nickys
Premium Member
180 days for Oga’s, Savi’s and the droids.
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Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios
- Thread starter CheekBoys
- Start date
180 days for Oga’s, Savi’s and the droids.
Marc Davis Fan
Well-Known Member
Not opening RotR with the land was a flop.
Blocking out so many passholders and scaring people away by creating a fear of crowds was a flop.
Cutting nearly all entertainment was a (huge) flop.
But the land was not a flop. Not by a long shot. It’s easily some of the most impressive design work in theme park history.
Blocking out so many passholders and scaring people away by creating a fear of crowds was a flop.
Cutting nearly all entertainment was a (huge) flop.
But the land was not a flop. Not by a long shot. It’s easily some of the most impressive design work in theme park history.
RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
Agreed, if you love detailed, beautifully sculpted beige rocks, it is literally The Louvre of Beige Rocks and also there are the beautifully executed, burned out, deserted beige buildings. It's breathtaking, actually.
jt04
Well-Known Member
Avoiding potter esque opening day mayhem- not a flop.
RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
No silly, because that is what Star Wars fans around the world would have wanted. This is much better, because it's about immersion, or something.
KikoKea
Well-Known Member
Seriously?
It'll be nice to see Chewie. Honestly, I feel little connection to this. I'm hoping there's some backstory to tie it to the old characters.
The_Jobu
Well-Known Member
Seriously?
It'll be nice to see Chewie. Honestly, I feel little connection to this. I'm hoping there's some backstory to tie it to the old characters.
I forgot that Chewie is a walk around character. There’s also an R2 chip bowl and a replica for $25,000.
Marc Davis Fan
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's very fair. The land (speaking of the West Coast version) has a shockingly different tone from the entire rest of Disneyland. Disneyland is charming, reassuring, and optimistic; Galaxy's Edge is foreboding. For East-Coast people: imagine how it would feel stepping into this place from The Magic Kingdom, and then multiply that by, like, three.
Although I read your last sentence as sarcastic... it really is breathtaking design work, and I think the quality/immersion makes up for the flaw of its contrast with the rest of the park... but that criticism is nonetheless well-deserved.
Hopefully, it will fit DHS much better. Plus, the DHS color scheme seems like it'll be far superior to the grays and beiges of Disneyland. But, we shall see...
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djkidkaz
Well-Known Member
So I had the chance to ride the attraction, visit the land and do the light saber experience recently and I will share my thoughts for anyone who cares.
The Land
I found the land to be very well done but I can’t necessarily say it felt super “Star Warsy” to me. If you remove the millennium falcon it could basically be any generic sci-fi world. I guess if your a die hard fan and know what all these little very specific details are it will help to round out the experience and make it more Star Wars for you but I’m just not that person. I like the franchise but it’s not my end all be all. It almost felt like more Pandora to me. I think whichever land you see first, Star Wars or Pandora, will be more impressive. They use a lot of the same effects, like painting the rocks in the distance a lighter color to simulate distance. I will say Star Wars land definitely feels much more expansive than Pandora and uses elevation changes to great effect. Everything is very well done, but in my opinion the challenge is that your not visiting any place we’ve ever seen before. It’s a generic space port that doesn’t exist from the movies we all know and love.
The food we tried was ribs, a wrap and the chicken. The ribs and wrap were a hit and the chicken was just ok. We also tried the turkey jerky which was delicious but for $7 it was way overpriced for the little bit you get. The two drinks we tried was a tattooine sunset which was very refreshing and some other sour drink at the docking bay restaurant which we didn’t like at all. We also found the special popcorn to be disgusting. Didn’t get to try blue or green milk as line was too long.
Light saber experience
I did this just to say it tried it once even with the expensive price tag. I found this experience to be very enjoyable. It’s short enough to not be a long winded drawn out bore but long enough and intimate enough to make it special. The actress we had telling the story was great! There were people having issues with building the lightsabers, with some pieces not connecting and the cast member having to step in and break the “magic” of the experience to find replacement pieces. I found this really takes you out of the experience so hopefully your tray of pieces all work. I also felt like the explanation of how to build it wasn’t very clear. They are referring to the pieces by their name which is great if you know all the Star Wars terms, but for someone like me I had no clue. It would have been nice if the items in the tray were numbered so you knew in which order to choose pieces and which pieces were part of the same group. Overall, I really did like this though and would recommend it to someone who really wants to buy a lightsaber. If your going to spend $150 on a lightsaber in the shop, spend the extra $50 and customize your own and go for the experience. Lastly, the quality of the hilt is very nice. It has some very nice weight to it!
Millennium Falcon
Rode it three times with minimal wait. Two standby and a single rider. I have to say I was not overly impressed. I found the queue to be kind of bland. It has a nice moment where you are looking out over the falcon but the rest of it could be any space themed queue or something right out of Pandora. They also have the moment where you get to “walk around the ship” but this room is very small and basically is a photo op for the chess board that everyone wants to take so it’s get in, get your photo and get out of the way for the next person. One thing I liked was the speed at which the pre shows moved. They were very short and it was on to the next room. As far as the ride, it was just ok. I did not get off with that sense of wow and wonder like I did with Flight of Passage. The issue to me again falls to the idea that you aren’t visiting anything you know about Star Wars. The best part of the whole attraction is just walking into the cockpit of the falcon. But once the movie starts you aren’t flying anywhere or seeing anything that says Star Wars. Why not Hoth? Tattooine? Or even just a space battle with tie fighters??! The pilot is the one good position because you feel like your doing something by controlling the ship. But as gunner I just held my finger on the button and watched the screen because it makes no difference since I’m not steering the ship. I’m at the mercy of the pilot. It just wasn’t fun.
As a standard fan of the franchise and someone who will never read the comics or books and will only know the movies, there are only a few moments where I see those things I know and love. And that is the whole problem with the land in my opinion. I don’t care about this Hondo guy needing help. Who are these star wars rebels characters running around the land? Why are there only 4 stormtroopers roaming the land when in the films they would always be scouting the whole village? It’s cool to see Rey walking around and I like that the characters are roaming and not just standing photo ops.
To me the magic of the land happens when you see the Falcon or Chewbacca. And those moments are few and far between.
The Land
I found the land to be very well done but I can’t necessarily say it felt super “Star Warsy” to me. If you remove the millennium falcon it could basically be any generic sci-fi world. I guess if your a die hard fan and know what all these little very specific details are it will help to round out the experience and make it more Star Wars for you but I’m just not that person. I like the franchise but it’s not my end all be all. It almost felt like more Pandora to me. I think whichever land you see first, Star Wars or Pandora, will be more impressive. They use a lot of the same effects, like painting the rocks in the distance a lighter color to simulate distance. I will say Star Wars land definitely feels much more expansive than Pandora and uses elevation changes to great effect. Everything is very well done, but in my opinion the challenge is that your not visiting any place we’ve ever seen before. It’s a generic space port that doesn’t exist from the movies we all know and love.
The food we tried was ribs, a wrap and the chicken. The ribs and wrap were a hit and the chicken was just ok. We also tried the turkey jerky which was delicious but for $7 it was way overpriced for the little bit you get. The two drinks we tried was a tattooine sunset which was very refreshing and some other sour drink at the docking bay restaurant which we didn’t like at all. We also found the special popcorn to be disgusting. Didn’t get to try blue or green milk as line was too long.
Light saber experience
I did this just to say it tried it once even with the expensive price tag. I found this experience to be very enjoyable. It’s short enough to not be a long winded drawn out bore but long enough and intimate enough to make it special. The actress we had telling the story was great! There were people having issues with building the lightsabers, with some pieces not connecting and the cast member having to step in and break the “magic” of the experience to find replacement pieces. I found this really takes you out of the experience so hopefully your tray of pieces all work. I also felt like the explanation of how to build it wasn’t very clear. They are referring to the pieces by their name which is great if you know all the Star Wars terms, but for someone like me I had no clue. It would have been nice if the items in the tray were numbered so you knew in which order to choose pieces and which pieces were part of the same group. Overall, I really did like this though and would recommend it to someone who really wants to buy a lightsaber. If your going to spend $150 on a lightsaber in the shop, spend the extra $50 and customize your own and go for the experience. Lastly, the quality of the hilt is very nice. It has some very nice weight to it!
Millennium Falcon
Rode it three times with minimal wait. Two standby and a single rider. I have to say I was not overly impressed. I found the queue to be kind of bland. It has a nice moment where you are looking out over the falcon but the rest of it could be any space themed queue or something right out of Pandora. They also have the moment where you get to “walk around the ship” but this room is very small and basically is a photo op for the chess board that everyone wants to take so it’s get in, get your photo and get out of the way for the next person. One thing I liked was the speed at which the pre shows moved. They were very short and it was on to the next room. As far as the ride, it was just ok. I did not get off with that sense of wow and wonder like I did with Flight of Passage. The issue to me again falls to the idea that you aren’t visiting anything you know about Star Wars. The best part of the whole attraction is just walking into the cockpit of the falcon. But once the movie starts you aren’t flying anywhere or seeing anything that says Star Wars. Why not Hoth? Tattooine? Or even just a space battle with tie fighters??! The pilot is the one good position because you feel like your doing something by controlling the ship. But as gunner I just held my finger on the button and watched the screen because it makes no difference since I’m not steering the ship. I’m at the mercy of the pilot. It just wasn’t fun.
As a standard fan of the franchise and someone who will never read the comics or books and will only know the movies, there are only a few moments where I see those things I know and love. And that is the whole problem with the land in my opinion. I don’t care about this Hondo guy needing help. Who are these star wars rebels characters running around the land? Why are there only 4 stormtroopers roaming the land when in the films they would always be scouting the whole village? It’s cool to see Rey walking around and I like that the characters are roaming and not just standing photo ops.
To me the magic of the land happens when you see the Falcon or Chewbacca. And those moments are few and far between.
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
I don't understand this "contrast to the rest of the park" issue over in California.
Are there humans who are unable to enter a highly themed land of a single IP - and later step back into the Magic Kingdom - without undergoing some sort of psychological adjustment issues?
Does one need to be briefed going in, and counselled after leaving?
Galaxies Edge isn't some area you plunder into unknowingly after exiting Pooh's Hunny Hutt with your toddler.
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nickys
Premium Member
I wonder if anyone who’s done the light sabre building can tell me, what really is the difference between doing this and doing the one they have / had in the shop at the end of Star Tours?
We have sooo many of those at home, relatively speaking. Every trip we’ve done with the boys we ended up with three (DH had to do one too). I realise these ones have to be better quality, at $199 they better be, but is the actual building part the same, harder, more choice? We have some double ended ones, some with replaceable coloured bits in them and so on. And at the end of it I have a carrier bag full of bits from them and about three that are fully assembled!
I’m wondering if the experience is different, or just that the end product is better quality and may last longer, rather than being a kid’s toy?
We have sooo many of those at home, relatively speaking. Every trip we’ve done with the boys we ended up with three (DH had to do one too). I realise these ones have to be better quality, at $199 they better be, but is the actual building part the same, harder, more choice? We have some double ended ones, some with replaceable coloured bits in them and so on. And at the end of it I have a carrier bag full of bits from them and about three that are fully assembled!
I’m wondering if the experience is different, or just that the end product is better quality and may last longer, rather than being a kid’s toy?
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
These aren't "toys"...the handles are metal and the blades don't collapse, you can change the blade color by using a different crystal, etc. etc.
nickys
Premium Member
I realise that. But my question was whether the experience of building one is very different to the experience of building one of the toy ones. (But the toy ones also had the colour changing crystals too)!
RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
That entire review was a perfect encapsulation of the vast majority of the reviews on the web and social media. Nobody wants to not like it and be disappointed - we want to be wowed and entertained, it just didn't happen.
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ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
This is the most in-depth description of the experience I've seen - the experience is limited to 14 at a time.
Marc Davis Fan
Well-Known Member
To use David Younger’s Theme Park Design terminology, parks and lands have a manifestation theme and an aspirational theme.
The manifestation theme is the time/place being created, and something that doesn’t fit the theme will stand out and damage the show (e.g., a modern-day air conditioner sticking out of a window on Main Street).
The aspirational theme is the underlying ideas and feelings that a land or park is designed to express. Disneyland has a particularly strong manifestation theme: optimism and reassurance. The optimism is reflected by things like the color scheme and the lack of “grit.” The reassurance is reflected by what the Imagineer John Hench actually refers to as “the architecture of reassurance,” which includes “human scale” structures with comfortably-sized doors and windows, thin columns, etc. This is meant to have a holistic emotional impact throughout one’s day at Disneyland, contributing to a sense of well-being. Galaxy’s Edge partially breaks this formula, and thus is a break from one aspect of the overall impact of a day at Disneyland. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, because it’s fantastic design in other ways, but it can somewhat change the experience of a day at Disneyland in ways that are worth noting and discussing.
mikejs78
Premium Member
There are negative reviews, but the vast majority of the reviews I've seen have been glowing.
mikejs78
Premium Member
For a different perspective:. My now 9 year old son's first exposure to Star Wars was Star Wars Rebels, followed by Clone Wars - and many of his friends had the same exposure. Only later did he see the OT, followed by the ST and PT mixed in... So to him, Hondo is a major character. For him, seeing Hondo will be a big deal, as much as seeing Chewie or Bobba Fett. And I suspect there are many kids who had this exposure as they were very popular shows.
Now, Chewie is there, so is Rey and Kylo. They could add R2 and C-3PO to give some more to fans of only the OT, but there are a lot of young fans of Disney Star Wars as well.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
But some middle aged guy who lives in his moms basement told me kids don’t like Star Wars.
durangojim
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know if DHS is selling extra saber parts like DL does or what kyber crystals are available for purchase?