Posted: June 11, 2019

Not long after Disneyland revealed plans to build a Star Wars-themed area, visions of large and ominous crowds hovered over fans like the Death Star. But now that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge has opened, those expectations have been blown to smithereens. The new Star Wars land is drawing healthy but not overwhelming crowds (kept in check by a reservations system) and Disneyland is seeing uncommonly short lines for most of its attractions.

Posted: June 11, 2019

Star Wars: Galaxy 's Edge wrapped up the first week of its maiden voyage with Disneyland management saying the largest expansion in park history wasn 't marred by crowding problems that some visitors groused about on social media. “The crowding issues that many of our guests anticipated have not come to fruition thanks to the measures we 've put in place,” said Disneyland vice president Kris Theiler. “They are nonexistent.” The $1-billion Star

Posted: June 08, 2019

Black Spire Outpost, Batuu (aka Disneyland, Anaheim, California) (CNN) - Disneyland's most ambitious new land ever, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, opened on Friday, and my 11-year-old daughter and I were there on day one. We learned things you'll want to know, whether you visit sooner or later -- some by following in our footsteps, but largely by learning from our mistakes. Since we left, numerous people who noticed the custom droid my

Posted: June 08, 2019

Disneyland continues to make crowd management adjustments to Galaxy 's Edge queues outside the wildly popular cantina and the lightsaber and droid building shops that have drawn hours-long lines during the opening days of the new Star Wars themed land. Modest crowds overwhelmed the new 14-acre land on opening day as fans who waited overnight to be the first visitors faced snaking queues that grew so long Disneyland was forced to cut off access to the

Posted: June 08, 2019

Ask an aficionado of The Happiest Place on Earth to name their absolute-est, beyond-est, most-est-and-forever-est favorite thing, and you'll hear more answers than an ice cream sundae has sprinkles. SoCal spookies do love their Haunted Mansion something wicked, and Dole Whip devotees are hot on the cold treat, and lots of people pine for the parades. But fireworks fans? They're a truly special collective, for they know

Posted: June 08, 2019

The creative forces behind Star Wars: Galaxy 's Edge promise the expansion land 's coming second attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, will offer an “epic” experience filled with surprises. “This is our other anchor attraction and we 're so excited about this one as well. This truly is epic,” said Margaret Kerrison, managing story editor for Galaxy 's Edge. “Even other Imagineers who aren 't on this project ask me, ‘Tell me everything

Posted: June 07, 2019

Here 's a familiar and effective design trick often used at theme parks: Corral guests under or through a passageway that forces the crowd to narrow before a grand reveal. Think of Disneyland 's Main Street, U.S.A., where park goers are shunted through a passage under a train tunnel that gives way to a romantic, turn-of-the-20th-century town and a fantastical castle. At the entrance to Disney California Adventure 's Cars Land, an archway both shadows and

Posted: June 07, 2019

I really want to not care about Galaxy 's Edge. All the hype, all the lines, all the money. The last time I was in Disneyland I couldn 't wait to leave. It was so crowded. I felt so old. I am a baby boomer, the real kind. I quit the football team after I read the Beats, protested Vietnam, fled to San Francisco. I lived next door to the Grateful Dead in the Haight, saw Janis before she was “Pearl,” met Tex Watson and the Manson girls. I smoked weed