Though we were expecting a late fall opening for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier this month it was confirmed that construction on this land is actually ahead of schedule, with an opening date now set for August 29, 2019. And though Disney is only opening one attraction with this land (Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be opening at an undisclosed later date), they are still anticipating a massive influx of guests to show up to check out this new land when it opens in just a few months, and have begun making room for what will certainly be a massive line to get in to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Transforming Grand Avenue into a queue
Guests who experienced Pandora: The World of Avatar during its opening weeks will likely recall when Disney had to use the bridge to this land from Discovery Island as a holding area for guests waiting to get into the popular land when it was at capacity. And while this bridge was a natural area for guests to wait just outside the edge of Pandora, Disney’s Hollywood Studios doesn’t have a super easy structure like this that is out of the way enough for a massive queue to sit without disrupting other areas of the park. However, Disney has begun work on a solution to this issue.
Grand Avenue, the pop up land that replaced Muppets Courtyard and surrounds the singular MuppetVision 3D attraction will become one of the main entry points for guests wanting to venture into Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, and work is now underway on a number of preparations that will make Grand Avenue suitable for giant throngs of people to wait to get into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
As we noticed a few weeks ago, the area across from Star Tours where the former speeder bike photo op was has been walled off, and much of the queue for the character meet and greet in this area has also been removed. Behind the walls, Disney is widening the paved areas of this land, and making it suitable as a holding pen for guests who are waiting to get into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
No tickets for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios yet
Image: Disney
And though Disney has assured guests that Disney’s Hollywood Studios will not have a ticketed return-time system for this upcoming land the way they are at Disneyland, we’d guess that they will be using a system similar to the one Universal used when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley opened, where guests can queue up, and then be let into the land in batches as other guests exit. And right now, it looks like that entire queue is going to take up the majority of the Grand Avenue Area.
The immediate future of MuppetVision 3D
Interestingly, one of the big questions we have about how Disney’s queue procedure in this new area will be if MuppetVision 3D will continue to operate. Disney could conceivably keep it open while guests are in the queue to try and absorb some of the guests waiting for entry, but then again if the line is end up being quite long, getting to this attraction could prove to be an issue all by itself.
Though there’s a lot we still don’t know about how the first weeks and months are going to go after the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge right now, it looks like Walt Disney World is preparing as much as they possibly can in advance of this massive event, getting Grand Avenue ready as a holding area and adding capacity to this park with new attractions.
And while we still have to wait 5 months for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, all eyes will soon be on Disneyland, as their version of this land is due to open in just a few weeks, and it will be interesting to see how this park handles the massive crowds that are sure to show up for the first opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and what (if any) impact this will have on the late summer opening at Walt Disney World.
