Disney reportedly cutting employee hours at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Believe it or not, the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park at Disneyland may not be the cash cow Disney had originally anticipated. Lower than expected 2019 attendance numbers are hurting the bottom line at Galaxy’s Edge and, according to a Disney employee speaking anonymously to Fox Business, Disney is reducing park worker’s hours in order to compensate.

“Wait times this summer for the new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride were expected to be over 2 hours long all summer, but in reality, the lines have been averaging half that or less,” the employee said. “As a result, the company has been forced to cut our hours. The need for us to work simply isn’t there.”

The employee says that their weekly hours have been cut from 40 to 35 or even 30, the opposite of what they and their fellows had expected from Disney this summer. A spokesperson for Disney made a statement: “Full-time cast members know that they are regularly scheduled between 30 and 40 hours per week and that their schedules vary depending on a number of factors.”

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – MAY 29: A view of the gift shop during the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge media preview at The Disneyland Resort at Disneyland on May 29, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

The main problem may stem from the fact that Galaxy’s Edge, despite a set of well-developed “experiences,” restaurants and retail stores, offers only one bonafide ride, and it’s underperforming. Since the grand opening, the Smuggler’s Run ride has seen an average of 27,000 visitors per day, about half of what some old park standards like A Small World (57,000) and Pirates of the Caribbean (55,000) pull in. Yes, those two rides have bigger capacities, but Smuggler’s Run has only averaged to pack ’em in at 76% of its max capacity thus far.

Disney CEO Bob Iger tried to explain the poor attendance issue as a combination of more expensive park tickets, overpriced hotels and Star Wars-ian hype-exhaustion:

"First of all, helped in part by some of our efforts, there was tremendous concern in the marketplace that there was going to be huge crowding when we opened Galaxy’s Edge. So some people stayed away, just because they expected that it would not be a great guest experience. At the same time that that was going on, all of the local hotels in the region, expecting a huge influx of visitation, raised their prices … In addition to that, we raised our prices."

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – MAY 29: Inside the Millennium Falcon during the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge media preview at The Disneyland Resort at Disneyland on May 29, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Iger admits that opening with only one of the two planned major attractions contributed to the underperformance, adding that “all of those factors contributed to attendance that was below what we would have hoped it would be. That said, guest satisfaction, interest in the attraction in the land is extremely high, it’s the most popular thing at the park.”

The other big ride coming to Galaxy’s Edge is Star Wars: Rise Of The Resistance, but it won’t debut until December 5 at Walt Disney World in Florida (the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge park opens there on August 29) and January 2020 at Disneyland.

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The road may be bumpy from time to time, but we’re pretty sure Disney will figure out how to get Galaxy’s Edge up to light speed.

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