One of the biggest moments in Disneyland history is here! Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has opened to guests with a reservation to visit and we’ve been covering all the new exciting things to see and do. But you may be wondering what exactly opening day was like at Disneyland Park. To our surprise––and perhaps yours––it was a fairly uncrowded day at the Park! Keep scrolling for photos from the big day.
Disneyland Park
We were so surprised to walk up to the main gate and see it like this. No lines? But we suppose this makes sense, now that most Annual Passholders and Cast Members are blocked from visiting with their passes.
Main Street, U.S.A.
Right when we walk in, we spot a few people who are clearly excited to visit the new Land later today.
Cast Members at the main gate were handing our commemorative Guide Maps for opening day. These maps were made of a thicker paper with bronze foil for the lettering. Unfortunately, Cast Members were strict with only giving out one map per guest, so those hoping to score a few more were unable to.
Main Street, U.S.A. was fairly busy, but not as much as we were expecting it to be. Opening Day commemorative merchandise was available at Emporium and we love the cute display outside the doors. This merchandise can also be found at Pooh Corner, Star Traders, and the second level of Star Wars Launch Bay.
The construction walls that were recently put up between Refreshment Corner and Jolly Holiday Bakery are down, making this a quick enhancement. The walkway between these two restaurants is much easier to navigate now. During busy times of day, like the parade performance, Cast Members will direct guests to a path that leads behind the buildings on Main Street. Since the entrance/exit point of this path is here, this enhanced walkway will make traffic much more efficient.
In case you missed it, there is a new digital tip board. Guests looking to know the wait times for their favorite Disneyland Park attractions can find this digital board in front of Plaza Inn.
This is also where the Guest Relations kiosk has been relocated. Instead of seeking assistance in front of Jolly Holiday Bakery, guests will need to head over to Plaza Inn.
The area where the Guest Relations kiosk used to be is now just a large pathway on Main Street, U.S.A.
Guests needing to access the Braille version of the Park Map can still find it located in the old spot.
The construction walls that lined up along Main Street in front of the foliage by Fantasy Faire are finally down as well.
And sadly, the rumors are true. Just as Cast Members said, the Coffee Cart Near Central Plaza is gone. Guests looking to grab coffee or donuts can find them over at Jolly Holiday Bakery.
Even though we miss the Coffee Cart, it is nice to see the new brickwork and slow-incline curbs in this area. It’ll make guest flow much easier during nighttime fireworks.
Frontierland
More walls are gone! The entry to Frontierland is clear and open once again, giving a nice view of the surrounding foliage and water.
The wood railings along the walkway look like they’ve been given a nice polish.
We found more Opening Day pins available for purchase at the cart just outside Westward Ho Trading Company.
For the most part, Frontierland is pretty calm this morning.
There was a bit of a bottleneck outside the entrance to Big Thunder Mountain, however.
The new opening on Big Thunder Trail that was added a couple of weeks ago is now occupied by a snack vendor cart.
But overall, the trail wasn’t quite as busy as we were expecting now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is open.
Cast Members are still posted outside the two entry points, to keep guests without a reservation from accessing the Land. But they did have signs guests could use for posed photos.
Fantasyland
We’re still greatly enjoying Sleeping Beauty Castle being open once again. The bridge wasn’t as crowded as we were expecting, but there was quite the line of guests waiting to get their photo in front of the Castle.
The new banners really tie in with the re-enhanced color scheme of the Castle.
Brace yourselves––the wait for Peter Pan’s Flight was only twenty minutes. It wasn’t until we saw this wait time that we realized how empty Disneyland Park was today. A twenty minute wait time for Peter Pan’s Flight is an incredibly rare sight during the day.
King Arthur Carousel was virtually a walk-on.
Same for Mad Tea Party.
And walking through Fantasyland to “it’s a small world” was quite enjoyable without a huge crowd of people.
Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland was an interesting mixture of emptiness and crowdedness. It was rather empty around Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Autopia. But Star Wars Launch Bay was a different story.
Since guests with reservations for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge have to check in at Launch Bay, there was a huge crowd of guests forming in this area. It was pretty difficult for other guests to navigate through to the rest of Tomorrowland.
Alien Pizza Planet is close to being fully transformed, now that the new sign has gone up.
It looks like there will be an addition of Little Green Men to the sign at some point soon.
Don’t forget to check out the sneak peek preview for Toy Story 4 while you’re in Tomorrowland.
And to help ease with the chaos of guests shopping for Opening Day merchandise, Cast Members formed a queue with signs just outside Star Traders.
Adventureland
With the construction walls removed from the entrance to Adventureland, the walkway is looking clearer than ever. There’s a planter in the middle helps with the flow of guests coming from various directions in and out of the land.
Much like the rest of the Park so far, Adventureland wasn’t overly crowded.
New Orleans Square
We were pleasantly surprised to see how empty New Orleans Square was today. This area is quite often crowded with guests, especially those in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.
We did notice that the crowds started to pick up as we got closer and closer to Critter Country, but it was still easy to navigate through the park past Haunted Mansion.
Critter Country
As we made our way through Critter Country, we noticed a lot of Cast Members guarding the entrance into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There were also several Cast Members patroling the walkway, offering tips and reminding guests to keep their wristbands on as they headed for the new Land.
Before heading out for the day, we caught a quick performance of the Disneyland Marching Band with Mickey and Friends in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by what we experienced at Disneyland Park on this historic day. Despite expecting long lines and huge crowds of people wanting to experience Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, we were met with the exact opposite. Hopefully, this will continue on through June 23, the last day for reservations to see the galactic park expansion.
We were also pleasantly surprised by the light crowds at Disneyland on opening day of Galaxy’s Edge. I was anticipating it to be much more crowded. We had the final reservation time slot, so we spent the day riding all of our favorite E-tickets in both parks and saved the best for last with Millennium Falcon! It was an unforgettable day!