GALAXY’S EDGE
From rides to food to droids, here are things you can expect from the Disneyland expansion
The visitors who enter Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge after it opens in 2019 will step into the most intricate and immersive environment the park has ever created, with lush trees, exotic buildings, a land speeder garage, a droid shop and even a version of the Mos Eisley cantina, according to building plans Disney has filed with the city of Anaheim.
The Star Wars-themed land, the largest single themed land ever built at the Anaheim park, will take up a 14-acre swath of land in the northern part of Frontierland. The blueprints detailing what will be in the land — and where — are arguably the most important plans for fans of the franchise since those for the Death Star.
Construction for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is well underway. Last month, Disney officials revealed that the concept of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is to place guests at a trading post on the planet Batuu.
“Once a busy crossroads along the old sub-lightspeed trade routes, but its prominence was bypassed by the rise of hyperspace travel,” said Scott Trowbridge, portfolio creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering on Disney’s official parks blog. “Now home to those who prefer to stay out of the mainstream, it has become a thriving port for smugglers, rogue traders and adventurers traveling between the frontier and uncharted space.”
The blueprints provide more details, from the types of trees that will be planted in the Resistance Forest, the stones used for the building structures and the design of the sewer caps, to the restrooms and areas dedicated for stroller parking.
Here are eight things that can be gleaned from the public plans filed by Disney.
1. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land layout
The blueprints lay out exactly how Star Wars land area will be configured. Galaxy’s Edge is split into two sides with a hub or conflict zone in the middle. The Resistance or Rebels are on the west side of the land lined with hundreds of lush trees and forest. The First Order appears to have a performance stage and other props on the east side. The Millennium Falcon and the second, unnamed ride occupy much of the north side of the land, while the middle serves as the trading port’s hub with a merchant area and marketplace.
2. The First Order ride
The building bears the code name “Alcatraz” in documents. It is a massive structure that takes up nearly a quarter of Galaxy’s Edge. The plans reveal that inside, visitors will hop aboard an eight-person ride vehicle piloted by an astromech droid. Visitors will weave through projection scenes depicting a major space battle, elaborate props such as AT-AT walkers, gunners, and a possible encounter with Kylo Ren (nicknamed Kylo-Vator in plans) before leaving in an escape pod. There are 18 scenes in total.
3. Flying the Falcon
Dubbed “Big Bird” in plans, the Millennium Falcon is 100 feet across. Inside, the ride has a pre-show room before guests go into one of what appear to be four turntable rooms. Pictures previously released by Disney show six passengers boarding a ship that allows them to pilot the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. Trowbridge, the Disney Imagineer, has previously said if a visitor does a good job flying the ship, that person will receive some kind of galactic credit. If a guest leaves the ship banged up, a bounty might be placed on the visitor’s head.
4. Cantina
This is your chance to stare down some aliens, negotiate a bounty or perhaps drink blue milk. Located directly across from the Millennium Falcon ride, the plan for the cantina is nearly similar to the Mos Eisley one in the movies. According to plans, the cantina will feature a U-shaped bar, booths and tables. A stage will feature audio-animatronic performs, perhaps the Rex droid as the DJ as Disney officials previously announced.
5. Merchants’ Row
One of the features of the trading post is Merchants’ Row. One store that stands out was labeled “Saber.” Will there be a shop selling lightsabers? Plans for the building show six-story-high rocky spires fronting a one-story retail building with interior space about half the size of a football field. All the store fixtures will be themed to look like aged and distressed metal.
6. Droids
Disney executives have already hinted that droids will populate the land. They’ve been testing a J4KE or Jake Droid the past year at Disneyland. According to the plans, droids dominate the area. Droid charging stations will be located throughout the land and there also will be a droid mechanic shop.
7. Landspeeder garage
Remember Luke Skywalker floating around in a landspeeder? There’s an area in Star Wars land, outside of a restaurant, that’s marked “land speeder garage,” with props of various parked spacecraft.
8. The restaurant
Documents reveal that there appears to be one large sit-down and table service restaurant. The restaurant — yet to be named or themed — appears in the middle of the land. Based on plans, it appears to be larger than the Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride.