Star Wars Galaxy's Edge (Disneyland)
| Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge | |
|---|---|
| Opened | May 31, 2019 |
| Area | 14 acres |
| Theme | Star Wars
|
| Status | Operating |
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is a themed land at Disneyland Park in the Disneyland Resort, California, set in Black Spire Outpost, a trading settlement on the remote planet Batuu in the Star Wars universe. Opened on May 31, 2019, and covering 14 acres, it is the largest single-land expansion in Disneyland's history. A near-identical version opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida on August 29, 2019. As originally presented, events in the outpost were set between the films The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), with the Resistance maintaining a hidden camp nearby and a First Order detachment newly arrived in the village.
Development
Disney had acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and on August 15, 2015, at the D23 Expo, it announced matching Star Wars lands for California and Florida, each of 14 acres. Construction at Disneyland began on April 14, 2016, on a site assembled from backstage areas, the Big Thunder Ranch, and the northern reach of the Rivers of America, which was shortened and rerouted to make room. Imagineering executive Scott Trowbridge supervised the project at both parks.
The design avoided reproducing a location from the films. Batuu and Black Spire Outpost were created for the parks, their name taken from the blackened petrified spires over the village, so the setting could support original stories across rides, shops, books and comics. Buildings were finished to look weathered and lived in, and merchandise is packaged as if made locally rather than branded as souvenirs.
Demand at opening was managed with a reservation system for the first weeks, followed by a virtual queue. The land was dedicated on May 29, 2019, and opened to the public two days later with one of its two rides; Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, delayed by its technical complexity, opened on January 17, 2020.
Attractions
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which opened with the land, places six riders in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as pilots, gunners and engineers on a smuggling mission for the pirate Hondo Ohnaka. The outcome varies with the crew's performance, and damage taken in flight is reflected in the ship's condition in the exit corridor.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance combines several ride systems in sequence. Resistance recruits are captured, taken into a Star Destroyer hangar filled with stormtroopers, interrogated, and escape in trackless vehicles before a simulated drop returns them to Batuu. At roughly 18 minutes including pre-shows, it is among the longest and most complex attractions Disney has built.
Two experiences operate as retail with participation: at Savi's Workshop guests assemble a custom lightsaber in a guided ceremony, and at the Droid Depot they build a remote-controlled droid from parts on a conveyor.
Dining and shops
Oga's Cantina, modelled on the film series' cantinas, serves drinks to a largely standing-room crowd, with music from a former Starspeeder pilot droid. Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo is the main quick-service restaurant, Ronto Roasters cooks wraps beneath a podracing engine, and the Milk Stand sells the blue and green milk drinks seen in the films. Kat Saka's Kettle sells spiced popcorn.
Shops are grouped as a marketplace of stalls and specialist stores. Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities sells replica artefacts under the eye of an Audio-Animatronic Ithorian dealer; other shops cover Resistance supplies, First Order merchandise, creatures at the Creature Stall, clothing at Black Spire Outfitters, and toys at Toydarian Toymaker.
Setting and entrances
Black Spire Outpost is entered by three routes: two tunnels from Frontierland along the Big Thunder Trail, and a wooded path from Bayou Country past the Resistance camp. Rockwork hides the rest of Disneyland from inside, and full-size spacecraft — the Millennium Falcon, an X-wing and a First Order TIE fighter — serve as landmarks. Characters including Rey, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren and stormtroopers move through the streets in character rather than appearing at fixed meeting points.