It’s a tale of two Batuus. Out in Disneyland, the only way you could get into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for the first three weeks was with a coveted reservation. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios this morning, guests arrived hours before the advertised park opening to be some of the first in “Batuu East”.
Guests started to try and line up for the grand opening the night before the grand opening, but security dispersed them and told them to return at 4am. Not to be deterred, and unofficial line formed on the walkway from the Epcot area resorts to Hollywood Studios, and cars lined the side of the road at the main toll plaza to tender their $25 for parking. At about 3:30, the flood gates opened and guests started going through bag check to what would be a series of lines getting closer and closer to the Millennium Falcon. Guests were allowed into Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 4am, and two holding areas (one on Hollywood Blvd and one on Grand Avenue) would be the final stops before their journey to Batuu.
Once they got inside, guests were treated to nighttime views of the land as they waited for their turn to pilot the Falcon, and as they waited for sunrise. Smugglers Run quickly grew to a 300 minute wait as the queue for the attraction snaked through the land.
A more “reasonable” wait of 200 minutes could be found around 10am as the virtual queue was well underway and controlled access made the land a little more manageable.
As a matter of fact, the story of the morning was just how many more queues there were for every single thing within the land. Disney implemented a virtual queue just minutes after the park officially opened at 6am. Two hours of unencumbered guest access to the land pushed the limits of not only guests will to wait, but also the limits of the capacity of the actual land. Having attended both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World openings, this morning was the most crowded any version of Galaxy’s Edge has been.
Elsewhere in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, waits were minimal in the morning as tens of thousands of guests overlooked attractions like Tower of Terror and Slinky Dog Dash, instead opting to queue up for the Jewels of Bith gift shop and Blue Milk.
Opening day surely isn’t an indicator of what it will be like to visit on February 23, 2020, but the crowds that descended on Disney’s Hollywood Studios sent a message this morning that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is going to be a huge draw for years to come.
For more of our coverage of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, check out our first impressions of the land from our Annual Passholder preview at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For even more, check out our reviews of the various experiences and eats below:
Feb 23, 2020?