Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Opening Date Announced!
During today’s Walt Disney Co. Annual Meeting of Shareholders in St. Louis, Bob Iger revealed some new information about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, including the grand opening date for the Star Wars land in Disneyland and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.
Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will open to the general public on May 31, 2019, while Walt Disney World’s version will debut a couple months later on August 29, 2019. However, it will open in phases, with Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run opening first, followed by Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at a later date. (As we cover in our Tons of New Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Details Emerge from Construction Tours post, Rise of the Resistance is the more complex, higher profile attraction.)
In this post, we’ll share thoughts on how these dates will impact crowds prior to and after the respective grand openings, and also cover what you should do right now if you’re planning a visit to Disneyland or Walt Disney World for the grand opening itself, or thereafter.
Walt Disney World’s opening has been a hot topic in fan circles of late, with “evidence” previously pointing to an opening as early as September or as late as December, depending upon the source of the rumor. Well, this is even earlier than the earliest of rumors due to the whole “phased opening” bit, the range in rumored months now makes sense. Additionally, it gives us a better idea of what to expect for the rest of 2019 at Walt Disney World.
First of all, the phased opening is an interesting twist. About a year ago, there was a rumor that this would be the case, but that was rumored in the event that delays were to occur, potentially pushing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to miss opening in 2019, at all.
This seems to be going the other direction, attempting to push forward the opening as far as possible to help prop up crowd numbers for Summer 2019 and beyond. This will also help dilute crowds to some degree, as most non-locals will have to choose between attending the grand opening or waiting for both rides to open. It’s an interesting approach.
The grand opening for Disneyland’s Star Wars land is not too surprising. Bob Iger has been saying “June” for a while, Disneyland’s Annual Pass blockout calendar suggested it would happen around then, and rumors of a media event the few days before that further corroborated that date. Again, though, the phased opening allows that timeline to move forward a bit. Nevertheless, we’d expect everything to be ready to go by July, at the latest.
Disneyland has been encouraging locals to visit before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with ticket specials, and is discouraging visits post-Galaxy’s Edge with blockout dates. Nevertheless, that can only do so much. Orange and Los Angeles Counties are home to about 14 million people, many of whom were raised on Disneyland and zealously attend each big opening at the park, no matter what.
To compound matters, Star Wars fans eager to be there when the land debuts and the normal summer Utah and Nevada tourist crowd, perhaps not totally aware of what they’re getting themselves into, will be there. Personally, I don’t expect a ton of Walt Disney World diehards to shift vacation plans to the West Coast for this, but that won’t matter from a congestion perspective. Disneyland will already have more demand than its infrastructure outside and inside the parks can handle.
To that end, Disney has also announced that guests planning to visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland between May 31 and June 23, 2019 will be required to make a no-cost reservation, subject to availability, to access the land. Information on how to make a reservation will be available at a later date, but we assume it’ll work like timed entry to Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Japan, except bookable in-app or online, and in advance.
Guests staying at one of the three Disneyland Resort hotels during these dates will receive a designated reservation to access Galaxy’s Edge during their stay. Depending upon the level of competitiveness for those slots, this is one definite advantage to staying on-site.
Speaking of hotels, we cannot stress enough that you need to book a hotel now if you’re planning on visiting Disneyland anytime around or after May 31, 2019. As in, don’t even finish this article or wait to discuss travel dates with your family–open a new tab on your browser and book a hotel with a no-penalty cancellation policy.
This might seem extreme, but it’s really not. Despite several hotels going up in the last few years, Anaheim still has a room shortage. This was evident every time there used to be a runDisney event, and still sometimes plays out when large conventions come to town. (Speaking of which, if you’re attending the 2019 D23 Expo and don’t have a room yet, you also need to get on that now.)
Almost every off-site hotel near Disneyland uses dynamic pricing, meaning that prices increase based upon demand and inventory. Moreover, some hoteliers will undoubtedly have been waiting for this announcement to know when, precisely, to start raising their rates.
That exact scenario played out with Cars Land, and it will happen again here. If you don’t want to get stuck with a shady budget motel for $300/night, you need to jump now before everyone else and before the hotels themselves have a chance to act on this news.
We’d normally suggest carefully going through our Rankings and Reviews for Anaheim Hotels Near Disneyland, that gives numerical scores for several different factors and ranks 44 different hotels. However, you really don’t have the time for that. Instead, just quickly go through the top 10 and find one with availability and good pricing. You can always do your research later after you have something locked-in.
Alternatively, our Top 10 Cheap Off-Site Disneyland Hotels post gives a good run-down for budget seekers. Note that if you’re coming to this article a week or even perhaps a day after the announcement, those hotels may not be so “cheap.” (In our experience, Anaheim Desert Inn is always slow to raise its prices–so long as there’s availability, it’s a good option if others are price-gouging.)
If you’re looking to save some money, you can book a hotel + ticket vacation package via Get Away Today to save money. In addition to the package discount, some hotels have ‘4th night free’ promos, and there’s currently a ‘5th day free’ promo on park tickets. In addition to their normal discounts and special packages, you can save an extra $10 by using code TOURIST at checkout.
If this is the ultimate splurge, give strong consideration to booking Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. The guaranteed access, location, and the comparative lack of bag check insanity might make the high nightly rates a little easier to swallow. Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel should also offer a bag check advantage, but not as distinct of one.
Security lines on the Harbor Boulevard side are likely to be chaotic, but those will still beat the potential for traffic, parking, and security delays on the Mickey & Friends side. As such, we’d strongly encourage you not to book a more remote hotel and drive. For the same reason, we’d also avoid anything beyond walking distance. Taking Uber or Lyft to the drop-off area might not be a good idea. Minimize all potential sources of friction.
It’s worth noting that while the grand opening and all summer months will be busy thanks to tourists, things won’t really get better in the fall. Annual Passholder blockouts will lift, and then the back-to-back Halloween and Christmas seasons arrive, both of which are huge draws for locals.
Your “best” options are the first two weeks of August 2019 or January and February 2020. Just be sure to avoid August 23-25, 2019, as that’s the incredibly popular D23 Expo, and crowds at Disneyland will be bonkers around that weekend. Or, if you’re a local and can plan a last-minute visit, any day it rains. (It’s a little known fact, but Southern Californians are deathly afraid of precipitation.)
If you want to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge but don’t need to be among the first, we’d strongly recommend sitting out Disneyland’s opening and waiting for Walt Disney World. While Disney’s Hollywood Studios will undoubtedly be busy for years after Star Wars land opens, it is better situated to absorb the crowds. This is particularly true outside the park, where Walt Disney World’s infrastructure is prepared for it. There will be backups opening week, but gridlock is unlikely.
Moreover, at Walt Disney World, there are three other parks, each with their own parking and security, to help absorb the crowds. They will function as a release valve if there’s overflow from DHS hitting capacity during the initial opening rush. By contrast, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure all share that infrastructure, which could cause some problems.
We do not for a second expect Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or Animal Kingdom will see a dip in attendance once Galaxy’s Edge opens. To the contrary, they should each see a slight bump. First, very few people are going to plan a trip to Florida, and only do Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Second, those who aren’t huge Star Wars fans might look at DHS wait times and alter their plans to avoid that park. Finally, people will not have a choice if/when DHS hits capacity.
For similar reasons, we don’t expect wait times on other rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to drop. Nowhere is going to be a “ghost town” because Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is drawing everyone there. Its capacity is a very small fraction of all guests at Walt Disney World. As with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, this is going to a “rising tide that lifts all boats.”
As for timing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World post-grand opening, the same issues exist as with Disneyland. Your best option might honestly be showing up a week after the grand opening, as September is typically the slowest month of the year. October, November, and December are all really popular.
In fact, if I had to choose a time to visit this fall and avoiding crowds were my priority, I’d absolutely choose one of the second two weeks of September. While this may seem dangerously close to that grand opening, it’s in the slowest month of the year and a week after the initial hype subsides. It’ll still be abnormally busy, but not October through December busy.
To this point, both Toy Story Land and Pandora saw larger crowds in October through December of their opening years than they did in the summer months immediately after debuting. Waiting until January or February 2020 offers no guarantees, as both of those months have seen a spike in crowds–or at least wait times–the last two years.
When it comes to booking a hotel at Walt Disney World, there’s definitely a sense of urgency, but not as immediate as for Anaheim. The one thing we would stress is staying on-site. While Disney has been eroding the on-site advantages recently, they still exist.
In particular, being within Skyliner or walking distance of DHS will be huge. We plan on booking Disney’s Riviera Resort or Pop Century. As for other perks, we don’t know fully how Walt Disney World plans to handle Extra Magic Hours or FastPass+ (at least from a paid v. unpaid perspective). Nevertheless, the on-site advantage should be apparent the first several months of Galaxy’s Edge.
Overall, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has the potential to redefine the guest experience at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. There are a lot of incredible, envelope-pushing ways this will occur, and those have already been focused on in our recent Tons of New Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Details Emerge from Construction Tours post.
As exciting as all of that is, there are also the practical, operational realities of Star Wars land’s impact. We’re incredibly excited for Galaxy’s Edge and don’t mean to be buzzkills with all of the above, but if you’re thinking about going for the grand opening or shortly thereafter, it’s important that you know what you’re likely going to encounter. Hopefully this post provided some insight into that.
Need Disney trip planning tips and comprehensive advice? Make sure to read Disney Parks Vacation Planning Guides, where you can find comprehensive guides to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond! For Disney updates, discount information, a free download of our Money-Saving Tips for Walt Disney World eBook, and much more, sign up for our free monthly newsletter!
Your Thoughts
Are you going to be there for the grand opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland or Walt Disney World? Irritated by the phased opening, or do you think that presents an advantage from the perspective of avoiding crowds? Will you avoid grand opening…or Disney’s Hollywood Studios entirely…until crowds are at a more manageable level? Other thoughts to add? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
Typically, my family goes to WDW in September for the low crowds (I feel for those of you stressing about September dates). However, this year we are booked for August 14th through the 20th. Anyone want to weigh in on crowd predictions for this time?
I’m interested in this too. We’re booked for August 22-27 with free dining, then heading to Universal Aug 28-29. We’re all Star Wars fans but this is our boys’ first Disney trip and the first time at WDW for my husband and I so we wanted to go before Galaxy’s Edge opened to see the everything else and then come back in a year or two for a more Star Wars-centric trip. I’m a little torn that we’re just missing the opening now, and hoping the crowd levels don’t build up too much. But I’m still psyched about the trip! Also wondering if we might luck into any pre-opening Galaxy’s Edge stuff. It looks like Pandora had a few soft opening things for D23 gold members as well as Vacation Club members. We don’t want to join the Vacation Club but it might be worth the D23 cost for a year to get a sneak peek of they end up offering something similar.
Wow, a lot more comments on this one than I expected.
For starters, no one knows what is going to happen with crowds, as this is fairly unprecedented in terms of potential popularity, and also due to the phased opening. With that said, here are some of my guesses in response to some common questions…
-I really wouldn’t freak out if you’re traveling in September–especially a week or more after the opening–with the idea of avoiding crowds. WDW will definitely be more crowded than last year, but I don’t see it being totally bonkers then.
-The upside to the increased crowds in September is that no one expected SWGE to come this early, so it’s catching a lot of people who *want* to see it flat-footed. Additionally, many people will sit out the initial rush, waiting for the flagship ride to open. It’s impossible to accurately predict that September will be the slowest month in the first 18 months Galaxy’s Edge is open…but I don’t think it’d be a bad bet, either.
-If you were already planned a trip for October, that was going to be really busy anyway. This will move the needle on that a bit, but not much.
-I’d expect November and December to be the months that rise most dramatically (save for the opening week of SWGE). These two months are hugely popular for annual visitors, and I think a lot of people were waiting to book the holiday season in particular once GE dates were announced.
-I wouldn’t expect a huge different in terms of MNSSHP and MVMCP attendance. Even though there will be a larger guest pool, I’d anticipate a lot of ‘discretionary’ vacation budgets will be allocated towards stuff in SWGE rather than party tickets. Irrespective of SWGE, attendance at both events has been rising the last couple of years.
I’m sure there are more individualized questions I missed, and I’ll circle back to this topic once the dust settles on the initial announcement.
Already booked 9.18-9.22, just a quick adult only trip for my husband and I. I’m excited for Star Wars–and I’m not even really a fan, dont’ know if I’ll get anywhere near it on this trip, but am not going to stress about it. I will be taking lots of pics to get my kids all hyped for out 2020 trip!! I would never consider cancelling, you just have to go in with the proper mind set!
I think everyone is over exagerrating overcrowding at WDW. As someone who has only been to WDW during its busiest weeks(Xmas, New Years, other holidays) I have never had problems with crowds nor did it ruin my time. We his past Xmas we lapped MK twice by noon with minimal waits on Xmas eve. Rode everything, except FOP and the safari, in AK twice or more by noon on Xmas day. A properly planned trip is enjoyable no matter what the crowd levels are.
I agree Steve. this has to be close to Tom’s most commented-on article and I think the amount of hysteria is pretty comical.
It’s not comical at all. The bulk of people who planned to go in Sept planned to go then precisely due to lower crowds. People have different travel styles and plan to go when the crowd levels better suit their travel styles. Probably best you guys didn’t tell other folks what they should feel.
I have young kids and we’re going in Sept and I don’t care about Star Wars so we planned to go ahead of the madness. Rope dropping every morning and being on a mission isn’t practical in my situation, so we were planning to go when crowds are more manageable and our pace could be a little more relaxed. I’ve put a lot of hours into our trip and if I want to take a little time to be upset that my plans have been turned upside down (others too) then perhaps you should just keep comments to contrary to yourself.
Let’s exercise our empathy here people. We the September folks were planning to do the trip in hurricane season, hot as fell Florida, raisntorms all day JUST FOR THE LOW CROWDS. People with lack of mobility or children with special needs rely on these month.
Disney let us all down. I believe belittle the sadness of people are just mean.
Anyone have Not So Spooky Holloween Party tickets for dates between September 4 and 11th that they want to get rid of? I’ll pay you half what they’re worth
Coming from Australia and booked our trip 9+ months ago and booked Disneyland hotel as soon as reservations opened and as it turns out I will be there for the opening. Mixed feelings about this. Excited to be there but worried about crowds. Thankfully this is not my first trip to Disneyland so if I miss some things due to the crowds, I am ok with that. I will reserve judgement until I am actually there.
I do love Star Wars but considering my partner and I are going to Disney World for the first time together Mid September and for our honeymoon I was really hoping Galaxy’s Edge would stick to late fall opening for crowd levels. I suppose the only thing you can do is avoid Hollywood Studios on weekends and hope for the best when you visit during the week not that I think it’ll make much difference. Thank you for all the info 🙂
Tom,
Love your blog and it’s been super helpful ever since our first trip in 2016. Going back to WDW in early August. Do you think there is any chance we could see a soft opening of GE before the masses?
I have to say, considering the crowed mess WDW has become, it seems it’s time to start looking for other options, 2019 looks like Its officially cancelled for us as overcrowding ruined the experience. Maybe in a few more years it will become more manageable.
I was planning on booking about February 2020 in the hope that we could catch a break on over-the-top crowd levels. It doesn’t look promising with expected attendance spikes even at this time of the year. I think I will take a Disney World wait-and-see for the next year at least. Love DW but extreme crowd levels get exhausting.
I was really hoping Disney would again offer free dining to include December dates since we are reserved for Christmas week 2019. Now it doesn’t look promising that Disney will offer free dining again in 2019, does it, since GE opens earlier than expected?
Joyce, Christmas week is peak season for Disney World and the “free” (you still pay rack rate to get it) Disney Dining Plan promotion wouldn’t have been offered that week, regardless of SW:GE opening.
The last two or three years arrival on Dec 23 was part of free dining promotions. Which means you could book free dining on the 23rd and have it all Xmas week and New Years too if you were doing a 10 day trip. Christmas is always pretty much full rack rate so in the past when they have offered dining it was saving money.
We had booked for October in hopes of totally avoiding the Star Wars opening. I guess we will have to play it by ear. I’m not a big Star Wars fan. I love everything Disney, but to me, Star Wars is not Disney. I am sure HS is going to be packed no matter when you go, I just hope that I will be able to get at least one of those elusive Slinky Dog fast passes! Lol!. To all Star Wars fans, I know this is an exciting time for you and I am happy for you to enjoy it.
Our trip sas already set for Sept 2 to 7. Now, I’m wondering if it’s gonna be too crowded? What do you think?
Got to hand it to Disney. They no doubt turned what would have been the lowest occupancy in recent years to fully booked over night. Unfortunately, don’t believe they had the guests best interests in mind. I have a feeling it’s going to be a mess. Should have kept the official opening to late fall as intended. Could have soft opened unannounced and worked out the kinks. Can’t wait to sit back and watch, I figure a year is good.
We are booked the EXACT same days and have the same concerns! At least there will be the free dining! Haha!
I planned my trip for September 9-15 because of low crowds. Even though the weather is hotter. Now maybe I’ll have to change to January. I would love to see Star Wars but not in a mob.
I know this is a total ‘first world problem’, but Im freaking out. Our trip is scheduled for August 26th-31st. I LOVE Star Wars, but had no intention of visiting in the first year of GE opening. My son has sensory processing disorder so I need to plan our trips at the lowest crowd levels, and have a detailed touring plan, to help prevent meltdowns, and now I’m really scared that we will be walking into Christmas-like crowds, or worse. If it wasn’t weeks past my 180 window I’d move my trip back a week, but I had a hard time getting the dining reservations I got due to free dining, so I know I won’t be able to secure what I want at this point.
I have no problem avoiding HS, and I’m okay with the other parks going from a 1-2 crowd level to a 4-5, but do you think the other parks will be more like 8-10 levels? The one time I’m not wishing they’d have something open in time for my trip…
I am in same boat as you. My son has ADHD and impulsivity issues. We totally planned our first trip to have less crowds and to go to toy story land. I am going to see what happens on Monday when we pick dining but considering cancelling. I actually just priced Disney Hawaii and it’s same price was the package we had… â€â™€ï¸
Yup I have 2 boys with ADHD and sensory issues. They are both elopers. We are there from 8/25 – 8/30 with tickets to the Halloween Party on 8/30. I’m going to cancel the second half of our split stay from 8/28 – 8/30. But we cannot get a refund on the Halloween Party. I’m so so mad. If there was even the slightest suggestion that this could have happened, I would have booked some other time.
Omg we have had our trip planned September 7 for over a year. Now with the opening of Star Wars do I need to cancel. I’m totally stressing out right now
After learning this, we ended up canceling our WDW booking for the last week of September. We were really hoping to beat these crowds. Oh well – we’re doing a DCL cruise instead!
I wonder how it’ll affect crowds in December, we’re booked for dec 5-12 at animal kindom lodge. We’ve done summer then past 2 years, so was hoping for lower crowds.
I’m relieved to know the dates at least. We’re going to WDW the first week of December and are being realistic in anticipating strong crowds, but no more questioning when the initial big Galaxy’s Edge rush will be. At that point, we may even try to go to Hollywood Studios rather than the original plan to avoid it and do Universal instead. This has made things interesting!
think august might be a good time to go to WDW if people are waiting for it to open up?
I think July is better, actually. I was watching July dining bookings to get a feel for availability for our August dates, and dining availability was much better in July–even with free dining. Disney’s tiered pricing also suggests that July (after the 4th) will have lower crowds than the first 2 weeks of August.
Booked a Sept 4 thru 11 trip thinking it would be the calm before the Star Wars storm later in the Fall. Come to find out, I booked opening week! LOL. I booked via renting DVC points and I did it with no travel insurance, so my vacation is non-refundable.
May as well make the most of it and see what Galaxy’s Edge is all about! I know it’s gonna be insanely crowded, so what’s the best plan of attack for Hollywood Studios? Any ideas? You
Booked for mid September for two weeks, first trip to WDW, and luckily already booked for pop century which is now showing as unavailable on our dates. When I first heard this my first thought was to postpone or cancel. Picked these dates due to lower crowds and already taking a chance with the weather…however, so much planning already gone into it I think we will stick with these dates!
I have a reservation at the Grand Californian Villas for the third week in July. Any speculation on whether Galaxy’s Edge will be fully operational by then and how insane crowds will be. I am expecting the worst in terms of attendance. However, rope-dropping Radiator Springs Racers from the Grand Californian was surprisingly easily.
We are going the same time and staying at Pop. I think it will be great! Enjoy your first trip! It will be my 17th trip!