With the long awaited opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the newest expansion coming to the Disney Parks in California and Florida, just a few months away, Disney is finally giving fans their first real look inside the park. The company recently invited members of the press, including Entertainment Weekly's Anthony Breznican, Nerdist's Amy Ratcliffe, USA Today's Arthur Levine, and The Hollywood Reporter's Ryan Parker, to tour the construction site in Anaheim and experience some of what the park will have to offer. Here are some highlights from those pieces,
The Experience
"'Wow.' That's all I could manage to think and even say aloud as I stared
up at the enormous, full-scale Millennium Falcon in Disneyland's newest
attraction, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge as I visited with a small group of
media last week for a top-secret (they even took our phones) preview.
That was just the start of the tour. "
"Each park worker, or “cast member” in Disney parlance, will also be
playing a character as they go about their jobs. They may be serving up
sandwiches at the Ronto Roaster, guiding you onto rides, or cleaning up
the grounds, but they’re also being trained in improvisation and
role-play."
"When you enter the world of Batuu, the Play Disney Parks app will switch
modes using Bluetooth technology and location services and become a Star Wars datapad. The datapad has four tools to encourage to interact with Galaxy’s Edge: Hack, Scan, Translate, and Tune."
"Your visit is meant to feel like part of the galactic timeline, set somewhere after the events of The Last Jedi and shortly before this December’s Episode IX."
Rise of the Resistance (Ride)
"As you enter the heart of Resistance command, a familiar droid appears:
BB-8. He comes bearing a hologram of (Daisy) Ridley as Rey, telling visitors
they have to board a transport soon for a mission led by Poe Dameron."
"About 50 guests will enter a large spaceship and stand for a flight
that, in typical theme park fashion, will go horribly wrong. Visitors
will be able to see animatronic pilots in the cockpit, and will have
views of the journey via monitors in the front and rear of the ship.
Shortly after leaving Batuu, the First Order will ensnare the ship in a
tractor beam and transport it to a Star Destroyer."
"Disney Parks officials won’t say exactly how long Rise of the Resistance
lasts, but they say it’s not the 28 mins that has been rumored online."
Entertainment Weekly also revealed that, in addition to Ridley as Rey, the "Rise of the Resistance" ride will also feature John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver reprising their roles as Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren, respectively.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (Ride)
"There is a full-sized Falcon in the park guests will be able to see, but
not touch. The line to get on the ride will take guests higher and
higher above that Falcon until they believe they are boarding it. The
doors open, and boom, you are on the Millennium Falcon. For yours truly,
it was a pinch-me moment. Guests, in groups, are free to explore the
main compartment of the Falcon, until it is their turn in the cockpit.
And when those doors open, jaws will drop."
"The Smugglers Run ride has a choose-your-own-adventure quality that allows your actions to determine the outcome of the mission. (...) Not happy with your story? You can always change it. You’ll just have to get back in line and try again."
Food and Drinks
The press members were allowed to tour three of the dining establishments that will be open in Galaxy's Edge, Oga’s Cantina, Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, and Ronto Roasters.
"Oga’s has the distinction of being the first location inside Disneyland
to sell alcohol (10 different drinks including a Fuzzy Tauntaun, Dagobah
Slug Slinger, Bloody Rancor and Bespin Fizz). This is a big deal as
previously only Disney California Adventure Park offered adult
beverages. But those cantina drinks must be finished inside the
location, no wandering around."
"Roasting meat on a spit is a marketplace staple, so Black Spire Outpost
has it. This open air establishment (Ronto Roasters) is owned by Bakkar, a huge podracing fan;
he runs his stall with the help of his droid 8D-J8. The shop is
decorated with podracing flags and flair, and Bakkar’s modified a
podracing engine to roast ronto meat (ronto being a beast from
Tatooine)."
Via EW (about Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo),
"Chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs is the proprietor, and that’s his kitchen — a modified Sienar-Chall Utilipede Transport. In other words, a flying food truck. He’s dropping off meals for the customers below, and the trailer-size food crates themselves are marked with a sly Easter egg. The first one is stamped 77, the middle one — which is dangling through an iris in the restaurant ceiling as it is delivered — is marked with 80, and the other one still aboard the ship is No. 83. Those are the three release years of the original trilogy."
For those wanting to plan ahead, the complete menus from all three establishments can be found in the Nerdist article.
Merchandise
As with anything Star Wars, expect there to be lots of unique Galaxy's Edge merchandise for sale in the park. Some of it will be the sort of thing you would expect (stuffed Star Wars creatures, etc.), but a lot of it, like what will be sold at Savi’s Workshop, the Droid Depot, and Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, sounds like it will be part of the Park experience.
"I was most intrigued by Savi’s Workshop, which is where a limited number of builders at a time (14) will be able to craft their own unique lightsabers, which includes picking out their own kyber crystal (the magic stones that make the saber work). And these are not cheap, plastic lightsabers toys. There are heavy-duty, which is why only so many people can do the experience at a time. Officials estimated it would take one person at least 20 minutes to complete their lightsaber."
"Some of the Ithorian’s valuables (in Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities) are not for sale, but a great many
statues of Sith and Jedi, as well as holocron cubes containing the
wisdom of the the light and dark side, and assorted historic lightsabers
will be for sale to Earth visitors to take home."
"(The Droid Depot) is set up almost like a cafeteria. There’s a conveyor belt
where you walk along and choose the pieces to build your droid, an
assembly area where you put it together, a chip station, where you
select a personality circuit, and finally an activation center where
your personal robot first comes to life."
Don't expect any of this to come cheap, however, the lightsabers alone will cost up to $109 for the hilt and $49.99 for the blade. No other prices are reported, but expect to pay a pretty penny for most collectibles in Galaxy's Edge (and, sadly, I'm going to guess mindtricks don't work on the staff).
This just scratches the surface of what's been revealed about Galaxy's Edge today. More details about the rides, food, merch, and general experience can be found in the articles from The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today, and the series of articles from Entertainment Weekly and Nerdist.
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is slated to open first at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in June (according to Disney CEO Bob Iger), and then at Disney World in Orlando, Florida in the Fall. The park was first announced back at D23 in August 2015, and construction began in April 2016. Now, almost four years later, it's finally (almost) time for Star Wars fans to live out their dreams and step into the galaxy far, far away (or, at least, come as close as possible here on Earth).
Follow The Star Wars Underworld on Twitter @TheSWU for more updates about this story and other breaking Star Wars news.
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