9
Credit: DisneyPerhaps both the biggest feat of Disney parks immersion and its biggest disappointment, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has surprisingly been on the receiving end of much controversy since it debuted at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in 2019.
The area immersed guests into the world of Star Wars, placing them on the planet of Batuu and offering them the opportunity to meet characters like Rey, Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and the Stormtroopers. As Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have become popular, the titular characters of both series have also been introduced to Galaxy’s Edge.
However, the area has often been criticized for its strange adherence to a timeline following the tragically short-lived Galactic Starcruiser that hasn’t alloweed any characters from the original or prequel trilogies to be able to walk around the area and interact with guests. In addition, Galaxy’s Edge offers two incredible attractions that consistently have wait times of several hours and only offer Individual Lightning Lanes that must be purchased in addition to a Genie+ ticket.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run are a major draw for Star Wars fans, but Rise often faces backlash for a lack of maintenance and constant problems. Smuggler’s Run, on the other hand, lacks an enticing repeatability due to only offering guests one storyline. With the recent announcement that Star Tours is getting over 250 new story variations thanks to the addition of elements from Ahsoka and other recent media, it puts Smuggler’s to shame.
While Smuggler’s Run is advertised as an interactive attraction, with guests assigned to various positions on the Falcon, the main storyline is essentially the same no matter how many times you ride it. If the attraction were able to incorporate Star Tours’ constantly shifting algorithm, it would allow riders to have a different experience each time, increasing the rate of return and re-rideability as well as increasing its popularity.
Although Galaxy’s Edge as a whole is an amazing feat of Walt Disney Imagineering, it’s hard not to imagine how much better it could be with some changes. While the area is slowly adding more roaming characters for guest to interact with around the area, Rise of the Resistance is in need of a major refurb and Smuggler’s Run could have had even more success than Star Tours if it incorporated the same technology.
Do you think Galaxy’s Edge is fine the way it is or do you think there are areas of improvement? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.