The anticipation has been high for Star Wars the thematic expansion lands that are being built at Disneyland and Disney World, but it's not clear when fanatics can venture into the new parks. Today he got a little bit clearer, with Disney officially announcing the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will open at Disneyland in the summer of 2019, with the park version of Disney World following the same suit late fall.
Disney parks have incorporated Star Wars attractions and other elements for years, but Galaxy's Edge promises to be a more ambitious project than anything the company has tried before. Instead of being a unique walk or themed area, Galaxy's Edge is meant to be a complete immersive world, giving guests the experience of actually entering the universe Star Wars . There will be no Disney employees in the canteens and stores of the park, for example. Instead, there will be locals and smugglers who live in Batuu, the planet on which the park is located, while the guests are involved in a battle between the Resistance and the First Order. Not only that, but the walks themselves are designed to be part of a larger interactive adventure that guests can perform. Do a bad job flying the Millennium Falcon in the main attraction of the park, for example, and a guest may be called, or celebrated, by a character later in his visit.
The move from traditional theme parks to more immersive environments has been taking off over the last decade, with Universal Studios planting a banner on the ground with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Disneyland playing catch-up with Pandora: The World of Avatar . But Disney also seeks to raise the bet. Along with the expansion lands of Star Wars Disney is also working on a theme hotel Star Wars for Disney World. That project will allow guests to literally eat, sleep and breathe Star Wars throughout their visit, as they participate in an interactive adventure that can extend from the hotel to the park and vice versa. If it is carried out successfully, the hotel concept would be essentially Westworld for Star Wars fans but it is not yet known when that project will be opened.