Like many, I am of the opinion that Galaxy’s Edge is in need of some retooling. There are some excellent aspects of the land - the general theming, detailing, Rise of the Resistance - and there are some duds - the absence of Star Wars music, the lack of Original Trilogy characters. More importantly than those, however, there just isn’t enough to do. An “easy” solution to this would be moving Star Tours out of Tomorrowland, but maybe I’ll get to that some other time. Beyond that, another fix would be focusing on improving the space used by Smuggler’s Run. Wait times speak to the mediocrity of this attraction. Even if Hondo was replaced by Han Solo and the location of the flight was more visually interesting, it cannot solve that ⅔ of the roles are boring and having to work with strangers can, at times, be awkward. It would be better, in my opinion, to replace the entire attraction with an X-Wing coaster.
Since visiting Galaxy’s Edge, I’ve been casually thinking up how an X-Wing coaster would work. I’ll start simply with the queue. Much of the queue could remain unchanged from Falcon’s, save for the addition of a few droids in the Maintenance Bay and a change in audio from the overhead speakers to reflect a Resistance hangar. Given the setting of a Resistance hanger, the Falcon could easily remain fixed outside without any thematic disunity (but more on the Falcon in a bit). The preshow room would be removed and instead the loading bay for the coaster would be placed there, and so let me move on to explaining the way the coaster would go.
First, the ride vehicles would, naturally, be in the form of an X-Wing. Second, the X-Wings would be suspended from a track above (Is that combination possible? I don’t know, but that’s the fun of not having ideas ever needing to be physically realized). Once guests were strapped into the X-Wing, the track would be lifted up by an elevator. The height would not be extreme, only enough to make it appear as if the X-Wing were levitating. From there, a pair of hangar doors would open and the X-Wing would fly through.
Once through the hangar doors, the X-Wing would fly through and over the forest of Batuu, taking gentle turns. The further into the forest the X-Wing flies, the smaller the trees become. Simultaneously, the ground beneath the track would slope downward and the Batuu beneath would transition into a scale model of the planet. At the same time, the X-Wing would go up the first and only lift hill, making its slow ascension through Batuu’s atmosphere, into space.
The general story of the ride is simple: riders are one of the X-Wings responsible for escorting the I-TS Transport from Rise of the Resistance. During the ascent into space, X-Wings and the I-TS would be projected alongside. This is where the Falcon comes into play, as it would also be part of this small fleet, bringing the ship purpose being outside the attraction.
In space, the X-Wing would fly past the asteroids of Batuu’s ring before coming face to face with TIE Fighters. Evasive maneuvers would be taken to avoid blaster fire from their cannons. At the same time, a model of a Star Destroyer would hang overhead; behind it, projections of more Star Destroyers exiting Hyperspace. On the intercom, Poe would make a remark about the need for reinforcements. Projections of Poe’s X-Wing would then enter hyperspace and a moment later the ride vehicle would descend down a long, steep drop in a lightspeed tunnel before emerging above Pacara.
The Resistance Fleet flies above the planet, represented by two full scale X-Wings, an A-Wing, a large Vakbeor-class cargo frigate. To further expand the scale of the fleet, projections would be used. The movement of the coaster here would be fairly smooth, just soaring around the physical set pieces. Once again, the intercom would have some comments about returning the fight before the coaster would queue up for a launch before blasting off through hyperspace yet again. This is where the on ride photo would be taken.
When the X-Wings return to the space above Batuu, they are immediately greeted by a TIE Fighter before dipping beneath it. In the center of this large showroom would be a large-scale Star Destroyer set piece. The ride vehicles would whiz around the Star Destroyer, overtop its hull, flying towards its bridge, through its nose, and alongside its hangars. This portion of the ride would be full of twists, turns, drops, and the like, similar to Space Mountain or Big Thunder. All around would be simulations and projections of dogfights and explosions to enhance the battle. One matter of doing this would be scale models of ships flying around one another, suspended on a turntable, like an upside down version of the pirates chasing the women from PotC. Eventually a line would be given about how the recruits have safely made it off the Star Destroyer and the battle would be won.
Once victory is ensured, the other Star Destroyers would retreat back to hyperspace and the X-Wings would gently drop back to Batuu, using the inverse of the previous effect for the ascending.
All in all, it’s a very simple idea; nothing too creative; effectively it’s just Hyperspace Mountain merged with Rise of the Resistance. But really, some of the best Disneyland rides aren’t overwhelmingly complicated. Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Space Mountain - they’re simple rides with a good setting and nothing more. It’s been a while since Disneyland’s had a new coaster (1993 if you want to count Gadget’s; 1979 if you want to count Big Thunder) and Galaxy’s Edge needs something better than Falcon.
I don’t know what the ride would be called. Let’s just call it X-Wing Mountain because it doesn’t matter. Thanks for coming to my Armchair Imagineering session.
Maybe I'll come back with some visual aids. Maybe I won't. Who really cares.
Since visiting Galaxy’s Edge, I’ve been casually thinking up how an X-Wing coaster would work. I’ll start simply with the queue. Much of the queue could remain unchanged from Falcon’s, save for the addition of a few droids in the Maintenance Bay and a change in audio from the overhead speakers to reflect a Resistance hangar. Given the setting of a Resistance hanger, the Falcon could easily remain fixed outside without any thematic disunity (but more on the Falcon in a bit). The preshow room would be removed and instead the loading bay for the coaster would be placed there, and so let me move on to explaining the way the coaster would go.
First, the ride vehicles would, naturally, be in the form of an X-Wing. Second, the X-Wings would be suspended from a track above (Is that combination possible? I don’t know, but that’s the fun of not having ideas ever needing to be physically realized). Once guests were strapped into the X-Wing, the track would be lifted up by an elevator. The height would not be extreme, only enough to make it appear as if the X-Wing were levitating. From there, a pair of hangar doors would open and the X-Wing would fly through.
Once through the hangar doors, the X-Wing would fly through and over the forest of Batuu, taking gentle turns. The further into the forest the X-Wing flies, the smaller the trees become. Simultaneously, the ground beneath the track would slope downward and the Batuu beneath would transition into a scale model of the planet. At the same time, the X-Wing would go up the first and only lift hill, making its slow ascension through Batuu’s atmosphere, into space.
The general story of the ride is simple: riders are one of the X-Wings responsible for escorting the I-TS Transport from Rise of the Resistance. During the ascent into space, X-Wings and the I-TS would be projected alongside. This is where the Falcon comes into play, as it would also be part of this small fleet, bringing the ship purpose being outside the attraction.
In space, the X-Wing would fly past the asteroids of Batuu’s ring before coming face to face with TIE Fighters. Evasive maneuvers would be taken to avoid blaster fire from their cannons. At the same time, a model of a Star Destroyer would hang overhead; behind it, projections of more Star Destroyers exiting Hyperspace. On the intercom, Poe would make a remark about the need for reinforcements. Projections of Poe’s X-Wing would then enter hyperspace and a moment later the ride vehicle would descend down a long, steep drop in a lightspeed tunnel before emerging above Pacara.
The Resistance Fleet flies above the planet, represented by two full scale X-Wings, an A-Wing, a large Vakbeor-class cargo frigate. To further expand the scale of the fleet, projections would be used. The movement of the coaster here would be fairly smooth, just soaring around the physical set pieces. Once again, the intercom would have some comments about returning the fight before the coaster would queue up for a launch before blasting off through hyperspace yet again. This is where the on ride photo would be taken.
When the X-Wings return to the space above Batuu, they are immediately greeted by a TIE Fighter before dipping beneath it. In the center of this large showroom would be a large-scale Star Destroyer set piece. The ride vehicles would whiz around the Star Destroyer, overtop its hull, flying towards its bridge, through its nose, and alongside its hangars. This portion of the ride would be full of twists, turns, drops, and the like, similar to Space Mountain or Big Thunder. All around would be simulations and projections of dogfights and explosions to enhance the battle. One matter of doing this would be scale models of ships flying around one another, suspended on a turntable, like an upside down version of the pirates chasing the women from PotC. Eventually a line would be given about how the recruits have safely made it off the Star Destroyer and the battle would be won.
Once victory is ensured, the other Star Destroyers would retreat back to hyperspace and the X-Wings would gently drop back to Batuu, using the inverse of the previous effect for the ascending.
All in all, it’s a very simple idea; nothing too creative; effectively it’s just Hyperspace Mountain merged with Rise of the Resistance. But really, some of the best Disneyland rides aren’t overwhelmingly complicated. Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Space Mountain - they’re simple rides with a good setting and nothing more. It’s been a while since Disneyland’s had a new coaster (1993 if you want to count Gadget’s; 1979 if you want to count Big Thunder) and Galaxy’s Edge needs something better than Falcon.
I don’t know what the ride would be called. Let’s just call it X-Wing Mountain because it doesn’t matter. Thanks for coming to my Armchair Imagineering session.
Maybe I'll come back with some visual aids. Maybe I won't. Who really cares.
