What we know about Star Wars Land. Construction will begin around mid January, after several parts of the park close, temporarily, or permanently.
The land will take up part of Frontierland and Rivers of America, but will primary be in space that is currently backstage areas with facilities that will be relocated.
There will be three new attractions, and at least one restaurant and gift shop. I am not a big Star Wars fan, so my knowledge of the source material is minimal.
What we don't know.
What will happen to Star Tours? Will it continue in Tomorrowland, move to Star Wars Land, or close completely?
Where where the entrance be? My guess is that it will be in Fantasyland. This would be a nearly identical setup to Toon Town. Toon Town isn't technically part of Fantasyland, but because they it is also a land of Fantasy, Fantasyland serves as hub to another Fantasyland.
How will RoA, and the Railroad be altered?
This is probably the most interesting question to older Disneyland fans, as it involves the most significant alteration to a land present since opening day and greatly influenced by Walt himself. Other than that their footprint will be rearranged and shrunk, this one is the biggest mystery.
What are you excited about and worried about? My opinion is that Walt believed the park would never be finished, and this expansion is true to Walt's vision for his park. DCA has meant little has changed at Disneyland Park over the last two decades. think it's great for Disney to add an additional land, based on the most popular movie series in history. I realize Disneyland will never undergo the kind of changes that happened when Walt was alive, but I do think Disney feels a greater desire to make changes to its parks, mainly thanks to Universal. What I would like to see is improvements made at each park every other year, so no park outshines the other.
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Take this with a fairly large grain of salt, but this is what I've heard from friends who work at the park and have a little bit of inside information.
What will happen to Star Tours? Will it continue in Tomorrowland, move to Star Wars Land, or close completely?
Star Tours will remain where it is for now. However, when it is time for the next Tomorrowland refurbishment (current information hints at this happening for the 70th anniversary in 2025), Star Tours will be relocated to Star Wars Land as part of a phase two expansion focused more on the original trilogy and anthology films (phase one is almost exclusively sequel trilogy based).
Where will the entrance be?
There will be two entrances. The primary entrance (the one seen in the concept art) will be where Big Thunder Ranch is currently located. The second entrance will connect to either Critter Country or (more likely) Toontown. The previously mentioned phase two expansion will add connections to the other land and will remove all dead ends from Disneyland.
How will RoA, and the Railroad be altered?
The back half of Tom Sawyer's Island that is not accessible to guests will be mostly removed and the river will run through here. The new route will be approximately 25% shorter. The railroad will run along the edge of this new river, then turn north to go around the Fantasyland Theater and connect to the existing Toontown Station. There is a graphic showing the approximate new route, but the changes are said to be less significant than what is shown.
What are you excited about and worried about?
I'm excited about Disneyland having a major expansion, as this will be the first new E-ticket attraction since the 1990s. I'm also excited about a Star Wars themed land as it is one of my favorite film franchises. My biggest worry is that the initial area will be almost entirely based on the sequel trilogy and that if it doesn't connect with audiences the land may not go over very well. My other worry is the opposite...the land is so popular that Disneyland rides on its success for another 10 years without more investment. However, as Disney now has significant competition in Universal and (to my knowledge) is not actively working on any new parks at this time I have a feeling this will be the first of a series of major investments for both parks at the Disneyland Resort.
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I don't know anything about it, but it should have been done already....