Yesterday was Rogue Friday. It’s only 84 days until Christmas and more importantly, 77 days until Rogue One! Let’s get into those shopping lists, see what Tomorrowland looks like now, and of course, check on the progress in Star Wars Land.

News From The Outer Rim

Go Rogue

Yesterday was Rogue Friday, the day where merchandise for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was mass-released to retailers (the event was named Force Friday last year).

Over the past month, StarWars.com has been presenting a fan-made (which is a little misleading, because these are professionals with the blessings of Lucasfilm, but I digress…) series of stop-motion shorts to promote the Rogue One toys.

“The series follows the imagined adventures (no film spoilers!) of “Rogue One” toys as they try to track down the building instructions to the LEGO Star Wars Death Star set that have been misplaced by the Empire. Chapter 3 features the first look at the Hasbro RAPID FIRE™ IMPERIAL AT-ACT™ in action, which can be controlled remotely by smart device, as well as now familiar characters in new toy forms and scale sizes, such as Hasbro’s 3.75” action figures.”

“The four-part “Go Rogue” series has been embraced by fans worldwide, with the first two installments garnering more than 5 million views to date. The series kicks off a global UGC contest beginning Sept. 30 that asks fans to share their own “Rogue Stories.” More information is available at StarWars.com/GoRogue for ages 13+, and for parents of kids ages 8-12, have them visit Disney.com/MyRogueStory.”

If you missed this fun series, check it out here:

Chapter One:

Chapter Two:

Chapter Three:

Chapter Four:

Rogue One Timeline

Apparently, a big problem facing the marketing for Rogue One is where this movie takes place in the Star Wars timeline. A significant amount of the audience doesn’t realize this movie takes place before the original Star Wars: A New Hope. People seeing the trailer are wondering why Rey, Kylo Ren and even Luke Skywalker are not in the movie. This graphic appeared online this week to help explain how Rogue One fits in.

Rogue-One-Star-Wars-timeline

Other News And Items

Click to follow the links to these interesting tid-bits:

Famous Album Covers Redesigned As Star Wars Art

New Rogue One Character Details And New Stormtrooper Designs

Why The Planet Jedha Is Important In Rogue One

Tomorrowland Returns

Disneyland finally said goodbye to the Season of the Force completely after removing the banners and signage that have flown proudly over crowds for ten months.

They switched out the sign, but didn’t remove it. Hmmmmm….
They switched out the sign, but didn’t remove it. Hmmmmm….
The awkward sign between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland went away.
The awkward sign between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland also went away.
This feature was held over.
This feature was held over.
This is still a thing.
This is still a thing.

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Still there.
Still there.
This is changing to something after Halloween. But what?
This is changing back to Hyperspace after Halloween.

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No more “Light Side”.
No more “Light Side”.

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No more “Dark Side”.
No more “Dark Side”.

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So…the signage and banners went away, but not the fixtures. Does this imply that we may see the Season Of The Force return after Halloween to promote Rogue One? What do you think?

Merchandise

Now for a quick look at what’s in the shops of Tomorrowland.

Rogue-One-Merch

Star Trader

Star Wars light up Mouse Ears.
Star Wars light up Mouse Ears.
I can these being a big hit.
I can see these being a big hit.

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Launch Bay

“Boarding the Falcon” by Rob Kaz
“Boarding the Falcon” by Rob Kaz
“Contraband” by Jerry Vanderstelt
“Contraband” by Jerry Vanderstelt
“Relentless” by Greg Lipton
“Relentless” by Greg Lipton

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Star Wars Land Construction

Now we turn to our weekly look at the progress of Star Wars Land. Located in what used to be the backstage area of the park, this new land will have entrances from Critter Country, Frontierland and Fantasyland.

This graphic shows what was like before, and what we expect the layout to look like when complete.

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[ View Map Large ]
Work started in January to prepare the site and demolition soon followed. In June, once the area was cleared, a satellite photo showed what the blank slate looked like.

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I’ll refer to the areas in the photos by the geographic location in the aerial photo and the future development in the interactive graphic. As the walls are going up around the perimeter of Star Wars Land, I may refer to the “inner wall”, which will separate the Disneyland Rail Road and SWL in contrast to the “outer wall”, which will separate the DLRR from Rivers Of America and Fantasyland. We’ll start in the north and go clockwise through the development.

In the north part of the site, where a mound of dirt collected from grading and being used to fill in different elevations now, we nicknamed this the Dirt Star when it was the most dominating feature in the land. But lately it’s been leveling off as the dirt is filling in around retaining walls. This is closest to the N on the photo and the future site of the Millennium Falcon attraction.

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Just east of that, where the Disneyland Rail Road is being routed, the large inner wall made with steel I-beams and wood lagging will separate the DLRR and SWL.

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On the other side of this wall, the DLRR will make the turn into the Toontown Station. Behind the I-beams, the forms around a rebar core are going in to connect to an earlier piece built that will form the outer wall around the DLRR. This is on the east of the aerial photo.SWL 9-30-NE 1

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Nearby, an arch is where the SWL entrance from Fantasyland over which the Disneyland Railroad will cross.

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The next set of photos is approximately the middle of the aerial photo and in the graphic and will comprise the Fantasmic Backstage. This maze of walls will come off the Rivers of American to an area where the showboats can be stored and serviced. In this area also will be the entrance from Frontierland.

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In this area is also another entrance from Frontierland that will have the DLRR crossing overhead.

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From the Frontierland side, we can see a concrete form going up around the DLRR’s new path and some of the work going on around what used to be Big Thunder Trail.

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Attached to this is the new turn for the River. THE tip of Tom Sawyer’s Island is starting to be blocked out as the inner wall of the river is being formed up.

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Moving west around Tom Sawyer’s Island, we are now seeing the forms for the inner walls going up fast.

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From the area between Haunted Mansion and Critter Country looking north, those walls are clearly visible to guests.

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Those walls around the river will end leading to a walkway from Critter Country, next to the Hungry Bear at river level.

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The path leading to the Hungry Bear restrooms was recently re-routed to permit demolition of the old stairway. It’s now cleared to make way for the new path to SWL.

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And soon we should start to see the framing go up for a bridge for the DLRR to cross overhead.

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On the west side of SWL, the basement is getting deeper.

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The road traversing through the middle of the site, lined with green fence, is what remains of the old backstage access road. A new access road for Cast Members is being constructed along the west wall. A lot of the underground utilities have been placed and we should start seeing actual roadwork soon.

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Also in this area west of the old access road is the beginning of the show building for the Battle Escape Attraction in the graphic. Excavation continued this week and that basement is getting deep.

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That’s our tour of SWL as it looks this week. Check back Monday for more updates on the Disneyland Photo Update.

As Always…

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