Former VP Details Original Star Wars Land Plans

[Franklin47disneyguy]

The original concept was to do something that would unify all three. There would have been a jedi temple in which you would encounter former jedi as well as see into the future. This was a means by which to adapt as stories developed over the next decade. Ideas for this were eventually folded into the lightsaber experience.

That was before the land itself is an attraction and the whole immersive bs. Thats why Harry Potter is so successful, you’re a witness not part of the story. They spend a billion dollars on what we got. For that money they could have build way more rides.

 

[UNCgolf]

I like the sound of that better than what we ended up with, but looking at the old post from 2015, I'm glad we didn't get that specific version in that specific location.

Wiping out Echo Lake, 50s Prime Time, etc. would have been a huge disaster for DHS' theming. I also think having all the Star Wars stuff right there in the open from the hub would have been completely incongruous with the rest of the park.

 

[jensenrick]

Oh this will go over well. Where's my popcorn gif?

 

[rowrbazzle]

Eh, I think she was right. What they announced sounded much better to me than Tatooine. I think the execution is the problem, not the concept. Add back all the things they promised and I think it would be a home run.

And who was responsible for the final decision? Who was responsible for the budget cuts? Kennedy can make whatever suggestions she wants. Iger has the final say. If the final product is sub-standard, it's his fault.

 

[Darth Snips]

Read through this, then go back through my history and see if this doesn't line up 100% with what I said, even down to the original location of the cantina. And do you know why people normally can't tell this sort of thing unless it's anonymous? Because you'll be blacklisted in the entertainment industry, and you run the risk of forgetting an NDA in small print somewhere on an initialed paper from 15 years ago.

Former Disney World VP: Kathleen Kennedy Pushed for 'Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge' to be Based on Sequel Trilogy

There’s been a disturbance in the Force. Former Walt Disney World VP Dan Cockerell is breaking his silence about what exactly went down with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge behind the scenes, and it’s not going to make a lot of disgruntled Star Wars fans happy to know what could have been. It seems as...

www.piratesandprincesses.net

Thanks for sharing this. This is really interesting stuff.

I know this is an unpopular opinion on these boards, but I think Kennedy made the right call in this case. I'm not saying she always makes the right call, or she even made this call for the right reasons, but I do believe that ditching Tatooine was the correct choice to make.

As Cockerell pointed out in the full podcast interview, creating a land tied to one pre-existing planet would have limited any future development opportunities. Also, on an aesthetic level, Mos Eisley is just not appealing. It's a collection of short buildings surrounded by a desert plateau. A Tatooine Land would have been unbearably hot, had little to no shade, and been very difficult to design show-buildings for considering the lack of mountains/rockwork/trees. I noticed that Cockerell mentioned they had not yet begun to make architectural drawings; I wonder if the Tatooine concept would have died naturally once it reached that stage as they struggled to hide 2 enormous show-buildings in a flat desert terrain.

Batuu, with its towering spires, its luscious forests, and its warm small town atmosphere, works much better as a hub for "YOUR Star Wars Adventure"™ than Mos Eisley would have. At least, it does in my opinion.

And, as @rowrbazzle mentioned above, any flaws with GE lie in execution which ultimately goes back to budget cuts ordered by people like Iger, Chapek, etc. I still feel like we're encouraging Disney to take away the wrong lessons from this experience by focusing on "IP relevancy" and "familiar locations".

 

[MisterPenguin]

What happened to the part of the story that The Force Awakens made two billion dollars and that convinced Iger to go with the new trilogy (assuming the rest of the movies would continue to be that big)?

Also, Tatooine, as it appeared in the original trilogy is boring: Cantina, run down space port, and isolated moisture farming homes. You know if they went with that, it'd be a book-report Millennium Falcon ride of how we escaped the planet.... which we return to when the ride is over?

What happened to the part of the story where DHS was forced to accept a SWL layout that fit into DL?


Reporting:

They came back the next day and acted just as excited as they were two years earlier. I was really impressed by their optimism. And they dug into it, and that’s what you see today. ​

Spin:

Sadly, many Star Wars fans haven’t shared Imagineering’s optimism. ​

 

[El Grupo]

Plenty of room to build another Star Wars land. Plus, add more Pixar, Indiana Jones, more kid-friendly rides, etc. Just need to be willing to invest.

 

[Darth Snips]

 

[wm49rs]

Not bad. You guys had good sources back then. Everything east of Echo Lake is spot on, and then there would have been a connection to even more (including Character Dining and Jedi Training) in the expanded area that eventually became the cast parking. The secondary exit from that area was at LAM. The layout you have is from prior to TFA, but funding was ready to increase greatly thereafter.

But literally years of work was wiped out in a single call, with months left to start completely over. Also, this is part of how Lucasfilm Story Group got the chance to suddenly decide theme park design with zero experience or expertise.

Back then and since....

 

[WEDway Inc & Company LLC]

What would those rides have been? I'm curious because Batuu's rides are pretty neat, and I'm curious if these would have topped them.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

What would those rides have been? I'm curious because Batuu's rides are pretty neat, and I'm curious if these would have topped them.

I’m guessing Rise would have been a similar attraction with OT characters swapped out for new. You could swap the characters out tonight and it would work.

 

[Getachew]

I’m guessing Rise would have been a similar attraction with OT characters swapped out for new. You could swap the characters out tonight and it would work.

Vader>>>Kylo Ren.

 

[Getachew]

I’m guessing Rise would have been a similar attraction with OT characters swapped out for new. You could swap the characters out tonight and it would work.

Also, same could be said for Smugglers run. That could easily be a ride based on the OT.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Also, same could be said for Smugglers run. That could easily be a ride based on the OT.

There's nothing in Galaxy's Edge that couldn't have been done with the original trilogy.

 

[Getachew]

There's nothing in Galaxy's Edge that couldn't have been done with the original trilogy.

I suppose the point the poster made that they couldn't add more based on the OT since that story was already told had some merit. As opposed to the story currently being told with the "newer" movies now.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

"To say George Lucas’ Star Wars was just for “fifty-somethings” and that the kids will want Kennedy’s Disney-fied Star Wars in the decades to come is pure hubris."

Isn't that what I said in the other thread?

I agree that Iger is the one who has final say, but Iger is absolutely the kind of person who would think the OT is "just for fifty-somethings".

Think about how Iger handled World of Color. He dropped the Alice in Wonderland segment after it had been made and advertised because he wanted to focus on newer movies, despite the theme (and theme song) of the show being based on the 1960s TV series.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I suppose the point the poster made that they couldn't add more based on the OT since that story was already told had some merit. As opposed to the story currently being told with the "newer" movies now.

Interesting how with Avatar they decided to avoid cannon and the series altogether, but set it in stone for Star Wars.

 

[wedenterprises]

Just a thought here from Iger's perspective...

Disney got Lucasfilm in October 2012. Filming on The Force Awakens didn't start until Spring 2014. So this was likely all blue sky work anyway. The article even stated there hadn't been architectural drawings done yet.

Frozen opens in November 2013 and is a huge hit. There's nothing in the parks. Iger pushes something through which eventually opens less than 3 years later (RIP Maelstrom/ Epcot). Now if you're Iger, and you had a time machine, wouldn't you have wanted a Frozen land already under development in 2011?

So In late 2013/early 2014 Iger is realizing it would be really nice to have lands/rides ready to go when a movie opens. The article states WDI started working on the land when Lucasfilm was purchased ('12) and they worked "for a few years." So about 1-2 years into the work on "Tatooine land" Iger has this epiphany. Meanwhile, at this same time Scott Trowbridge is announced to head an internal "Star Wars studio" at WDI.

Kennedy poses a valid question but I don't believe she initiated the thinking.

Also keep in mind that around this time they have a very good idea of how good (?) the sequels might be ($$). I wonder if they had focus-grouped any of the film's concept art and characters like BB-8.

However, it was a gamble to choose between new and old trilogies when they could have had both.

They could have treated it like Liberty Square and Frontierland, where one end of the land/park is the older location/time (Tatooine) and the other end is a planet from the newer history and sequels. It could have even been the same size as what we got. Put Smugglers in Tatooine and Rise in the sequel side. Makes sense as Smugglers and the Falcon feel retro anyway.

This way they can sell both sets of merch and both a retro and modern take on the same IP.

To me, the key to all of this is that they took a pretty big gamble on the concept of "your adventure" and the hotel. It's harder to develop that concept out when half the land is in the past and half is in the present. So the question of what timeline to place the hotel experience ruins it all and forces you to choose old or new, not both.

 

[wedenterprises]

Interesting how with Avatar they decided to avoid cannon and the series altogether, but set it in stone for Star Wars.

exactly.

 

[JohnnyAmerican]

We went in October...mixed feelings from me as I was 10 in 1977, but my 15 year old and wife absolutely loved the land...plan for next visit is to spend an entire day just in GE, if not more. And while overpriced, my jaded teenager loved, loved building his light saber.