Disney’s D23 Expo has revealed a lot of what is to come in the new Star Wars Themed Lands that will be opening at Disneyland in California and the Magic Kingdom in Florida. On Thursday night, a half-inch scale model showed what the roughly 14-acre area will hold for fans of all ages.
“It was the process of design, sitting down with LucasFilm and the story team, we just decided, you know what? As soon as you build a place like Tatooine it’s really Luke Skywalker’s story, it’s a Skywalker Saga, right? And I know these are places that resonate and places that you would love to see brought to life in the physical form, but we quickly found out that it really should be our journey. We should be the heroes that are in this world. When we made that connection, it quickly turned into a place you’ve never seen before,” said Chris Beatty, Executive Creative Director on turn the area into a remote outpost with new and old characters alike.
Beatty decided that even though going this route was scary, they could not disappoint the fans after 40 years of Star Wars and had to go-all-in to be apart of the ever expanding galaxy, especially as the franchise continues to grow when a new extension of the property comes out.
“We had to make sure where you at in the franchise people our age who resonate with maybe the first three films, but then you’ve got a whole new generation with the new films, like my son’s 8 years old. The new films are his movies, seven, eight and nine, that’s his trilogy. You’ve got people who grew up on The Clone Wars, you got fans who love the prequels! So we have to deliver on a place that no matter where come into the land, it will resonate with them. You’re going to see characters that you know and love. You’re going to see ships you recognize, but you’ll also see characters that you’ve never seen before and ships you’ve never seen before. I think that’s going to be the fun, exciting part of this land,” exclaimed Beatty.
One thing that Beatty was willing to divulge of the many secrets regarding the Star Wars Themed Lands is that the Millennium Falcon will be accessible to the fans to share in the full experience of what life on the craft would be like.
“We’re really going to deliver on that, getting to walk through the hallsways of that ship, sitdown in that cockpit, grab the controls, shoot across the galaxy on some epic adventure. It’s a childhood dream for a lot of us in order to do that and so, we’re going to deliver that in every detail possible,” said Beatty.
Unfortunately, Beatty was tight lipped about what the use of the TIE Fighter will be, how significant of a presence the First Order will have and what type of dining experiences will be available throughout the land, but those will be revealed at a later day as they continue to build anticipation. Especially, with the never-before seen or experienced rides being built for the Star Wars Themed Lands.
The Star Wars Themed Lands will open up in 2019.