Assorted News: Star Wars Hotel & Land, Toy Story Land, Etc.
There’s currently a social media conference at Walt Disney World, which has meant concept art, videos, and press releases with additional info about the Star Wars Hotel, Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, and more. In this post, we’ll do a quick round-up of the news, plus our commentary.
We’ll start with one other thing first, and make a stop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As we shared last week in our Toy Story Land Opening Date & Speculation post, Toy Story Land will debut on June 30, 2018. If you haven’t read that, beyond the date, we offer some speculation as to why and the prospect of soft openings earlier in June.
After that post, Walt Disney World quietly revised its operational calendars to reflect daily openings for Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 8 a.m., with morning Extra Magic Hours starting at 7 a.m. every day in July…and likely beyond. During the month of July, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open nightly until 10 p.m., with Extra Magic Hours until midnight every Friday.
It’s unclear whether there will be other, special extended operating hours for Walt Disney World resort hotel guests a la Pandora – World of Avatar last summer. We are anticipating Toy Story Land pulling in huge crowds this summer (and beyond) for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the low number of operating attractions will exacerbate the problem, making it feel even more crowded than it is.
Today, Disney shared this video of the Toy Story Lands at Walt Disney World and Shanghai Disneyland:
Keep in mind that this behind-the-scenes video shows the progress that’s being made on Toy Story Lands at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Shanghai Disneyland. (So don’t be confused and think Florida is suddenly getting 5 attractions.)
On an attraction level, the two lands are totally different. Florida is getting two new attractions: Alien Saucer Spin and Slinky Dog Dash. Shanghai Disneyland’s Toy Story Land will feature three attractions: Rex’s Racer, Slinky Dog Spin, and Woody’s Round-Up, and will open April 26, 2018.
Next, the hype train continues to power forward on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, as large scale props and features of the land that have been fabricated off-site are being delivered to both Florida and California. Above is a peak at an X-wing Starfighter. At the top of the post is the Millennium Falcon.
With the rockwork taking shape and some of the buildings in recognizable form, plus these props being delivered, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is really starting to feel “real.” Hard to believe we’re only a year and a half away from the land opening. We’re fairly casual Star Wars fans, and even we can barely contain our enthusiasm. I can’t imagine being someone who has dreamed of stepping foot into the world of Star Wars since they were a kid. Truly exciting stuff.
Disney keeps teasing the Star Wars “Starship” Resort (you can read our most in-depth post about it here), promising an experience combining a luxury resort stay with complete immersion into an authentic Star Wars story.
Today, Disney released new visuals (animated concept art, I guess?) of the resort:
Disney has stressed that every window at the Star Wars Starship Resort will have a view of space, which is an interesting concept. Presumably, this will mean a ton of screens (unless Disney is planning on enlisting Elon Musk to catapult the hotel into space every few days).
That’s interesting because screens are powered by computers, which aren’t always reliable. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen the blue screen of death on Toy Story Mania. Not really a big deal there since we know we’re playing a video game, but in a truly immersive, suspending disbelief setting, it might be more jarring. Hopefully Disney has a better back-up plan for the Star Wars Hotel.
I’m also curious as to whether Imagineering will be testing the psychological impacts of extended exposure to an environment like this. It’s obviously not the same as no windows, but fake windows aren’t the same as real ones. Will there be an area in the hotel that does offer actual daylight and glimpses into the real world, or will people have to walk out the front entrance for that?
Disney has also indicated that the Star Wars Starship Resort will “be seamlessly connected” to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which will offer guests a complete Star Wars experience. This “seamlessly connected” verbiage has been used before, and suggests to us that it won’t be physically connected to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Because, if it were physically connected, that’s what they’d write, rather than using marketing speak to obfuscate how the resort and land will actually connect. We mention this because there was some speculation that the Star Wars Hotel would be built adjacent to Disney’s Hollywood Studios with a private entrance into the land. I’d hazard a guess that it’ll be built somewhere less accessible to the general public (with no access for non-guests), with the the seamless connection being private transportation.
Moving along to Animal Kingdom, the new show “UP! A Great Bird Adventure,” featuring Russell and Dug from Pixar’s Up will premier on April 22, 2018! Debuting in time for Animal Kingdom’s 20th Anniversary, this new show features Senior Wilderness Explorer Russell and Dug the Dog as they discover species of birds from around the world.
We’re still cautiously optimistic about this show. We loved Flights of Wonder, but it’s plot was getting a bit long in the tooth, and if this simply swaps out the clueless tour guide schtick for Russell and Dug, that’s a win-win. It’ll have more appeal to families, and give those characters a logical presence in Animal Kingdom. If it’s more akin to “Smile and Wave with Russell & Dug: A Character Experience…Plus Some Birds” we won’t be so keen on it.
Given the high quality and thematic thoughtfulness of almost everything that comes to Animal Kingdom, we’re willing to give this show the benefit of the doubt for now.
Over at Disney California Adventure, Lamplight Lounge will be “renovated from an old warehouse factory” (is that a factory that makes warehouses?) with “steel structural elements as well as concrete and brick walls…exposed and repaired to tell the story of its past.”
In other words, this is yet another Disney restaurant in the repurposed hipster style. For those who visit Disney Springs, this is getting really old. I realize that’s not most people, but locals should also be pretty familiar with this style. It’s the same as Anaheim Packing District and much of Old Towne Orange.
Beyond that, it’s just thematically lazy. Disney’s Imagineers are incredibly creative, and to have them continually rehash styles prominent in hipster coffee shops and gastro pubs around the United States seems like a waste of their time and talents.
We’ve been harsh on Pixar Pier, so I will end this section on a positive note: what we’ve seen of the concept art and the scope of the work being done thus far suggests a higher level of effort, detail, and Victorian artifice around Pixar Pier than we expected.
While we still think it’s a mistake to cram so many disparate properties into this area with a contrived attempt at a unifying theme, the atmosphere and design of Pixar Pier could very well end up as a nice plussing of Paradise Pier. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t keep Paradise Pier and have place-making like this added to enhance the area (a la Grizzly Peak Airfield, which was an across-the-board win), but it’s not all bad. We try to be objective even with our critical assessments, and don’t want to get carried away with blind negativity towards Pixar Pier.
Anyway, that’s it for this update…
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these projects? Are you excited for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or the Starship Resort? Cautiously optimistic about Pixar Pier, or skeptical of the overhaul? Other thoughts? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
Tom, we’re going to WDW from August 8-16. We’re excited for Slinky Dog Dash, but didn’t know about Toy Story Land when we first booked- certainly not why we’re going! Touring Plans changed their crowd predictions from 6’s to 7’s when HS hours increased for the summer. What do you think crowds will be like? We’ve never been to WDW, and only have Disneyland crowds in May, August and September to compare to. Any ideas? And will Toy story land make all the parks more crowded, or just HS?
Thanks Tom- we love your blog and read it religiously!
I’d anticipate Toy Story Land making Disney’s Hollywood Studios significantly more crowded. The problem is that the added guests will far outweigh the added capacity of the two new attractions, and there are only 4 other rides in the park to soak up crowds. (There are also several shows.)
I would expect significantly elevated wait times across the board at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this summer. Unfortunately, it won’t get any better next year, as the increased draw of Star Wars land will FAR outweigh the added capacity of those two attractions (plus Runaway Railway).
Toy Story Land should have little to no impact on crowd levels at other parks.
Just throwing this out there. If they made the private transport from the Starwars hotel to Starwars land a landing craft type experience? Seeing as Starwars land is a spaceport type idea. That would be incredible. Probably a Logistical headache for the number of guests that would use it, but when looking at what universal has done with the Hogwarts Express to “Seamlessly link” the harry potter worlds I wonder if this could be Disney’s answer to that concept.
We’d already planned our WDW trip for the 3rd to the 9th of July with park days the 4th to the 8th. The 8th is Hubby’s 60th birthday and we have BOG for breakfast and early entry and CRT for dinner. The fourth we were planning on Hollywood Studios then taking the boat over to Epcot for our dinner reservation at Spice Road Table for the fireworks. I guess if it gets too crowded at HS we can go to Epcot earlier.
So disappointed by this “warehouse factory” theme for the Ariel’s Grotto replacement. Why use the limited space inside California’s berms to build something you can see anywhere? If they didn’t have the time and energy to retheme it properly they should have just stuck some Nemos and Dorys into the existing undersea decor.
“Toy Story Land pulling in huge crowds this summer (and beyond)”. I picked up on the Toy Story connection Tom. It’s a rare thing for me.
Maybe they will extend the new gondola system from HS to the new Star Wars hotel to “seamlessly connect” them
Tom,
Is that you in the front row taking a picture in the new UP show?
Good afternoon Tom –
As always, I thoroughly enjoy your articles as well thought out and pretty darn objective in your analysis of most everything Disney.
In regards to the Star Wars Hotel, I too IMMEDIATELY caught on Disney’s verbage to the “seamlessly connected” comment. This very easily leaves a huge hole in the hotel being right next to Galaxy’s Edge (as you excellently stated).
To me this can only mean that the hotel will NOT be connected to Star Wars Land…at all. At this point, I am assuming that you (along with myself) have given thought to where then could this be located?
Could it be in the decent size land clearing across from Stars Wars Land and the roadway surrounding the land presently?
Hmmm, what about having a Star Wars Hotel at the entrance to Epcot in front of Spaceship Earth encompassing the Monorail Station? I have heard rumors of a hotel going up in this area as a Phase 2 aspect of the Epcot / Future World renovation. A space themed hotel in front of Spaceship Earth??? You said it, private guest-only transportation would be the source of getting into Star Wars Land so the hotel could literally be anywhere.
Just wanted to spark your interest in coming up with an idea as to where the hotel will eventually be built. Great article Tom, as always.
“Will there be an area in the hotel that does offer actual daylight and glimpses into the real world?”
Maybe the ship could have a Star Trek-style holodeck that faithfully recreates an environment on an Earth-like planet. That could be one way of explaining an outdoor area in the hotel.
I’m so disappointed by the Lamp Light Lounge! From the DPB descriptions, it said upstairs and downstairs seating, with outdoor seating, so does that mean it is replacing BOTH the Cove Bar AND Ariel’s Grotto. They are taking out Princess dining with no replacement, and the theme of industrial/warehouse definitely does not fit in a Victorian style pier…? I’m from Seattle and see the industrial/coffee shop minimalism all the time, it is fine for some places, Base Line Tap for instance, or a new place in Downtown Disney but on “Pixar Pier”? I am not seeing how a warehouse factory theme fits? And will all of it be lounge food & prices? or will there be a table service part of the restaurant? So confused… and disappointed.
A factory that makes warehouses, very meta! Why didn’t anyone think of this before!?!
I’m pessimistic about the Up bird show. Flight of Wonder’s show disappointed me for the amount of time spent on scripted characters in stage rather than showing actual birds, and adding characters from Up hardly seems likely to shift that balance in the right direction. More likely in the wrong direction.
I compare FoW to a bird show I see every year at the State Fair of Texas. That show happens in an aging, bland, concrete amphitheater (it has some historical interest: built in the 1930s and showcasing what could be lovely art deco design, but it hasn’t been maintained in an appealing state). But once the show starts you hardly notice. I haven’t counted, but the Fair’s show certainly brings out a lot more birds in a comparable running time than FoW, with far less time spent on scripted character scenes (though the Fair’s show has a bit of that, it’s minimal). The birds are what we’re there to see, no matter how well or poorly decorated the stage is.
I wish any updates to FoW would focus on “more birds, less script” but adding Up characters suggests a completely opposite emphasis.
“I wish any updates to FoW would focus on “more birds, less script” but adding Up characters suggests a completely opposite emphasis.”
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Neither of these characters can talk, so their presence and actions will have to be explained by other performers. Given that, it might make the most sense to de-emphasize dialogue, and letting the show be more visual in nature.
I’m not saying that’s what will happen, but I think it’s entirely within the realm of possibilities.