Note to self: must stop calling it Star Wars Land...Yep, this weekend at D23 Expo Disney dropped a buttload of awesome details about the awesomeness coming to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort in the form of of the epic looking Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Set to open at both Resorts in 2019, the new land promises to be Disney's most immersive land yet - an has an IP to finally give Universal's Potter a run for its money.
I've made no attempt to hide my disdain for Pandora: The World of Avatar. I've said it before and I'll say it again: yes it looks stunning, yes the rides look and sound incredible, but at the end of the day fans were simply not asking for this. I'd have been more impressed if they'd tied this style of theming and landscaping in a Disney original concept.
And that's the thing about IPs at theme parks now, especially when it comes to the big boys like Universal and Disney. Potter was an absolute game-changer. Before the Wizarding World, theme-park goers had never been able to fully immerse themselves in a land they so loved and knew. Never before had they been able to dine in the restaurants they'd read about and eaten the sweets they'd seen in the movies. And once Universal gave us a taste of this, we were hooked instantly. Following this you have the success of Springfield at the Universal Resorts and it's clear that themed lands are just a whole different ball-game nowadays.
With the rise of the Internet, geeks and fan groups all over the world have finally had an arena to fully band together and are an absolute force to be reckoned with. Years ago fans of things like Star Wars and Star Trek and that kind of thing were limited to meeting up in their parents' basements and maybe emerging for a Con once a year to meet with likeminded folk. It's cool to be a nerd now, and the prevalence of geek bait in mainstream stores like Primark show just how much of a mainstream market there is for this stuff. It only makes sense that the theme park industry would follow suit.
So, my gripe with Disney and bloody Avatar is that it initially seemed like this was their answer to Potter. But let's be real, nobody gives a shit about Avatar, the characters or the lore of that particular story. I'm sure there is a very niche fanpage lurking in the depths of the Internet somewhere for people who absolutely love Avatar, but we can agree, it's niche.
FINALLY Disney announce that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is happening. Finally they're tapping into what is arguably the biggest 'geek' franchise on the planet. I know countless people who would give anything to grab a drink at the Cantina bar on Tatooine or get their hands on their very own lightsabre. It's practically the world's biggest gold pile just waiting to be mined and it pissed me off for SO LONG that it took Disney so long to get stuck into it.
But the time has come, and I AM EXCITED. As I've said time and time again, I am no Star Wars fan but you only have to peek at the concept art to be excited by this. And that's how you know they're onto a winner - when you have a franchise that even the non-fans are wetting their pants over. I've always been a huge fan of the original Star Tours rides (RIP) and by the sounds of things the Millennium Falcon attraction is an up-to-date expansion on this. And y'all know I love me a dark ride so I guess it goes without saying that the attraction I'm most looking forward to is the 'escape' themed dark ride themed to escaping the First Order.
That said, ultimately the thing I'm most looking forward to and I think the thing that makes me a true theme park enthusiast is just getting lost in this world Disney have created. Smelling the smells, tasting the flavours, hearing the sounds and seeing the sights that for so long one could only experience through film. We're so lucky that we live in a time and a world where we can literally go and visit these fantastical places that we've fallen in love with in pop culture and I can't wait to see where this trend will take us next!
Talk later xoxo,
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