Disneyland has officially opened Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge to the public. And the good news is that the wait times to get in for hopeful fans are not going to be as excruciating as originally expected, even as demand for the new expansion is nothing shy of feverish. On its opening day earlier this week, the new wing at the beloved amusement park hit capacity in under an hour.
According to official sources at Disney, guests were allowed to walk into Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge when the park opening, with this new Star Wars land opening a little earlier than the rest of the park. Though Galaxy's Edge reached its capacity about an hour later, Disneyland began issuing boarding passes. The first boarding group was almost immediately called back to be let into the land. The boarding groups are handed out as needed moving forward. And Disney Park officials anticipate that every guest who requests a boarding pass will get in to see the land on the day they visit the park.
As for the new Millennium Falcon ride, though the line was long at the opening of the park, it almost immediately went back to an average wait time of about an hour. Like all of the Disney Parks attractions, the wait time can fluctuate. Disneyland actually opened Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at 7:30 A.M. to help with the first day crowds. By 8:20, the new area had hit its capacity. Disney hasn't revealed precisely what the capacity number is for their high-dollar expansion. While no more walk-ups were allowed Galaxy's Edge was full, those who weren't able to get in right as soon as the gates lifted were able to turn to their Disneyland app, where they could be granted an entrance time in a "virtual queue." All who got a boarding pass eventually made it into the park, with those in charge making sure everything ran smoothly.
Even those lucky enough to gain access to the park right at opening were seemingly met with exceptionally long wait times. The Millennium Falcon ride, Smuggler's Run, had a wait time of three hours, per the Disneyland app, before capacity was even hit. That wait time went down to a much more reasonable 40 minutes as the day progressed though. For now, that is the only ride open at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Another ambitious attraction called Rise of the Resistance is scheduled to open later this year. Overall, people taking to social media seem to agree things are running quite smoothly.
Disneyland previously allowed certain park goers to access the new expansion set within a galaxy far, far away starting on May 31. At that time, a reservation was required, so it wasn't open to the general public. As such, we didn't really have a true sense of how great demand was going to be, though it was clear this wasn't going to be some run-of-the-mill unveiling of a new attraction. Disney went all out, spending an estimated $1 billion on the 14-acre Star Wars land. It includes themed restaurants, ships, in-character performers, a build-your-own lightsaber shop and much more. Fans can even drink a glass of blue milk.
It's expected that the large crowds will continue on for some time. Meanwhile, Disney has also started work on a Marvel expansion at their California Adventure theme park, which will take the place of A Bug's Land. Maybe that will help to ease some of the congestion once it opens? Or maybe that will just be inviting another fandom into the mix to further complicate things. For those brave enough to fight the crowds, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge its now open and it really doesn't sound that inconvenient or bad. It actually sounds like a typical day at Disneyland. This news comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter.