Former VP Details Original Star Wars Land Plans

[Animaniac93-98]

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 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.

They did a similar thing with Avatar.

They announced the partnership with James Cameron in September 2011, less than 2 years after the movie's massive release and with high hopes for sequels coming soon. They wanted to strike while the iron was hot, and while people were openly speculating what Disney would do to top Harry Potter?

9 years later still no Avatar 2 yet. Had they known then, they may have made a different decision. That was also pre-Frozen/Star Wars.

 

[Getachew]

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

Fair point.

 

[Getachew]

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.

The Hotel doesn't factor into DLR though.

 

[VaderTron]

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.

As time moves on, the old adage, "If you can dream it, you can do it!" has morphed into, "If you can dream it, we can make something half as good and charge you extra for it." The ideas are always ten-fold better than the end results.

...An epic jedi temple experience turned into a plastic lightsaber toy building experience...that you have to pay extra for. Lovely.

 

[FigmentJedi]

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

Avatarland is meant to be a distant epilogue to the film series.

 

[UNCgolf]

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.

Really?

I don't see how anyone could spend a full day in Galaxy's Edge; there's just not enough there. I don't think I could even spend half of a day there without getting bored because I would have already seen/done everything. I suppose if you wanted to play with the stuff in the app you could stay there longer, but I got bored with that relatively quickly.

I don't mean that as a knock on Galaxy's Edge, by the way. I wasn't as impressed as other people (too much empty space and upcharged experiences) but it's still pretty good and has some cool details. But it's a relatively small area in a relatively small theme park; I don't think even Disney expects people to be able to spend all day there.

 

[Franklin47disneyguy]

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

That is why Pandora is great and Batuu mediocre

 

[BromBones]

Having actually been to Space Adventure Land (Galaxy's Edge to the rest of you) I can now speak to it.

Did it look cool? Yeah pretty cool. I wasn't in awe of it, but it had nice detail.
The first thing that I noticed was missing was The Big Reveal when you walk into the land.
You go through the tunnel and there is nothing that just pops up and makes you say "Wow!" It just rocks and then some buildings.
So Disney missed that opportunity.

Immersive? Barely. The only thing really Star Wars about it was seeing Chewie walking around, and Rey and maybe two First Order Troopers with Kylo Ren. No droids, no aliens no real immersion. So all it has going for it is that it looked good.

Rides:
It was neat going into the Millenium Falcon, but if you can't go up the ramp then what's the point?
Smuggler's Run was okay. It was what many said it was...a scaled down version of Star Tours.
They had too much going on on the screen for you to really enjoy it.
And after doing a good bit of damage to the Falcon I was looking for the sparks and smoke as we walked out of the cockpit.
Alas...nothing. So there goes that immersion.
I also don't know of anyone who did well and went into Baatu and was honored as a hero or congratulated. So remove that immersion.

Rise of the Resistance was very cool.
I will say that was a nicely done ride.
Since I grew up with the original Star Wars I was a bit awestruck. I won't spoil anything for anyone, but it was a very good story and a solid ride. Finally something felt like Star Wars.

Food:
Terrible. We tried basically everything and ....not good.
Blue milk was okay, much better than Green Milk. That tasted horrible.
Ronto Wraps. Nope
Some beverages were pretty good in the Oga's Cantina, but the food overall was disappointing.

I didn't do the light saber building because I just couldn't justify spending $200 for a light saber.
I did get to see other light sabers that others had built and they looked good and had some weight to them.
My biggest problem is that the "secret place" where you go to get your light sabers built....had a line out front of it.
And they handed out a card to the people to show them their choice of parts.
So that secret order storyline...that was scrapped.

I even asked one CM, "I just saw the First Order troopers right around the corner (I literally did). Aren't you afraid they will discover the secret place." He was a bit surprised that I asked that, and didn't give me a great answer. I don't even remember much of what he said, that's how unconvincing it was.

Was it a nice place to visit? Yes
Did it look neat? Yes
Were the details by the Imagineers excellent? Yes
Was it Star Wars? Not really

Would I go again? Probably, but I won't stay long because once you've done it...you've done it.
Unless of course they raise the game on the place.

One of the CMs broke character (which wasn't much of a stretch) and talked to me a bit.
He told me that they were supposed to have droids and aliens and scripted scenes all day long, but Bob Chapek axed all of that.

Very disappointing to hear that.

Now, had they made that Tatooine and actual Star Wars based.....I may have never left.
Drinks at the Mos Eisley Cantina
Table service dinner in Jabba's palace with a huge, animatronic Jabba and a frozen Han Solo on the wall.
Pod Racing ride
Jawas running around trying to trade with you.

etc., etc.

You would have never got me out of there.
But thank you again Kathleen Kennedy. You have destroyed Star Wars because you don't know what you are doing.

 

[Kman101]

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.

Yes. That plan was such a bad idea on many fronts.

I get SW fans want 'identifiable' places to visit in the parks (my thought was once having different planets represented in the different parks around the world) but I do think it was the right move to create their own environment. The lack of walk around characters though is a problem and so is the lack of entertainment, but I know some will argue otherwise, lol.

 

[Kman101]

That is why Pandora is great and Batuu mediocre

Not for me. Both are great theming. SW fans just refuse to accept something that they don't already know.

 

[wedenterprises]

The Hotel doesn't factor into DLR though.

True! Was it ever part of the concept there?

 

[WDF]

For the record there ARE droids...they're just corralled by the Droid Depot, but they do move and make sounds if you don't just run by to the "rides." And there are alien creatures (both living and dead) in the cantina and Dok-Ondars. And if you read the novel about Black Spire before visiting all of it feels like "Star Wars" and you recognize everything as you are walking around. The background audio is amazing, it's beautiful at night, and the attractions are immersive and fun. Would more walk around characters make it even better? Yes.

Part of me is glad we didn't get a Disneyfied version of the OT locations.

 

[wedenterprises]

They did a similar thing with Avatar.

They announced the partnership with James Cameron in September 2011, less than 2 years after the movie's massive release and with high hopes for sequels coming soon. They wanted to strike while the iron was hot, and while people were openly speculating what Disney would do to top Harry Potter?

9 years later still no Avatar 2 yet. Had they known then, they may have made a different decision. That was also pre-Frozen/Star Wars.

I'm interested to see what from the sequels they add to the land.

 

[Kman101]

I'm interested to see what from the sequels they add to the land.

I wouldn't mind something underwater, similar to how they do 20,000 Leagues in Japan. Just no more simulators for a while. I think they really overestimated who would want to pilot the Falcon, when you already have a SW simulator right next door. It's hard to swallow two.

 

[disney4life2008]

Wait is star tours related to star wars?

 

[disney4life2008]

They did a similar thing with Avatar.

They announced the partnership with James Cameron in September 2011, less than 2 years after the movie's massive release and with high hopes for sequels coming soon. They wanted to strike while the iron was hot, and while people were openly speculating what Disney would do to top Harry Potter?

9 years later still no Avatar 2 yet. Had they known then, they may have made a different decision. That was also pre-Frozen/Star Wars.

It always bugs me when people say pandora is a hit. Yes avatar is a movie but I don't think people even connect the land to a movie. It's such a wasteful space and has no business in animal kingdom.

Im ok with star wars. My larger issue with the park is that everything is ill placed. I couldn't even explain where the entrance is to star wars. Poor Muppets just put that entire area out its misery.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

Tatooine would have been really cool, but I’m not sure they could pull it off convincingly enough. I also would’ve hated to lose the classic Hollywood theming around Echo Lake. I know there isn’t much to do there but that area along with Hollywood and Sunset has some of my favorite theming anywhere. Overall, I’m glad we got what we got. As much of a Star Wars fan I am, I’m a Disney Parks fan first, and Galaxy’s Edge is one of the best Disney Parks lands.

 

[WDW Pro]

True! Was it ever part of the concept there?

No.

 

[doctornick]

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

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. For Pandora, they used the location of Avatar but made set it in the distant future well beyond the conflict of the movie and without any of the characters around anymore.

While there are varied criticism regarding SW:GE, the most common one regarding the setting seems to be that it doesn't use a known location or involve (different) specific characters. Or that the land uses a timeframe at all rather than a hodgepodge. That's pretty much the exact opposite of what they did with Pandora's setting as a theme park land.

 

[SpectroMagician]

Kathleen Kennedy not only ruined the Star Wars movies, she derailed a Star Wars land that people would have actually cared about. She has truly lost the company billions and billions in lost revenue from her terrible decisions.