Star Wars Land announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[BrianLo]

Is the new push to get this new land out to capitalize on how well TFA did at the box office and get it done before the end of this trilogy? We all know it will print money once it's done. It's just odd that they did a 180% turn. Also, any chance both TSL and SWL will be worked on at the same time?

I don't think TFA had much to do with it. This was all in motion for a long time before that. We are just slowly now playing catch up. For some reason they seem to have kept things very under wraps in terms of WDW, while DL has been quite an open book.

If anything though, opening Star Wars years after DL made very little sense. Look to Potter at USH to see how you won't get the same bump if you bring something late to the market.

 

[Rmm98]

Has anyone else noticed that Disney has shown off two different types of layout for SWL so far.

I think this one that was shown off at D23 and the DL 60th special is going to be the DL version of SWL. This looks more like it's meant for DL because it has heavy rock work that would seemingly block views from other parts of the park(especially from Rivers of America).

This piece of concept art is more likely be the one that is the layout for DHS because it is more open and spread out width wise and DHS has a lot of land to work with.

 

[Rteetz]

Has anyone else noticed that Disney has shown off two different types of layout for SWL so far.

I think this one that was shown off at D23 and the DL 60th special is going to be the DL version of SWL. This looks more like it's meant for DL because it has heavy rock work that would seemingly block views from other parts of the park(especially from Rivers of America). View attachment 138198

This piece of concept art is more likely be the one that is the layout for DHS because it is more open and DHS has a lot of land to work with. View attachment 138201

I don't know maybe? I think the differences are mainly because one photo is more of a CGI and the other is more drawn or painted.

 

[Mike S]

You completely misunderstood me. I meant Disneyland is the canary in the sense that if there are problems during constructions with it being over-ambitious/unexpected problems forcing them to miss their overeager timeline. WDW will face the same problems and be delayed for an equivalent period of time.

Canary in a coal mine - if there are unexpected problems Disneyland will be the first to squawk because they are further along.

Totally jumped the gun there, my bad.

 

[JohnWD]

Has anyone else noticed that Disney has shown off two different types of layout for SWL so far.

I think this one that was shown off at D23 and the DL 60th special is going to be the DL version of SWL. This looks more like it's meant for DL because it has heavy rock work that would seemingly block views from other parts of the park(especially from Rivers of America). View attachment 138198

This piece of concept art is more likely be the one that is the layout for DHS because it is more open and spread out width wise and DHS has a lot of land to work with.View attachment 138201

I don't know either, but I like the way you think! I like look forward to hearing more of your observations.

 

[Next Big Thing]

30 seconds of video from Disneyland's Star Wars site taken this morning from the roof of the parking structure...

https://twitter.com/SoCal360/status/721023835428945920

Where in the park would they get such a high up view of the construction site?

 

[JohnWD]

Where in the park would they get such a high up view of the construction site?

Is it from outside the park?

 

[roj2323]

I've been thinking about getting a Near Maps subscription so we get regular satellite photo updates but it's $1,000 a year. =(

 

[Pam Hates Penguins]

Where in the park would they get such a high up view of the construction site?

The Mickey and Friends Parking Structure provides an excellent view. Wasn't there talk about a DHS parking structure?

 

[Pam Hates Penguins]

I've been thinking about getting a Near Maps subscription so we get regular satellite photo updates but it's $1,000 a year. =(

Unless every once in a while, you can do the free trial access. It only gives you about two minutes. Hurry to set up screen capture and to take a photo! You have two minutes!

 

[TP2000]

Where in the park would they get such a high up view of the construction site?

Is it from outside the park?

The photos are from the top floor of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure across Disneyland Drive. You don't even need to pay to park to go up to the roof and peer into Star Wars Land, you can park for free across the street at Downtown Disney and just walk over for a free peek. Here's a shot from Friday afternoon from one of the many bloggers now routinely visiting the roof of the parking structure to check the progress.

http://mintcrocodile.blogspot.com/

But you can also get some great shots by peering through the construction walls up in Frontierland and Critter Country. This was the view three months ago looking north up the Big Thunder Trail...

Now it looks like this on Friday morning, April 15th...

The point? Hopefully this Disneyland point of reference gives us an idea of how far along the DHS version is. Although at DHS they don't have all the hills and sixty year old heavily-forested berm to get rid of before they can start building. There were plenty of buildings and structures that had to be demolished to get Disneyland's 14 acres to this point, which will also be the case for DHS.

But there's a lot more land grading and earth moving that has to happen for Disneyland's version, which could explain the jump start the Anaheim project got. I'm still baffled why Disney wouldn't want to open both Star Wars Lands on each coast simultaneously, instead of staggered by six months or more.

 

[SirLink]

Still, I'm surprised that Disney wouldn't push to get open DHS's first since its pretty much their Cars Land. The savior of the park if you will. Meanwhile at DL, its a decision that has been met with some controversy for a number of reasons including the fact that it will further increase crowd levels in an already full day + park.

DHS version of SWL is their version of SWL, it is not their Cars Land like project ... that concept project, i.e. the next PIXAR well themed land is in the ether waiting for shoes to drop for placement. And no TSL is very much not that project.

 

[danlb_2000]

I've been thinking about getting a Near Maps subscription so we get regular satellite photo updates but it's $1,000 a year. =(

Just use a browser that has in private viewing, you can view it as much as you want, just 2 minutes at a time.

 

[danlb_2000]

Wasn't there talk about a parking garage coming to DHS back when the permits were released? That's a good way for people to get a look at Star Wars Land updates.

Garages are rumored, but the permits do not confirm this. As for viewing the construction, obviously it would depend on where they build the garage. I also think SWL will be well under way before the garages open.

 

[danlb_2000]

We as in WDI. Star Wars was originally the third phase, which would have been 2020/2021. You calling shenanigans does not re-write what was true at the time.

At some point, someone thought opening Star Wars 2-3 years later on the East coast was a giant middle finger to their WDW fans.

If you followed JT's posts in the past you will know that the end result is the only truth, for example Avatarland is being built, thus there were never any problems with it and was never at risk of being canceled.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Garages are rumored, but the permits do not confirm this. As for viewing the construction, obviously it would depend on where they build the garage. I also think SWL will be well under way before the garages open.

I guess we will have to wait till someone post some aerial pictures of progress like the Avatar project. It will be a lot harder to see progress compared to the DLR project.

 

[Adam N]

We? Pretty sure I called shenanigans almost immediately.

Anyway, work is still happening behind those walls. Anyone care to prove me wrong?

PS- I think we now know why selfie sticks were banned. They don't want us seeing what they are doing.

That is absolutely not why selfie sticks were banned and you know it.

 

[JohnWD]

The photos are from the top floor of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure across Disneyland Drive. You don't even need to pay to park to go up to the roof and peer into Star Wars Land, you can park for free across the street at Downtown Disney and just walk over for a free peek. Here's a shot from Friday afternoon from one of the many bloggers now routinely visiting the roof of the parking structure to check the progress.

http://mintcrocodile.blogspot.com/

But you can also get some great shots by peering through the construction walls up in Frontierland and Critter Country. This was the view three months ago looking north up the Big Thunder Trail...

Now it looks like this on Friday morning, April 15th...

The point? Hopefully this Disneyland point of reference gives us an idea of how far along the DHS version is. Although at DHS they don't have all the hills and sixty year old heavily-forested berm to get rid of before they can start building. There were plenty of buildings and structures that had to be demolished to get Disneyland's 14 acres to this point, which will also be the case for DHS.

But there's a lot more land grading and earth moving that has to happen for Disneyland's version, which could explain the jump start the Anaheim project got. I'm still baffled why Disney wouldn't want to open both Star Wars Lands on each coast simultaneously, instead of staggered by six months or more.

Thank you! I will check out the garage view myself!

In my opinion I think Disney would want to open DHS SWL as soon as possible. It would be nice to know the facts on why they are not. I was part of the leadership team that built something of this magnitude. We had real world constraints in building the structures, developing and producing the custom parts, and installing everything. I imagine DL getting parts 1-100, then DHS getting parts 101-200, and all the parts are coming from one supplier that takes months to manufacture, delivering over a long period. I would also expect there is a unique expert team that do the installation for a particular assembly - so they will do DL first, then DHS. This was definitely the case for my project.

 

[BrianLo]

DHS version of SWL is their version of SWL, it is not their Cars Land like project ... that concept project, i.e. the next PIXAR well themed land is in the ether waiting for shoes to drop for placement. And no TSL is very much not that project.

Exactly, if you ascribe to the thought that Disneyland is the best stateside park and DHS is the worst -- Star Wars is not closing that gap. Only Toy Story (barely).

That's why Phase 3 is what will actually 'fix', or not, the park.

 

[SirLink]

Exactly, if you ascribe to the thought that Disneyland is the best stateside park and DHS is the worst -- Star Wars is not closing that gap. Only Toy Story (barely).

That's why Phase 3 is what will actually 'fix', or not, the park.

No I ascribe DHS as the most mishandled park perhaps even more so than Epcot....from what it was to what it is to what it will be. If the Epcot change to be all characters is like the tide coming in, DHS/MGM is like a flash flood.

The only way DHS is to last and get an identity is if it expands well outside of its current pen.