The last time I hosted my out-of-town family at Disneyland was in 2023.
That year, two young cousins and their parents were excited to visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which had opened a couple of years earlier.
My cousins grew up on Star Wars films (their parents had some familiarity) and knew who they wanted to see: Darth Vader, Yoda, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker.
So they were surprised to notice that the two biggest rides, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, centered around what they considered to be lesser Star Wars characters.
Instead of Darth Vader, universally regarded as one of the most famous villains in film, Kylo Ren was much more visible, as was Episode One bad guy Darth Maul walking around for photos throughout the Black Spire Outpost. There was more Rey, the heroine, from recent Star Wars films and less Han Solo.
My relatives snapped their photos, rode the attractions and still enjoyed their time. But to them, the trip is one remembered as being slightly incomplete.
Apparently, someone at Disneyland agrees that more Vader is better.
The park recently confirmed a shift in philosophy, and the land will no longer “be primarily set in the time period of the recent ‘Star Wars’ sequels,” according to my colleague Todd Martens.
Martens noted the park soon will include more of Darth Vader and the other classic characters on which the franchise was built.
Let’s take a look at some of his reporting.
What the changes will look like
Modern villain Ren, played in the movies by Adam Driver, will be out, at least as a walk-around character, while so-called “classic” characters such as Vader, Solo, Luke Skywalker, Solo and Princess Leia Organa will head into the fictional galactic town of Black Spire Outpost.
The changes, for now, are specific to Disneyland and not planned for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
A different vision for the park
The adjustment also marks a significant tweak from the intent of the land, which was designed as an active, play-focused area that broke free from traditional theme park trappings — character meet-and-greets, passive rides and Mickey-shaped balloons.
Instead of music, guests heard radio broadcasts and chatter, as the goal was to make Black Spire Outpost feel rugged and lived-in.
It was to be a place of living theater, where events unfolded in real time. That tone will now shift, and while the in-land radio broadcasts won’t go away, Disneyland will soon pipe in composer John Williams’ “Star Wars” orchestrations throughout the area as well.
The changes are set to fully take effect April 29, although Disney has stated some tweaks may roll out earlier.
What is Disney saying
A reworking of the land to incorporate the franchise’s classic (and arguably more popular) characters feels in some part an acknowledgment that park visitors likely crave familiarity over ongoing narratives designed to play make-believe. Or at least it’s an acknowledgment that such a direction is easier to maintain.
“Since the very inception of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, we really always imagined it as a platform for storytelling,” said Asa Kalama, a creative executive with Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s arm devoted to theme park experiences, at the media briefing. “That’s part of the reason we designed this neutral Wild West space town because it allowed it to be a framework in which we could project different stories.”
Kalama pointed to next year being the 50th anniversary of the initial “Star Wars” movie, since renamed “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” and this May’s theatrical release “The Mandalorian & Grogu” as to why this is an opportune time to shift the direction of the land. To coincide with the release of the latter, the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction will receive a new mission May 22, meaning the land’s two rides will soon be set in different “Star Wars” time frames.
There’s much more to absorb from Martens’ article. Check out the full version here.
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