EmJ
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2010
I agree with every single thing you said. As I mentioned in my own post, I have Star Wars fans in my party who are losing their minds already. DH is trying to calculate how much money he will need for the lightsaber AND the beer flight AND a full set of Star Wars robes (spoiler: a lot), and I thought my son was going to try and actually enter the iPad yesterday when I showed him the purple droid video someone else posted on another thread. But there is a difference between making the point respectfully, as you have done, and saying—essentially—“If you don’t like it, you’re wrong and you don’t understand, and you’re an outsider who probably doesn’t even belong here.” Maybe that wasn’t what was meant, but it’s what I perceived and reacted to.(For me at least) This is definitely more of a WDW thing vs a DLR thing.
I’ve said it before on here that I think experience at DLR gets me the same kind of expectations met that through planning does for WDW regulars. The only planning I’ve ever done for DLR is Blue Bayou reservations and checking the ride closure list so I know what to expect when I’m there. Aside from that, I get a hotel reservation and play the rest by ear. It’s an educated play by ear though. When you’ve been enough times, you learn the flow and can make decisions on the fly. It’s even easier now with wait times in the app and Maxpass. If they would add wait times at security checkpoints to the app, that would be even better.
I however get what BadPinkTink’s gripe is and I agree that complaints about things someone wasn’t prepared for is not always going to be a fair assessment.
SWGE looks like the kind of immersion in the Star Wars universe that I imagined with my first R2-D2 action figure back in 1979 and got my first taste of when I rode Star Tours in the 80’s and experienced lightspeed for myself. SWGE is the next step and I dare say it’s aimed more at the hard core fans than the casual ones. Sure the casual fans can have fun, but for those of us that have been thinking about what it would be like to actually step into the Millennium Falcon for the last 40+ years and got goosebumps the first time we saw C-3PO and R2 in the Star Tours queue, it will be something completely different. This could be lost on someone that isn’t familiar with Star Wars and/or is more interested in rides than immersion.
The prices also do not shock me. This whole land is the Bipity-Bobity-Boutique for Star Wars fans. The $200 lightsabers are not just a grab and go item. It’s an event that allows you to feel a connection to the experience as you build your Jedi weapon and at the end, you get a pretty high quality item (much like the experience my daughter received and the value I felt I got at the Boutique). The same goes for the build a droid shop or even the cantina. It’s not just buying an item in a shop or restaurant; you are playing a part in the Star Wars universe and can partake in and bring home pieces of that universe to keep as reminders of the immersion you get to experience.
I’ll end by asking:
How many of us have complained about the low quality souvenirs at Disney parks over the years? This sounds like the quality items we’ve wanted; and yes, quality warrants a higher cost.
I’m ok with that.
I’m any event, water under the bridge and all that. I’m excited to get back to the planning! I made my husband a “homework sheet” last night, lol. I wrote down everything there is to do, see, and eat in SWGE and asked him to watch All The YouTube Videos and rank each item as “High Priority” to “Skippable”, so that I can plan him HIS day. If he marks everything as High Priority, we’re in trouble though, lol.