Everything We Know About Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
We watch Star Wars movies and TV shows. We wear Star Wars clothes. We eat Star Wars oranges. But who cares? No big deal. We want mooooooore!
We want to go where the Jawas are. We want to see, want to see ’em dancin’. And now, maybe we’ll get that opportunity. Thanks to Disney’s Imagineers, we’ll finally — finally — get the chance to live out our wildest Star Wars-themed dreams in a new Star Wars-themed land. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is opening in 2019 in both the Disneyland Resort and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
As everyone on Earth knows, we’re living in the middle of a really interesting renaissance period for this franchise, with new movies, video games, toys, and practically every other type of content coming out all the time. If you’re like me and track these new developments like a First Order fleet tracking a Resistance convoy (Star Wars references!), here is a handy Galaxy’s Edge timeline with everything (more or less) that we know about the project to date.
On a remote outpost planet, a lady poses expertly.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Timeline
August 2015
Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger announces at the D23 EXPO that new, 14-acre Star Wars-themed lands are in the works for Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The immersive lands will transport guests to a remote outpost planet — a “new world” — during the Episode VII – IX era.
This will be the largest single-theme land Disney Parks expansion ever.
March 2016
Iger announces to Disney shareholders that construction will begin in April of that year.
Iger reveals that there will be two attractions, including one that lets visitors pilot Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon. (Hopefully bringing the number of Disney rides that feature animatronic versions of Harrison Ford to two.)
February 2017
A date is set! Sort of. Iger reveals that both lands will open in 2019, with the Disneyland park opening first.
July 2017
At the D23 EXPO, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek gives us a name: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
November 2017
Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge says that the Galaxy’s Edge planet will be called Batuu. Filling out the narrative, he also says that (1) back in the day, Batuu was a popular spot for those traveling on the sub-lightspeed trade routes, (2) it’s home to people who want to lay low, (3) it’s a port for “smugglers, rogue traders, and adventurers,” and (4) it’s a haven for anyone who’s trying to escape the First Order’s growing influence and hold on the Galaxy.
March 2018
Disney Parks releases drone footage of Galaxy’s Edge’s construction.
May 2018
Can you even call yourself a Star Wars fan if you haven’t gone to that area tucked between Frontierland and Fantasyland (in Disneyland) and tried to peek through the Galaxy’s Edge construction wall door? I’ve done it, only to be confronted with another door — this one locked — that made it impossible to see anything. Well, I found a photo by someone who was able to somehow get past that second door. Presumably, a cast member left it unlocked. Here it is:
October 2018
JoBlo posts aerial images of Galaxy’s Edge’s progress. In them, you can see the skeleton of the Millennium Falcon.
November 2018
Chapek says that there will be A1000 audio-animatronics, which in layman’s terms means the robot characters will be eerily or impressively lifelike (depending on how you feel about animatronics).
Land and ride design details
Galaxy’s Edge’s design was inspired by Istanbul, Morroco, and concept artwork created by Ralph McQuarrie for the original Star Wars movies.
Guests won’t simply be passengers on the Millennium Falcon — they’ll be pilots.
The skill with which you and your crew pilot the ship will have post-flight consequences. Imagineering executive creative director Asa Kalama says that “an experience might begin on board the Millennium Falcon, and follow you right out the door of the attraction and into a local watering hole.”
Let’s face it — we’re not all cookie-cutter-good-guy Jedi. And we don’t have to pretend to be in this new land. Guests can choose factions. You can join the Resistance, channel your inner Hux as member of the First Order, or join a gang of smugglers.
Batuu Bound
There’s so much information out there now about Galaxy’s Edge and yet there are still so many questions that absolutely need to be answered, like how many Porgs will there be? Will there be a VR experience that allows us to replicate that Jedi mind-meld moment between Rey and shirtless Kylo Ren? Will we get to sit on Snoke’s lap come Christmas time? I suppose all will be revealed in 2019.