QUEUE
The queue for Streams of the Force slowly, effortlessly transports guests deeper into Jedi lore. They will begin in the First Order occupied section of urban Batuu. A journey deeper and deeper underground will carry guests first through a First Order dig site, and then further back in time – metaphorically, of course – further away from the distractions of the modern galaxy and into the ancient world of the Force.
Jedi Artifact Gallery
Guests first find themselves within a typical Batuu storehouse. The space has been occupied and converted by the First Order, transformed into a Jedi artifact gallery. Ancient Jedi relics sit on display behind glass cases, numbered and catalogued.
Behold, rusted & dismantled light saber handles. The faint glow from a dusty Wayfinder. Masks of Sith Lords from millennia past. Seeing stones. Signet rings. A Jedi star compass. Small, depleted Kyber crystals.
The Warehouse
Narrow mud hallways open out into a massive warehouse space. Picture, if you will, a
Star Warsvariation on the classic warehouse at the conclusion to
Raiders of the Lost Ark. The queue route zigzags around stacked cases bearing Aurebesh runes. Around every corner, there are more relics to be seen.
From catwalks overhead, guests catch glimpses of frenzied First Order activity. Storm Trooper footsteps pound the grates above. Their shadows project against the far, weathered stone wall. Every so often, guests can even listen in on snippets of dialogue cueing them in on the situation: First Order officers discuss the possible location of a hidden Jedi temple. Kylo Ren storms in demanding progress updates (his dig site engineer responds with a plea that “
Archeology is not an exact science,” echoing
Raiders’ Beloq). Kylo even threatens his underlyings with Force Holds, causing the assorted crates to shudder under this mystic energy.
Ultimately, guests continue through the legs of an AT-ST “Chicken Walker,” and deeper into the active dig.
First Order Dig Site
Narrow aisles lead into the fresh stone, into the crystalline petrified trees which once formed the forests of Batuu eons ago. Drill marks and blast damage form a new path.
Guests pass along titanium catwalks over mine shafts below. Mists block views, suggesting bottomless pits. There is the constant, ambient sound of First Order grunts hard at work searching for Jedi relics. These sights recall the Spice Mines of Kessel. Animatronic droids flit about overhead on guide rails, carrying freshly hewn granite from the pits below. Other droids line terraced subterranean cliffs, cutting into the rockface with laser instruments.
The Ancient Cisterns of Batuu
Ever deeper guests continue into Batuu’s ancient crust, further away now from the First Order’s buzz of activity. The path leads downwards into a forgotten cistern system set beneath the Outpost. The First Order knows of these catacombs, but they have dismissed them, content to dig elsewhere. First Order graffiti mars some of the earlier walls, though eventually it begins to fade away.
Vaulted cistern ceilings vanish around a crescent-curved corner. Guest walkways hug the inner wall, right alongside pools of azure blue water. The water’s shimmering reflection seems to animate the tiled ceilings, illuminating century-old Jedi murals. Occasionally, just beneath the water’s surface, guests might glimpse a gliding animatronic dragonsnake (similar to the creatures of Dagobah).
The cisterns seemingly dead end in a basilica dome. Here, cast members clad as Light Side acolytes greet guests. The route splits off at a Y into two chambers – two pre-show rooms – with enough room in each to accommodate up to 100 guests…large enough to ensure constant queue throughout and strong capacity.
Pre-Show – The Path of the Light Side
Through the door, there seems to be nothing. Just a massive rockslide blocking the way. Monolithic boulders, with a feint cavernous airflow coming through their cracks.
But slowly, surely, a subtle blue light emerges from the craggy cracks. It’s like the Light Side of the Force revealing itself!
There is a sudden sparkle of blue LED lightning. It recedes. Master Yoda appears before the assembled group as a Force Ghost. This is a simple effect, but no less effective: Merely a Pepper’s Ghost projection of a real Yoda animatronic hidden in the ceiling overhead. With a contemplative gaze, Yoda regards his latest students. He begins.
“
Seeking an ancient Jedi temple, you are? Mmm! Found it, you have!
Only to those the Forces chooses, will the pathway forward be revealed. Together, you are strong in the Force. Channel your combined energies, you must. Let the Light Side flow through you. Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda fades away, replaced by the swelling strings of “Yoda’s Theme” by John Williams. The ground below guests’ feet rumbles. The Light Side gently overtakes the chamber, channeled by guests’ concentration. Together, they perform a Force Lift. Rockslide rubble starts to levitate, at first just smaller pebbles, but soon large rocks float upwards, freed from gravity, until surely even the titanic boulders physically clear a path.
The dead end is gone! Beneath shuddering, floating stones, a new pathway reveals itself. The secrets of the Jedi are ahead…
RIDE THROUGH
Scene I: The Crystal Caves
Once in our boats, imbued with the light side of the Force, we begin on our journey through the caverns beneath Batuu towards the long lost Jedi temple. Upon exiting the cavern created by their force powers, guests enter into an all new location. The cave is dark, with many rock features piled on top of each other. However, as we begin to trek deeper into the cave, the crystals sense our light side energy and begin to reveal themselves. One by one, the room begins to light up with blueish light.
Passing through the cave, more and more crystals reveal themselves, filling the caverns with a mystical sense of color and light. Very distantly, the Force theme may be heard as the voice of a disembodied Yoda speaks over the shimmering and glowing of the lights. “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you.”
The cave glitters and glistens as we see the single blue lights transforming into a variety of colors. Blues, greens, purples, yellows, cyan, indigos, magentas, and oranges fill the caverns as the sweeping score fills the chamber as the lights glimmer and glow, dancing in a wave of colors in front of our eyes. With the full power of the kyber crystals shown to us, we pass underneath an archway and out of the cave into a subterranean jungle.
Scene II: The Jungle
As we enter the subterranean jungle, we hear the disembodied voice of one Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who says “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” With that, the jungle too, like the cave, begins to light up with bioluminescence, much like that seen in Pandora: The World of Avatar. As we wind though, we see the way the Force impacts all living things, including animatronics of multiple different Star Wars creatures. We pass by a herd of Fathiers grazing on the grasses within the jungle as well as see Klatooine Paddy Frogs (the creatures Jabba the Hutt eats in Return of the Jedi), Nuna, Convor perched on the trees above.
We then pass by a Nexu feasting on some fallen animal as it turns and looks at us before returning to his meal. We continue through and see other creatures from Kowakian monkey lizards, a Varactyl, and mynocks above. Finally, we reach the entrance to the Jedi Temple, built up at the end of the riverside in the jungle where a massive jungle rancor stands guard. The rancor roars at us, but seems to acknowledge us and moves its arms as if beckoning us into the temple.
Scene III: Temple Ruins
Our boats pass the rancor and enter into the Jedi Temple where we see it has been long abandoned. Pillars are crumbling and old pieces of artwork depicting the Jedi Order are faded from view. As we pass through, we see a loth cat sitting atop a pile of rubble and hear the voice of Ahsoka Tano as she says “In my experience, when you think you understand the Force, you realize how little you know.” The Loth cat “mews” and we pass through into a room with massive statues and paintings depicting the Jedi Order in a tall ceiling.
The artwork here depicts major events in the Jedi’s history, from their formation from the order of the Je’daii on Tython to their massive war against the Sith order to the High Republic where the Jedi are truly the guardians of peace and justice to a portrait of a faceless Jedi wielding both a red and blue lightsaber and combining them to create a white beam depicting Anakin being the chosen one. Other artwork we pass include the burning of a Jedi temple reminiscent of the Great Jedi Purge, the rising of a New Hope depicted by the rising of a sun over a dark planet, the creation of two balls of energy equal in size and strength (referencing the force dyad of Ben and Rey), and finally, the restoration of the Jedi Order.
Towards the back of the temple is a towering waterfall that spills into our stream with the stream directing us down a different path. However, as we approach, whispers that tempt us towards the waterfall lure us in, promising things in different languages. While some can be made out like “power” and “protect the ones you love,” others in different alien languages say “fastpasses,” “souvenirs,” and “hotel stays” as nods to guests who do the research into the languages.
We approach the waterfall and the whispers grow louder and louder as the falls slowly turns to a trickle. We reach where the falls fell just a moment before and just as it’s too late to turn back, we hear evil cackling as we plunge down a drop hill into a dark side reservoir.
Scene IV: The Dark Side Reservoir
We recover from our sudden drop and find ourselves within a shrine to the dark side. We see figures of dark side users clad in robes carved from stone lining the pathways. As we pass through, we hear voices of long-dead dark side users speaking. We hear Maul saying “Fear. Fear Attracts The Fearful, The Strong, The Weak, The Innocent, The Corrupt. Fear! Fear Is My Ally!” Dooku saying “I sense great fear in you. You have hate. You have anger. But you don’t use them?” As these voices ring out, we begin to climb a hill towards a crimson light.
We continue through as a mirror of crystals near the back begin to glow a deep crimson and slowly a figure forms in it. More voices can be heard as the figure materializes. Snoke can be heard saying “A cur’s weakness, properly manipulated, can be a sharp tool.” We soon hear the chanting of sith acolytes as the figure in the mirror begins to fully form. Just before it does, we hear Vader’s breathing as he says “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” A gust of wind blows through the cavern and the chanting stops as the image of Emperor Palpatine appears. Our boat stops just in front and switches tracks, much like Maelstrom did.
Palpatine laughs and tells the boat “Your desire for power has led you to me. You will now see the full power of the dark side.” Force lightning shoots out of his fingers and crawls along the walls, illuminating the cave far more than the crimson light emanating from the crystal mirror. Like spiderwebs, the lightning crawls along the walls and ceilings, backlighting a series of statues of sith. However, instead of carved faces, guests will be surprised to see their faces (pictures taken at a discreet moment in the crystal caves) projected onto the statues, showcasing them as the sith. All of this occurs as The Emperor’s theme fills the caverns.
We flow by, backwards, as the music soon swells and mixes with Binary Sunset and we hear Luke Skywalker’s voice say “You’ve failed your highness. They are Jedi, like all those before them who faced the Dark Side.” We reach a point in the track where we turn back around and plunge down a second waterfall
Scene V: Finale
We plunge down and return to the outside of the Jedi temple. Here, before our eyes (using the projection similar to Rey in RotR) we see the force ghosts of Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Ben Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker. The final words are uttered by Anakin who says “May the force be with you, always.”
With that, the four Jedi use the force to lift a pile of rocks out of the way to create an exit back into the cisterns where they then unload and return back to Batuu above.
