The opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is expected to bring thousands upon thousands of extra feet through the turnstiles of Hollywood Studios when it opens later this year. While extra people may seem like a bad idea there are ways you can make the expected influx of people work to your advantage but only if you plan well. Read on to find out how the opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will benefit your holiday even if you’re not interested in Star Wars.
Improved Infrastructure
Disney has been planning for the opening of the largest and most immersive land, not just in Hollywood Studios but in Disney history, for years. With the exception of Toy Story Land’s opening last year, you may be forgiven that they have been ignoring their parks.
Far from it. An awful lot of investment has gone into improving the infrastructure. World Drive, Disneyworld’s main entrance and exit is a notorious traffic blackspot first thing in the mornings and at park closing times as tens of thousands of visitors try and get to their chosen park.
There has been massive traffic improvement works going on for the last couple of years to improve guest flow particularly because of the expected increase in traffic.
While all this work has been painful, with more entranceways and exit ramps into Disneyworld, traffic will be able to flow in all directions keeping everything moving and shortening your travel time. Even if you have no interest in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, this is one of the most important changes brought directly because of it.
Make Use Of My Disney Experience
My Disney Experience is the
What is My Disney Experience?
All U.K. bought tickets include My Disney Experience as standard. In short, it allows you to reserve a spot on select rides or book table reservations in certain restaurants in advance of your stay. Rides are grouped according to their popularity and new rides such as Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Star Wars Rise Of The Resistance will have their slots filled as soon as they become available.
How Does This Benefit Me?
Details haven’t been released yet but it’s very likely you will only be able to reserve a spot on one or other of the rides if they are available. This is exactly how Disney managed the opening of Avatar in
Knowing what you want to ride in advance, and sometimes, more importantly, what you don’t can save you hours of queueing in the park. You can read more information about My Disney Experience in our free 22-page planning booklet.
Improved Transport Options
The opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge has directly related to one of the biggest additions to Disneyworld Transportation in decades. To deal with the expected influx, Disney has been busy building a brand new cable car system linking EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Art Of Animation and Pop Century Resorts as well as Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney’s Riveria Resort if you are a Vacation Club member. The super-efficient Skyliner system is due to come online this summer. Guests staying in any of the above resorts will able to use the cable car to get to the parks. Alternately, you can park in EPCOT and get the cable car to Hollywood Studios from near the park entrance. This is particularly handy if you are thinking of seeing Illuminations after your day in Hollywood Studios. Disney is giving people a choice of transport options and that can only be a good thing with more and more people enjoying the parks every year.
The Skyliner will be by far the most efficient way to get from EPCOT to Hollywood Studios. If you prefer a more leisurely pace and don’t want to wait for a bus, it is possible to walk between parks in roughly 30 minutes. You can also take a lovely boat ride, although these will make stops at one or more hotel docks en route. If you want some time out make sure you stop by Disney’s Boardwalk for a great choice of restaurants and shops as well as the fabled ESPN Cafe.
Know The Park Before You Go
Easy to say but if you have never been how do you know what you can do? You need to research, and this is where we come in. You should know ahead of a visit, the more popular rides in your chosen park for the day. It is important to state that you are not tied to one park per day though. All Disney UK tickets allow park hopping as standard and that includes travel between them. Standard US tickets do not always allow park hopping privileges. If you want to Fastpass rides you only have 3 per day, not per park, and all three options must be in the same park on any given day.
Hollywood Studios already has Twilight Zone: Tower Of Terror, Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster, Toy Story Midway Mania and Slinky Dog Coaster. EPCOT has Test Trak and fan-favourites Sourin’ and Frozen Ever After.
The Bottom Line
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is going to be massive. There is no question of that. If you want to visit sooner rather than later you had better be prepared to wait. A lot. Yes, Star Wars will undoubtedly bring in more people to the parks for months if not years after it opens.
If you must visit when it opens, make sure you try to get a Fastpass for either of the attractions. The queue lines are going to be massive for months to come. If you aren’t fussed use your Fastpass reservations for other popular rides in other parks to maximise their
It all comes down to a little planning and
