Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

[Brian G.]

Had my first visit in over 4 years so just gonna post some quick bullet points:

• Falcon is fine. The group you're with definitely helps your experience. I was one of the pilots and the steering seemed off... My co-pilot agreed.
• Rise was great. Canons still don't work but it's one of the best theme park experiences anywhere.
• Oga's sucks. It's not worth the headache for pre-mixed drinks in an overcrowded setting. They need to remedy this. I would be pissed if I wasn't a local who made rezzies to get the experience we did. Cramming random parties together ain't it.
• We saw a lot of New Trilogy characters, bot no Mando. We had a first-timer with us who was kinda upset there weren't other characters from the entire series.
• We did the lightsaber experience (I was a guest) and thought it was pretty great - but that price is a VERY tough pill to swallow. Still may get one next time...
• Ronto Wraps slap.

 

[Skold]

I've heard that before and have been trying to make a point not to say it but its the southern in me. Its more of a way to say Legit or No Cap or true true or fact or dude or whatever the cool kids are saying now-a-days, so I appreciate the encouragement.

Hey man, I get it, I live in Athens GA.

Just having a little fun with a fellow long-time poster.

 

[Mad Dog]

Had my first visit in over 4 years so just gotta to some quick bullet points:

• Falcon is fine. The group you're with definitely helps your experience. I was one of the pilots and the steering seemed off... My co-pilot agreed.
• Rise was great. Canons still don't work but it's one of the best theme park experiences anywhere.
• Oga's sucks. It's not worth the headache for pre-mixed drinks in an overcrowded setting. They need to remedy this. I would be pissed if I wasn't a local who made rezzies to get the experience we did. Cramming random parties together ain't it.
• We saw a lot of New Trilogy characters, bot no Mando. We had a first-timer with us who was kinda upset there weren't other characters from the entire series.
• We did the lightsaber experience (I was a guest) and thought it was pretty great - but that price is a VERY tough pill to swallow. Still may get one next time...
• Ronto Wraps slap.

Yes, ROTR Best Attraction ever. The pre shows/pre-rides, which are better than most rides, really make this a great experience. The actual ride is fine, but it wouldn't be the best ever on it's own. Kind of how the queue and pre shows elevate Forbidden Journey, but to even a greater degree. MF is a good attraction, but I 'd rather have a space fight scene than the salvage operation on screen. But, I've enjoyed it from day one, even though most of the fan community rejected it. I don't do the building stuff experiences. I'm not that big of a fan to spend that much money for that stuff. I like the land, but I enjoyed it more the first year it opened than last year. It doesn't hold interest over time as well as Diagon or Hogsmeade. It got old to me, quickly, though I love the rides. One problem is the music, or relative lack of. I find the Star Tours entrance area actually feels more SW immersive than the GESWL, and the lack of that stirring music is part of that. And the Batuu setting . and lack of the beloved characters, seems to be a major misstep. Our Pittsburgh Irish Festival is held next to the rusting Rankin Mill blast furnaces historical landmark. Every time we attend the Festival I point out to others that it looks exactly like GESWL at Disney. Not just a little, but exactly. Sorry, but touring rusting steel mills are not something I want to do in a theme park .

 

[belloq87]

• Oga's sucks. It's not worth the headache for pre-mixed drinks in an overcrowded setting. They need to remedy this. I would be pissed if I wasn't a local who made rezzies to get the experience we did. Cramming random parties together ain't it.

I've only been to Oga's twice, once in Hollywood Studios (where I was part of a group of six), and once in Disneyland (where I was part of a group of three).

In Hollywood Studios, we got a booth to ourselves, but in Disneyland, we were shoved into a booth with another group of four, and it was one of the most awkward experiences I've ever encountered in a theme park. I'm good enough at making small talk with strangers, but I don't particularly like it, and anybody with more introverted/socially-anxious tendencies probably finds it kind of nightmarish.

 

[Brian G.]

I've only been to Oga's twice, once in Hollywood Studios (where I was part of a group of six), and once in Disneyland (where I was part of a group of three).

In Hollywood Studios, we got a booth to ourselves, but in Disneyland, we were shoved into a booth with another group of four, and it was one of the most awkward experiences I've ever encountered in a theme park. I'm good enough at making small talk with strangers, but I don't particularly like it, and anybody with more introverted/socially-anxious tendencies probably finds it kind of nightmarish.

Yeah - we were (party of 6) shoved at a standing table with a couple, and some of our group is on the larger side - so it made for a tighter squeeze. We had some breathing room when they left for a bit until they tried to squeeze in a party of 3 next. We just paid the bill and left.

We saw a few other parties complain about joining others, too. Seems like the CMs kinda implied “tough doodoo”. I looked on the website and it doesn’t say anything about potentially sitting with other parties.

 

[belloq87]

I haven't seen the blueprints or an overhead view of Oga's' location, but it would be nice if there was space to knock one of the walls down and create another room.

 

[Alicia]

I haven't seen the blueprints or an overhead view of Oga's' location, but it would be nice if there was space to knock one of the walls down and create another room.

There’s literally enough adjoining room to add a full service restaurant. This was always only intended to be a small bar connected to the larger dining location we unfortunately never got.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

There’s literally enough adjoining room to add a full service restaurant. This was always only intended to be a small bar connected to the larger dining location we unfortunately never got.

Just a baffling decision, especially now that the hotel is down, bring those dinner options to the park. The parks could always use a little more unique dining options, especially DHS out of all the WDW parks.

 

[MrRoamer]

Had my first visit in over 4 years so just gonna post some quick bullet points:

• Falcon is fine. The group you're with definitely helps your experience. I was one of the pilots and the steering seemed off... My co-pilot agreed.
• Rise was great. Canons still don't work but it's one of the best theme park experiences anywhere.
• Oga's sucks. It's not worth the headache for pre-mixed drinks in an overcrowded setting. They need to remedy this. I would be pissed if I wasn't a local who made rezzies to get the experience we did. Cramming random parties together ain't it.
• We saw a lot of New Trilogy characters, bot no Mando. We had a first-timer with us who was kinda upset there weren't other characters from the entire series.
• We did the lightsaber experience (I was a guest) and thought it was pretty great - but that price is a VERY tough pill to swallow. Still may get one next time...
• Ronto Wraps slap.

100% agree with everything you said except the lightsaber since I haven't done it yet.

Biggest points I think you have here is it is amazing how bad they managed to screw up Oga's, that should have been a slam dunk for them. We've been twice and I don't think I can think of a less pleasurable place to be especially with Tap House right around the corner

They really need a Mythos style sign saying how dang good Ronto Wraps are, they have 0 business being as good as they are

 

[GA-MBIT]

They really need a Mythos style sign saying how dang good Ronto Wraps are, they have 0 business being as good as they are

Most times that I've been, Ronto's is closed.

---

I get the reasoning for the lack of BGM in the land, to add to the impact of Rise and all. But I think the minimum 45 minute wait for that ride in the boring sand caves does the job just fine (I love the Rise queue fyi). I think some basic John Williams score or Star Wars-y motifs could really make this area feel less dead to me.

The whirring of Spaceships is neat, but mostly just makes me think about the drones they used for one day and threw in a storage container for the Archives. How cool would a Star Wars Nighttime Spectacular be with 3-4 TIE/X-Wing Drones and the Starcruiser Kylo VS Rey battle? I feel like compared to most of the other Nighttime Spectaculars they do, that would be relatively simple. It's not like they don't do multiple Spectaculars already, they swap the projection map nighttime show on the Chinese Theatre every season or so.

 

[IzzyB]

Had my first visit in over 4 years so just gonna post some quick bullet points:

• Falcon is fine. The group you're with definitely helps your experience. I was one of the pilots and the steering seemed off... My co-pilot agreed.
• Rise was great. Canons still don't work but it's one of the best theme park experiences anywhere.
• Oga's sucks. It's not worth the headache for pre-mixed drinks in an overcrowded setting. They need to remedy this. I would be pissed if I wasn't a local who made rezzies to get the experience we did. Cramming random parties together ain't it.
• We saw a lot of New Trilogy characters, bot no Mando. We had a first-timer with us who was kinda upset there weren't other characters from the entire series.
• We did the lightsaber experience (I was a guest) and thought it was pretty great - but that price is a VERY tough pill to swallow. Still may get one next time...
• Ronto Wraps slap.

We did Oga early on and it was PACKED and I was not a fan of being shoved with others. I have to say when we went during Covid protocols it was such a nice experience. They could have a huge win here if they expanded it and stopped shoving people together. Because it was an amazing experience when it was way less crowded.

 

[Skipper Justin]

I've only been to Oga's twice, once in Hollywood Studios (where I was part of a group of six), and once in Disneyland (where I was part of a group of three).

In Hollywood Studios, we got a booth to ourselves, but in Disneyland, we were shoved into a booth with another group of four, and it was one of the most awkward experiences I've ever encountered in a theme park. I'm good enough at making small talk with strangers, but I don't particularly like it, and anybody with more introverted/socially-anxious tendencies probably finds it kind of nightmarish.

I also agree. We went twice our last trip as a party of two and a party of four. Two was okay but we were sat with a family and it was awkward. The second time we were sat with a party and they complained the whole time about other people joining, yelled at the staff, and spilled a full beer on my mom’s pants. I think I’m done. The drinks were and have always been mediocre. I will miss R3x.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Yeah, I'd just imagine Disney would prefer to have an equal nighttime offering on the side of the park with $249 lightsaber experiences and $18 profitable drinks lol

UOR has maybe one exclusive night that is limited and the bulk of their AP offerings end up being unique snacks or beverages that are fairly uninteresting lol

I like you get the AP at every food place - even the carts. At Disney I was told the discount wasn't available at a full service restaurant. Coupled with a few nice perks (special areas for parade viewing, exclusive merchandise and sometimes even "secret AP menus") I think the perks at UOR are aimed at experience while WDW is how little they can give and still seem like you're getting something

 

[SeventyOne]

Yeah - we were (party of 6) shoved at a standing table with a couple, and some of our group is on the larger side - so it made for a tighter squeeze. We had some breathing room when they left for a bit until they tried to squeeze in a party of 3 next. We just paid the bill and left.

We saw a few other parties complain about joining others, too. Seems like the CMs kinda implied “tough doodoo”. I looked on the website and it doesn’t say anything about potentially sitting with other parties.

As I said after Jock's added literal milk & cookies to its holiday menu -- not some boozed-up version, just straight-up kid-friendly milk & cookies -- sometime in the decade after Pleasure Island closed, Imagineering lost all institutional understanding of what a bar is.

The communal seating thing started with Grog Grotto and its surfboard table, to a point they used to warn people checking in you may be seated with others because they clearly had a lot of complaints, but aspects of it seemed to seep into every WDW bar built since.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I like you get the AP at every food place - even the carts. At Disney I was told the discount wasn't available at a full service restaurant. Coupled with a few nice perks (special areas for parade viewing, exclusive merchandise and sometimes even "secret AP menus") I think the perks at UOR are aimed at experience while WDW is how little they can give and still seem like you're getting something

I appreciate the F&B discounts at Universal, but the quality just isn't there for me and their pricing is far higher than at WDW's. Parade viewing at UOR is never a problem, and the AP section is always packed to the brim when just across the street is empty lol.

As I said after Jock's added literal milk & cookies to its holiday menu -- not some boozed-up version, just straight-up kid-friendly milk & cookies -- sometime in the decade after Pleasure Island closed, Imagineering lost all institutional understanding of what a bar is.

The communal seating thing started with Grog Grotto and its surfboard table, to a point they used to warn people checking in you may be seated with others because they clearly had a lot of complaints, but aspects of it seemed to seep into every WDW bar built since.

Unfortunate side affect of not building additional capacity to accommodate the "Disney Adult" crowd. The last 5-10 years has seen an increase in young adults visiting the parks with a significant attraction being the themed bars/beverages. After seeing the success of Oga's/Trader Sams, it boggles my mind how they've avoided expanding the idea throughout the parks (same with Universal). There's a significant interest in themed bars with unique cocktails where you can hang out, they just need to figure out how to expand on the concept throughout their parks.

A Haunted Mansion bar, Hollywood Tower Tip Top Club, Muppet Lab Bar, etc., would be packed houses everyday.

*I don't mean Disney Adult in a condescending way, I am one lol

 

[OLSinFLA]

I appreciate the F&B discounts at Universal, but the quality just isn't there for me and their pricing is far higher than at WDW's. Parade viewing at UOR is never a problem, and the AP section is always packed to the brim when just across the street is empty lol.


Unfortunate side affect of not building additional capacity to accommodate the "Disney Adult" crowd. The last 5-10 years has seen an increase in young adults visiting the parks with a significant attraction being the themed bars/beverages. After seeing the success of Oga's/Trader Sams, it boggles my mind how they've avoided expanding the idea throughout the parks (same with Universal). There's a significant interest in themed bars with unique cocktails where you can hang out, they just need to figure out how to expand on the concept throughout their parks.

A Haunted Mansion bar, Hollywood Tower Tip Top Club, Muppet Lab Bar, etc., would be packed houses everyday.

*I don't mean Disney Adult in a condescending way, I am one lol

Never found Universal to be more expensive. And saying parade viewing is never a problem? Try a Saturday night during Mardi Gras.

 

[Mad Dog]

There's some tremendous Universal AP hotel rates for most of May.

 

[fryoj]

On Oga's we got seated at the bar both times and it wasn't bad. 2nd time was close to the end of the night and the crowd thinned out some and was a good experience. If we'd have been at a table with another group, I doubt it would have been as fun.

 

[MrRoamer]

There's some tremendous Universal AP hotel rates for most of May.

Sorry we're jacking up the thread here, but could you do me a favor and tell me what dates you're looking at?

 

[Mad Dog]

Sorry we're jacking up the thread here, but could you do me a favor and tell me what dates you're looking at?

Just about the entire month except for the days near Memorial Day....CBBR, Dockside, Surfside & Portofino.