Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
When I visited Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for the first time in July 2019, I was blown away by the level of detail, immersion, and how authentically Star Wars this land felt. Even though this area may not have a focus on the Original Trilogy, it still feels and looks as though this land was pulled from a Star Wars film. While many old timers may deride this area for being focused on the Sequel Trilogy, the land itself is the Imagineering achievement of the 2010s for its fine level of detail and state of the art technology. This land is primarily meant for the next generation of Star Wars fans who grew up with the Sequel Trilogy. The Sequel Trilogy is popular among Generation Alpha seeing from the numerous Gen Alphas that dress up as Rey and Kylo Ren on Halloween or at the movie theater. I find that most criticism of this area is rooted in bias for the Original Trilogy, such as “There’s no Luke, Leia, Han or Vader'' or “We have never seen this place in episodes 4-6”. This land is without a doubt the most spectacular land of our time and I intend to argue this in the following paragraphs. Galaxy’s Edge is full of fine detail from the inclusion of a full scale Millennium Falcon, the blaster marks on the Falcon side of Oga’s Cantina that forms an upside down hidden Mickey, to the carbon scoring on the underside of the X-Wing’s wings just outside of the village, and the golden lichen (Batuu’s main export) growing on all the petrified trees.
The Falcon
I would consider Smuggler’s Run to be a higher end D-Ticket because it is building off the great attractions that came before it, such as Star Tours. It is not something radically different like another attraction just down the road in GE that Smuggler’s Run is meant to play second fiddle to. The queue experience is enjoyable and quite humorous because the queue is very well detailed with Star Wars tools, weapons, and droids which convey the feeling that you have entered an industrial facility in the Star Wars universe. I especially found the conversations over the “Comm system” to also be humorous which sometimes were about a missing tool, or a suspicious box in a completely “legitimate” operation. The ride is quite interactive allowing participants to control their adventure to some degree, though some positions are more interactive than others, like the pilot position compared to the engineer position. The ride video probably has the best video quality I have ever seen in a simulator because of its crisp graphics and smooth frame rate of around 60+ frames per second. Overall, I have found it to be quite fun despite the overly high expectations on this attraction.
The Forest and The Main Attraction
The forest that is just a short walk from the village, is virtually empty as it only has one small shop, scattered soda stands, and only one attraction. I think that on both coasts in the future, Disney could add a small quick service restaurant like Ronto Roasters and a new D-ticket attraction to increase capacity. However, the forest does serve an important purpose: to house the jaw-dropping, technologically advanced, and extremely expensive Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. After riding the attraction, I think that this attraction is up there with Pirates of the Caribbean because the storytelling is phenomenal as it sets up a great story with multiple acts (like Pirates), develops it at a desirable pace, and has a clear resolution (unlike Dinosaur). The special effects on the attraction are mind blowing and preserve the illusion of being immersed in the world of Star Wars with effects such as breakaway walls, hologram projections, state of the art animatronics, musion projections, and live actors playing First Order officers. I enjoyed this ride thoroughly and I cannot wait to get on this modern marvel again.
When I visited Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for the first time in July 2019, I was blown away by the level of detail, immersion, and how authentically Star Wars this land felt. Even though this area may not have a focus on the Original Trilogy, it still feels and looks as though this land was pulled from a Star Wars film. While many old timers may deride this area for being focused on the Sequel Trilogy, the land itself is the Imagineering achievement of the 2010s for its fine level of detail and state of the art technology. This land is primarily meant for the next generation of Star Wars fans who grew up with the Sequel Trilogy. The Sequel Trilogy is popular among Generation Alpha seeing from the numerous Gen Alphas that dress up as Rey and Kylo Ren on Halloween or at the movie theater. I find that most criticism of this area is rooted in bias for the Original Trilogy, such as “There’s no Luke, Leia, Han or Vader'' or “We have never seen this place in episodes 4-6”. This land is without a doubt the most spectacular land of our time and I intend to argue this in the following paragraphs. Galaxy’s Edge is full of fine detail from the inclusion of a full scale Millennium Falcon, the blaster marks on the Falcon side of Oga’s Cantina that forms an upside down hidden Mickey, to the carbon scoring on the underside of the X-Wing’s wings just outside of the village, and the golden lichen (Batuu’s main export) growing on all the petrified trees.
The Falcon
I would consider Smuggler’s Run to be a higher end D-Ticket because it is building off the great attractions that came before it, such as Star Tours. It is not something radically different like another attraction just down the road in GE that Smuggler’s Run is meant to play second fiddle to. The queue experience is enjoyable and quite humorous because the queue is very well detailed with Star Wars tools, weapons, and droids which convey the feeling that you have entered an industrial facility in the Star Wars universe. I especially found the conversations over the “Comm system” to also be humorous which sometimes were about a missing tool, or a suspicious box in a completely “legitimate” operation. The ride is quite interactive allowing participants to control their adventure to some degree, though some positions are more interactive than others, like the pilot position compared to the engineer position. The ride video probably has the best video quality I have ever seen in a simulator because of its crisp graphics and smooth frame rate of around 60+ frames per second. Overall, I have found it to be quite fun despite the overly high expectations on this attraction.
The Forest and The Main Attraction
The forest that is just a short walk from the village, is virtually empty as it only has one small shop, scattered soda stands, and only one attraction. I think that on both coasts in the future, Disney could add a small quick service restaurant like Ronto Roasters and a new D-ticket attraction to increase capacity. However, the forest does serve an important purpose: to house the jaw-dropping, technologically advanced, and extremely expensive Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. After riding the attraction, I think that this attraction is up there with Pirates of the Caribbean because the storytelling is phenomenal as it sets up a great story with multiple acts (like Pirates), develops it at a desirable pace, and has a clear resolution (unlike Dinosaur). The special effects on the attraction are mind blowing and preserve the illusion of being immersed in the world of Star Wars with effects such as breakaway walls, hologram projections, state of the art animatronics, musion projections, and live actors playing First Order officers. I enjoyed this ride thoroughly and I cannot wait to get on this modern marvel again.