Disney’s Bob Iger announced that the company will introduce “Star Wars”-themed lands in the company’s Disneyland park in Anaheim, Calif., and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., during Disney’s D23 Expo on Saturday afternoon.
The Star Wars expansion will be 14 acres. California Adventure area is 67 acres. Star Wars land will be constructed north of Frontierland, on the site of the present Big Thunder Ranch and backstage areas
“We are creating a jaw-dropping new world that represents our largest single themed land expansion ever,” he said. “These new lands at Disneyland and Walt Disney World will transport guests to a whole new ‘Star Wars’ planet.
Iger said the new land will be “occupied by many inhabitants; humanoids, aliens and droids … the attraction, the entertainment, everything we create will be part of our storytelling. Nothing will be out of character or stray from the mythology.”
In the next few months, a number of new Star Wars-related additions will be appearing at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. There will be a new location added to Star Tours – The Adventure Continues, based off of characters and locations from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jedi Training Academy will allow younger fans to feel the Force, with new scenarios based on Disney XD’s Star Wars Rebels. Additionally, later this year the Star Wars Launch Bay, an all-new interactive experience, will come to the Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Tomorrowland at Disneyland. There will be photo opportunities, previews of new games, artifacts from the films and testimonials from the filmmakers. (Upstairs in the same building in Disneyland will be an updated Superheroes HQ, featuring your favorite Marvel characters.) And the Season of the Force, based in part on the phenomenally successful Star Wars Weekends, will be a seasonal part of both domestic parks beginning in early 2016, with exclusive food, drinks, merchandise and entertainment. At Disneyland, Space Mountain will be transformed into Hyperspace Mountain, with new effects and music. And at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests will experience a nightly fireworks show set to the classic Star Wars music.
There will be a cantina where fans can “run into all the droids and roaming beasts ‘Star Wars’ is known for,” including characters from the existing “Star Wars” saga and “The Force Awakens.
The Star Wars land will have two signature attractions, including a ride where fans can take the controls of the Millennium Falcon “on a customized secret mission,” and an experience that drops attendees into “a climactic battle between the First Order and the resistance.”
One “Star Wars” land will be located at Disneyworld’s Orlando-based “Hollywood Studios” theme park, and the other at Disneyland in Anaheim.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, guests will close out weekend nights with a new fireworks spectacular set to the iconic score of the “Star Wars” movies.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios (in Florida) is about to expand massively with an 11-acre Toy Story Land. This land includes a super-long family-friendly roller coaster, where guests climb aboard a Slinky Dog ride vehicle and coast through a toy-filled adventure. The land will also feature an alien saucers attraction, where “The Claw” looms over and defines your fate. And this is in addition to the already-announced new track for Toy Story Mania!, the popular 3D attraction. Toy Story Land promises to transport guests into the adventurous outdoors of Andy’s backyard. Guests will think they’ve been shrunk to the size of Woody and Buzz as they are surrounded by oversized toys that Andy has assembled using his vivid imagination.
In Hong Kong Disneyland, the Iron Man Experience is coming. The complex is designed after the Stark Expo, the World’s Fair-esque technological showcase that Tony’s dark, Howard Stark, oversaw many years ago. After checking out some of the history and technology of the Stark dynasty, you climb aboard a ride vehicle designed like the Iron Wing (a nifty vehicle made with Stark tech). Once you get into your Iron Wing, you’re supposed to take a leisurely tour of the new Stark Tower in Hong Kong but, of course, trouble finds you in the form of Hydra. From there, you’ve got to battle your way out and return to the Expo safely.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida will also unveil Pandora from “Avatar” as part of a new expansion, and the entire park will transform after dark with new nighttime entertainment experiences. Among the new attractions are “Rivers of Light” (set to open spring 2016) will be an innovative experience unlike anything ever seen in a Disney park, combining live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery on Discovery River, and an extended nighttime version of Kilimanjaro Safaris, where guests will travel through the African savanna amid the magically extended orange glow of the setting sun and discover two species new to the attraction: African wild dogs and hyenas.
SOURCE -Youtube, Variety, Disney
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