Day 17
Propose a refurbishment for ANY land in ANY theme park. BUT it must include a new ride of some sort.
Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Is it odd that such a new area would receive an extensive refurbishment (particularly one that reportedly cost more than $1b to build)? Sure. With that said, the first, and most important part of the Galaxy’s Edge upgrade involves enclosing the central market area of the land and Ronto Roasters so that both become indoor experiences.
In late-August, I had the opportunity to visit SW:GE at the Studios. There are a lot of things I really liked about the new area, but my biggest critique involved the lack of air conditioned environments provided to guests. In fact, talking with my fiancé and our friend who joined us, I wondered if perhaps WDI had, had California summers in mind when designing the area, given just how much of GE is composed of open-air environments. Open-air spaces are wonderful in Anaheim, but in Central Florida: land of swamps and humidity? Yikes! Indeed, we made our way to SW:GE at gate opening, and by 10a the heat became unbearable—we ended up calling it quits and headed into Muppet Vision just to get a bit of relief, only returning to GE to ride RotR when our boarding time was called.
Part of GE’s problem is that the majority of air conditioned space in the land is either reservation only (Oga’s Cantina) or restrooms. Enclosing the marketplace/Roaster would solve this problem instantly. I’d suggest doing so with a glass canopy, allowing for natural light to continue to pour into the area and for the marketplace to retain its open-air feeling. Of course, the other route that could be taken is to do what Universal Creative did with Knockturn Alley, enclosing the marketplace and creating a dark, nighttime atmosphere for guests to shop in.
As for SW:GE’s newest attraction? This might be a cop out, but if I had my way I’d convert Rise of the Resistance into “Rise of the Rebellion” and have the attraction take place during the original Star Wars trilogy. Luke, Han, Chewy, and Lea each receive appearances of some sort, as does Vader, of course. When it comes to theme park attractions, don’t count your eggs before they hatch; stick with the classics.
Of course, I’d also love to see a Bounty Hunter shooter—maybe based around The Mandelorian/Boba Fett? Perhaps the area surrounding Rise of the Rebellion could be set during the original trilogy, while bounty hunter shooter dark ride could be built towards Toy Storyland, with the area surrounding it occurring after the original trilogy. Or maybe I’m overthinking it a bit and timelines don’t actually matter all that much in theme parks. The original Star Tours certainly didn’t care about timelines, and it became a classic!
Oh, one more thing: build some version of a “Mos Eisley Cantina” restaurant, complete with an Audio Animatronic bad, please. Come on Disney, give the people what they want!
