-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Historical Construction/Impressions
- Thread starter BrianLo
- Start date
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
I’ve said for a while that GE should have had some sort of Yoda walk through attraction but Tony Baxters latest interview got me thinking why GE doesn’t have something like the dungeon dragon AA at DLP. Imagine going down into some dungeon and seeing a Rancor AA. Even if it wasn’t his full body.
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I'm sure us fans can think of a hundred cool things they could have added to the land, but at the end of the day it was all about the dollar signs.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Well that’s for sure. There are 100’s of cool (and relatively cheap) things they could have done but didn’t.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Well this is a rehash from years ago now, but....
The idea as I understand it was to try to create something new, something that wasn't from the Original or Prequel Trilogies, that they could be placed in the era of the Sequel Trilogies. Which is why they went with a new planet instead of recreating Tatooine or some other planet already in Star Wars lore. So no yoda, no rancor....
In the early concepts there was to be that people mover style Bantha type attraction that went around the land. Not to mention all the streetmosphere entertainment and the restaurant which I if I remember correctly was to have some AAs?
Anyways it all got budget cut, but looks like slowly they are trying to add at least some of the streetmosphere stuff back.
While I like the land overall, just because its Star Wars, they really shouldn't have gone cheap on the add-on stuff.....
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
A Rankor could exist in any Star Wars timeline.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
True, but as far as I'm aware (though I can be corrected on that if someone knows different) none existed in the outer rim where Batuu is.
Consumer
Well-Known Member
Um, Tattooine?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
For what it’s worth… they are now using Disney parks cups for the kids sizes in galaxies edge.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Lol. But whatever you do keep Vader and Yoda out of there.
I'm annoyed the land only has one sun and/or moon.
ParkPeeker
Well-Known Member
Re the Rancor/dungeon, I said the same thing in this thread a few years ago, something like that would've been so cool. Even if GE is not Tatooine they could have made it fit, and it 'fitting' isn't the reason we don't have it. That's like saying the water fountain dianoga does not fit it batuu, cause in the films it was in the Death Star and we aren't in the Death Star but a new place.
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Disney Irish
Premium Member
That is a different sector of the outer rim. What I meant was in the part of the outer rim where Batuu is located, in the Trilon sector.
Ugh, that neighborhood of the galaxy doesn't feel safe. I always roll up my blast shields going through there.
Consumer
Well-Known Member
You nerd.
I bet you also walk onto to the other side of the hyperspace lane when you see a Gamorrean coming your way, you racist!
Disney Irish
Premium Member
What an incredible smell you've discovered!
JediMasterMatt
Well-Known Member
Not possible because this iteration of SWL was designed for both DL and Studios. Can't effectively go below grade in scale in Florida. RotR's turntable and drop shafts are about as ambitious as you could get digging below grade and that is just for back of house mechs and not guest areas. Too much risk in flooding.
I've mentioned this before in the lead up to GE; but, SWL went through several iterations on its way to being finalized. The big three were:
- DL Tomorrowland overlay. This was the "greatest hits" hodgepodge of ideas and locations around the SW galaxy thrown over the current land. Nobody working on this project liked this idea at all and everyone was relieved when it was rejected (due to the loss of Tomorrowland and Imagineering and LucasFilm wanted a cohesive land a la Potter). Some diehard fans of the OT may have liked this approach better as it was well underway before the sequel mandate took over.
- DL Toontown overlay and expansion. This is the one where things began taking on a unified approach. It was smaller in scale (due to the size available even with shuffling around many things backstage). It necessitated a lot more covered spaces as there as very serious operational concerns about firework fallout. Around this time, the go big or go home directive changed the location to the existing space and would more easily accommodate both DL and DHS footprints.
- Current Batuu
While I haven't been able to get back to DL since the pandemic, I did get several pre-RotR chances at the land and have been back to DHS for those attractions opening and many times since. Here's the interesting thing, about the streetmosphere vibe. Perception of the two resorts differences plays a huge part in what you take away from both lands.
At Disneyland, strolling through the park on any given day you are likely to encounter multiple characters roaming about, bands playing, Main Street vehicles, watercraft circling the river, and any given motion from the outdoor attractions. On any given day, Disneyland simply feels alive with kinetic energy all with a backdrop of the land's soundtrack. Stepping into GE, you still will encounter some occasional characters (far more than I think people give credit to). Even during my pre-Rise visits, there wasn't a trip into GE where I didn't at least see some Troopers, Ren, Rey Chewie, or R2. Now with Mando and Grogu and Ahsoka, there is likely more opportunities. What is missing are the other elements. There are no street musicians. There are no rides with kinetic motion or noises that you can see. There is also something missing that really makes the biggest difference... I'll get to it in a few moments.
At DHS, the overall experience in GE is similar to DL (although no Mando/Ahsoka and rarely any droids); but, to most of the guests - seeing these characters out is different than most of the rest of the parks at WDW. Rarely will guests bump into a roaming one on property. DHS and AK have the most streetmosphere with the Citizens in DHS or bands in AK; but, unless you catch a character going on break - you just don't see them elsewhere. Also, since the WDW parks are somewhat anemic in attraction per capita compared to the west coast and most of the attractions are indoors or spread apart from each other, the overall parks are more kinetic motion starved than DLR. This is why the perception of GE in Florida skews a bit higher there.
The loss of Beastly Transport really would've helped provide some motion and immersion to the land. It would've added more capacity and allowed those adverse to Falcon and Rise a chance to do something else that may have been more their speed. Unfortunately, the operational (staffing and maintenance) costs were vetoed by TDO.
The restaurant will likely still happen at some point (I haven't asked recently); but, it wouldn't have added anything to the street scene as it would've been another walled off experience behind a queue/reservation.
The 10-ton elephant in the room of what is "missing" in the Galaxy's Edge recipe is the same thing that it has been since the day it opened. The soup is missing one of the most important ingredients of the entire Star Wars experience. The lack of the Maestro's magic - John Williams underlying soundtrack to the experience. Try watching any SW without the soundtrack and the experience is much colder and lifeless compared to when the music is supporting the scene. I'm going to tread lightly on this topic; but, it's kind of an open secret that nobody involved wants to acknowledge and I don't want to single anyone or any group of people out. I was recommended by some friends to put my headphones on and walk through the land back in 2019 and it is a very, very different experience. The playlist contained cues from the Resistance and First Order and some of Johnny's GE suite and it made a huge improvement.
The decision was to go "full immersion" for the land and rely on the background sound effects to tell the story. While that concept can and certainly does work in Pandora, that is also a very busy jungle environment from a franchise that prior to the sequel - I doubt a high percentage of people could name the main characters let alone hum a tune from the film. Imagine either Potterlands without their soundtracks. Those images within the land connect you subconsciously to the soundtrack and vice versa and taking them away would leave the entire land sterile. The same is very much true with Star Wars. Humans are conditioned animals and when we get a stimulus we are accustomed to, we react to it. Missing a good one half of the SW stimulus we are use to having when exposed to the galaxy causes the entire experience to fall into the same uncanny valley that bad CG animation does. Our brains flag the experience as something not quite being right and that sticks with us.
Think of RotR. There is a reason why once you hit that first briefing room to the time you get off the attraction feels like SW. It's because it comes closest to fulfilling our expectations as to what our brains expect SW to be using all of our senses. It shouldn't take Figment from that awful Imagination redo to tell us how important sound is to altering our perception.
#bringjohnwilliamstogalaxysedge
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Thanks, I'm aware of most the iterations of SW Land ideas in the domestic Disney Parks, specifically DLR, many have been discussed on this side of the boards for years. Personally I would have liked the idea of the Endor speeders in TL. But thanks for the rehash of the history.
As for the lack of music within the land, I actually prefer what we got with the atmosphere sounds rather than music. I think it allows one to let the rest of the Park fade away for a bit and let ones imagination go. If one wants music then do what you've done and put on some headphones. But personally I would be disappointed if one day they decide to add music into the land.