Whenever a new land opens at Walt Disney World, the hype is always extremely real. But we all know that like anything else, that excitement can flicker out pretty quickly (AKA any YA novel fandom).
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Disney World
The question is: how do you test if a land is a hit in Disney after it opens? It’s not only its initial popularity that keeps it high on the list but the continual visits from guests, how long the wait times are, and even what’s inside the land itself (still not over the Viewmaster slides in Toy Story Land tbh). And the differences between Pandora’s opening in 2017 and Galaxy’s Edge’s opening this year seem to show — at least anecdotally — that the two don’t stack up very similarly in terms of overall popularity.
Okay, let’s get real for a sec — creating lands around Avatar and Star Wars were game changers for Disney World. Drifting out of Walt Disney Studios and tackling bigger things was enough of a challenge as it was, but doing the franchises justice was a whole different level of difficulty.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
And as far as lands go, Pandora and Galaxy’s Edge are AMAZING ways to step into beloved worlds. Fans are given the opportunity to travel to lands far, far away in the most realistic ways possible. But does that still mean they’re bound to be hits?
Pandora
If anything, the pressure is EVEN higher for the parks to maintain guest excitement after they have their grand opening. That’s why we have to wonder: why does it seem that Galaxy’s Edge is less popular than Pandora — even years after Pandora’s opening — despite the fact that Galaxy’s Edge is brand spanking new?
Attraction Wait Times
Well, let’s back up for a second and consider whether Galaxy’s Edge really IS less popular than Pandora or if it just looks that way. After all, the two lands are different sizes — Pandora is smaller than Galaxy’s Edge by 2 acres — so could feel more crowded even if the same number of people are there. Also, Pandora has two headliner attractions while Galaxy’s Edge currently has only one. If Galaxy’s Edge had opened with Rise of the Resistance, would it be more “successful” on the surface?
As far as empirical data, here’s what we’ve got: If you go into the My Disney Experience app at most given times during the day to look at the waits for the two biggest rides in Pandora and Galaxy’s Edge, it’s actually surprising to see the drastic difference. While Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run only had a 35 minute wait recently…
Smugglers Run Wait Time
… Flight of Passage was almost double the wait time with 60 minutes. This isn’t a one-time deal either, folks. This has been a trend in the Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom wait times on the reg.
Flight of Passage Wait Times
I just checked again, just on a whim, and Millennium Falcon has a 55 minute wait, while Flight of Passage has a 115 minute wait. And Na’vi River Journey is actually at 60 minutes.
So, that looks on the surface like Flight of Passage is obviously more popular than Millennium Falcon. BUT WAIT! Do the attractions service the same amount of people? What if Millennium Falcon funnels through twice as many people as Flight of Passage in an hour — that would make up for the difference easily.
So here are the details on that: coaster101.com says Flight of Passage can accommodate 1440 guests per hour, while a New York Times reporter tweeted that Millennium Falcon carries 1800 riders per hour. So, OK. That’s a slight difference. But it doesn’t make up for Flight of Passage wait times being double those of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
To complicate things further, Flight of Passage has a Fastpass+ queue which guests typically blame for swelling Standby lines — though TouringPlans.com seems to dispute that popularly-held notion with this data from 2014 which indicates that FastPass isn’t always a guarantee for longer Standby queues. Still, we can’t say with certainty one way or another that FastPass creates a perception of busy-ness, but it is worth noting. (On a related note, Millennium Falcon has a Single Rider line, which may cut down on the Standby queue time in Galaxy’s Edge, too.)
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run opening day
The rides are somewhat similar in some ways with the use of screen and movement technology, but Flight of Passage is still the more popular attraction empirically when it comes to wait times. And if you add on the information that Flight of Passage is now over two years old, while Millennium Falcon is brand new, that brings the matter home even more strongly.
Flight of Passage Queue
What Happens When Rise of the Resistance Opens?
But, the other side of the coin is this: although Smugglers Run is AWESOME, it’s currently the only ride in Galaxy’s Edge. Yup, guests will have to wait until December 5th in Disney World to see the land’s second attraction, Rise of the Resistance.
Entrance to Rise of the Resistance
So if you really think about it, Smugglers Run is essentially the Na’vi River Journey of Galaxy’s Edge. If Pandora originally opened without Flight of Passage, the Avatar-themed land MAY have suffered a similar, seemingly lackluster response from guests as well as lower wait times for the one existing ride. (Guests are probably more likely to go to a land with two great rides rather than just one.)
Smugglers Run
So there’s still some hope for an increase in visitation and popularity with the opening of Rise of the Resistance. The epic 20+ minute ride looks INCREDIBLE with over 4 ride systems, 300 animatronic figures, a life-size TIE fighter, Tower of Terror-style drop, and more.
©Disney
Check out everything you can expect from Rise of the Resistance here!
So we’re not quite ready to declare a long-term winner in this debate. Not all the cards have been played just yet, and while it looks like Pandora has beat out Galaxy’s Edge as the most popular land in the…well…LAND for now, we’ll wait until December to make a final call.
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Two TOTALLY different ride categories if you ask me! They really can’t be compared. Now when Rise of the Resistance opens…then we’ll talk. 😉
Smugglers Run does not have Fastpass as an option like Flight of Passage. Fastpass balloons the standby wait times.
Fast Pass. Having no fast pass line makes a huge difference on Millennium Falcon.
Why isn’t anyone talking about the fact that lines move faster without fast passes?!? I had a cast member tell me once for every 10 fast pass groups he was only allowed to let one stand by group in. Pandora uses fast passes, Galaxy’s Edge does not. I think that has more to do with wait times being longer in Pandora than Galaxy’s Edge.
I think you have to take into account Fastpasses. It’s true for the person holding the fast pass gets a short wait but for the person without the line is sometimes 2x the wait of what it could be. I think the fact that Smugglers run Is not utilizing the fast pass system is what is keeping the lines shorter. Where as flights of passage is using fast pass system. Just my 2 cents 😊
What about the effect that FoP has FP’s which makes the SB wait longer than a ride without FP’s?
Flight of Passage also has FastPass which will create a backup in the standby queues, while Smugglers Run does not. So, part of the reason for the longer standby times for FoP is the accommodation of the FastPass riders which, based on typical daily/hourly demand and availability of those FastPasses, is not insubstantial. This isn’t to say that there isn’t less demand for FoP, just that the comparison is apples to oranges.
Saw both “worlds” last week for the first time. I was bored. Galaxy’s Edge is just a big shopping mall. Not easy to find your way out of it. Rode the river ride at Pandora and wondered what the point of it was. The biggest problem is so much space and so few things to do in each land. DLR has more attractions per square foot than either of these two areas. When you drive along World Drive past DHS, you can see the unfinished backs of the hills/mountains of GE. That just looks bad.
Both of these areas require too much preparation to even figure out what you are doing and where you are going. You can walk into Toy Story Land and it’s just one long walk past the attractions. The other two are too immersive; you need to learn the language, you need to know the movies, you need to study the maps(and they aren’t very good). I just don’t want to work that hard to visit WDW.
The worst part is there aren’t any benches to sit down. Older persons need those even if they don’t fit the theming. People were sitting on the edges of the flower beds where there isn’t any edge to sit. They spent a lot of money making a “world”, but didn’t think about the guests.
I think the other thing to consider is that Falcon doesn’t have Fastpass, this means those in standby aren’t waiting as long. So it could be similar re popularity if you factor that in too!
Galaxy’s Edge also has the established boarding groups that limit the number of people entering the land on busier times and days.
I feel you must also consider fast passes when looking at wait times. FOP currently accepts fast pass reservations, which affects the standby line wait times. Since Smugglers Run is not yet utilizing fast pass, the standby by line can move quicker.
Pandora is using fast pass where Smugglers is not yet. Fast pass slows down the regular line.
I was some what disappointed with Smugglers Run as unless you’re the piolet you can’t see what’s going on. And if you’re pushing buttons then you’re not watching the screen. For Rise I was looking forward to it until I seen the Tower of Terror drop, I’ll pass on that. Why can’t they make an attraction to entertain, amuse, enjoy, and just plain fun & related to something Disney without some “thrill” scary part which attracts youngsters. I was so looking forward to Star Wars land since I’ve loved the movies but now it holds nothing for me. Sorry, but I guess can enjoy.
You can’t compare the wait times because Flight of Passage has FastPass+ and Smuggler’s Run doesn’t.
FP+ causes the Standby wait time to go up significantly.
Smuggler’s Run is soooooo boring! While Flight of Passage is amazing!
360 more guest per hour at Smuggler’s run with no Fast Pass is pretty significant. Also for a better picture you need to look at comparative park attendance. Even perhaps the efficiency of the ride and CMs at each respective place.
I believe an important point to make here is the fact that the crowds are being “managed” by the use of Boarding Groups, when necessary. If there were not Boarding Groups, you may see the longer lines in Galaxy’s Edge. Pandora is not currently managing guests by boarding groups. Just my .02
Rise of the Resistance will certainly help the overall popularity of Galaxy’s Edge.
But Smuggler’s Run isn’t even close to the attraction that Flight of Passage is.
I enjoyed it, but FOP is better by miles.
I look forward to seeing how ROTR compares.
Flight of Passage is one of the best rides anywhere (along with Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey) and lets face it, Disney just keeps increasing their prices for tickets, food and eventually they will make this trip too expensive for families like ours who use to come every year. I had hoped that there would be more to see and do other than stores and restaurants. Comparing it to the Harry Potter areas in Universal, they have some cool areas to just spend time such as Olivander’s wand shop (where you can enjoy the show without spending a penny) and Diagon Alley and I had hoped for a little more of this. I hope Disney figures it out. It would be easy to do. They need to have more interaction with characters around the land and perhaps have some interaction or show in the marketplace. I can wonder around Pandora all morning because it’s just pretty. That is not the case with the Star Wars Land.
Did anyone in the comments read the article? They addressed the FP+ line.
Pandora is just so awesome! And I don’t even like the movie. I love starwars so I can’t wait to just be in GE and ride the MF but rise of resistance looksand sounds amazing and should topple FOP off my number 1 ride list. If it doesn’t I will be disappointed. Hopefully there won’t be any delays to the opening, we are there in December
I’m going to buck common sentiment. I like Smugglers Run alot more than FOP. I have never been as impressed as everyone else it. I actually like Soarin’ as much as more. It’s a gorgeous experience but I don’t feel immersed. I do with Smugglers Run.