It took less than an hour before people were turned away from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on Monday, the first day it was open to the full public at Disneyland in Anaheim.
Guests would be allowed to come back later in the day with a “boarding party,” or a virtual queue, but the land was packed almost immediately. The immensely popular land was even opened 30 minutes early, at 7:30 a.m.; by 8:20 a.m., no more walk-ins were allowed. And the Disneyland app made it clear some people might not get in at all: “Entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or its experiences is not guaranteed.”
However, by 4:45 p.m., the park was able to turn the queue off, and guests were once again allowed to enter the land at their leisure, according to Disney.
Even before Galaxy’s Edge was at its max, the wait for the ride for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was already three hours, according to the official Disneyland app. By 10 a.m., the wait was down to 40 minutes. Around 1 p.m., the wait was back up, to more than an hour. The wait time for the remainder of the day hovered (no pun intended) around an hour, according to park officials.
There were some complaints from visitors via social media that the more popular merchandise items, including some character lightsabers and droid personality chips (for the building shop), had sold out.
The Star Wars land had a soft opening beginning May 31, when a reservation was required to get into the 14-acre area that features the ride and a number of shops and restaurants, all in the theme of a galaxy far, far away.
Now guests are allowed to walk right into the land as long as it is not at capacity (Disney will not say what that number is).
Once that happens, guests will have to use the Disneyland app to get an entrance time in the virtual queue. It is not clear exactly how the time intervals work for the queue, nor is it clear whether park-goers will have limited time in the land in order to rotate in new guests.
5:40 p.m.: Updated with information that the queue had been turned.
