We have some great new aerial shots of the construction of Star Wars Land, some interesting news about Hyperspace Mountain and the rundown on the Galactic Nights party during Celebration. Let’s board this freighter!
Hyperspace Mountain Finale?
The Star Wars Show visited Disneyland last week and toured Hyperspace Mountain. The show features footage and interviews about how the classic Disneyland attraction was plused-up for the Star Wars experience.
Meanwhile…here is the full episode of this week’s The Star Wars Show (it’s only ten minutes long).
You can also read more about the development of Hyperspace Mountain from producer Elissa Logozio. Her StarWars.com interview is careful to point out that Hyperspace Mountain is NOT permanent. You can read the complete interview HERE.
No date has been announced for the removal of the Hyperspace Mountain overlay. But the “Season Of The Force” promotion that crept back into Tomorrowland after the holidays is about to be replaced with the “Season Of Heroes” Promotion focused on another major attraction, the “Guardians Of The Galaxy: Mission Breakout!” starting May 27.
With that timeline, we could see Hyperspace Mountain grounded around Memorial Day Weekend, Classic Space Mountain returning for the summer along with the return of the Disneyland Railroad and Rivers Of America, Ghost Galaxy coming back in the fall, and Hyperspace Mountain roaring back for the holidays along with a new Season Of The Force and new Star Tours adventure.
Is it time for classic Space Mountain to return? What do you think? And how about we make some time for a Space Mountain bath soon. It’s getting a little crusty.
[clickToTweet tweet=”After a year and a half, is it time to bring classic Space Mountain back for the summer?” quote=”After a year and a half of Hyperspace, is it time to bring classic Space Mountain back for the summer?” theme=”style3″]
New Star Tours Adventure
After riding Hyperspace Mountain seven times in a row, The Star Wars Show hosts Andi Gutierrez and Anthony Caroni talked with Brent Strong, Creative Director for Walt Disney Imagineering who confirmed that Star Tours would be getting a new adventure with the theatrical release of The Last Jedi later this year. The new segment will be based on worlds in the new film. CAN’T WAIT!!!!!
Star Wars Facepaint
You can’t wear masks in the park, but you can still look like your favorite Star Wars character with Facepaint! Disneyland is offering Star Wars Facepaint now that include a full face makeover.
No details on what the age limit is for getting your face painted. But we can find out at together at MiceChat “Sundays in the Hub” Meets at Disneyland. Join us Sundays at noon as we meet next to the Walt and Mickey Statue and enjoy a day in the park together. More info is on the Facebook page HERE.
Star Wars Celebration Updates
Star Wars Land News is planning comprehensive coverage of Star Wars Celebration 2017 from Orlando, FL April 13-16 including photos, videos, live updates via Facebook Live, Instagram and Twitter Stay tuned to Star Wars Land News for announcements. If you would like to help support the coverage of this unique event, please visit the Darth Daver Patreon page and use the itunes and Amazon links in the article to do your everyday shopping. Every bit helps!
Battlefront 2
EA Games is going to Star Wars Celebration to showcase their latest games and possibly bringing Battlefront 2 to share. Guests at Celebration 2015 were treated to an impressive demonstration of Battlefront in a replica set of the Alliance flagship.
EA will be showcasing their latest games, including playable mobile games like Star Wars Force Collection, Star Wars Pinball, and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. They will also be hosting a Star Wars: The Old Republic Cantina event offsite where fans can hang out with developers and see all the features of The Old Republic game.
Galactic Nights Premiere At WDW
Disney Hollywood Studios is having a premiere party for Star Wars Galactic Nights on Friday, April 14 starting at 7pm. The event takes place on the second night of Celebration weekend and will feature celebrities of the Star Wars Universe attending Celebration. Other highlights of the event include:
- Rebel Base Activities – The Rebel Base will serve as the event hub with multiple events, hosted shows, Star Wars dance parties and more taking place in the center of the park.
- Watch “Inside the Saga: Celebrity Chat Show” – Catch a celebrity chat show in Epic Theater to learn more about the making of Star Wars films.
- Can’t miss Star Wars photo ops – Don your Star Wars finest (see costume guidelines here) and enjoy iconic Star Wars backdrops, including Han Solo cast in carbonite, Jabba the Hutt’s Palace, the Hoth Wampa Cave and more.
- Galactic Nights Stars in Cars Motorcade – This procession will welcome in Star Wars celebrities down Hollywood Blvd.
- Imperial March & March of the First Order – Get your cameras ready for the arrival of the dark side. Darth Vader will lead a battalion of stormtroopers on a dramatic march down Hollywood Blvd to the Event Stage. Captain Phasma will also lead a unit of First Order stormtroopers through the park, pausing to give a demonstration of power and strength.
- Seize the Saga Interactive Scavenger Hunt – Event Guests are challenged to collect Star Wars themed pieces at the photo backdrops throughout the park, revealing a surprise when all items have been collected.
- “Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away” – Watch high-energy clips of the best moments from the film saga juxtaposed with character moments on stage, featuring Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and more.
- “Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular” – The skies will come alive with the power of the Force, as the park’s popular Star Wars-themed nighttime spectacular lights up the night.
Tickets for the one night only event can be purchased HERE.
Celebration Tickets
4-day tickets for Star Wars Celebration 2017 are sold out, but you can still buy single day tickets for Celebration HERE.
Star Wars Land Construction
This week we have an updated aerial shot of Star Wars Land and more progress on the massive Battle Escape showbuilding. Let’s start with the updated areal shot from Nearmap.
MiceChat created a graphic that shows what the area was like before, and what we expect the layout to look like when complete. This map was created prior to the beginning of construction and has been subject to change. So the size and locations are approximate.
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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. We’ll start in the north (where the Millennium Falcon attraction will be) and go clockwise through Star Wars Land.
Though the Battle Escape show building is going up rapidly, we can still see through the framework at what’s going on in the north end of Star Wars Land.
The building going up in the corner seems to be a backstage facility. If so, it’s between this building and the Battle Escape showbuilding that the Millennium Falcon attraction will go. The next shot could be our first view of the foundation
In the ajacent Northeastern section of Star Wars Land, a berm has been built to separate the atmosphere of Star Wars Land from the newly re-routed Disneyland Railroad.
Trees have been replanted recently along the new berm that will block the view from the Disneyland Railroad and Fantasyland into Star Wars Land.
And the following photo is where the entrance to Star Wars Land will be coming from Fantasy Land as outlined in the paths diagram coming up.
On the other side of this berm is where the Disneyland Railroad will travel along a rock wall, as you will see in the outline of the train’s path coming up. The following is what that area looks like from Big Thunder Mountain.
The Southeastern area is where the Fantasmic backstage will be located.
The outer side of the new berm, which faces Frontierland is getting the skeleton of its rockwork installed.
On the Frontierland side of this area, we can see that rockwork going in.
Closer to the ground, detail work painting cement to look like rock and wood is continuing.
The south section of Star Wars Land is where the Disneyland Railroad will pass on the outer wall in front of a waterfall into the Rivers of America and a walkway will go from Critter Country around the Hungry Bear Restaurant and into Star Wars Land. We have a new diagram for this area at the end.
Looking the other side of this area from the Hungry Bear Restaurant, you can see the same section a little further along in the process
Peeking through the knotholes, we can see some of the process on the pathway and banks of the Rivers of America.
The western portion of Star Wars Land is where the massive Battle Escape Attraction is going up on one side and down underground in a round structure on the other.
Let’s start with a look at the side going up.
Moving to the middle section, we can see where the excavation has taken this building underground.
On the other end of this building, the forms have come off the walls of this circular structure and more is being done inside.
And this is what should be the outer wall of the Battle Escape attraction. There’s still a lot of building to go.
Near the tramway from the Mickey & Friends Parking to Downtown Disney, a new backstage entrance and security station is being built.
Now, having taken a tour of the current state of construction for Star Wars Land, here’s a look at how things are laid out in the new aerial photo. The blue line is the new path for the Disneyland Railroad. The orange lines are the three entrances to Star Wars Land: from Critter Country along the path going in next to the Hungry Bear Restaurant; from Frontierland at Big Thunder Mountain; and from Fantasyland.
That’s it for this week’s update. If you want to catch up on how far the construction has come so far, you can check out the archives of Star Wars Land News HERE.
As Always…
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