Star Wars Land Opening: Parking, Wristbands & Stormtroopers
Now that we know Disney will use 4-hour time slots during the initial opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, there are the operational questions of logistics and enforcement. In this post, we’ll cover the method of this, parking, and how Stormtroopers will come into play.
We’ll start with what’s obviously the most exciting topic here, and that’s parking. Disneyland has announced that the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure will open at midnight on May 31, 2019. Disney has stressed that they don’t want guests arriving prior to then, nor do they want people hovering around the surface streets of Anaheim.
Beginning June 1, Disneyland will open the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure no later than 5:30 a.m. each morning, for an unspecified duration (we’re going to assume at least the duration of the summer). This is despite the park opening at 8 a.m. each morning, or 7 a.m. some days with Extra Magic Hours. It’s also despite Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge operating on a reservations system with no standby line…
Disneyland has also stressed that there is no need to even arrive early thanks to this time slot system. Everyone with a reservation will be admitted to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and no one without a reservation will gain access. Pretty cut and dry.
However, there are a few complicating factors. First, there’s the availability of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opening day and season merchandise that will be sold outside the land. Even locals without access to the land will flock to Disneyland for this merchandise, or simply to be part of the opening day hoopla.
Second, even though 5:30 a.m. seems really early, getting to the parking structure around 6 a.m. isn’t the worst idea in the world. It allows guests to beat rush hour traffic on I-5, as well as the surges at the parking toll booths, bag check lines, and be among the first at the turnstiles.
Arriving to Mickey & Friends at 7 a.m. for an 8 a.m. opening time is potentially too late–the lines for everything could very well take over an hour by that point.
Finally, there’s the practical reality that Disneyland fans are an obsessive bunch. Disneyland diehards love to wait in lines overnight and/or for unnecessarily long amounts of time. If Mickey & Friends is not open when fans want to start waiting in line, they will simply drive in circles around the surface streets of Anaheim, or outside the parking structure.
Disney’s relationship with Anaheim is already strained, and having fans “loiter” around town causing congestion and headaches certainly wouldn’t help with that. Kudos to Disney for recognizing this and opting to open Mickey & Friends earlier than truly necessary.
As for how Disneyland plans on limiting guests to only their 4-hour reservation slot in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, that’ll be accomplished via colored wristbands. Each time slot will have a different color wristband, and Cast Members will do a slow sweep of guests whose time slots have ended, similarly to how the parks do this for hard ticket events like the Halloween party.
Following each four-hour time slot, Disneyland Cast Members will turn away guests with expired wristbands attempting to enter the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run line, buy drinks at Oga’s Cantina, dine at Docking Bay 7 counter service restaurant, and build items at Savi’s Workshop or Droid Depot. Beyond that, Disney has suggested that they won’t allow guests to jump into line as the clock expires on their time slot (a common end-of-night practice), but no specifics have been provided there.
Disneyland expects that four hours will be enough time for most visitors to explore Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and they’ll leave of their own accord towards the end of their time slot. When I first read this, I chuckled. When it comes to parking, Disneyland management “knows” its local audience’s tenacity…but they’ve seem to have forgotten about that here.
In fairness, the Star Wars Land reservation system has been designed to manage crowds and minimize wait times while keeping Galaxy’s Edge below normal capacity. Disney hopes to manage crowd flow and have guests explore other areas of the land first rather than darting straight to the Smugglers Run attraction.
The goal is to keep the wait times for Smugglers Run under two hours by persuading guests to postpone their rides on the attraction until the second or third hour of their visit when wait times will be lower. No word on how this will be accomplished, but we’re guessing either via inflated wait times at the start.
As part of those sweeps for guests who overstay their welcome, there will be ‘show’ element, consisting of a squadron of Stormtroopers who act as enforcement. These Stormtroopers will attempt to escort guests out of the land, which should be on theme, amusing, but perhaps ineffective. (Should guests somehow elude them or refuse to leave, security will get involved at some point.)
Overall, there’s still a lot on the operational front that Disneyland needs to figure out before Star Wars Land officially opens. Cast Member previews are currently underway, and some of the lessons learned during those will likely be applied to the first month of operations. Of course, that’s an entirely different, more limited and controlled scenario. Even with the best laid plans, much of the opening will be trial by fire. Expect real time adjustments made as Disneyland learns what does and does not work with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Stay tuned.
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how early to arrive to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Disney’s plans to address operational logistics in Star Wars Land? Do you think the wristbands and Stormtroopers will be an effective way to facilitate crowd flow and minimize waits? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Regarding wait times for Smuggler’s Run, if everyone goes to the attraction first, it stands to reason that the wait times will be lower in the later periods of the four hour time slot, if DL correctly manages the number of people with reservations (i.e., only allow in enough people so everyone in the reservation period can ride it once). We’ll find out soon!
#stormtrooperchallenge
Tally up the number of stormtroopers required to escort you out of SW:GE!!
So, our trip is the end of October ’19. With Early magic hours (during the week not weekend), would you recommend visiting Toy story land or star wars land first? Both are new since our last visit Christmas ’17.
So, our trip is the end of October ’19. With Early magic hours (during the week not weekend), would you recommend visiting Toy story land or star wars land first? Both are new since our last visit Christmas ’17.
Yeah, incentivizing staying all 4 hours (and as long as it takes beyond that to get “caught”) seems like a counterproductive idea here.
They’re going to do away with the show aspect of it pretty quickly and go straight to a no-frills, uninteresting way of sweeping stragglers.
Yeah their going to have a zip a dee doo daw day
Think that the 30th will be pretty empty and safe to go? I’ll be out in the area during that time and wanted to hit up DL…
Any thoughts on what the rest of the park will be like in mid-June crowd wise? We want to go do a day then on our way to elsewhere; don’t care for Star Wars land but for the rest of the park …
You want to get a real feel pull up harry potter opening day at orlando universal resort
Lol, right? Being marched off by stormtroopers sounds like an awesome way to end my day at GE.
Stormtroopers are based on Nazi stormtroopers – I think it’s horrible that they would have them attempt to escort unwanted guests out of an area – too much like the holocaust, IMO. It’s bad enough they are marching through HS at WDW.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah
Breathe
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Done yet?
If all you can contribute is negativity, don’t.
…dumbfounded. seriously. Like… Dumbfounded. It’s about star wars and storm troopers have changed a lot since their 1970s debut. Do you pee yourself Everytime a kid dresses up as a storm troopers for Halloween or imagination play?
It is amazing where people’s minds will go! Wow!
I agree with her I mean they both wear uniforms their both recruited knowing they’ll die in service they both work for evil you go girl for hitting it on the head
If it feels triggering for you I’d suggest to skip it as the land is meant to be immersive in the star wars world and storm troopers are a big part of that world.
Becky..,,, you are silly!!! Is’s Disneyland get with it!!!
I’ve got a reservation for the afternoon of Monday, June 3, which is the 4th day of operation. Hopefully some of the kinks have been worked out by then. I wouldn’t want to be there on the first day. I think it’s going to be a nightmare. I’m already concerned that it’s going to be crowded and frustrating when we go. I don’t expect to do everything, but would at least like to ride Smuggler’s Run and get a chance to look around. We’ve already decided against lightsabers and droids due to the prices and the lack of passholder discounts.
I’m definitely going to be looking for trip reports from opening weekend to find out what to expect.
These aren’t the wristbands you’re looking for. We can go about our business. Move along.
lol 🙂
We were lucky enough to score a room at the Grand Californian the night of May 31st just a couple of weeks ago. There must’ve been a cancellation because the CM on the phone was shocked that there was a room available. So parking shouldn’t be an issue. We hope. And our reservation for the morning of Saturday June 1st is a lock. But unfortunately, our reserved time is 8am. We have no idea how early to leave our room and obviously, we have to Check out too since noon would be too late. and is there a special queue for hotel guests for that early entry? Where is it? When is it? Do we get let in early and queue up in front of the land inside the park? Do we get our wristbands at the hotel? Do we go through Frontierland or through the castle? My whol occupation is centered around advance planning to control results. We can’t seem to get answers and for me, this is getting a bit stressful now that they are going to let max capacity line up in the wee hours to buy merch. And a room that became available late could be in a noisy location with so many fans lining up in the wee hours. OY VEY! Answers. I need answers.
There are rooms available at the Grand Californian because it’s over $800 a night w/tax to stay there. At least you get a guaranteed reservation based on the night you are staying – I’ll be there less than a month later with absolutely nothing. While I’ve had my reservation since January, with intent to visit California Adventure all along, it’s still a little frustrating that Disney hasn’t extended the time slot reservations beyond three weeks. I would definitely visit Galaxy’s Edge if Disney made it easy for me – I have no desire otherwise.
We cancelled our room at the GC that weekend. We were hoping to get there before Star Wars opened. Good luck with the crowds, let us know how it went!
So Stormtroopers will round people up based on a colored emblem. I just…
Tom,
When will you be braving the crowds to go? Are you going to have access to a preview day, opening day or wait a week or two or wait months?
Always love readying your thoughts and look forward to your views on the finished product!
Thanks
I wonder how many will loiter so they can be escorted out by stormtroopers?
New attraction yah
Me…I would love to he escorted out!!!
Exactly. My first thought. I mean if you have to be kicked out that is the best way. It’s a stormtrooper after all – they are supposed to be bossy. I wonder if it will become the next social media #?
Can’t believe I’m first yah
Is there a cross between madhouse and zoo I wouldn’t be caught dead there on may 31. Just hope safety is somewhat observed there is no way to be ready for this everyone going best of luck on a safe return