Credit: Inside the MagicDisney is taking the next inevitable step in cutting-edge theme park entertainment: Star Wars droids.
Disney Imagineers have been working for years to create robotic entertainment for the company’s parks that is able to elicit the same kind of joy and amusement as its traditional costumed Cast Members, and it appears that they have finally succeeded.
Here’s some video of these cute little roaming droids in action at Disneyland pic.twitter.com/EIlVRJWSw1
— Disneyland News Today (@dlnt) October 12, 2023
These tiny, adorable robots appear to have been modeled after BD-1, the fan-favorite explorer droid introduced in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game.
So far, it does not appear that the trio of droids has been given a name so far, and are being referred to as Blue, Orange, and Green.
Blue, Orange, and Green (they don’t have real names) met the droids of Black Spire Outpost this morning pic.twitter.com/9sczwvSakl
— Disneyland News Today (@dlnt) October 12, 2023
In this video, you can see them at the Disneyland Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park, interacting with some of the non-mobile droids there.
Disney has been famous for its life-like animatronics since Disneyland opened in 1955, as seen in the Pirates of the Caribbean and Hall of President attractions, but these new robots have a far greater degree of fan interaction and appeal.
BD units are explorer droids, and these three definitely did some exploring this morning pic.twitter.com/QR1B68pjsQ
— Disneyland News Today (@dlnt) October 12, 2023
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Interestingly, while the robots have been programmed to have head movements and gestures that appear self-aware and inquisitive, these are mere prototypes and are not fully autonomous. In longer videos near the Black Spire Outpost, it can be clearly seen that the Disney Star Wars droids at Galaxy’s Edge are being led by a “trainer.”
Now that Blue, Orange, and Green have been unleashed in all their cuteness, it is likely only a matter of time before they are unleashed at the Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios Galaxy’s Edge. While there are no numbers available as of right now, it is safe to assume that Disney spent a lot of money bringing Star Wars droids to life, and the company will no doubt want to recoup that research and development.
Disney particularly needs it right now, given that the recently closed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experiential hotel is estimated to have lost the company as much as $250 million. However, the Galactic Starcruiser had built-in drawbacks like only being able to handle a relatively small number of Guests at a given time and an extremely high-cost price tag.
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However, Galaxy’s Edge and its Black Spire Outpost have had far more success than the Galactic Starcruiser, and if it manages to introduce increasingly complex droid interactions like this, it could be just the thing to jump-start flagging theme park attendance.
There might not be a new Star Wars movie coming any time soon, and the various Disney+ shows are drawing increasingly mixed reviews, so Hollywood Studios and Disneyland might be the only places you can go to get a real experience from a galaxy far, far away.
Do these droids seem life-like to you? Should Disney be expanding its Star Wars attractions right now? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!