Rumor: Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Failing at Both Disney World and Disneyland – Disney “Desperate” For Attendance
A new rumor from alleged insiders indicate that Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme parks are failing at both Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim.
The rumor comes from WDW Pro on the WDW Magic Forums. WDW Pro details that Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge continues to have bad attendance in Disneyland. In fact, they report that Slinky Dog and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster are outperforming Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. Not only is attendance at Disneyland still struggling but construction problems for Rise of the Resistance might force Orlando to delay their opening for Rise of the Resistance. With the construction problems comes ballooning costs.
WDW Pro writes:
“Latest word I have from a few days ago is that TDO is now expecting to have to announce a delay for the opening, but they’re holding off on the announcement so as to not damage potential holiday resort bookings. Things continue to go poorly at both construction sites, the budget continues to balloon beyond requirements, and TDA is frankly in freak-out mode because September attendance is continuing to be abysmal even with APs unlocked. DHS data is beginning to settle in, and MFSR is regularly being outperformed in riders and queue times by Slinky Dog AND RnRC after 1:00 pm.”
WDW Pro predicts Rise of the Resistance will most likely open on December 14th instead of the announced December 5th opening for Rise of the Resistance. They also indicate that the flooring for Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland were completely redone in order to replace the ground sensors.
“You might want to check with that source… DLR floors were completely destroyed to redo the in ground sensors.
As for the new likely DHS opening, I’ve heard 12/14 is currently best case scenario.”
Another insider, SWGalaxysEdge, indicated the initial issues with the ride at Disneyland were problems with the WiFi. They do indicate that Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando “was plagued from the start with building issues – pieces in the wrong spots, flooding because scruppers were not installed either in time or at all, before major Florida rains came and wiped out $$$ of computer equipment, mold issues because of the water damage, whole crews/companies being fired and new ones coming in to basically start over.”
As reported by Pirates and Princesses, Pete Werner the co-owner of Dreams Unlimited Travel detailed that “something is up” at Disney. Werner states, “I will tell you something’s up. Something is up. I can not say definitively if we have reached that tipping point. But there are things that are happening that are unusual. For example, we had, I believe, the single largest price increase for annual passes just recently prior to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening.” (Related: Report: Disneyland’s Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Employees See Hours Cut as Attendance Doesn’t Meet Disney’s Expectations)
Werner adds, “I will tell you that package sales to Walt Disney World are down significantly. I will tell you anecdotally that traffic in the parks is lower than we’ve seen it in awhile. I will tell you based on the last quarter’s earnings report from Disney, they acknowledged that traffic over the summer: down.”
Werner continues” They are running discounts out in California that I’ve never seen. They are desperate to get people into the parks. The crowds are so good here right now, they just lifted all of the cast blackouts in September from September 9th on. All cast block outs for Hollywood Studios have been lifted.” Cast blackouts are typically put in place to prevent Disney employees from clogging up the parks. With the blackouts being removed it more than likely means attendance is very light.
ClownFish TV breaks it down.
Disney has admitted their attendance at Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland was lower than expected. (Related: Disney CEO Bob Iger Confirms Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Attendance Lower Than Expected)
Disney Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy confirmed the lower than expected attendance:
“I just want to put more granularity on the Disney Land results for the quarter. As I said, the attendance was down 3% but the paid attendance was up in the quarter and that lower attendance was primarily driven by the annual pass holder visitation and when we look at the, the per cap spend across Disneyland all categories, they were up significantly year-over-year.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger also confirmed attendance was down for Galaxy’s Edge after he listed a number of factors he believes caused the low attendance such as the lack of Rise of the Resistance and increased costs.
“And so all of those factors contributed to attendance that was below what we would have hoped it would be.”
What do you make of the rumors that Galaxy’s Edge is struggling at both Disneyland and Disney World? What about the report that Disney is “desperate” for attendance at both parks?
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