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!