Star Wars Lands Coming to Disney World and Disneyland

Was this inevitable? If Avatar gets a land, then Star Wars most definitely gets a land. At Disney’s annual D23 event, during which they usually announce one or two ways the company is planning on encouraging a second mortgage on the house, Disney announced a thing that might actually encourage you to just buy a smaller house. Star Wars lands are coming to both Disney World in Orlando, Fl. and Disneyland in Anaheim, Cal. By the sound of it they’ll be roughly the same thing, featuring two primary ride attractions cut across 14 acres of pure intergalactic fantasy.

Concept art for Star Wars Land provided by Disney.

From Disney’s official post on the matter, written by Social Media Director at Disneyland, Erin Glover:

“Ambitious plans to bring Star Wars to life in the two parks include creating Disney’s largest single-themed land expansions ever at 14-acres each, transporting guests to a never-before-seen planet, a remote trading port and one of the last stops before wild space where Star Wars characters and their stories come to life…

These authentic lands will have two signature attractions, including the ability to take the controls of one of the most recognizable ships in the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon, on a customized secret mission, and an epic Star Wars adventure that puts guests in the middle of a climactic battle.”

That second attraction is actually being pulled from the as-yet-unreleased Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which at this point better be damned good. Then again, they’re making an Avatar world. (Then again, again, that movie made almost $2.8 billion dollars internationally). It’s unlikely Star Wars: The Force Awakens doesn’t at least hit the $1.5 billion mark, which we can only hope might overcome the marketing budget on this behemoth to turn a mild profit, he said facetiously. Of course, as with the new Star Wars Lands, the real profit comes from the merchandising fallout of any given new release. Even the more recent trilogy reinvigorated the brand to massive heights.

Under the tenure of company president Bob Iger, Disney has been expanding its parks of late at an incredible rate. In addition to the already mentioned Avatar-themed world coming to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom in 2017, 2012 saw the introduction of a Cars-themed area at Disneyland, most notably featuring a massive ride utilizing the base design from Test Track and greatly-improved animatronics to take riders on a trip through those films’ Radiator Springs locale.

It’s unclear just when the Star Wars lands will reach fruition, though we certainly won’t be walking through them for at least three or four years, probably more. Also unclear is just where these lands are being built within each primary location, though presumably they will be add-ons to existing parks rather than parks in and of themselves. Disney World’s Hollywood Studios could certainly use the booster.

The statement above more or less covers everything Disney has said on the matter. Click through to the statement itself to try and prove me wrong. You will be sad.

If you just can’t wait until 20XX, Star Wars already has, and has had for quite some time, a footprint in the Disney parks, even before Disney acquired the property in full. The company completely remade the Star Tours motion simulator attraction at Hollywood Studios in 2011. You might also engage in such activities as the following:

We also put together a small guide for everyone who needs to catch up on Star Wars or just scratch that itch without the fatal use of a lightsaber. You’ll find links to blu-ray collections, the proper video games to play (because, yes, there are correct Star Wars video games) and a bunch of other stuff that definitely matters.

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