Disney's Star Wars Land Isn't Drawing Crowds

If there is one element of the Disney parks that people have been talking about lately, it’s Star Wars: Galaxy Edge, which is the name of the Star Wars-themed lands in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. After Disney purchased the rights to Star Wars in 2012, the company soon announced that they would eventually create Star Wars-themed sections of their theme parks.

Given that Star Wars is one of the most popular media franchises of all time,  hype for this theme park addition was intense. Yet, the Disney parks have not gotten as much mileage out of Star Wars as they anticipated.

High hopes

Many anticipated that the two nearly identical versions of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would attract gargantuan crowds. This hasn’t been the case. According to Touring Plans, a site which tracks the wait times at Disney rides, overall attendance at Disneyland has gone down since Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened. The website’s president, Len Testa, predicted that attendance at the park would increase by ten to twenty percent in recent months, so the news that attendance has gone down is a major surprise.

The version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge found at Walt Disney World has not fared much better. Bill Zanetti, a founding member of the University of Central Florida’s Entertainment Management Advisory Board, expected that the opening of the land would attract a hundred thousand visitors. This did not happen. In fact, attendance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Disney World Park that includes Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, has not been very high lately.

Why?

What does this mean?  Has the public become less interested in Star Wars, Disney, or theme parks? According to the website Orlando Rising, there is no one reason why the Star Wars addition to the Disney parks have failed to attract numerous visitors. The hype surrounding Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge may have dissuaded potential visitors from coming to see it; after all, no one likes to wait in incredibly long lines, especially not when they’re on vacation.

Because of this, many potential guests have decided to wait to book their tickets to the parks so that they don’t have to deal with overcrowding. Zanetti also felt that Disney alienated some fans by basing their attractions primarily on the 2010s Star Wars films; he felt that Disney would have been wise to embrace nostalgia and incorporate more references to the original trilogy in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Zanetti also felt that Disney made several other strange decisions. He felt that the company made a poor decision by getting rid of 90% of their live entertainment in favor of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Although Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is not currently as popular as it was expected to be, there are many silver linings to the story. Guests who have been there haven’t had to deal with technical glitches, which are common during the openings of new theme park rides.

Perhaps Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could see an uptick in attendance in the coming months, as so many Star Wars fans decided not to visit the park right away. Now that many fans know that the park is not overcrowded, it could lead to more people booking their tickets to a galaxy far, far away.

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