Galaxy's Edge Performance and Evolution Discussion

[sponica]

Nice! I got for Friday - Thurs was just tough with the kids schedules - but only one day to avoid spoilers!

We're going Saturday morning...I have a 3 year old who is easier to pawn off on the grandparents for a midday lunch.

At least the ticket servers didn't crash and give us a repeat of #ThanksThanos we experienced during endgame.

 

[yulilin3]

So my caveat on my reply is I haven't been there yet so please correct me if my cons are based on unfair impression.

I think one of the cons is there seems to be no "plothook" to get others into the story. You can have "experiences" if you have the money or pretend to be in the need of a job as to why you're at Hondo's Transport Solutions. But there's no prompt to help those who might not know where to get started. You're just expected to throw yourself in and have a good time. I think the roleplaying aspect is lost on a lot of attendees and for those who don't really have any experience (even when they're open to it) are going to have difficulty getting into that element.

I have experience roleplaying (D&D, Star Wars Tabletop, LARP) and my reading about the land doesn't require me to have those prompts. But me being able to create my own story comes in part from a personal experience I imagine the majority of attendees don't have. Someone on another thread mentioned creating your own character at kiosks. I think Disney Parks might be a bit too crowded to do that (might work in the DL version, not sure?). But that could be a feature of the Play Disney Parks app. Make your own Star Wars ID, make notes about your character, etc. There could even be prompts to help those develop a character (bullet points about personality, reason for visit, etc.). Just anything to help attendees make the most of their experience who really want to immerse themselves but no idea where to start.

In addition, I've mentioned I like the idea of the living shows a previous poster mentioned. Batuu should have some feelings of tension with both Resistance and First Order having a presence there. While direct audience participation would be impractical for several reasons, they should be "witness" to these "historical" events. I know I've presented the argument that I've been a proponent of the "Create your own story". I've since realized I mean to say "Open yourself to new experiences and new stories". I can have my own non-canon side story, but I also think it would be cool to get to witness a new canon story unique to that land.

This type of theme park experience is new at Disney. It's the first time a land has been offered this way. Like I've said before you don't need to know anything about SW if you just want to go in, look around, have some food and just ride the Falcon. The land lends itself to the regular Disney visit in that sense and parkgoers will enjoy it just as much as visiting Pandora or Fantasyland or Dinoland USA. It's a land, it's not meant to be an all day experience it's part of DHS, an additional offering to your DHS day.

Now as for the "getting into the story" factor, this will require the regular Disney guest to interact. A simple "hello" to a Batuuan CM that is not busy on the job should prompt a conversation. When I say "be open" I mean talk to them, ask them where they are from, why are they working at BSO...

For those who don't follow boards like these, have not done any research at all, stepping into Batuu they should see First Order troopers patrolling, asking questions "have you seen a rebel spy?" " have you pledged your allegiance to the First Order?" they should also see Rey or Chewie or Vi hiding from First Order troopers, maybe they are engaging guests to help them out "do you want to help the resistance?" "help me scout this area"....and to add to this when the First Order troopers are walking around the Batuuans will either act hesitant (covering their faces or maybe even hiding a bit) or all for them. On one visit a Batuuan CM from the first order store came out and yelled to no one in particular "the first order is bringing peace to BSO, we should embrace them" On another visit I actually lost my phone on the Falcon and while I was waiting for it to be retrieved from the pod the Batuuan CM was telling me "Hondo is a good guy, deep deep inside. He probably found your datapad and is willing to return it...but maybe he'll ask for some credits in return"

Obviously more of this will be better and a sort of staged show would help in that sense.

The datapad should be advertised better as well. So many don't know about it and it is a very easy and common way to interact with the land using something everyone uses on a daily basis.

I visit the land almost once a week and can say that yes, September was dead, but it was everywhere not just SWGE, but crowds are picking up, the lines for things continue to be there, so the regular Disney visitor is visiting and the SW fan will visit when they can. Coming to Disney is not the same as going to SW Celebration, it costs way way more money, so for most SW fans the experience might not be in their cards or they are saving for it

And of course we have an entire different group of "SW fans" that just hate everything about Disney/SW and will do their best to put it down with no logic to it

 

[tlmadden73]

In addition, I've mentioned I like the idea of the living shows a previous poster mentioned. Batuu should have some feelings of tension with both Resistance and First Order having a presence there. While direct audience participation would be impractical for several reasons, they should be "witness" to these "historical" events. I know I've presented the argument that I've been a proponent of the "Create your own story". I've since realized I mean to say "Open yourself to new experiences and new stories". I can have my own non-canon side story, but I also think it would be cool to get to witness a new canon story unique to that land.

My hope is they held back on some of these story shows, not out of budget concerns,but out of fears for overcrowding. Maybe once Rise opens and the land is FULLY operational they will have those. They definitely have the stage areas built for such shows. I know they do a mini-show when Kylo arrives. I missed it, but I think regular shows on these stages would go a long way and give guests something else to do/see in the land. But more plot based than say the drum show or the walker show they have in Pandora.

But the Stormtroopers do a good job of showing that tension in the land as they are CONSTANTLY patrolling and harassing guests. They question guests and CMs hanging out at Savis and asking random people if they have seen the Resistance. My family had two great interactions with the characters:
1) My son (wearing a First Order hat) was approached by two Stormtrooopers who told him sternly to wait here and then brought him to Kylo for questioning. Kylo asked him if he knew where the Resistance was. My son, frozen by fear, managed to get out a shrug and Kylo was very angry with his Stormtroopers for finding him such an unreliable source. My son spent the rest of the morning LITERALLY hiding from the Stormtroopers (behind trash cans, refusing to wear his hat, ducking down other passages) as he didnt want to be questioned again.Poor guy ..but made for a memorable moment.

2) Vi approached my little daughter in stroller and was talking to her and my wife. They had a great interaction, talking about what they were doing on planet and such - talking and playing with my daughter. , My wife asked her questions about herself. It was brief because a random guest, who thought he was being funny, hollered SHE IS OVER HERE! and Vi, in character, told them she had to run and ran off to hide somewhere.

I hope they keep up that level of interaction.

 

[hertamaniac]

As for the cost of the Light Sabers and Droids, can you imagine if these experiences cost $29.99? They needed to price it to meet demand. If the demand declines, the prices will, too.

Yep, but as another poster said they will likely try to nest the price reduction into a discount for AP/DVC at first. I'll wait about 1 year to see if this holds true.

I am an older Star Wars fan who grew up in the 70's - originally trilogy movies are my thing. But I am keeping an open mind and looking forward to visiting Batuu.

Same boat as I don't know some of these "new" characters in Batuu. I just don't have the burning desire I was anticipating to visit and I'm local to WDW.

 

[monkyby87]

@yulilin3 pretty much summed up everything very well. As for crowds, yes things were slower than one might have expected in September, but I also think Disney handled the crowds they did have very well, by not having FP+ and having the EEMH. I think it really helped spread around the crowds and keep the whole land manageable. Some people looking to be negative towards the park jumped on the lower crowds without explanation. I certainly think some things could be improved and added to enhance the experience...but I could also say that about literally every other Disney offering. I enjoy what SW:GE offers and look forward to visiting every chance I get.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Yep, but as another poster said they will likely try to nest the price reduction into a discount for AP/DVC at first. I'll wait about 1 year to see if this holds true.

Prior to discounting sabers, Disney will reduce the number of Savi rooms to cut the equity actors as the actors are the priciest Entertainment CMs. Then they’ll move to reducing the number of actual sessions so they aren’t running half-full ~ later start for first session and the sessions will end earlier in the evening.

If those measures don’t effect an overall cost savings versus sabers sold, then they’ll reduce the price.

 

[tlmadden73]

The datapad should be advertised better as well. So many don't know about it and it is a very easy and common way to interact with the land using something everyone uses on a daily basis.

The datapad was not fully operational when I went (preview), but looking through it - it does seem fun. Very similar to Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom --- but like that game, I feel I need to devote an hour or two of time JUST doing that -- which is hard to find. Plus it seems better suited for small groups (like a family of four, or just parent and child). We tried to use it on a few occassions (like during the MFSR queue or translating some words), just somewhat cumbersome and slow to use while in a busy theme park with lots to do.

Our last trip we played Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom for the first time. My son loved it and we just did one area of fights (Adventureland) .. but we specifically made time to do that - (which made it a very relaxing morning!)

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

@yulilin3 @tlmadden73

I suppose maybe an issue is a lot of guests might not be getting that interaction. How much of that is due to guests' natural passivity vs not enough castmembers to interact remains to be seen.

Hopefully those interactions will be kept up and those shows be revealed when I'm down there.

As an aside, the guy yelling out I feel wasn't being considerate. It's ok to want to support the first order, but you don't yell out locations. You sneak off to report it to the troopers/Kylo. Otherwise, the resistance fighters run off and now you're stuck explaining to the First Order why you let these dangerous criminals escape.

@yulilin3 pretty much summed up everything very well. As for crowds, yes things were slower than one might have expected in September, but I also think Disney handled the crowds they did have very well, by not having FP+ and having the EEMH. I think it really helped spread around the crowds and keep the whole land manageable. Some people looking to be negative towards the park jumped on the lower crowds without explanation. I certainly think some things could be improved and added to enhance the experience...but I could also say that about literally every other Disney offering. I enjoy what SW:GE offers and look forward to visiting every chance I get.

True. I've been largely positive toward the land without having been there. I'm looking forward to my visit in December and have all of the paid experiences. I've said that crowd level is a poor metric in determing success because as yulilin3 mentioned, park attendance is down and as such any low crowd reports at GE can't be disentangled with overall crowds. And like you mention the EEMH & no FP has helped tremendously. Crowd level doesn't tell us what added revenue GE is generating from merchandise, and from what I've been seeing regarding Savi's & Droid Depot in terms of reservations, they're likely generating at least close to what they expected. I don't know what the inventory turnover is at the other shops but I doubt they're hurting for business either.

Our last trip we played Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom for the first time. My son loved it and we just did one area of fights (Adventureland) .. but we specifically made time to do that - (which made it a very relaxing morning!)

Another aside. I got into SotMK on my last visit. I have a bunch of cards but due to time constraints never even finished the first mission on Main Street .

 

[foodiddiedoo]

I spent a decent amount of time there on our last trip in September. The thing that disappointed my husband who is the die hard fan the most was the lack of "streetmosphere" type characters. Yes you get the Stormtroopers, Rey, Chewie, Finn, and Vi, BUT there isn't a single CM who is just dressed as an alien race to make the whole land seem truly exotic. The average CM costume looks the same as almost every CM costume in SWGE and no one is something that's fairly humanoid (easy to do makeup for) to add some spice. Even if someone like that was limited to being in Oga's cantina it would make the area seem so much less milktoast.
The datapad was a fun distraction, but once you've done it for Smuggler's Run, it's identical every time. Also, there's literally nothing to spend your credits on once you earn them! Give me the option to buy costumes for my avatar or something!
Taking away the Star Wars names from the food seems ridiculous, the description of each food includes what it truly is, and isn't necessary.

 

[only hope]

What time is this Kylo Ren entrance “show?” That sounds very interesting!

 

[yulilin3]

I spent a decent amount of time there on our last trip in September. The thing that disappointed my husband who is the die hard fan the most was the lack of "streetmosphere" type characters. Yes you get the Stormtroopers, Rey, Chewie, Finn, and Vi, BUT there isn't a single CM who is just dressed as an alien race to make the whole land seem truly exotic. The average CM costume looks the same as almost every CM costume in SWGE and no one is something that's fairly humanoid (easy to do makeup for) to add some spice. Even if someone like that was limited to being in Oga's cantina it would make the area seem so much less milktoast.
The datapad was a fun distraction, but once you've done it for Smuggler's Run, it's identical every time. Also, there's literally nothing to spend your credits on once you earn them! Give me the option to buy costumes for my avatar or something!
Taking away the Star Wars names from the food seems ridiculous, the description of each food includes what it truly is, and isn't necessary.

A couple of things, Finn is not a character that walks around. Maybe you saw a guest cosplaying?
I agree we need more aliens and droids roaming around
You have a ton of missions all around the land separate from SR on the datapad, also the credits earned CAN be used to buy outfits, ive done it
The taking away of the names is ridiculous but people just can't seem to be bothered with extra reading

 

[yulilin3]

What time is this Kylo Ren entrance “show?” That sounds very interesting!

No set times, it's pretty random

 

[yulilin3]

The datapad was not fully operational when I went (preview), but looking through it - it does seem fun. Very similar to Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom --- but like that game, I feel I need to devote an hour or two of time JUST doing that -- which is hard to find. Plus it seems better suited for small groups (like a family of four, or just parent and child). We tried to use it on a few occassions (like during the MFSR queue or translating some words), just somewhat cumbersome and slow to use while in a busy theme park with lots to do.

Our last trip we played Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom for the first time. My son loved it and we just did one area of fights (Adventureland) .. but we specifically made time to do that - (which made it a very relaxing morning!)

The beauty of the datapad is that you can play when in line for SR, you can scan some crates while while waiting to check in to Oga's or Savi's, tune into an antenna while you wait for family members to use the bathrooms or you can go full on (guilty) and spend 3 hours doing missions and joining your faction. Btw I've still yet to finish everything that is offered on there
The problem is that people don't know any of this is an option

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I'm not sure knowing who Hondo is really matters much. I'd say the majority or riders barely know the characters or don't hold it against an attraction when they don't.

In the bigger picture, this isn't correct. Attraction visitors are emotionally connected to characters they know.

This is simply a fact of all storytelling, going back as far as our history of storytelling.

While it is possible for a writer to develop new characters, and give them meaning, most literature relies on archetypes.

The Greeks did it. The word "archetype' itself comes from Greek.
Shakespeare did it. Many (most?) of his plays are rewrites of existing stories and historical events.
Oral storytellers in pretty much every culture worldwide did it.

The original Star Wars trilogy and Disney's fairy tales absolutely rely on classic archetypes.

The Hero:
-unusual circumstances surrounding his birth
-often forced leave their family to live with others
-gets supernatural help
-must prove themselves during quest
-hero's death often accompanied by some kind of spiritual reward

The Female Warrior:
-often disguises herself as a man to achieve her goals

The Mother figure:
-often performs a selfless act to help the hero
-provides nurturing to other characters
-does not have to be old
-mother figure can go both ways in some twists: she doesn't always put hero's needs above her own

The Mentor:
-protect main character
-often the sidekick
-often provide humor
-often wise old man/woman, but not always

The Sidekick/Jester:
-absolute loyalty to the hero

The Scapegoat
The Villain
The Monster



We get emotionally invested in famous characters the more we know what to expect of them, but we still need the story to develop that connection.


Who is Hondo? If we don't know who he is, then we don't know how we are supposed to react to him. If we don't know how to react to him, then we aren't emotionally attached to him.

Rides like EE are successful because we know the yeti is a monster.

 

[only hope]

I spent a decent amount of time there on our last trip in September. The thing that disappointed my husband who is the die hard fan the most was the lack of "streetmosphere" type characters. Yes you get the Stormtroopers, Rey, Chewie, Finn, and Vi, BUT there isn't a single CM who is just dressed as an alien race to make the whole land seem truly exotic. The average CM costume looks the same as almost every CM costume in SWGE and no one is something that's fairly humanoid (easy to do makeup for) to add some spice. Even if someone like that was limited to being in Oga's cantina it would make the area seem so much less milktoast.
The datapad was a fun distraction, but once you've done it for Smuggler's Run, it's identical every time. Also, there's literally nothing to spend your credits on once you earn them! Give me the option to buy costumes for my avatar or something!
Taking away the Star Wars names from the food seems ridiculous, the description of each food includes what it truly is, and isn't necessary.

A couple of things, Finn is not a character that walks around. Maybe you saw a guest cosplaying?

I definitely saw Finn one day. He was checking out a ship with Rey. Then Chewie came along, and the three of them walked to another location with a large-ish group following. We then practiced passing a message along for the Resistance (aka the game of telephone). It was so much fun. Then the three of them went out of sight. I didn’t realize Finn isn’t a regular occurrence. Perhaps that actor is in the stage show and they couldn’t schedule enough hours so he got shipped off to BSO?

 

[yulilin3]

In the bigger picture, this isn't correct. Attraction visitors are emotionally connected to characters they know.

This is simply a fact of all storytelling, going back as far as our history of storytelling.

While it is possible for a writer to develop new characters, and give them meaning, most literature relies on archetypes.

The Greeks did it. The word "archetype' itself comes from Greek.
Shakespeare did it. Many (most?) of his plays are rewrites of existing stories and historical events.
Oral storytellers in pretty much every culture worldwide did it.

The original Star Wars trilogy and Disney's fairy tales absolutely rely on classic archetypes.

The Hero:
-unusual circumstances surrounding his birth
-often forced leave their family to live with others
-gets supernatural help
-must prove themselves during quest
-hero's death often accompanied by some kind of spiritual reward

The Female Warrior:
-often disguises herself as a man to achieve her goals

The Mother figure:
-often performs a selfless act to help the hero
-provides nurturing to other characters
-does not have to be old
-mother figure can go both ways in some twists: she doesn't always put hero's needs above her own

The Mentor:
-protect main character
-often the sidekick
-often provide humor
-often wise old man/woman, but not always

The Sidekick/Jester:
-absolute loyalty to the hero

The Scapegoat
The Villain
The Monster



We get emotionally invested in famous characters the more we know what to expect of them, but we still need the story to develop that connection.


Who is Hondo?

You forgot the scoundrel in your sw archetypes, which originally is Han and Hondo is one of them. And they establish Hondo during the pre show. He's the owner of ohnaka transport solutions, you can immediately see that he's in it for himself, asks chewie to use the falcon to make money, asks you to join the team and he'll take the credit and the smuggled cargo

 

[yulilin3]

I definitely saw Finn one day. He was checking out a ship with Rey. Then Chewie came along, and the three of them walked to another location with a large-ish group following. We then practiced passing a message along for the Resistance (aka the game of telephone). It was so much fun. Then the three of them went out of sight. I didn’t realize Finn isn’t a regular occurrence. Perhaps that actor is in the stage show and they couldn’t schedule enough hours so he got shipped off to BSO?

You saw the character attendant

 

[tlmadden73]

The taking away of the names is ridiculous but people just can't seem to be bothered with extra reading

I saw a vlog and an article saying that the food names are back. Not sure if that has been confirmed here anywhere. If so .. that is some horrible mismanagement and not being aware of your audience. Sounds like decision making that gets people fired (to waste money on making new signs that there was so much negative feedback, they had to have the old ones return 3 days later?).

 

[BrianL]

Who is Hondo?

I get what you're saying, but how many people ride Splash Mountain never having heard of Brer Rabbit? Flight of Passage without knowing what a Na'vi is? Madame Leotta or Dr. Seeker? My point is that an attraction can be enjoyable with or without the IP connection. How many people come off of Smugglers Run and love Hondo? He is a great character in Clone Wars and Rebels, so maybe they go check that out. Maybe they don't either, but I think a good attraction is a good attraction.

 

[yulilin3]

I get what you're saying, but how many people ride Splash Mountain never having heard of Brer Rabbit? Flight of Passage without knowing what a Na'vi is? Madame Leotta or Dr. Seeker? My point is that an attraction can be enjoyable with or without the IP connection. How many people come off of Smugglers Run and love Hondo? He is a great character in Clone Wars and Rebels, so maybe they go check that out. Maybe they don't either, but I think a good attraction is a good attraction.

100% agree. Figment comes to mind