Disneyland may be in store for Star Wars
R2-D2 cut-out teases fans at convention
LOS ANGELES — Walt Disney Co., known for teasing fans with clues to new attractions, used a convention in Anaheim, Calif., to hint that Stars Wars would play a role in a new round of themepark improvements.
Disney placed crates with Star Wars references in an area of the D23 Expo highlighting new attractions. One was labelled “lightsaber assortment.” Another sported a cut-out of R2-D2, giving the appearance the robot character had escaped from the box. The three-day gathering for fans ended Sunday.
The hints followed comments by chairman and chief executive Robert Iger, who said on an Aug. 6 conference call that the Burbank, Calif.-based company plans to announce new attractions in Disneyland, the original park in Anaheim opened by founder Walt Disney in 1955. Disney acquired Star Wars maker Lucasfilm Ltd. last year for $4.1 billion.
“We’re going to continue to invest in Disneyland,” Iger said. “We’ve got some pretty exciting things that we’ll be announcing over the next couple of months.”
The crates were addressed to Disney’s Imagineering theme park design group and stamped “speculation beyond imagination” and “Project Orange Harvest,” with some of it in lettering similar to the Star Wars logo.
Disney has said it wants to use characters like the robot C-3PO and Chewbacca the Wookiee in parks, movies and TV programming. The world’s largest entertainment company will release its first Star Wars film, the seventh in the series, in 2015.
Since the Lucasfilm acquisition, Disney-oriented websites have speculated about the location of a Stars Wars park attraction. In June, themeparkinsider.com reported that the company was planning a Star Wars land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Orlando, Fla.
Disney earned 19 per cent of its almost $10 billion in operating income from the parks division last year.
Thomas Staggs, the chairman of Disney’s parks and resorts division, declined to comment on new Disneyland attractions or the possibility of a stand-alone Star Wars park, when asked at the convention.
David Koenig, who has written four books about Disney, said the company may be considering remodelling the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland with a Star Wars theme or building a new park on land it owns nearby. “They like to cluster them,” Koenig said of the company’s theme parks.
Todd Regan, founder of the website MiceChat.com, said on a recent podcast that the plans may include a Star Wars cantina in Florida.
Disney owns almost 200 hectares in Anaheim and has a long-term lease for an additional 20 hectares, its annual report says. The company operates two theme parks there, the original Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
The D23 Expo is held every other year for fans of the company, offering peeks at future film releases, updates on park attractions and talks by company executives and its creative teams.
The name is a reference to 1923, the year founder Walt Disney arrived in Hollywood. The appea rance of the crates was reported on InsidetheMagic.net, a website for Disney fans that isn’t affiliated with the company.