Disney to Reveal Ambitious Star Wars Plans

[danlb_2000]

I can't find the post, but one of the insiders yesterday seemed to confirm that nothing is getting destroyed, closed, or filled in (including Echo Lake). The footprint he/she/they outlined involved demolition of Backlot Express and expansion into the parking lot.

Here it is, but to me is sounds like he is saying that they could do it this way, not that they definitely are doing it this way.

Posted this on another thread:

Nothing has to close. No lakes have to be filled.

Remove the Backlot Express. There's your corridor to the expanded Star Wars Universe, behind Indy. Where they've planned park expansion since day one.

Continue Into the parking lot for phase two if needed.

And then put more things to do with an unrelated IP (!) into the existing sound and television theatres.

 

[Ignohippo]

I am hoping this is not true also. For some reason, I love Gertie. Reminds me of the La Brea tar pits in LA. Plus the lake is a nice oasis in this otherwise dry park.

I don't understand why they can't use the expansion site. I am tired of losing attractions to gain attractions. However, if they do demolish something, I am glad it does not include Muppets or Indy. Especially if Muppets has closed for good in California. Indy could close, but I would hate to lose the main Indy presence in the park. Tell me they are bringing a Indy dark ride to replace the stunt show, and I would say close it today.

Idk, maybe it's because I have small kids, but I'd rather have the Stunt Show than the ride.

IMO, you can't have enough things for ALL audiences. I've seen the show probably a dozen times and it's still fun every time and keeps packing them in. Especially if LMA leaves (which I'm sure it will), I'm hoping the Indy show will be kept, although I'm not optimistic.

 

[Ignohippo]

WDI created a very ambitious slate of several Star Wars attractions for Disneyland's Tomorrowland, and it went far enough into development that it was basically ready for construction. Iger shut it down at the finish line because he felt it didn't feature enough elements from the upcoming movies. Imagineers have since had to start from scratch (hence the Toontown proposal), adding a whole two years to the development process.

Only Iger's desire for franchise cash-ins has prevented Star Wars attractions from being halfway built already.

I think too much has been inferred by Iger saying that any SW expansion would include the new and the old. The "new" could be nothing more than additional destinations added to Star Tours or one additional attraction. Many peole even misquoted him like crazy and said they SW land would be completely based on the new Trilogy. Iger's not that dumb.

I doubt very seriously that attractions based on the new movie would be more than 1/8 – 1/10 of what they have planned. It will have a presence, but I don't see it as being the focus (or being a reason the unveiling has taken an additional almost 2 years). Even if they were adding things for the new film(s), there's no reason they couldn't show part of the plans as teasers and just say "more to come."

Hopefully there's some kind of amazing action sequence (a la the speeder bikes, Death Star assault, or pod race) in the new movie.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Star Wars Land will not open until 2020. 5 years away. It will be hear before you know it.
I'm taking my girls to Disneyland and DisneyWorld this year. They are 3. They will be 8 the next time I hit DisneyWorld...in 2020.
AvatarLand, Pixar, StarWars...2020 will be fun!
The time it takes to build doesn't bother me....just make it awesome!

I hope your right, but it took 3 -years for the mine train to complete and Avatar Land has been a several year project already. The odds of us seeing Star Wars land in 5 years, based on how long it has taken Disney to complete other projects, is hard to believe.

 

[doctornick]

Idk, maybe it's because I have small kids, but I'd rather have the Stunt Show than the ride.

IMO, you can't have enough things for ALL audiences. I've seen the show probably a dozen times and it's still fun every time and keeps packing them in. Especially if LMA leaves (which I'm sure it will), I'm hoping the Indy show will be kept, although I'm not optimistic.

I agree with the sentiment of having all ages stuff but DHS is very show heavy already. I think thinning that out and replacing some with rides would be a good thing. To your point, some/many of any new rides should be all ages and family friendly.

DHS has Indy, LMA, Frozen sing a long, VOTLM, BatB, Disney Jr and Muppetvision. And Fantasmic! if you want to consider it as well. That's a lot of shows especially in comparison to the total rides. Even if LMA and Indy go away, I don't think the park will be hurting for all ages shows. Also, one of the new offerings for Star Wars might be an enhanced version of the Jedi Training Academy.

 

[George]

I wonder if this construction would be going on in parallel with the Pixar Place expansion.

 

[flyerjab]

I wonder if this construction would be going on in parallel with the Pixar Place expansion.

I was wondering about that myself. The one thing that I will say about the Echo Lake rumor is that if it is true, it's not like it will be impacting other rides/attractions, aside from the dinosaur and an eatery. If this was truly needed for a Star Wars expansion, this could be something they could potentially work on without shutting down other rides in a park that has already shut down severel attractions.

On @lentesta and Jim Hill's podcasts, Jim has always maintained that the Pixar and Star Wars expansions were two entirely separate projects. I would take that to mean they could each be executed independently of one another. Removing, or draining and filling in, Echo Lake could be a first step, something that could be done way ahead of the rest of the Star Wars Land expansion.

 

[Kman101]

Again, I truly hope they don't fill in Echo Lake. They remove the hat to restore the view yet rip out that part of the park? It's like one step forward four steps backwards. I'd hope they aren't that stupid. The park needs *expansion*. Replacing an existing area isn't an expansion.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Idk, maybe it's because I have small kids, but I'd rather have the Stunt Show than the ride.

IMO, you can't have enough things for ALL audiences. I've seen the show probably a dozen times and it's still fun every time and keeps packing them in. Especially if LMA leaves (which I'm sure it will), I'm hoping the Indy show will be kept, although I'm not optimistic.

I can see your point since you have kids, but DHS has only 5 rides and plenty of shows (albeit 20 year-old shows.) More rides for me please, but not too scary so your family can ride them together too!

 

[flyerjab]

Again, I truly hope they don't fill in Echo Lake. They remove the hat to restore the view yet rip out that part of the park? It's like one step forward four steps backwards. I'd hope they aren't that stupid. The park needs *expansion*. Replacing an existing area isn't an expansion.

It is interesting that Echo Lake really is the only body of water in that park, or, the only real water feature. I still think though, that if Iger's claims of ambitious Star Wars attractions are added to this park (heck, even Spirit described them as cutting edge at this point in development anyway), I would think that most people would not miss the lake too much.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Where is the "they're filling in Echo Lake" thing coming from? Is there anything even remotely credible on the back end of this rumor, or was it a throwaway comment that picked up steam and became "the way things are"?

 

[Ignohippo]

I agree with the sentiment of having all ages stuff but DHS is very show heavy already. I think thinning that out and replacing some with rides would be a good thing. To your point, some/many of any new rides should be all ages and family friendly.

DHS has Indy, LMA, Frozen sing a long, VOTLM, BatB, Disney Jr and Muppetvision. And Fantasmic! if you want to consider it as well. That's a lot of shows especially in comparison to the total rides. Even if LMA and Indy go away, I don't think the park will be hurting for all ages shows. Also, one of the new offerings for Star Wars might be an enhanced version of the Jedi Training Academy.

Agreed, but a SW Land plus Pixar expansion could add <some of the rides> DHS so desperately needs.

Just because a park is lacking in rides, doesn't mean you take away other attractions/shows because of it.

WDW certainly has the land available and money to be able to ADD without taking away. The shows are a huge part of what makes Disney different than 'any park USA'. I'd hate to see any of them go.

 

[Kman101]

It is interesting that Echo Lake really is the only body of water in that park, or, the only real water feature. I still think though, that if Iger's claims of ambitious Star Wars attractions are added to this park (heck, even Spirit described them as cutting edge at this point in development anyway), I would think that most people would not miss the lake too much.

I would miss it a lot. But It does depend on the plans. If I'm really impressed and wowed, it would help the loss but as of now, I'm already a bit annoyed that the plan still seems to be to get rid of that area. I'm sure they see it as "wasted" but to me it adds a lot to the feel of the park.

I don't think plopping Star Wars down in the middle of the park and right off of Hollywood Blvd. is smart. Thematically it just seems like it would stick out like a sore thumb.

And I love the Indy show. Yes it packs them in. I'd hate to lose that presence, but I'd rather lose that than a huge chunk of the front half of the park. It's been 26 years. It's time to probably move on from the stunt show.

And what happens when the kids are older and aren't interested in that and want a thrill ride? Kids are only kids for a short amount of time.

With an expanded Pixar Place, other shows ... there's likely to be a decent amount of things for them to do and enjoy.

 

[Ignohippo]

Where is the "they're filling in Echo Lake" thing coming from? Is there anything even remotely credible on the back end of this rumor, or was it a throwaway comment that picked up steam and became "the way things are"?

It has been reported by multiple sites from supposed "insider info." Of course so was the rumors of the entire Streets of America and Muppet Show attraction going away, so who knows?

I don't think one is more credible than the other. I just think there were multiple plans being talked about and multiple locations explored.

 

[Ignohippo]

I can see your point since you have kids, but DHS has only 5 rides and plenty of shows (albeit 20 year-old shows.) More rides for me please, but not too scary so your family can ride them together too!

No reason you can't have both. Just because the park has too few rides doesn't mean they should get rid of the shows.

 

[Kman101]

I would hope any plans for the park include doing something with Voyage of The Litlte Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. I still love them and think they're well done, but with Indy, it's probably time to do some updates and move on. I'd prefer one large stage show that incorporates Mermaid, Beauty, Princess and the Frog, Tangled ... that solves the issue of sorts in losing either Mermaid and Beauty and gives us all something new to enjoy.

Sorry for the armchair imagineering, but I'd kind of love to see them do a copy of the Royal Theater (re-themed of course) in Disneyland that has the comedic retellings of Frozen (the sing-along somewhat does this but not as blatant), Tangled, BaTB and have the BaTB theater house something new.

 

[twebber55]

I hope your right, but it took 3 -years for the mine train to complete and Avatar Land has been a several year project already. The odds of us seeing Star Wars land in 5 years, based on how long it has taken Disney to complete other projects, is hard to believe.

a major project/land takes 5 years from blue sky to finish product...so if star wars started today with just blue sky ideas it would be done in 2020...my guess (pretty uneducated) would be completion by 2019

 

[Rteetz]

It has been reported by multiple sites from supposed "insider info." Of course so was the rumors of the entire Streets of America and Muppet Show attraction going away, so who knows?

I don't think one is more credible than the other. I just think there were multiple plans being talked about and multiple locations explored.

One of those being the Jim Hill Media

 

[doctornick]

No reason you can't have both. Just because the park has too few rides doesn't mean they should get rid of the shows.

I don't necessarily disagree on the principle. I hate it when attractions are replaced rather than expansion occurring on new land.

But IMHO the problem with Indy is the location -- I think it would make much more sense to use that plot as part of a Star Wars expansion. I think it would be difficult to build a truly impressive Star wars area around Star Tours while leaving IJ in its current place. At some point, you have to deal with different themes and transitions.

If the stunt show was relocated to another area of the park, then fine. I'm down with that.

But I don't think DHS would suffer if future development ends up causing a net loss of 1 or 2 of the shows.

 

[PorterRedkey]

No reason you can't have both. Just because the park has too few rides doesn't mean they should get rid of the shows.

Agreed!