Today, we will wrap up our series with a look at what will become its most popular elements — its core attractions. Disney has announced that the two major attractions within its Star Wars Lands will be rides based on flying the Millennium Falcon and on fighting against the First Order.
[Spoiler warning: This is where you bail out if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know anything that happens. If you don't care about minor spoilers — including stuff that was revealed in the trailers anyway — you can keep reading, as we won't reveal any major plot or character developments.]
Those choices seem all the more inspired after watching The Force Awakens. The Falcon is the first "star" from the old films that we see on-screen in The Force Awakens. Having the chance to fly the Falcon will give fans the opportunity to put themselves in the same position as one of the new stars of the film — allowing them the chance to see just how good of a pilot (or how Force sensitive) that they might be.
From what we've heard so far, imagine a ride experience that combines elements from Star Tours and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. You ride aboard a spaceship that moves with multiple degrees of freedom (like on Star Tours), however, you will be in smaller ride vehicles that are each matched with its own domed projection screen as the vehicle and screen move in tandem on a ride track (like on Forbidden Journey). The spaceship in question will be the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, and the action on the screen will change in response to your actions in flying the ship. (Another analogy might be a plussed-up version of Mission: Space — without the claustrophobia triggers and zero-G nausea.)
Such a system creates wonderful opportunities to reward repeat visitors with different experiences, as well as the potential for a competitive element, as visitors try to "fly" better with each ride. We do not know yet exactly what Disney will do with this ride, but the opportunities are there.
For the First Order battle attraction, we know less — just that this appears to be a new type of experience from Disney. But after watching The Force Awakens, I cannot wait to see another fight with this crew. The movie creates a worthy successor to the Galactic Empire, one that replaces the sometimes dispassionate conformity of the old Empire with a fascism that teeters on the edge of unchecked fury. General Hux is one crazy son of a b----, and Kylo Ren is the emotionally unhinged Force user that Anakin Skywalker should have been in the prequels. Forget the Trade Federation — this is an enemy worth rooting against.
So how do we feel about Star Wars Land, now that we've seen The Force Awakens? Here's the TL;DR:
Bring. It. On. We can't wait.
Construction begins on Star Wars Land at Disneyland on January 11, for an expected opening sometime in 2019 or 2020. Disney has not yet announced an opening date.
Earlier:
With the Falcon getting a new captain, I wonder if the actors from the new trilogy will be infused into the attraction much like the actors in the Harry Potter series are.
I completely agree! Those people drive me nuts. It's perfectly ok to hate something, but only as long as you have a valid reason and not just because you're wearing your nostalgia goggles too tightly.
But anyway, I personally am really hyped for the Millenium Falcon ride! I love Mission: Space, but I want my actions to actually have an effect on what's going on. And who knows? Maybe that holographic chess game with the claymation aliens will be available to play. That'd be interesting.
I will admit though, the First Order ride has me a bit concerned. I'm thinking that maybe it shouldn't be a motion simulator. I'm afraid it might be the same case with MK's 3 spinners. I give Dumbo a pass since it's an all-time classic and is much better thanks to the recent update. I give Astro Orbitor a pass since it changes things up a bit by taking place on a rooftop and providing a nice view. But Magic Carpets I will not bother defending. It brings nothing new and is a waste of space.
That's what I'm afraid might happen here. Star Wars Land will have 3 motion simulators: Star Tours, the first motion simulator ever that has been vastly improved thanks to an update of it's own; the Millenium Falcon ride, which will introduce something new by actually giving you control of the action (and gets extra points for taking place on one of the most iconic spaceships of all time); and then there's the First Order ride, which so far we know nothing about to know for sure if it's gonna be anything revolutionary. If the whole ride is really just one big space battle, then people might start drawing comparisons with Star Tours or maybe even the Millenium Falcon ride.
So, Disney, please prove me wrong.
"...the actual construction phase of Star Wars Land will begin, and that program has been code named “Atlantis” by WDI. (Greek scholars will appreciate the Imagineers coded references here.)
When the construction phase of Atlantis begins later in 2016, the biggest warehouse, or “show building” in Disneyspeak, will be found in the northwest corner of the new land and will eventually block the views of Mickey & Friends. That building will be the home to the Stormtrooper chase and escape ride, code named “Alcatraz” at WDI, that will feature autonomous trackless vehicles and nearly every other techno marvel WDI can throw at it. The second largest building will be on the northern perimeter and will contain the Millennium Falcon flight attraction, which is code named “Big Bird”. These massive show buildings should begin to be framed in by early 2017, with a projected opening date that’s now pegged for Spring, 2019."
What kind of things will people be able to buy in Star Wars land? Will they have a light saber buying place, like Olivander's with wands in WW?
Besides that, Disney loves selling cheap junk that is "One Disney"...so I find it hard to believe they will resist the urge to just have the normal, regular junk filling up Star Wars Land stores.
I am actually really fascinated by what Disney marketing and food and beverage and merchandise departments do with Star Wars Land. These people are so hard-wired to churn out the cheapest junk merchandise imaginable: they don't make quality things and the slap character faces on everything. So, it's going to be amazing if they don't have Darth Vader chocolate helmets and all that other cheap junk.
Now, Star Wars has been one of my favorite franchises since my early elementary school days. And I can see it becoming it's own park. But building it over a preexisting one? Not a good idea.
Now first off, just because most people consider DHS the weakest of the WDW parks doesn't mean that they hate it; it just means that they don't like it as much as the other 3.
And changing Tower of Terror?! Are you serious?! I know that in years' past Disney has gotten rid of fan-favorites like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Horizons; but the fact that MK, who has been open 19 years longer than USF, still has a good number of it's opening-day attractions still in operation gives the impression that they'll avoid it if they can. Besides, Tower of Terror is a perfect and timeless ride. Altering it would be nothing short of blasphemy.
What we really should be looking at is what Universal will do with its third theme park. Universal is really who will be the leader in making a park around just one Intellectual Property franchise. That's never been done before, to have just one park themed to only one world of characters. Star Wars could have really been a park like that, because each "land" could have been a new planet, with the hub being like a space port and then you are taken to different worlds like through star gates. Harry Potter also could have been its own self-contained park.
I think Jurassic World could be its own park, but would people just want to go on rides all day about dinosaurs getting loose and chasing you. if it would be its own park (with no other IPs in the park), it would have to also have museum-quality dinosaur learning experiences and also attractions based on other eras of prehistoric life. And also maybe a zoo of living reptiles and animals that are similar to prehistoric life. So, a Jurassic World park could exist as a theme park, museum, education center, and zoo all combined into one.
Universal could easily make Nintendo its own park, with different lands based on different video games. That would work.
I think whatever Universal does it will set a new standard. If it creates a truly immersive world that makes you feel like you have left our world and entered into a new world in the theme park, then Disney will be forced to make a fifth park that is immersive as well. Where the hotel is even part of the theme and the world and the cast members are all role playing and once you step through the gates you are in this amazingly realistic world. That feels like the future, but I don't think Disney will be leading the way into that future. Disney is just too cheap and short-sighted these days.
First off, I can get behind Star Wars being it's own park, but one land in every park? Are you kidding me? How do you expect Star Wars to fit into DAK? Or even Epcot for that matter? I know what you might say, "but DAK is getting Avatar which has aliens!" True, but Avatar works for this park because it's all about environmental conservation. Star Wars has a handful of underlying themes; religion, good vs evil etc; but the environment is not one of them.
And how dare you say that Iger doesn't care about WDW. Sure he's been light on attractions, so what? There are other ways to show love and care towards a park. How about spending a crapload of money on a new FastPass system? How about updating two classic thrill rides to become better than ever? How about the new Fantasyland expansion? That's just a fraction of the stuff that shows Iger cares. Also, I didn't see Universal Orlando debuting any new big rides for 2015. Where's the backlash on that? Where's the backlash for not updating Dudley Do-Right or ET? If that was Disney instead of Universal, I'd bet you everything I own there would've been a huge amount of fan complaints.
Now, don't think I'm just a mindless Disney fanboy who thinks that Disney is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that there's no other good theme park out there. I love Universal, and in quite a few recent articles I have pointed out some mistakes Disney has made over the years. And I completely accept that some people prefer Universal over Disney. But I can't accept it when people start hating on Disney even when they're actually doing something right. And it's even harder for me to accept it when
you talk like anything and everything that Universal does will be awesome. Considering the fact that Disney still has a much bigger and much more dedicated fanbase shows that Universal still has a ways to go before they reach the top.
Star Wars Land will open before the decade is over. And while whether or not it will be as good as WWOHP still can't be decided just yet, I personally am sleeping well knowing that most likely it will be awesome. Like the supporters of the Jimmy Fallon ride keep saying: don't judge it until it comes out.
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