Disney drops more art, photos for its Star Wars Galaxy's Edge lands

December 16, 2017, 8:56 PM · Scott Trowbridge and his team from Walt Disney Imagineering this evening revealed more concept art and construction photos for the upcoming Star Wars Galaxy's Edge lands, during a fan event at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida.

On a panel during the Star Wars Galactic Nights after-hours, hard-ticket event, Imagineers talked about what's coming in the new Star Wars lands, which will debut in 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland in California. Much of the focus was on the Millennium Falcon ride, on which visitors will be able to take control of Han Solo's iconic spaceship.

Disney has recreated the hallway on the ship, as well as the cockpit, which visitors will be able to enter on the ride. The Orange County Register revealed last month that the Falcon ride will feature multiple turntable rooms, each of which will be a Falcon interior, boosting the capacity of the ride over the what would be a very low-throughput attraction with only a single spaceship available to fly for each group of visitors that comes through the ride. Here's the inside of the attraction, now under construction.

Inside the Millennium Falcon

Disney's team said tonight that the Millennium Falcon ride will feature multiple missions for visitors to complete as they fly the Falcon, so each ride will be different. Trowbridge earlier said that visitors' performance on those tasks in the Millennium Falcon ride will be tracked and may influence how characters elsewhere in the land react to you. It's relatively easy to see how Disney might pull this off in Florida, where Disney is using visitors' MagicBand wristbands to facilitate interactive experiences on attractions. But Disney doesn't use MagicBands in California (at least, not yet), so it remains to be seen how Disney will pull off this interactivity on the west coast.

The Millennium Falcon won't be the only iconic spaceships on display in Galaxy's Edge, which is set on the new planet of Batuu in the Star Wars canon. Imagineers are building full-size X-wing fighters for the land, Trowbridge said.

X wings

Disney also is testing blue and green "milk" beverages that will be offered for sale in Galaxy's Edge. And Chris Beatty from WDI said that the design team traveled to marketplaces in Istanbul and Marrakech for inspiration in creating the marketplace of shops that visitors will find on Batuu.

Batuu marketplace

The marketplace will sell in-universe toys and other souvenirs, rather than the Disney collectibles and souvenirs one finds in other retail locations throughout the parks.

For more on Disney's Star Wars lands:

Replies (5)

December 17, 2017 at 6:01 PM · I know its a long way off, and even longer until this Aussie will see it, but this geek is kinda excited.

Please no spoilers on the new movie anyone, not seen it yet, and avoiding the internet altogether is kinda hard. I figure this should be a safe site...

December 17, 2017 at 10:58 PM · No site is safe. Turns out Rey's parents are Yoda and Maz. Snoke is Mace Windu's uncle. Everyone but Poe dies.
December 17, 2017 at 11:27 PM · From what I've heard, the First Order ride will be the real E Ticket.
December 18, 2017 at 9:47 AM · Any information as to how Star Tours will connect (if at all) with Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios? I presume the attraction will just be separate in Disneyland since it will be on the other side of the park. Any word on these attractions potentially closing once Galaxy's Edge opens?
December 18, 2017 at 3:05 PM · I like the idea of in-universe souvenirs. Given the shortage of kid-characters in existing fiction we haven't seen a *lot* of toys, but we have seen a few -- Luke swooshing a model T-19 Skyhopper in ANH, Leia thinking of a plush Wookiee when she first sees an Ewok (in the novelization of ROTJ). Presumably there are things like plush Lothcats on Lothal (Rebels) and a division of Sienar Fleet Systems that makes commemorative models of its most famous capital ships and starfighters for veterans. One problem: you can't sell them in cardstock boxes, since paper barely exists (IIRC, that was a design decision by Lucas to make the world more alien).

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