Robert Iger: Star Wars to open at DLR in June (?)

I think June has been mentioned before as the likely month (at least I think I read or heard that somewhere)

That would've been the month I would've guessed anyway (Carsland had a June opening). I'm sure there's probably going to be a different system in place, but most of the AP's are blocked out by mid June as well,
so if they are on target, then a mid / end of June date was the most likely time frame.

This is just official confirmation of what most rumors have been saying for the past year or so. Latest I've heard is that the target is early June, with a week or two of previews (aka upcharge events) beforehand to make sure everything is working reasonably smoothly on opening day.

What's interesting is that Disney has been giving lots of clear indications of when the Disneyland version of Galaxy's Edge will open without coming out with a formal announcement, but has been extremely hush hush about the DHS installation. What is going on in Florida?

Disney can leak like a sieve in California, where the majority of visitors are locals and no one's going to get too worked up about a project missing its leaked opening date by a week or two.

But in Orlando, filled with out-of-towners who booked visits in advance, any delay means a huge queue of people complaining that they wasted their vacation. If I were running Disney, I would be much more risk averse about revealing any dates for projects in Florida.

I am very curious as to how they intend to integrate the FP and FP+ into GE into each land from DL and DHS. That nterests me greatly. On another matter, I had the joy of experiencing the Void that Disney had a hand in perfecting. That was ... amazing. If they are going to charge a premium at the hotel, they should find a way to work something like that into the experience.

@JC - I am too. I thought maybe PtWoA might provide some clues as to how Disney might use FP+ to manage crowds, but is seems as though they didn't really change much, and simply allowed lines to spool around the park and through the land. The one aspect of crowd management I did notice is that DAK forced guests to enter PtWoA through a single entrance (bridge by Tiffins) during peak morning hours even though there is a second entrance to the land over by the Festival of the Lion King theater. Galaxy's Edge will have 3 entrances in California and presumably 2 entrances in Florida, so will Disney similarly force guests to enter the lands through a single entrance? While Disneyland's version allows for a nice flow from one end of the land (by the Fantasyland theater) to the other (by BTMRR), the DHS version of the land is more of a dead end with the Millennium Falcon attraction in the back corner of the park (unless of course that is where Star Wars Hotel guests will enter/exit).

Universal took a similar tact when Hogsmeade opened despite having a nice flow-through design to the land with access by Jurassic Park and the Lost Continent. However, the biggest issue with these debuts is that Disneyland uses a completely different system from WDW, so what we see happen in California may not necessarily find its way to Florida. Also, since DL only allows attraction reservations on the day of your visit, they will likely need to have extra measures to limit the number of guests physically entering the land similar to what Universal did with WWoHP. If Disney wants to be bold, they could force guests to purchase MaxPass and make attraction/land reservations before entering, preventing guests from entering Galaxy's Edge just to grab a paper FP for the attractions (or perhaps they'll station FP machines at the front of the park or entrance to the land instead of at the actual attractions like they do for RSR and World of Color). Given Disney's posture of late to monetize everything they can, I predict they will require MaxPass just to enter Galaxy's Edge, which is unfortunate for those that are technologically challenged/resistant, or simply don't want to pay an extra $15 to see the new land.

At WDW, Disney can make it a bit simpler by only allowing guests with FP+ reservation into the land, preventing overcrowding. However, such a move is likely to create a lot of frustration and anger among guests who don't like or aren't competent in using FP+.

Whatever they do, I think Disney needs to be very clear in how guests will access the land long before it opens. I wouldn't say UO lost fans with the way they handled WWoHP, but I think they could have done even better if they had communicated the expectations and procedures ahead of time. Galaxy's Edge is going to be a HUGE hit, but I think if Disney handles the crowds well through clear communication and common sense procedures, the land will be even better.

I think whatever 'system' they have in place there is always going to be a whole bunch or people who just turn up without any prior visit research and will get frustrated. I will be visiting DL on Mon 18th & Tue 19th November - hopefully the crowds will have died down just a little by then? :-)

What happened to WDW being 3 months behind DL with construction? Wouldn't a June opening at DL predict a September opening at WDW, instead of a fall opening?

At DHS, it`s pretty obvious what they will do with FP+. The new Star Wars rides, and Mickey and Minnie`s Runaway Railway, will be Tier One. Everything else, even Slinky Dog, will be Tier 2. Tough choices, but it`ll be great to choose two Toy Story Land rides for every visit.