Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is opening this week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and in an effort to help manage opening-day crowds (assuming they show up), Disney has implemented some new operations procedures for Disney’s Hollywood Studios that will not only help guests flow in and out of this new land, but also help congestion around the rest of the park as well
Getting into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge may require a “Boarding Pass”
Walt Disney World has announced that during periods of high traffic in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge visitors will need to secure a “boarding pass” reservation that includes a return time for them to enter the land. If boarding passes are required for a specific day, a notification will pop up in My Disney Experience and signs will be posted around the park alerting guests to this requirement.
On days when this “boarding pass” system is in effect, guests will need to reserve their boarding pass times digitally via the My Disney Experience app or in person at one of the four Guest Experience Team locations around the park, which can be found in the following places:
- Near the Path of the Jedi attraction close to Echo Lake
- At the front of the Toy Story Land entrance
- On Sunset Boulevard near the Tower of Terror entrance o
- Center Stage in the middle of the park in front of the Chinese Theater facade.
Once guests receive their return time, they can wait inside the park, and once their time has come they will have two hours to show up for their boarding pass window. And once a party is inside, there will be no time limits and guests can spend as much time as they’d like inside this new land. However, the catch is that once you exit, you may not reenter, and guests cannot secure more than one boarding pass in a single day, so make sure once you are in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, you do everything you want to do before leaving.
There will be a holding area in Grand Avenue, but it might not be used
Image: Disney
Earlier this year, some infrastructure work was performed in the Grand Avenue section of the park near MuppetVision 3D that widened the walkways so that a temporary queue and holding area for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could be placed in this area should the need arise for an extended queue directly outside this land. We don’t know if this area will actually be used for this purpose, but if lines for entry get too long, this will be where any temporary holding areas will be set up.
FastPass+ tiers are changing for other attractions
Though Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run will not offer FastPass+ reservations during its opening weeks, in an effort to direct guests to basically anywhere else in the park, it looks like Disney is overhauling the FastPass+ tier system, and is making the following changes:
Beginning this week both the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be added to the Disney’s Hollywood Studios Tier 1 FastPass+ selections. And while that might not initially sound all that noteworthy, these attractions are joining every single attraction in Toy Story Land, including Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash and (somewhat inexplicably) Alien Swirling Saucers in this category.
Image: Disney
This leaves Star Tours as the only Tier 2 ride at this park, which means that getting a FastPass+ reservation for the only other Star Wars attraction at the park just got a whole lot more difficult, as guests will likely be looking to make FastPass+ reservations for rides while they are visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
