Sept.

I'll admit to having some ongoing anxiety issues over this. We wanted to come during Sept to have lower (relative to peak seasons) crowd levels. I never, ever want to experience Christmas/ Spring Break/ Summer crowds. I'll probably need a prescription to make it through this.

We don't plan to have a lot of ADRs as we are not on the dining plan. Just hoping I can work the FP to our advantage and make the best of it. It's been 4 years since we were last in WDW and now I'm having mixed emotions about returning. Darn these expiring tickets!! This would have been a good year to visit the dark side methinks.

I think you'll be fine. You seem to have a positive attitude, and a good plan. I'm sure you'll enjoy your vacation. There are always tucked away places you can find where there don't seem to be too many people, even at high crowd levels. Enjoy!

 

[rteetz]

Then they dropped the SWGE opening date and I thought, why in the world did you say late fall and then decide for the end of August?

Disney changed from saying Late Fall to just Fall a while before they announced the date.

Why should disney wait if the land is ready?

 

[ThistleMae]

We are scheduled Aug 31- Sept 7 w free dining. Already have our flights and MNSSHP tickets because our dates aren’t very flexible. We are back in school by then and we picked a eeek that our kiddo would only miss 4 days. When searching there is no availability for our dates. We aren’t moving the trip, but I’ll be honest I’m nervous. We booked this as a last trip before our son turns 3 and for lighter crowds after going in December. I’m trying to remain hopeful that most of the crowds will stay towards HS and we will be ok in the other parks. Our HS day is only a 1/2 day with a Fantasmic ADRand hopefully fastoasses for the few things we actually want to do this trip. Going to go in with a good plan. I hope...

It sound fine. I'm sure you'll have a great trip no matter what.

 

[tkmking]

I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on strategies now with the EEMH announced.

Prior to this announcement all information pointed to doing the park with EMH that day and then go to a different park where crowds will be lighter...Now with EMH in the morning for every park (except Epcot) does it matter which park and is it even worth going to a different park in the afternoon?

We are going for 2 weeks from UK on 9/13 and plan to have a nap during the middle of the day anyway for our 2 year old. Having spent ages looking at crowd calendars and having done ADRs I'm a little reticent about changing which parks we do on which day significantly, but if it's worth it then I will - our original plan was to do midweek visits to DHS in the vague hope that it might be 'quieter' than weekends...! (Aware of the irony of that)

Kind of resigned to the fact that i will be doing GE by myself at stupid o clock on our DHS days (I dont think its fair to drag our 2 year old and the wife through it all!) and also that our 'quiet' September visit will be much busier, but like most I imagine, keen to avoid crowds where we can outside of DHS.

Part of me is excited that we get to see GE whilst we are out there as i doubt we will be back out anytime soon (we booked it before the opening date announcement, I.e. when it was 'late fall' and were of the opinion that if they open it great - for me! - but if they dont no worries), but the other part of me is a little concerned about the crowds in the rest of the parks.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on strategies now with the EEMH announced.

Prior to this announcement all information pointed to doing the park with EMH that day and then go to a different park where crowds will be lighter...Now with EMH in the morning for every park (except Epcot) does it matter which park and is it even worth going to a different park in the afternoon?

We are going for 2 weeks from UK on 9/13 and plan to have a nap during the middle of the day anyway for our 2 year old. Having spent ages looking at crowd calendars and having done ADRs I'm a little reticent about changing which parks we do on which day significantly, but if it's worth it then I will - our original plan was to do midweek visits to DHS in the vague hope that it might be 'quieter' than weekends...! (Aware of the irony of that)

Kind of resigned to the fact that i will be doing GE by myself at stupid o clock on our DHS days (I dont think its fair to drag our 2 year old and the wife through it all!) and also that our 'quiet' September visit will be much busier, but like most I imagine, keen to avoid crowds where we can outside of DHS.

Part of me is excited that we get to see GE whilst we are out there as i doubt we will be back out anytime soon (we booked it before the opening date announcement, I.e. when it was 'late fall' and were of the opinion that if they open it great - for me! - but if they dont no worries), but the other part of me is a little concerned about the crowds in the rest of the parks.

Stupid o'clock!!! STOP!!! I cannot!!!!

I don't think it particularly matters now what park you go to in the afternoon considering EMH will be at 3 of the 4 parks. Will one be less busy than the others, could be. My guess....EPCOT? But then again, because they don't have extra morning EMHs, could be just the opposite. They will still have their evening one on Tuesday nights I believe. And their one morning one on Thursday if I remember correctly. I'm locked into certain travel dates being that I'm a teacher and have a son now going into the 6th grade. We don't do December travels to Disney since we celebrate Hanukkah. Don't do Thanksgiving because truly, I prefer warmer weather and longer park hours. So for us it's spring break or summer. This year will be the first summer I've travelled with my family. (Husband and son). I've been in the summer with my mom, sister, and her three kids, but that was back in 2000. That trip was 80% a dud. Luckily, as you can see by my signature, I've had many successful trips after that. Even a very short time on the college program that I had to leave after only a month. Hubby couldn't maintain things financially without my income.

Anyway, just go in with a plan and get up at stupid o'clock and go enjoy SWGE while your wife and 2 year old rest. Come back and then hop on over to another park and just enjoy the heck outta yourselves!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Tapping into the Dis-hive-mind for opinions on timing in September.

Original plan was for 9/4-9/10 to take advantage of school being newly back in session.

But then SWGE announcement, and that kinda blows my chances for a low crowd trip.

I could also make 9/16-9/22 work. Usually I’d expect slightly higher crowds later in September, as we move into the fall, and more families pull kids from school for Disney.

But with SWGE, I wonder if the crowds would be higher in early September for the SW fans who want to see GE immediately.

Obviously, it’s going to be crowded no matter what. I’m just wondering if it’s a complete toss up, or if one might be slightly better than the other.

 

[Superchikk]

Tapping into the Dis-hive-mind for opinions on timing in September.

Original plan was for 9/4-9/10 to take advantage of school being newly back in session.

But then SWGE announcement, and that kinda blows my chances for a low crowd trip.

I could also make 9/16-9/22 work. Usually I’d expect slightly higher crowds later in September, as we move into the fall, and more families pull kids from school for Disney.

But with SWGE, I wonder if the crowds would be higher in early September for the SW fans who want to see GE immediately.

Obviously, it’s going to be crowded no matter what. I’m just wondering if it’s a complete toss up, or if one might be slightly better than the other.

Totally feel you. But honestly, I don't think that either one will be better than the other overall. I think there's a SLIGHT chance that the earlier date may be better, just because people are more hesitant to pull kids out of school right after they start rather than a month in (or more, depending on where you're from). We were there last year 9/15-9/22 and it was busier than we anticipated. We moved our trip dates up this year to hopefully accommodate for that, and planned to be there 9/8-9/14, but then the SWGE announcement came. We decided it's a crap shoot at this point anyway, so we're sticking with what we have.

 

[ThistleMae]

Perhaps when SWGE opens in Disneyland, it will give folks a better idea of whether our anticipated vision of the craziness is warranted or not. Maybe everyone will be pleasantly surprised and everything will be managed so smoothly it won't make any difference when you go.

 

[yulilin3]

Perhaps when SWGE opens in Disneyland, it will give folks a better idea of whether our anticipated vision of the craziness is warranted or not. Maybe everyone will be pleasantly surprised and everything will be managed so smoothly it won't make any difference when you go.

You have no idea how many scenarios are going through my head once DL SWGE opens.
If it goes really well people might decide to come for opening month and WDW is prepared for it
If it goes really well people might decide to head to DL before WDW opens at all making WDW that more manageable
If it goes really well people decide to book in great numbers and WDW operations is not ready and it's crazy
If it goes badly people will cancel WDW if they were just coming for SWGE
If it goes badly people will book WDW thinking a lot of people are cancelling
People don't book at WDW for fear of it being crazy, creating opening weeks of relative calmness followed by people booking later thinking it will always be calm
....it's exhausting