It’s official – Star Wars is coming to the Disney amusement parks – in a BIG way. At the D-23 convention over the weekend, Disney made the big announcement that a massive Star Wars themed section is coming to both Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando.
There will be 14 acres of Star Wars-themed lands and the first announced ride will be based on Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon. (You know, the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Generally, the Kessel Run was an 18 parsec route used by smugglers to try and avoid Imperial ships guarding the movement of spice…but now I’m just showing my inner nerd.)
Episode 7 writer director J.J. Abrams is thrilled the first announced ride will be based on Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon. He said, “As much as we could all name a bunch of things and places we’d like to go and things we’d like to see, the Falcon is, I think even more than the light saber, uh maybe the most iconic piece of hardware in the Star Wars universe. So I think it would be hard to imagine a Star Wars land that didn’t have something involving the flight of the Falcon.”
Also included in the attraction will be a Star Wars Cantina and characters from the films will wandering around. Disney has not yet announced a date, but for next year, some existing attractions will get a Star Wars makeover, including Space Mountain. It will become Hyper-Space Mountain and will be designed to be an X-Wing battle. New digital projection, enhanced customized soundtrack and new special effects will put you in the middle of a high energy experience.
There will also be a new custom fireworks show at Hollywood Studios in Orlando set to the Star Wars musical score created by John Williams.
Now we wait…May the force be with you.
