WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios Discussion Thread

^ I'm still trying to figure out "the look" of that first (of the two) photos with the Imagineer working on something for the attraction. The edging of some of those pieces looks very interesting. And that fountain! Like ribbons of water, it's gushing out.

^ The entire ride was designed to give the rider the impression that they’re traveling into the 2D animated universe of Mickey. So even the fountain was designed to give the appearance of a 2D object from every possible angle. I’m really excited about this attraction and kinda bummed it got delayed until next spring. But next time I’m at Disney!

So it would appear that Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run opened to a 300 minute wait today at Walt Disney World and the land reservation system IS actually in place! If you are planning to go to Hollywood Studios this weekend, I would make sure you check the app to see if you have to get a reservation for the land or not...

^ Word on Twitter says they stopped using the reservation/virtual queue system at 5:30 PM as the crowds had died down considerably by then. So should be interesting to look at the MDE app to check wait times for the next few weeks before I go myself. Wonder if having such early extra magic hours will make everyone leave by 6:00 PM since that’s already a 12 hour park day? Nights would be preferable to early AM or afternoon IMO, but I’m just trying to make sure I get into the land

^ Word on Twitter says they stopped using the reservation/virtual queue system at 5:30 PM as the crowds had died down considerably by then. So should be interesting to look at the MDE app to check wait times for the next few weeks before I go myself. Wonder if having such early extra magic hours will make everyone leave by 6:00 PM since that’s already a 12 hour park day? Nights would be preferable to early AM or afternoon IMO, but I’m just trying to make sure I get into the land

Based on what I saw today I think you'll be fine. That land has a CRAZY amount of capacity when you think about the throughput of the ride and then all the other places people could be - in the shops, the restaurant, cantina, building a light saber, just wandering around, etc...

You can probably have 10,000 people in that land and it wouldn't feel like it.

I went to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge yesterday afternoon. Some thoughts:

The land is immersive to its detriment. Pretty much every retail / dining location is difficult to find because nothing is labeled / signed properly. Places like the Droid Depot for example - I could make out the fact that there were two words with five letters each in Aurebesh, so that made me think "droid depot". But they apparently went through such a huge effort to make a new Aurebesh-lookalike traditional font, and it's frustrating that they really don't use it much anywhere on the exteriors of buildings, with a few exceptions of course.

That being said it IS probably the most immersive theme park land I've ever set foot in and that's an incredible achievement. I know a lot of folks who worked creatively on the project and they deserve all the praise that the land is getting. The land wasn't shoulder-to-shoulder crowded but it certainly wasn't anywhere near empty either. I don't understand how Hollywood Studios' land could ever be considered a "failure" in that regard. It's getting a "typical" but consistent number of people.

Millennium Falcon Smugglers' Run had a posted wait of 70-80 minutes for the entire day but, wonderfully, it has a single rider line. I got on in less than fifteen minutes and was given the left-right steering pilot position.

That being said - Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run is possibly the worst video game I've ever played.

The controls are insanely sloppy, the screen is hard to see, and everything happens so fast you are never able to process what your objective is and how you achieve it. We had just had a quick break and immediately after I was called to power the ship back up we were chasing another transport ship but not anywhere near the correct position to do so. It took me at least ten seconds to process that and by the time I steered it back behind the ship the Falcon was already taking heavy damage from being smacked around.

(I may be slightly biased because less than six hours before, I was on my PC playing Celeste, a pixel-perfect platformer with the most precise controls in any game I've played.)

We got two of the power cells or whatever they were called in the end, and in terms of the ride's story, Hondo congratulated us, and even though we caused heavy damage to the ship we made a sizable profit. So from the ride's perspective, we got a "good" ending. But as soon as the cast members opened the door we were immediately ridiculed by them for causing heavy damage to the ship, and were given a "bad" ending, even though we scored enough points to make up for the damage. That's a really bad story inconsistency and they should really have more responses to different levels of success.

The ride system is pretty cool in that you can never really tell when the turntable is moving apart from the beginning and end, when you also see the same happening visually. Plus, it's an insane people eater and an engineering achievement. However, the need for a constant, clockwork loading / unloading sequence means that there is no time for you to be reminded of how the controls work and what you need to do, unlike in, say, Mission Space, because you basically start right away as soon as the door is closed behind you.

TLDR re: Smugglers Run - fun and interesting ride, engineering marvel, terrible video game, inconsistent storytelling.

TLDR re: Galaxy's Edge - incredible immersion to a fault, would gladly drop in again.

Also, I feel sorry for anyone who was paying over $40 for a white Kyber crystal on eBay, they had plenty of the whites and yellows on the shelf.

The controls are insanely sloppy, the screen is hard to see, and everything happens so fast you are never able to process what your objective is and how you achieve it. We had just had a quick break and immediately after I was called to power the ship back up we were chasing another transport ship but not anywhere near the correct position to do so. It took me at least ten seconds to process that and by the time I steered it back behind the ship the Falcon was already taking heavy damage from being smacked around.

I assume the WDW is the same as the DL one? We rode it twice and found the ride so much more enjoyable in the back seats as opposed to piloting. It doesn't seem like the controls do a whole lot, and so we felt our ride was improved when we didn't really touch any of the controls and just occasionally mashed random buttons. The plot was pretty incomprehensible to me, but I hadn't seen any of the Star Wars films beyond the first three from when I was a kid. I figured that land is catnip for hardcore Star Wars devotees, though.

The land is based on the sequel trilogy, but the ride itself is based around Hondo Ohnaka, a character from the cartoon series Clone Wars (between eps. 2 and 3) and Rebels (between eps. 3 and 4). Apparently the Hondo character is alive during the sequel trilogy, and the events that lead up to the ride's story are portrayed in a companion comic. It's the first time the character has been portrayed in a live-action setting.

Not a "fan" myself either, but I do keep up with various sci-fi series because I enjoy piecing the stories together.

Just a heads up, tons of reservations just opened for Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge.

A few weeks ago attempting to get one for October was so impossible that calling about it would probably make the cast member on the phone fight back laughter and getting one for February was only possible if Brit and I overlapped single reservations.

I just modified the February reservations to get two on one and got one for October too (and there were other times available). If you recently tried and failed, jump on the app now.

^ Oga's was great in DL, when we visited. The cocktails are pricey but that was a given, to us.

And it was noisy, as a bar like this should be. Hope you have a great time in the times you visit the place.

And then there's REX as your Cantina DJ, too! (o: (Oga's in DL, Sept.12/19)

It has been announced that new destinations will debut on December 20th, 2019, bringing guests to locations found in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. These new experiences will become to Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2019/10/here-we-go-again-exciting-updates-to-star-tours-the-adventures-continue/

Since the launch of Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, we’ve had a great time partnering with Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic to update the attraction with new and exciting destinations. Passengers who board the Starspeeder 1000 never know where in the galaxy their pilot C-3PO and navigator R2-D2 will take them. We’ve added flights to Jakku, Crait and even Batuu! Along the way, we’ve encountered many of our favorite characters from the Skywalker saga.

 

I know that many of you are as excited as I am about the December 20th film launch of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Today I’m equally excited to announce that on the same December date, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue will be adding new destinations inspired by the latest episode of the Star Wars saga … at Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney Resort.

 

In the trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, you caught glimpses of the ocean moon Kef Bir. All I can say at this point is that Starspeeders will be heading there soon!

 

 

We’ll be sharing more details in the future, but for now I just wanted to say how super-excited we are that Star Tours – The Adventures Continue is continuing to live up to its name. As C-3PO would say, “Here we go again!”

I can't wait for Rise of the Resistance. I think Finn is hot

First of all... Happy 91st Birthday Mickey! You don't look a day over....... 70?

In celebration of this, Disney decided to release a new poster (one of several,

it's reported) for the new Runaway Railway attraction, opening next year.

And within in, you can easily see the actual (?) ride vehicles being used for it.

And true to form, they seat three per row. Just like Ratatouille in Paris. And

probably for The Rat's ride at EPCOT's France pavilion.

I love the catchphrase, too. So if any fanbois complain about "no continuity

to the attraction"... they'll probably have to speak to The Mouse, himself.

"Where Mouse Rules Apply" indeed!

"And they're waterproof, too!" (o;

A second new poster has been released by Disney for Runaway Railway. I find it interesting that so far, neither of the two posters are showing any scenes that are actually a part of the attraction's ride. Or....maybe there is more to this, hmmm?

With this one, they have the Opening Date on it. (o:

I thing it's really odd looking to have photo realistic people in a stylized attraction poster. I do understand, that might be the point.. real people in a cartoon world. It's just jarring for some reason.

Look at this Big Thunder Poster. I think it would look much better to have people drawn into the poster.

^ They also changed the vehicle size in this second poster, too. What was like the Ratatouille vehicles (2 rows; 3 across) in the first poster above, this one shows the cars with only two people per row, 2 rows per vehicle.

Like a coaster train.

I like this way of showing the attraction, with actual people on the poster. It's different, and yes, it does show "real people in a cartoon world." Works for me.

Rise of the Resistance has TWO DIFFERENT SIDES! Watch our onride POV video that features BOTH RIDE PATHS!!!

Holy crap, that looks cool! I didn't want to watch a POV, but it's going to be April of 2021 before I get there anyway. I like the 2 different experiences. The effect of the light saber cutting through the roof in that one scene is incredible.

The outdoor ending! Awesome surprise!

Just judging from the pov this has to at least be in the discussion for best theme park ride on the planet right?

"Of The Decade" maybe?

Is it like Symbolica at Efteling where you can choose your side or is it random?

It is going to take all my will power not to watch that video and spoil it for myself, but it sounds incredible.

Sweet lawd baby jesus...

Is it like Symbolica at Efteling where you can choose your side or is it random?

 

It is going to take all my will power not to watch that video and spoil it for myself, but it sounds incredible.

You can request sides and cars, it is not random which you get.

Thanks!