News Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Historical Construction/Impressions

[Ismael Flores]

It’s a beautiful, atmospheric chill ride dripping with detail from top to bottom— the type you may have seen in early EPCOT.

The issue, however, is that it is too short and the ridiculous wait times set up unobtainable expectations. It is FP-only in my mind. If you walk on, there’s far less reason to be disappointed.

thats what I figured, when it was under construction i was surprised to see the small footprint of the show building.

its a shame because they had so much more room to lengthen the track. this could have been the Shanghai Pirates ride themed to Pandora

 

[shortstop]

If you don’t mind having the magic “spoiled”, look backwards on Indy during the boulder part. You see the entire walls around you move forwards. It’s pretty impressive.

 

[Professortango1]

Space Mountain is immersive. The new Forbidden Forest coaster at Universal will have indoor sets.

Space Mountain feels like what it is, an indoor coaster. They did a nice job with it, but you are clearly on a track going through a structure.

 

[Professortango1]

A coaster can be very immersive. You just need to get out of the Disney mindset. See Revenge of the Mummy, Big Bad Wolf, Expedition Everest, Escape from Gringotts to name a few. Disney could easily make a Star Wars immersive coaster.

Mummy - Themed to a mine cart.
Expedition Everest - Themed to a train
Gringotts - Themed to a cart on a track.

These work because the track can be disguised as a story element. Star Wars doesn't have a lot of trains on rails, it features vehicles or carts hovering. Unfortunately, we don't have a solution to make a believable "hover" coaster.

 

[TROR]

Space Mountain feels like what it is, an indoor coaster. They did a nice job with it, but you are clearly on a track going through a structure.

I feel like I'm being transported to the farthest reaches of the cosmos when I'm on Space Mountain.

 

[Phroobar]

Mummy - Themed to a mine cart.
Expedition Everest - Themed to a train
Gringotts - Themed to a cart on a track.

These work because the track can be disguised as a story element. Star Wars doesn't have a lot of trains on rails, it features vehicles or carts hovering. Unfortunately, we don't have a solution to make a believable "hover" coaster.

 

[Professortango1]

You want Disney to build a coaster based on that massive train? And that's not even bringing up the issue of basing an attraction on Star Wars' first bomb and a concept that doesn't make sense in the Star Wars Universe. If spaceships are so common and can land just about anywhere, why build a rail system through mountains?

 

[Professortango1]

I feel like I'm being transported to the farthest reaches of the cosmos when I'm on Space Mountain.

I see the track. There's no tracks in space.

 

[mickEblu]

I see the track. There's no tracks in space.

Just out of curiosity, would the transports have lapbars?

 

[dweezil78]

I haven't been on Navi, but if I didn't know what I already know - I can tell you that I would expect more.
Not more thrill.
I completely get that it is a slow, calm, river journey.
But more visuals, certainly more animatronics.
I would go into the ride expecting that some of those bizarre animals would pop up.
To come across the Shaman as the sole animatronic at the end of the ride would leave me thinking - that was it?

For what is in there I can tell you that it is jam packed with pretty amazing visuals that videos don't do a great job of capturing. People seem to get way too caught up in AAs and have a hard time letting go of an era where they were so predominant. I'm not saying screens are the alternative to this of course, but there are many other tricks and tools that can be utilized to create captivating visuals other than robotics. I will also say the screens in Navi have depth and layering to them (like the lightning storm and skeleton pirate scene in Potc) in a way that is not really visible on video.

The other thing that kind of hurts Navi, which I've mentioned before, is that walking around Pandora is jaw dropping and other-worldly experience to begin with -- and does not require any wait whatsoever. The visuals on the ride, while beautiful to look at, are not necessarily any more amazing or interesting than what you just saw outside throughout the land. If you think about most Disney lands (w/ exception of Disney Sea and Cars Land maybe), the areas are well themed but not necessarily anything that you would stand there and just marvel while you soak up all the details. The land is an attraction onto itself that is always a walk-on.

SWGE is going to be very much the same thing, if not much far greater.

 

[shortstop]

I see the track. There's no tracks in space.

Right, just like there wouldn’t be flood lights in a Caribbean town, nor exit signs in the middle of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I get what you’re saying, but at some point, the practical limitations of building a physical ride will require a smidge of suspension of disbelief.

 

[Professortango1]

Just out of curiosity, would the transports have lapbars?

Yeah, I've been on transport vehicles with safety features. Plus, there are standard things a theme park must have like queues, load/unload area, lapbars, ADA compliance, etc. That's why it matters, when attempting to make an immersive theme park attraction, that the ride system supports the story. I don't knock Space Mountain, its almost 50 years old and they have improved upon it greatly with lighting effects. However, it still feels like I'm on a coaster. That's why, even though I love the concept of Beastly Kindgom, I was never too sad about losing the ride where we ride in giant coaster bats suspended from a track. It would be a load of fun, but it would feel like a ride rather than an experience.

 

[Phroobar]

You want Disney to build a coaster based on that massive train? And that's not even bringing up the issue of basing an attraction on Star Wars' first bomb and a concept that doesn't make sense in the Star Wars Universe. If spaceships are so common and can land just about anywhere, why build a rail system through mountains?

Why do we build trains through mountains? We have airplanes as well as trains. Why can't a space ship and a train exist in the same universe? Just another form of transportation.

 

[Professortango1]

Right, just like there wouldn’t be flood lights in a Caribbean town, nor exit signs in the middle of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I get what you’re saying, but at some point, the practical limitations of building a physical ride will require a smidge of suspension of disbelief.

I agree completely. I just think pulling off an immersive coaster experience designed to simulate space flight isn't possible yet, not at the level Disney is aiming for.

 

[Professortango1]

Why do we build trains through mountains? We have airplanes as well as trains. Why can't a space ship and a train exist in the same universe? Just another form of transportation.

Our airplanes require runways and large open areas due to the forces generated by planes and complications which can arise with take off and landing. They also require more fuel. They also are subject to more regulation as airspace traffic must be mapped in our world. We also have the railroad infrastructure so widely in place because it was invented before planes. Since planes and trucking have advances, we actually see trains used less. In the Star Wars universe, ships can take off vertically without needing a runway and do not require the large clearances that our planes do. Fuel has also never been an issue in the Star Wars Universe. In the Star Wars Universe, it would make far more sense to have a freight ship take the freight from one location to another rather than building a railway.

It would be like us having a train that goes across the Pacific rather than using a cargo ship.

 

[Incomudro]

This train showed up in a movie after all of the design and planning was done for Black Spire Outpost.
In addition, it takes place well before the land Disney designed and, it's from a movie that is generally not regarded highly.
(though I liked it)

 

[britain]

This train showed up in a movie after all of the design and planning was done for Black Spire Outpost.
In addition, it takes place well before the land Disney designed and, it's from a movie that is generally not regarded highly.
(though I liked it)

It's generally not regarded highly because the general public didn't show up to see it. Almost anyone who saw Solo thought it was great!

/end rant

 

[TROR]

It's not generally not regarded highly because the general public didn't show up to see it. Almost anyone who saw Solo thought it was great!

/end rant

I saw Solo and it was bland and forgettable.

 

[Phroobar]

Our airplanes require runways and large open areas due to the forces generated by planes and complications which can arise with take off and landing. They also require more fuel. They also are subject to more regulation as airspace traffic must be mapped in our world. We also have the railroad infrastructure so widely in place because it was invented before planes. Since planes and trucking have advances, we actually see trains used less. In the Star Wars universe, ships can take off vertically without needing a runway and do not require the large clearances that our planes do. Fuel has also never been an issue in the Star Wars Universe. In the Star Wars Universe, it would make far more sense to have a freight ship take the freight from one location to another rather than building a railway.

It would be like us having a train that goes across the Pacific rather than using a cargo ship.

According to the Solo movie there was fuel crisis. That was why they had to steal the fuel rods from Kessel. Never the less, trains are part of the Star Wars canon because of Solo. We even saw trains in Shadows of the Empire. Also the train was being used to move fuel rods in a place where space ships really can't fly very well without extreme risk. Just because you have one form of transportation doesn't mean it ceases to be useful in certain conditions.

 

[Incomudro]

It's not generally not regarded highly because the general public didn't show up to see it. Almost anyone who saw Solo thought it was great!

/end rant

I said I liked it.