Galaxy's Edge: History, Current State, and Future

[CaptinEO]

It has been almost 5 years since Galaxy's Edge opened.

This land, announced in 2015 at a high point of public interest in Star Wars promised to be an interactive themed entertainment experience like no other. The land was made as a way to compete with Universal Studio's Harry Potter and Disney even hired it's lead designer to spearhead this one.

Part 1 - Opening and Reception:
In 2019 the land opened with a whimper. The E ticket ride was not open and would take an additional 6 months. Years of Disney boasting about how crowded the park would be made people steer clear. June 2019 was one of the best times ever to visit Disneyland, the resort was a ghost town. After the first few weeks Disney dropped the whole "boarding group" thing all together and anyone could visit. Discounted ticket promotions followed soon after.

In an earnings call the following quarter the park was reported to have lower attendance but per guest spending had increased. The 200 dollar lightsaber experience and 100 dollar droid experience likely were a big part of this. One can argue the reservation system has stuck around as a result of this learning experience with guest spending.

Part 2 What We Got:
- One of the most impressive rides in any themepark (6 months post opening)
- A D ticket that is one of the biggest misses in recent history. The interactivity is poorly implemented and the ride isn't scenic, impressive, or thrilling.
- A giant plot of land with multiple shops, two snack stands, and a counter service restaraunt
- A bar with very limited seating
- A restricted timeline land that prohibits certain major Star Wars characters from appearing
- A land that took itself too seriously, cast members had to pretend they lived on Batuu, the products in the land couldn't have the word "Star Wars" on it because "Star Wars" doesn't exist in the world of Star Wars


Part 3 - What Was Cut:
-Stunt show in the upper railings (infrastructure still in place)
-Therii (new Batuu creature) outdoor ride around the land (must've been a somewhat late cut as a childrens book came out featuring the creature from the cancelled ride and plushes started being sold as well)
-Jabba's Palace type restaurant (Oga's Cantina was supposed to the the bar/lounge area to the restaurant which still has a plot of land ready)
-Entertainers (droids/aliens/bounty hunters). Although every once in a while Disney takes some droids out for 10 minutes or so to film for an instagram video.
- Interactive storylines. Galaxy's Edge was supposed to be like a dinner theater type of show that involved the audience in its story. Disney even tested this out with "Legends of Frontierland" in 2013.

Part 3 - Changes Post Opening
Some things in the opening month that have gone away are:

-Castmember Roleplaying (besides saying the word credits)
-Constant loud Battle ship / Creature Sounds throughout the land
-Mist/Fog
-Timeline Restrictions (Mandalorian characters are appearing now even though it takes place in a different time than Episode 8-9, still no signs of Luke and Vader though)
-Restrictions on merchandise with the words "star wars" on it (saw Star Wars logo shirts in one of the shops last week)

Part 4 - Changing Public Perception of Star Wars (2015-2024)

At the time GE was green lit, hype for Star Wars was at an all time high and Disney's first of the new trilogy had yet to be released By the time it came out the most divisive movie (Episode 8) had debuted and the follow up (Episode 9) didn't fare much better. The movie Solo A Star Wars story was the first Star Wars movie to lose money. The Disney Plus Star Wars TV shows have one hit (Mandalorian) while others have mixed reviews and Star Wars brand fatigue is at a high point.

Conclusion - What Does Disney Do?

Disney has this big plot of land mostly tied in to Disney's Star Wars trilogy. Is it wise for Disney to keep this land thats tied to a dying series?

So now nearly 5 years later, what is the future of Galaxy's Edge?

Looking at Disneyland Forward you'd have to imagine Disney is realizing how valuable each square foot of land is for future development.

Disney even sees small office buildings as valuable real estate. In 2024 how much land does Star Wars actually need and warrant? How about in 2034?

Building a giant WDW sized land in the middle of space restricted southern california may not have been the best idea.

While nothing needs to change immediately and the land is a moderate success. I see Disney doing one of two things in the distant future:

1)Enhance Galaxy's Edge:
-Add more to galaxys edge (cancelled restaraunt, stunt show, a theater for jedi academy or a live show, new attractions)
-Addition of legacy characters from the original trilogy and prequels
2) Carve up and replace elements of Galaxy's Edge with future expansions
-Keep Rise of the resistance and relocate a few shops (marketplace and lightsaber building shop) but take out the entire eastern half of Galaxy's Edge for a future development (Avatar for example)

What are your thoughts? Do you see Batuu changing in the future?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Great discussion points

 

[SplashJacket]

It has been almost 5 years since Galaxy's Edge opened.

This land, announced in 2015 at a high point of public interest in Star Wars promised to be an interactive themed entertainment experience like no other. The land was made as a way to compete with Universal Studio's Harry Potter and Disney even hired it's lead designer to spearhead this one.

Part 1 - Opening and Reception:
In 2019 the land opened with a whimper. The E ticket ride was not open and would take an additional 6 months. Years of Disney boasting about how crowded the park would be made people steer clear. June 2019 was one of the best times ever to visit Disneyland, the resort was a ghost town. After the first few weeks Disney dropped the whole "boarding group" thing all together and anyone could visit. Discounted ticket promotions followed soon after.

In an earnings call the following quarter the park was reported to have lower attendance but per guest spending had increased. The 200 dollar lightsaber experience and 100 dollar droid experience likely were a big part of this. One can argue the reservation system has stuck around as a result of this learning experience with guest spending.

Part 2 Current State - What We Got:
- One of the most impressive rides in any themepark
- A D ticket that is one of the biggest misses in recent history. The interactivity is poorly implemented and the ride isn't scenic, impressive, or thrilling.
- A giant plot of land with multiple shops, two snack stands, and a counter service restaraunt
- A bar with very limited seating
- A restricted timeline land that prohibits certain major Star Wars characters from appearing
- A land that took itself too seriously, cast members had to pretend they lived on Batuu, the products in the land couldn't have the word "Star Wars" on it because "Star Wars" doesn't exist in the world of Star Wars


Part 3 - What Was Cut:
-Stunt show in the upper railings (infrastructure still in place)
-Therii (new Batuu creature) outdoor ride around the land (must've been a somewhat late cut as a childrens book came out featuring the creature from the cancelled ride and plushes started being sold as well)
-Jabba's Palace type restaurant (Oga's Cantina was supposed to the the bar/lounge area to the restaurant which still has a plot of land ready)
-Entertainers (droids/aliens/bounty hunters). Although every once in a while Disney takes some droids out for 10 minutes or so to film for an instagram video.
- Interactive storylines. Galaxy's Edge was supposed to be like a dinner theater type of show that involved the audience in its story. Disney even tested this out with "Legends of Frontierland" in 2013.

Part 3 - Changes Post Opening
Some things in the opening month that have gone away are:

-Castmember Roleplaying (besides saying the word credits)
-Constant loud Battle ship / Creature Sounds throughout the land
-Mist/Fog
-Timeline Restrictions (Mandalorian characters are appearing now even though it takes place in a different time than Episode 8-9, still no signs of Luke and Vader though)
-Restrictions on merchandise with the words "star wars" on it (saw Star Wars logo shirts in one of the shops last week)

Part 4 - Changing Public Perception of Star Wars (2015-2024)

At the time GE was green lit, hype for Star Wars was at an all time high and Disney's first of the new trilogy had yet to be released By the time it came out the most divisive movie (Episode 8) had debuted and the follow up (Episode 9) didn't fare much better. The movie Solo A Star Wars story was the first Star Wars movie to lose money. The Disney Plus Star Wars TV shows have one hit (Mandalorian) while others have mixed reviews and Star Wars brand fatigue is at a high point.

Conclusion - What Does Disney Do?

Disney has this big plot of land mostly tied in to Disney's Star Wars trilogy. Is it wise for Disney to keep this land thats tied to a dying series?

So now nearly 5 years later, what is the future of Galaxy's Edge?

Looking at Disneyland Forward you'd have to imagine Disney is realizing how valuable each square foot of land is for future development. Building a giant WDW sized land in the middle of space restricted southern california may not have been the best idea.

While nothing needs to change immediately and the land is a moderate success. I see Disney doing one of two things in the distant future:

1)Enhance Galaxy's Edge:
-Add more to galaxys edge (cancelled restaraunt, stunt show, a theater for jedi academy or a live show, new attractions)
-Addition of legacy characters from the original trilogy and prequels
2) Carve up and replace elements Galaxy's Edge
-Keep Rise of the resistance and relocate a few shops (marketplace and lightsaber building shop) but take out the entire eastern half of Galaxy's Edge for a future development (Avatar for example)

What are your thoughts? Do you see Batuu changing in the future?

Simple quick fix: Add Mando to Falcon and create more interesting environments with that (you have millions of data points on the Falcon infrastructure in action, should be easy to come up with an infinitely improved ride experience).

Notice how they're adding Ashoka to Star Tours but not Mando...

Most importantly, now they should know what works (or more accurately, what doesn't work, and adjust based on that). Give the engineers more impact. Instead of messing with the coaxium let them "fix the hyperdrive" which really just lets them decide where to send the Falcon. 2 functioning engineers send it to an advanced planet. Have it be 6 environments, and depending on how they act, it branches differently. That alone would allow for more re-rideability and give more purpose to the boring role. There's a good ride in there somewhere. It's not a total write-off.

In increasingly costly but more effective options:

1) Add the original stunt show. I don't think it would move the needle much, but could add more life.

2) Add the originally planned dinner show, adjustable to not necessarily need a full show during all seating. Perhaps just a couple of dinner shows at night and a screen-based Space 220 or Bourne screens with a couple of characters more than actors throughout the morning/lunch.

3) Add reformated people-mover style attraction. Perhaps make it more of a high-capacity omnimover instead of the giant creatures. Perhaps make it a cross between a people mover and buzz, if that works? Or stated differently, a Yoshi's Adventure with Blasters and longer.

4) Use the 3rd major plot for an E-Ticket. Insert Star Wars ride concept of choice: X-Wing coaster, Speeder-Coaster, etc.

There's zero chance any portion of GE get's replaced.

 

[Consumer]

They should build an X-Wing coaster.

 

[zipadee999]

It has been almost 5 years since Galaxy's Edge opened.

This land promised to be an interactive themed entertainment experience like no other. The land was made as a way to compete with Universal Studio's Harry Potter and Disney even hired it's lead designer to spearhead this one.

What we got:
- One of the most impressive rides in any themepark
- A D ticket that is one of the biggest misses in recent history. The interactivity is poorly implemented and the ride isn't scenic, impressive, or thrilling.
- A giant plot of land with multiple shops, two snack stands, and a counter service restaraunt
- A bar with very limited seating
- A restricted timeline land that prohibits certain major Star Wars characters from appearing
- A land that took itself too seriously, cast members had to pretend they lived on Batuu, the products in the land couldn't have the word "Star Wars" on it because "Star Wars" doesn't exist in the world of Star Wars

What was cut:
-Stunt show in the upper railings (infrastructure still in place)
-Therii (new Batuu creature) outdoor ride around the land (must've been a somewhat late cut as a childrens book came out featuring the creature from the cancelled ride and plushes started being sold as well)
-Jabba's Palace type restaurant (Oga's Cantina was supposed to the the bar/lounge area to the restaurant which still has a plot of land ready)
-Entertainers (droids/aliens/bounty hunters). Although every once in a while Disney takes some droids out for 10 minutes or so to film for an instagram video.
- Interactive storylines. Galaxy's Edge was supposed to be like a dinner theater type of show that involved the audience in its story. Disney even tested this out with "Legends of Frontierland" in 2013.


Some things in the opening month that have gone away are:

-Castmember Roleplaying (besides saying the word credits)
-Constant loud Battle ship / Creature Sounds throughout the land
-Mist/Fog
-Timeline Restrictions (Mandalorian characters are appearing now even though it takes place in a different time than Episode 8-9, still no signs of Luke and Vader though)
-Restrictions on merchandise with the words "star wars" on it (saw Star Wars logo shirts in one of the shops last week)

In 2019 the land opened with a whimper. Years of Disney boasting about how crowded the park would be made people steer clear. June 2019 was one of the best times ever to visit Disneyland, the resort was a ghost town. After the first few weeks Disney dropped the whole "boarding group" thing all together and anyone could visit. Discounted ticket promotions followed soon after.

In an earnings call the following quarter the park was reported to have lower attendance but per guest spending had increased. The 200 dollar lightsaber experience and 100 dollar droid experience likely were a big part of this. One can argue the reservation system has stuck around as a result of this learning experience with guest spending.

At the time GE was green lit, hype for Star Wars was at an all time high and Disney's first of the new trilogy had yet to be released By the time it came out the most divisive movie (Episode 8) had debuted and the follow up (Episode 9) didn't fare much better. The movie Solo A Star Wars story was the first Star Wars movie to lose money. The Disney Plus TV have mixed reviews and Star Wars brand fatigue is at a high point.

Yet Disney has this big plot of land mostly tied in to Disney's Star Wars trilogy. Is it wise for Disney to keep this land thats tied to a dying series?

So now nearly 5 years later, what is the future of Galaxy's Edge?

Looking at Disneyland Forward you'd have to imagine Disney is realizing how valuable each square foot of land is for future development. Building a giant WDW sized land in the middle of space restricted southern california may not have been the best idea.


While nothing needs to change immediately and the land is a moderate success. I see Disney doing one of two things in the distant future:

1)Enhance Galaxy's Edge:
-Add more to galaxys edge (cancelled restaraunt, stunt show, a theater for jedi academy or a live show, new attractions)
-Addition of legacy characters from the original trilogy and prequels
2) Carve up and replace elements Galaxy's Edge
-Keep Rise of the resistance and relocate a few shops (marketplace and lightsaber building shop) but take out the entire eastern half of Galaxy's Edge for a future development (Avatar for example)

What are your thoughts? Do you see Batuu changing in the future?

When I went, I enjoyed the land and saw that it had some good bones. It was just horribly underutilized. It’s ’star wars’ land but isn’t STAR WARS. There is nothing in the land that people think of when they hear ‘Star wars.’ The land has potential, it just needs a shot in the arm of what Star Wars actually is.

Here’s what I’d do:

- Ditch the timeline. No set timeline but maybe loosely set it around the time of the late OT. That way Han, Luke, Leia, and Vader can be present but we can also have Mando and some prequel characters like Ahsoka and Maul. At least that way they can theme it around the most iconic era and still have other characters present and doing meet and greets.

- Aesthetic changes. The most popular antagonistic force is without a doubt the empire. Make some slight alterations and reskins to reflect this. Swap out the first order logos with imperial ones, and change the ship on the Kylo stage that he walks out of to be an imperial transport ship, like the one Palpatine uses to arrive on the Death Star in ROTJ. Vader and the Emperor will now do meet and greets here instead of Kylo. Not to say Kylo can never be present in the land, but he will be delegated maybe to an occasional walk around in favor of more iconic characters.

- Smuggler’s Run. An update similar to Star Tours the adventures continue. Hondo is cool, but people want to see Han and Chewie. Reskin Hondo to Han and have Chewie present via screen. Make it that Han has a bounty so big that he needs us to do a ‘quick job’ for him because he can’t risk getting caught. Randomize the missions. Add missions for Tatooine, Kessel, Coruscant, etc. This way you get to see more iconic locations other than just Batuu.

- Rise of the Rebellion. Briefly close Rise for an annual refurbishment, and quickly replace all of the Kylo animatronics with Vader (Same bones, new skin) Repaint some of the ships, film a new hologram message from Leia, add Luke in place of Poe, swap out the stormtrooper armor, etc. Replace the Finn animatronic with Luke wearing stormtrooper armor as a nice callback to a new hope. This overlay would make the attraction vastly more enjoyable and would be less of a daunting task than many think.

- Streetmosphere. Have many of the iconic characters mentioned previously walking around the land. Have C3P0 and R2D2 walking around, as well as other droids. Make the land feel ‘alive.’ Maybe add a small stunt show between the rebels and the empire to the rooftops that will be visible from the paths, possible a Luke and Vader saber fight.

- Jabbas Palace. Bring back the sit-down dinner concept. Have a stage in the middle of the restaurant with dancers performing as well as a large Jabba animatronic. Perhaps Jabba was brought to Batuu in order to arrange a deal with local smugglers and he’s staying inside of a palace reserved for Batuu royalty.

- In an expansion plot, add a Path of the Jedi indoor stage show. It’s inside of a secret temple where we see Yoda training young Jedi. All of a sudden, they are discovered and Maul enters, before the young Jedi engage in a light saber duel against him with some episode one callbacks. At the end, we get to see Yoda use the force and lift something giant that seals Maul out of the temple, using some episode 5 callbacks. Alternate versions of the show could be done with Luke and Ahsoka.

- Add the Batuu Transport Peoplemover that people are talking about for kinetic energy.

If even half of these happen it’ll be a massive improvement. The land has potential, it’s just being horribly mismanaged.

 

[CaptinEO]

Simply quick fix: Add Mando to Falcon and create more interesting environments with that (you have millions of data points on the Falcon infrastructure in action, should be easy to come up with an infinitely improved ride experience).

Notice how they're adding Ashoka to Star Tours but not Mando...

I wonder why no Mando on Star Tours? Maybe because Jengo Fett is already there?

Most importantly, now they should know what works (or more accurately, what doesn't work, and adjust based on that). Give the engineers more impact. Instead of messing with the coaxium let them "fix the hyperdrive" which really just lets them decide where to send the Falcon. 2 functioning engineers send it to an advanced planet. Have it be 6 environments, and depending on how they act, it branches differently. That alone would allow for more re-rideability and give more purpose to the boring role. There's a good ride in there somewhere. It's not a total write-off.

At this point I’ll take literally any change to Smuggler’s Run that ride is just lackluster. My wife and I walked by it the other day and it had a 10 minute wait and we weren’t interested. But to be honest I think the ride should either be redone to remove the interactive elements and have an actually exciting movement/ride sequence or be removed entirely.

There's zero chance any portion of GE get's replaced.

I disagree, I think the land its on is too valuable and Disney went too overboard (at least for California). Think of all the years of fighting they are doing for Disneyland Forward, and if Disney gets their way there will be no space to expand to once that project is done. Every wasted portion of land could be making money for them. GE just has too much of nothing filling the void in my opinion.

 

[CaptinEO]

When I went, I enjoyed the land and saw that it had some good bones. It was just horribly underutilized. It’s ’star wars’ land but isn’t STAR WARS. There is nothing in the land that people think of when they hear ‘Star wars.’ The land has potential, it just needs a shot in the arm of what Star Wars actually is.

I really liked the land at first but the more I thought of it the potential for it was really squandered, especially given what was promised.

Here’s what I’d do:

- Ditch the timeline. No set timeline but maybe loosely set it around the time of the late OT. That way Han, Luke, Leia, and Vader can be present but we can also have Mando and some prequel characters like Ahsoka and Maul. At least that way they can theme it around the most iconic era and still have other characters present and doing meet and greets.

This would make sense to me, or at least they can make it Tatooine so its actually a place from the movies. Who wants to visit a WDI fan fiction land? Yet I’m sure generations of movie goers would know Tatooine and Luke’s Home/Mos Eisley Canteena.

- Smuggler’s Run. An update similar to Star Tours the adventures continue. Hondo is cool, but people want to see Han and Chewie. Reskin Hondo to Han and have Chewie present via screen. Make it that Han has a bounty so big that he needs us to do a ‘quick job’ for him because he can’t risk getting caught. Randomize the missions. Add missions for Tatooine, Kessel, Coruscant, etc. This way you get to see more iconic locations other than just Batuu.

Imagine having Han and Chewie loaning you the falcon and communicating to us the whole time? That’d be amazing.

- Rise of the Rebellion. Briefly close Rise for an annual refurbishment, and quickly replace all of the Kylo animatronics with Vader (Same bones, new skin) Repaint some of the ships, film a new hologram message from Leia, add Luke in place of Poe, swap out the stormtrooper armor, etc. Replace the Finn animatronic with Luke wearing stormtrooper armor as a nice callback to a new hope. This overlay would make the attraction vastly more enjoyable and would be less of a daunting task than many think.

This is great in every way, I’d love for this to happen!

- Streetmosphere. Have many of the iconic characters mentioned previously walking around the land. Have C3P0 and R2D2 walking around, as well as other droids. Make the land feel ‘alive.’ Maybe add a small stunt show between the rebels and the empire to the rooftops that will be visible from the paths, possible a Luke and Vader saber fight.

It’s so sad to think the original plan was to have all these characters and a stunt show. Seems they do this a lot in Avenger’s Campus but why not the giant Galaxy’s Edge, which already feels barren?

- In an expansion plot, add a Path of the Jedi indoor stage show. It’s inside of a secret temple where we see Yoda training young Jedi. All of a sudden, they are discovered and Maul enters, before the young Jedi engage in a light saber duel against him with some episode one callbacks. At the end, we get to see Yoda use the force and lift something giant that seals Maul out of the temple, using some episode 5 callbacks. Alternate versions of the show could be done with Luke and Ahsoka.

This would be a great idea and would be a good update to the jedi academy stage show. It should replace the (paid) lightsaber thing that I will never get to see. Everyone loved that jedi academy stage show, kids and parents, now Disney takes itself too seriously.

If even half of these happen it’ll be a massive improvement. The land has potential, it’s just being horribly mismanaged.

I wonder how much of this is the ego of the executives involved? Chapek, Iger, Kathleen Kennedy, and maybe even Towbridge were all heavily involved in this land. The last 3 of those still have high ranking positions in Disney. We’ve seen fragile egos prevent bad decisions from being fixed before. Just look at how California Adventure wasn’t corrected until after Michael Eisner left the company. I’m sure WDI knew it was bad from the start but can’t challenge their own leadership.

 

[networkpro]

So much promise, yet we have " Splashed Concreteland " and cast members with bad catch phrases. We wont talk about the horror that is the "milk" stand...even alcohol cant save that stuff.

 

[CaptinEO]

So much promise, yet we have " Splashed Concreteland " and cast members with bad catch phrases. We wont talk about the horror that is the "milk" stand...even alcohol cant save that stuff.

I actually like the blue milk to be honest but I know that is not the common perception, seems like it is a miss. And now it’s 8 dollars for a dixie cup of it too. Besides opening year I haven’t seen a line at the milk stand. This stand is another example of something that should be consolidated, serve blue milk at docking bay 7 or ronto roasters instead of it needing its own section of Disneyland.

 

[Too Many Hats]

More trees/shade in Black Spire Outpost. Some water features. Integrate kinetic energy (see: Adventureland Treehouse) into the existing structures. Play the John Williams score.

 

[D.Silentu]

I like what I'm hearing so far, here's what I would address:

The biggest issue I feel, especially comparing it to Wizarding World, is that the land is in need of a more energetic atmosphere. I haven't been to the park enough to notice that the ambient sound effects were silenced, but they need to be turned on at once! Add digital screens to windows for fun vignettes to play out. Have simple mechanical droid figures scoot across balconies or rooftops. At night illuminate the tall rockwork with a phasing phosphorescence, via projection mapping, and have projected alien wildlife scale its peaks. Finally, in accordance with most people here, saturate the area with tastefully placed music from all of the films.

I imagine that you could suit a platoon with the alien costumes left over from the Galactic Starcruiser. Why not send some over here to add various walk around characters? The Jedi Training Academy was also popular and I know I'm not alone in wondering why it wasn't transplanted. A dedicated ampitheater could be set up near Rise Of The Resistance, featuring force based special effects akin to other versions of the show. I personally like the idea of Jedi symbols hidden around the land, directing people to their secret meeting spot, much as the early Christians did.

Addressing Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the ride is what it is and for some that means it can never be satisfactorily fixed. Adding randomized missions tops my improvement list. I hear the complaints about the Engineer position, but in my experience Gunner is worse. To help rectify this I would take a page from Webslingers, adding secret targets for Gunners and moments that that only the Engineers can unlock. For instance, an alternate route in a mission that can only be reached by hitting the boost, assuming the Engineers can keep that working. Finally, I think that adding an 'autopilot' feature should be a priority. If riders don't want to interact with the attraction you simply press a button as soon as you are seated.

It seems that the park is slowly relaxing the strict timeframe in which the land is set, which is a step forward. I don't think much needs to change aesthetically to support this. Echoing others here, the important thing is that characters from the entire series make an occasional appearance. I don't think adding another ride is essential, but it would be welcome nonetheless. I'm not sure it needs the dinner show either. I would rather them build a duplicate of Oga's Cantina with a false door where cast members can direct guests to either room as capacity dictates, hopefully eliminating reservations. These are just a handful of thoughts and hopefully it isn't just we fans who feel like the land needs a few extra touches. It's worth remembering that Disney had planned a meeting to discuss such issues back in 2020, so here's hoping.

 

[Too Many Hats]

IMO Smuggler's Run is mostly problematic from a storytelling perspective. Star Wars has always had a lot of heart, but the coaxium plot leaves me cold. It needs a new film/game/"mission."

A comedian named Mike Mitchell appeared on Podcast: The Ride and proposed a two-word story solution to Smuggler's Run that I've never forgotten -- the new mission should be called "Save Chewbacca." WDI, take it from there.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Just wanna say, I've still never been into Oga's Cantina. I'm not super interested in investing effort into securing a reservation, only to be limited in drinks/time once I'm there. It's insane that Galaxy's Edge takes up SO MUCH SPACE at Disneyland, and yet the only truly exciting food/beverage option is about as limited as possible.

 

[mickEblu]

I imagine that you could suit a platoon with the alien costumes left over from the Galactic Starcruiser.

Actually no. Just one humanoid squid. Unless the Blue Captain Lady also comes along and she hasn’t washed her face yet.

 

[D.Silentu]

I had no idea there were so few! Chalk it up to another missed opportunity.

 

[mickEblu]

I had no idea there were so few! Chalk it up to another missed opportunity.

Yeah it was pretty pathetic. Then they had the big “fancy” dinner in a room that looked like a small cafeteria. The cafeteria at the Burbank IKEA is more impressive.

 

[D.Silentu]

I read a few reviews and scrolled through some pictures, after which I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to watch the full experience footage that bloggers were posting. Surprising to learn that there was even less to it than I was led to believe.

 

[mickEblu]

I read a few reviews and scrolled through some pictures, after which I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to watch the full experience footage that bloggers were posting. Surprising to learn that there was even less to it than I was led to believe.

It’s kind of mind boggling. They had two unknown walk around characters and the dinner event was in a tiny sterile looking cafeteria. What on earth were they thinking? “We’re Disney and this is Star Wars. They’ll come no matter what.” ?

 

[chadwpalm]

Just wanna say, I've still never been into Oga's Cantina. I'm not super interested in investing effort into securing a reservation, only to be limited in drinks/time once I'm there. It's insane that Galaxy's Edge takes up SO MUCH SPACE at Disneyland, and yet the only truly exciting food/beverage option is about as limited as possible.

My mom really wanted to see it, so I booked us a reservation. They seated us with 3 other groups. It was awkward since we aren't super social people. That alone made it a one and done for my parents.

If I'm alone, I prefer the bar or a stand-up table. I prefer not to interact with people if I don't have to.

 

[Professortango1]

They just need new missions on Smuggler's Run. An updated queue for SR that incorporates droids and other fun AA's to make the place seem busy.

Droids and aliens throughout the land to discover and interact with. Force sensitive interactions a la Wizarding World's wands.

More surprises and things to discover constantly. Make it a sandbox to play in.

Dinner show and Jedi Academy.

They don't need to bring in young Luke or Vader. Those characters are ancient. Even me in my 30's thinks they are old, I can't imagine what teens and kids think. I'd love to see Old Man Luke teaching Jedi Academy and being grumpy with the kids.

They should have little escape room-type experiences that you can unlock through character interactions and following a storyline.