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News Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Historical Construction/Impressions
- Thread starter BrianLo
- Start date
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Only because Bumpin' Banthas feels like a blacklisted phrase for the "Bright Suns" crowd.
Distorian
Well-Known Member
They should revive the Flying Saucers but with landspeeders.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Thats exactly where my mind went. Lol if only Scott Trowbridge could hear us now.
“I thought they wanted hyper immersion and cosplay. In reality they want Star Wars bumper cars.” LOL
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Sure because the third time trying might work out this time.
A podracer bumper car themed C-ticket would actually be a nice addition to the land. If they were ever able to expand further into the backstage area for a 3rd E/D ticket ride it would be a nice complimentary 4th ride to have as a non-height restricted option in GE.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
I wish they would reclaim the road that goes around the front of the marketplace and could make that a portion of some Bantha/Speeder Autopia that weaves throughout.
More kinetic energy and smaller walkways would help the land feel far more alive.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
As much as the ride totally sucks, I actually think the way they built it with multiple carousels of simulators-and separate ADA pods as well-is pretty ingenious.
I wish it was for something considerably better, but hey.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
There is a unique benefit of an attraction with multiple theaters...it can scale down by a carousel and fit another attraction...like Star Tours.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Let's be realistic though, they're not going to move Star Tours. That would imply that they care a lot more about thematic integrity than they actually do.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
Well, first I'll get this out of the way right off the bat: no, they're not likely to move Star Tours. But I think it's possible they move Star Tours as I described, and not for thematic integrity, but for these reasons:
1. Guests love Star Tours, and they'll be disappointed if it was removed forever. Disney knows that. Yet they may have other incremental money-making plans for the acreage Star Tours sits on.
2. Moving it wouldn't be that expensive. It's not a dark ride filled with scenes and animatronics and lighting and effects. There are four simulator units that can be lifted by a crane, loaded on a truck, and driven elsewhere, and unloaded. Of course I'm simplifying, but comparatively, it's rare to have an attraction that is that inherently moveable.
3. In an era when new attractions cost $100 to $400 million, and they are hit or miss, it's valuable to keep an attraction that works, including the theme and content (because another possible alternative is it stays and gets rethemed as Stitch or some hot IP needing representation).
4. SWGE needs more attractions and foot traffic. This is a relatively cheap way to achieve that and allows them to kick the can on a $300 million new attraction by many years.
5. It's embarrassing to Disney that a 40-year-old Star Wars attraction outside the billion-dollar Star Wars land often has more demand and a longer line than the brand new attraction inside the land. It draws ongoing attention to the question of why they even built an entire Star Wars land, at great expense, if "the land" wasn't necessary to drive attraction success.
6. The enhancements to Smuggler's Run will help. In the short run there will be be great curiosity and demand, lines will be long. But in the months after it opens, attention could fade, curiosity maybe satisfied, and things could settle back down. Now, if the updates are significant, maybe they've turned a kind of turd of an attraction into a gem. Who knows. But I think there are fundamental issues with the concept that will likely make it an under-performer forever. So wait times could ease back down to a "not a good look" level. It could be strategic for Disney to artificially boost wait times by 25% to create an impression of greater demand (the Peter Pan's Flight dynamic, you might say).
7. Though surprising, from time to time Disney will spend on a project that doesn't overtly net them much in incremental capacity or revenue. New Fantasyland in 1983, the bridge/entrance to Pirates in 1987, the new queue structure for Jungle Cruise in 1994, or the Haunted Mansion queue at Disneyland in 2024. I put moving Star Tours to SWGE in that camp. It wouldn't be a splashy project like a big new attraction, but a modest investment to accomplishes a list of strategic wins.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
If that gets them to redesign the terrible queue for Smuggler's Run, I'm all for it. I'll take a shared set of Docking Bays where guests can see that Hondo has a flight departing in 25 minutes, Star Tours has a flight departing in 35, and the Hutt's have an Barge departing in 30. Guests could then proceed to whichever gate (queue) appealed best.
Have SR take the center two Carousels and have multiple missions. Bring back Captain R3X to Star Tours and have the randomized missions in the 3rd Carousel Space. Then in the 4th Carousel space build a 3rd type of simulator attraction where guests board an "open air" simulator" that feels like a floating barge and has wind/scents incorporated with the dome that surrounds the ride vehicle. It can even have physical elements/figures which rise into view to blend the tangible with the projected. A mix of Star Tours and Soarin' over Batuu.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Do you think Disney really cares, they aren't embarrassed by ST still being more popular today, whether perceived or not, than GE, if they were they would have removed ST the moment that this perceived attention was drawn away from GE. You're giving Disney too much credit here.
They aren't going to spend money to move it to GE, that was everyone's pipe dream during GEs construction. If that was the plan they would have done it at any point in the last 10 years (especially during construction).
Basically ST is still around because they haven't redone TL yet. Once TL gets announced for a redo you'll see them turn on the nostalgia switch to get all fans to come back and ride it for "One Final Adventure"
. And then like the attraction that was there before it, its lights will be turned off and they will begin the process of demoing it.DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
Your frequent dismissal-logic of "if that's worth doing, they would have already done it" never makes sense to me. Are you paying attention to the same company as me? They don't do something until they do it. Things that can, should, or ultimately will be done sit undone for years, until they're finally, often surprisingly, done.Do you think Disney really cares, they aren't embarrassed by ST still being more popular today, whether perceived or not, than GE, if they were they would have removed ST the moment that this perceived attention was drawn away from GE. You're giving Disney too much credit here.
They aren't going to spend money to move it to GE, that was everyone's pipe dream during GEs construction. If that was the plan they would have done it at any point in the last 10 years (especially during construction).
Basically ST is still around because they haven't redone TL yet. Once TL gets announced for a redo you'll see them turn on the nostalgia switch to get all fans to come back and ride it for "One Final Adventure"
The last thing that Disney rushes to do is remove something or fix something because it's embarrassing. They will exist in a state of shame about something for many, many years (because it's a low level problem, I admit, it was one of a list of notes). Then, one day, lo and behold, a work wall goes up. A waterfall is fixed. A Tomorrowland wall is dealt with. Etc.
In this case, I think Disney was truly shocked that SR wasn't a huge hit. On paper, it's genius. I think the last thing they thought they'd need in SWGE when they were building it was ST because a far superior (in their minds) simulator was coming to SWGE. Reality didn't happen as expected.
EDIT: Everybody in the theme park industry knows SR is a disappointment -- so much that the head of parks and incoming CEO publicly said so (how many individual rides in the Disney global ride portfolio does the CEO comment on the quality of and lackluster guest reaction to?). The Imagineers who designed this ride, WDI in general, is professionally embarrassed, believe me.
Ultimately I think ST, or at least that ride system, is likely there to stay (whether in TL where it is, or in SWGE). It's a workhorse and crowd pleaser.
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Disney Irish
Premium Member
No, I'm just being realistic. I don't fall into this fallacy to think that Disney cares about some perceived "embarrassment" about STs being popular over SR. I think they look at ST still being popular almost 40 years later as a blessing rather than being embarrassed by it, especially given the state of TL.
Also why go through all the expense of moving what will be 40+ year old technology when they can just build something new with something more exciting. And if we really think that ST needs to stay in some form, then expand SR and have different paths that people can take, one side for Hondo with MF and the other for an upgraded ST experience with new simulator technology, one attractions two ride experience, as someone mentioned.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
It's fair to question whether the actual existing hardware is worthy of being moved. I don't know how old the equipment is. Maybe they don't move it. But re-using the hardware vs. building new simulators is not important to me, it's moving the attraction (as guests perceive it) -- it's name, format, design, and content, that could be worth doing because of its success and popularity.
As far as something more exciting, that's what they tried with SR. They could try again. Or just stick with ST, it's fantastic.
What you're describing here is almost exactly what I'm saying could happen because ST can fit in one carousel of SR. Yes, they could expand the building and keep all four carousels but my thinking is how they might achieve a list of benefits while not using expansion area that later will be valuable. And I think they get more credit for the attractions if they have separate names and entries.
Yes, it's a blessing for the park, operations. And WDI is undoubtedly institutionally proud of ST (though personally who knows if anyone who worked on it is still around). They're not embarrassed by ST, but rather by SR being a disappointment and so clearly comparable.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I'm sure there have been updates, but the overall technology is 40+ years old at this point. There is a reason why they didn't just use it for SR, its outdated at this point.
Content alone does not make an experience. And if you're going through the expense of trying to "move" an experience you'd want to update it in someway, hence why they moved on from ST and tried with SR.
Adventures Thru Inner Space was fantastic and ride system still viable, doesn't mean they kept it around or moved it when they redid TL and plopped ST in its place.
I don't think its needed, I'm just giving an example of how the experience could be incorporated rather than moving the entire existing attraction. In fact I'm betting it'll never happen. They are far more likely to just keep updating SR and expanding the missions than trying to move or incorporate ST into the land.
Being embarrassed by SRs performance overall is one thing, trying to say that embarrassment is due to ST being more popular is another, which there is no indication of being true.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
Well there were many reasons why they created a new ride platform for SR and I think most of that is around simulating being in the Millennium Falcon and utilizing cutting-edge real-time rendering technology to gamify the experience. The underlying simulator platform technology out there has no doubt evolved and ST could likely stand updating at some point, and that could happen in any scenario, whether it's stays in TL for the long haul or is moved.
Sure, they could update the technology when moving or replacing it. But the actual entertainment format of ST in terms of being in the room with a crowd, having an animatronic pilot, everybody having the same experience, and not being interactive, there's gold there. It works. Perhaps there are upgrades and enhancements but they struck gold 40 years ago.
That's not comparable to me in a number of ways. First, where, logically, could they have moved ATIS? We're talking about moving Star Tours to SWGE. And in terms of keeping the ATIS ride system around, the ride system was unremarkable. It's a solid, useful system. But that kind of ride is mostly about what theme, environment and things you see as you travel through. Over in MK they swapped out the "stuff you see" around If You Had Wings a few times over many decades, so Disney can be frugal and re-use things. But at Disneyland, they had an exciting new option to bring Star Wars into the park collaborating with George Lucas, so ATIS is out. No surprise.
Again, the actual physical moving -- people with cranes and trucks -- is not the point. It's retaining and moving "the experience" and the brand, even if it needs to be physically updated and replaced. But if the tech is still good and they want to move it, it doesn't seem like a heavy lift (excuse the pun).
Agreed, it's unlikely they'll move ST.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
In sentiment I don't necessarily disagree, in real world practice I disagree. In 2026 I don't think that ST is needed in GE, whether a moved or rebuilt experience. Just improve SR and then ST becomes superfluous, as was intended.
And since you agree this is unlikely to happen, well this is all academic.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
There was a time when I wanted them to move Star Tours to GE too. But when you think about it, Star Tours works better in Tomorrowland than Galaxies Edge. Having a futuristic spaceport makes more sense in TL than in a dusty land on the outer rim of the galaxy. As I’ve said before, as long as that building is standing I’d be pretty shocked if they get rid of Star Tours. They re not going to retheme a 1980s simulator to something inferior with less synergy and possibilities in 2026 and beyond.
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