As you will know by now, I like this blog to be right on the bleeding edge of Disney news. I understand that many of you count on it as your one and only source for all things Disney related, and as such I spend every waking hour researching and being one step ahead of every other Disney blog on the planet.
So, I can now reveal, way before you will have heard it anywhere else that the opening date for Star Wars Land has been announced. I know! Exciting stuff right, and I appreciate that this breaking news may take some time for you to digest.
Had we been going this year (and I never say never, as those lucky lottery balls may yet drop in our favour) this would not have been the welcome news you may think it might be. The date of the 29th of August is slap bang in the middle of our usual touring time, and an opening like this is enough to ride the proverbial coach and horses through my laminated spreadsheet.
Having seen what happened when Toy Story Land opened, those wait times for Slinky will seem like the blink of any eye once the Star Wars lot descend upon Hollywood Studios. Had we been there this summer, at opening, I think it would have more or less wiped DHS off our plans to be honest. That opening week will be like a scene from Ghandi, and I don’t mean that everyone will be wearing a bed sheet and sandals.
The crowds generated by Disney vloggers (Hey Guys!!) alone would be enough to fill Wembley Stadium three times over and the chances of getting anywhere near a ride would be less than me growing a fringe.
So it’s good news that we have no trip planned for this summer right? Right????
Ironically, the nominal date I have plucked from the ether for our potential travel in 2020 will be the one year anniversary of the opening, so that should mean that those at the back of the queue on opening day will just be leaving the gift shop as we get there, hopefully armed with FastPasses galore.
In the grand scheme of things, this opening is of course a good thing for many reasons.
- DHS has been half a park for long enough whilst they built the two new lands so it is fantastic to see those plans completed.
- I love Star Wars
- Nearly every park (come on Magic Kingdom, get that Tron ride built) now has new headliner attractions and it will spread out the crowds and FastPass desires of guests meaning that some of the current bottlenecks and frustrations around the likes of Flights Of Passage and Slinky will be alleviated.
The parks are in good shape, and with plans recently announced to renovate and modernise the Epcot entrance area, as ever Disney aren’t resting on their laurels, which is one way to justify their prices to myself.
There is a slight anxiety that big new stuff brings of course. The planner in me finds it easiest when I am scheduling stuff we’ve done before. With so much new stuff, I am poking around in the dark a bit hoping for success, although that is something I am relatively familiar with if I am honest. It doesn’t come much bigger than a whole new land, and as I sit in the comfort of my armchair this August, watching the absolute carnage that is Hollywood Studios, I shall be grateful for two things.
- I am not in those crowds.
- The internet, that will allow me to watch other folks navigate it and enable me to have a better stab at planning our assault on it a year later.
Over that time, there is much to do, not least trying to get Freddie to watch all the Star Wars and Harry Potter films in readiness for our trip. That may well be a challenge at his age, but I’m sure his Dad will look after the Star Wars side of that bargain.
So if you are going this year after the opening I’d be interested to know how you feel about it. Are you happy or has it put a bit of a cat amongst your planning pigeons? Let’s be honest, I wish we were going too and I’d deal with whatever carnage that created, but if I can lie to myself that there are some benefits to not having a holiday then I shall cling to them like Rose did that piece of wood in Titantic.
Comment away folks….
Till the next time……
Mkingdon's Blog 
I was gutted initially we go on the 19th September and it’s gonna be mental,luckily staying in a Disney Hotel so we may at least get a chance of going in and slightly seeing something,no hope of getting near smugglers run,but not a massive fan so not really bothered ,hoping this makes the other parks slightly quieter!
I’d already resigned myself to it opening December and was happy about seeing the new land in 2020. I booked last week before the announcement, we go September 9th!
I’m a big Star Wars fan but I have no idea what to do. Do I dedicate a couple of days purely for queuing or do I give it a completely wide berth? Disney have said that no FP will be issued so it’s worth noting that there will be an equal playing ground on non EMH days but will that be enough?
All I know is I want to go.
Craig, we are going this year arriving on Halloween. It is going to be interesting as we are going with our two kids 19 & 22 and their respective partners who are Disney newbies., We are staying on site for the first week so will be looking to make the most of the 60 day fp allocation to get Star Wars Avatar and Toy story land. Fingers crossed.
We’re there August but fly home on the 22nd so unless there is some form of soft opening we will miss all the excitement/crowds of opening. We’re back at Oct half-term though so will definitely do what it takes to see what we can then. I have an eight year old Star Wars fan so it’s a must do 🌠
Very mixed feelings for me to be honest….I tend to go beginning of may.last year I went end of April beginning of May crowds were do-able but this year my Son wants to come as he hasn’t been for 6 years..He works summer only and has winters off (we live on Rhodes Greece ) so we booked for my Birthday in November instead. originally I thought I was going to miss Star Wars as they had said opening late autumn, which in Disney terms is a bit of a cop out as it covers anything from August to News years Eve..! I had a big problem booking with the resort I wanted and Free dining (I booked July 2018) but managed to get where I wanted with free Dining..I had originally realised that going this time of year it would be busier than May, but now I am really concerned that it is going to ram packed and full to capacity, but, at least I’m going and every time I leave I always think that it will be our last time as the prices are expensive and we are getting older and still, like you , manage to sell a kidney or two and find a way..so hey ho..nothing I can do about it now it’s booked and nearly paid for and my count down is at 284 days………
We go on 31 Aug but are more disappointed that we are staying at Beach Club for the first week and beaches & cream is closed for refurbishment. Will prob just avoid HS this year and have convinced ourselves that the other parks will be quiet and there will be no wait times for mine train, FoP etc!!??
I was hoping it would open after our trip in September, so I didn’t have to deal with the crowds. Part of me is glad it is opening as we have a 13 yr old Star Wars fan and it will be great that he gets to experience it. So I guess, I’m torn… Just hope the crowds are tolerable while we are there.
We go for Christmas and NYE this year. To be honest I was expecting it to open just before we arrive in December so I was anticipating absolute hell especially with the Christmas crowds. So in a way the significantly earlier than expected opening may work slightly in our favour, however the crowds are still going to be hideous even 4 months after opening!! At least we are staying at boardwalk so can walk to HS and do a quick run back to the hotel when the crowds get too much (probably by about 9:15am)!!!
Our last full day is the 29th and I’m not really thrilled about the tide opening that day. Will the other parks be busier in the run up, during what us usually a reasonably quiet time? Also, should we go and brave the madness, even just for a look around ( our queue tolerance is low and I won’t queue longer than around 30 minutes for anything) or steer well clear until our next visit? Decisions, decisions!
We normally go mid-May but had decided to go September so we could do a HHN and we also haven’t “done” Disney since 2012…I know how lax!! Then a close friend of ours who is at college in Georgia has got herself on the Disney college program starting Aug 29th,so we had planned to get Disney ultimates. Now this comes along to put a spanner on the works, although we are not huge Star Wars fans so wont be too gutted if we avoid it. just don’t want it to have a negative effect on other areas We avoided Universal for a couple of years after WWOHP opened.
On the positive side, Touring Plans are predicting lower crowds in the other parks! We’re there from 5th September, so ADR planning etc. now thrown up not chaos.
It opens, whilst we are there! Myself and my son are MASSIVE Star Wars fans, so this creates quite a dilemma. I feel I need to see the land, but fear getting on any of the rides may be an issue!