Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge News - Updated 2/28/19

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You said it's not aimed at the current customer.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty certain the current customer comprises of people who also aren't Star Wars fanatics, they don't go to Comic Con and Cosplay events nor conventions, they don't have a crap ton of disposable income, they are at least some people already willing to pay the fee at Universal to go to only Harry Potter maybe even people who didn't go to Universal Hollywood but now with a Harry Potter part they are willing to now (lord knows people did that at lot when Hogsmeade first opened in Universal Orlando and they didn't have Diagon Alley there to further draw people in), and they aren't the type of people to travel to go to a Star Wars convention and yet they are excited to have a land hailed as full immersion and want to check it out. They'll come even if they haven't seen Star Wars movies or maybe they haven't see the new ones or maybe they've only seen the new ones. People like new things.
I like new things! Definitely not a Star Wars fan, although I have seen all but the last movie, because I'm a movie fan...LOL. I'm not sure about the rides, FOP and Star Tours are about my level for thrill rides, so don't know what the new rides will be like. But definitely want to stroll through the new land. We are doing Disneyland in the fall, so we will see what SWGE is like there. Very excited about going to Disneyland for the First Time! DW will have to wait till 2020 or 2021 for our next visit. And having an immersive experience in whatever they build for the new Star Wars resort will be worth anticipating.
 
I like new things! Definitely not a Star Wars fan, although I have seen all but the last movie, because I'm a movie fan...LOL. I'm not sure about the rides, FOP and Star Tours are about my level for thrill rides, so don't know what the new rides will be like. But definitely want to stroll through the new land. We are doing Disneyland in the fall, so we will see what SWGE is like there. Very excited about going to Disneyland for the First Time! DW will have to wait till 2020 or 2021 for our next visit. And having an immersive experience in whatever they build for the new Star Wars resort will be worth anticipating.


I am right there with you looking forward to the immersiveness of the Land itself

Obviously we don't know for sure or anything, but I would be surprised if these rides would be too intense for you if you can handle FoP and Star Tours - but guess we shall see!
 
I didnt mean ONLY these people,but they would the main people. In marketing there are many customer profiles, there is the main one and then multiple others.
You would be a different type of customer, so now we are up to 2 types.

Another type would be the locals, the AP holders who have been there done that multiple times, so to get their enthusiasm back Disney will have them as a customer profile.

So now we have 3 types of customers, all who have different needs and wants but who are all experiencing Star Wars Galaxy Edge at the same time
I would think DL is trying to drag in everyone EXCEPT people who have AP's. They keep raising to prices to try to sell less and less AP's!
 
I would think DL is trying to drag in everyone EXCEPT people who have AP's. They keep raising to prices to try to sell less and less AP's!
It's one of the reason's we didn't buy the Deluxe AP.

We were looking at the blackout dates and with the summer being blacked out at Disneyland (though DCA was not for the most part) and knowing my husband would only be able to make it on the weekends when I visit him out there on his field assignment it just didn't make sense. Only Fridays would we be able to make it for some of the dates. Maybe financially it could have worked with the Deluxe AP because of how much the multi-day tickets cost but not with the blackout dates. It was just too limiting. And the price difference between the Deluxe and the Signature was a lot.

Def. the people who have the upper APs are eligible to go more at least and there should be some at least that want to experience the new things. But the price increase was for sure aimed at curbing just how many AP people went. Now that doesn't stop people from buying regular tickets and going which of course gives Disney more $$.
 
Does anybody know if the SWGE Table service restaurant got cut? Martin on wdwmagic seems to be hinting it got cut on both coasts, curious to see if anyone has more information on it here.
 
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ew.com/movies/2019/02…

pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/…

goo.gl/b3UfU9

orlandosentinel.com/travel/attract…

ocregister.com/2019/02/27/see…
 
Altogether, between 5,000 and 6,000 people have touched the projects on both coasts. “We wanted to build a place where guests could feel, ‘I could be meaningful here,’” says Scott Trowbridge, portfolio creative executive, Walt Disney Imagineering. “[But] if you want to be passive, you can just watch, too.” Long before construction began, Trowbridge says Star Wars fans would almost all tell him the same thing: “Oh, my gosh! I want to fly on the Millennium Falcon.” Thanks to Trowbridge, the Imagineers, and Lucasfilm, that shared dream is about to become a reality.

Two thrilling attractions await those bold enough to oppose the First Order. In Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, guests will climb into the cockpit of “the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy” to take control of the ship, acting in one of three roles: pilot, flight engineer, or gunner.

“Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is a level of guest participation in a ride that we haven’t done,” says Robin Reardon, portfolio executive producer, Walt Disney Imagineering. “When you step into that cockpit as the only flight crew of the only Millennium Falcon for the day that’s going on that mission, that’s a pretty amazing leap in terms of storytelling from the very beginning. And the payoff and participatory nature of the experience are, so far, unparalleled.”

The second attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, is one of the most advanced and immersive experiences ever undertaken by Walt Disney Imagineering. As new Resistance recruits, guests will join a climactic battle against the First Order, including a run-in with Kylo Ren. Their journey will take them inside a full-size starship and aboard a nearby Star Destroyer.

Disney Imagineers worked with Lucasfilm Ltd., as well as with directors and producers J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, to maximize the experience. “It’s more than just a ride,” says John Larena, executive creative director, Walt Disney Imagineering. “It’s a cinematic immersive experience.”

If you’re like C-3PO, who thinks “space travel sounds rather perilous”—or if you simply want to unwind after a daring day of wandering through Black Spire Outpost—look no further than Oga’s Cantina, where even the blaster-bolt scorches on the walls tell a story. Run by an intriguing alien proprietor, Oga Garra, this watering hole invites guests to share their tales from around the galaxy as they enjoy exotic beverages served in unique vessels. Potations with alcohol include Bespin Fizz, Bloody Rancor, Dagobah Slug Slinger, Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jedi Mind Trick, Jet Juice, The Outer Rim, Spriran Caf, T-16 Skyhopper, and Yub Nub; non-alcoholic libations include Black Spire Brew, Blue Bantha, Carbon Freeze, Cliff Dweller, Hyperdrive Punch It!, Jabba Juice, Moogan Tea, and Tarine Tea; and provisions include a Cantina mix. Keep your spaceships parked, as all beverages in Oga’s Cantina will be the same on both coasts.

You’ll find Oga lurking in the shadows, and locals know better than to dare cross the proprietor. DJ R-3X—formerly known as Captain Rex, the Starspeeder 3000 pilot droid from Star Tours—now calls Oga’s Cantina his home, where he’s in charge of providing the musical entertainment.

Feeling hungrier than a Leviathan? Head over to Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, a multi-purpose transport shuttle docked atop a large hangar for traveling food shuttles. That’s where Chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs has converted his modified Sienar-Chall Utilipede-Transport into a popular mobile kitchen and restaurant. His travels across the galaxy allow him to fill his pantry with exotic ingredients, and he’s proud to present Tuggs’ Grub, a “traveling diner for diners traveling,” inspired by dishes he created during his time working for Maz Kanata on Takodana.

Non-alcoholic beverages include the Phattro and Moof Juice, while entrées include the Braised Shaak Roast, featuring beef pot roast with cavatelli pasta, kale, and mushrooms; the Fried Endorian Tip-Yip, a decadent chicken dish with roasted vegetable mash and herb gravy; the Felucian Garden Spread, a plant-based kefta “meatball” dish with herb hummus and tomato-cucumber relish with pita bread; the Ithorian Garden Loaf, a plant-based “meatloaf” dish served with roasted vegetable mash, seasonal vegetables, and mushroom sauce; the Smoked Kaadu Ribs, featuring smoked country sticky pork ribs with blueberry corn muffin and cabbage slaw; the Oven-roasted Burra Fish, featuring Dijon-crusted sustainable fish with mixed greens, roasted vegetables, quinoa, and pumpkin seeds with a creamy green curry ranch dressing; the Oven-roasted Tip Yip, featuring roasted chicken with mixed greens, roasted vegetables, quinoa, and pumpkin seeds with a creamy green curry ranch dressing; and the Yobshrimp Noodle Salad, a marinated noodle salad with chilled shrimp. Dessert options include a raspberry crème puff with passion fruit mousse, and chocolate cake with white chocolate mouse and coffee custard. Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo has two children’s menu options: fried chicken with macaroni and cheese; and chilled shrimp with vegetables and rice noodle salad (with sweet orange dressing).

Meanwhile, Ronto Roasters’ large podracing engine will be firing up a barbecue pit for mouth-watering sandwiches. When customers line up to order, they will encounter a former smelter droid, carefully turning the spit of meats (and complaining about his job). Items include the Meiloorun Juice, the Turkey Jerky, and the Ronto Wrap filled with spiced grilled sausage and roasted pork. Guests will also be able to choose from a variety of exotic non-alcoholic drinks, like the Sour Sarlacc or Tatooine Sunset.

Elsewhere in the bustling market, the Milk Stand will offer two local favorites: blue milk, first seen in Star Wars: A New Hope, and green milk, introduced in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Four years ago, the team visited Lucasfilm to get ideas for the ingredients, according to Michele Gendreau, food & beverage director, Disneyland Resort; Brian Koziol, food & beverage concept development director, Walt Disney World Resort; and Brian Piasecki, culinary director, Concept Development, Walt Disney World Resort. Lucasfilm’s response: “You get to write the story.” After brainstorming what a bantha might consume in order to produce blue milk, for example, they landed on a plant-based dairy drink, allowing more guests to enjoy it.

Other vendors in the area will highlight local delicacies, like the colorful Outpost Mix—a popcorn snack combining savory, spicy, and sweet flavors—available to try at Kat Saka’s Kettle.

Check out all the food and drink options coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge:

The Droid Depot is located in the market, inviting patrons to pick parts and pieces off a conveyor belt, then build and customize their astromech droids (R-series or BB-series); the droids are capable of interacting with elements in the land, responding to guests’ behaviors. Additional programming chips and accessories can be added to the droids to further customize their abilities. The Droid Depot will also offer guests pre-built droids, including a C-3PO who has quite a bit to say (especially if you “accidentally” take off his head and put it on backwards!) and a Rex who will happily play whatever music you have on your smartphone through an intergalactic Bluetooth connection. The shop also offers droid-inspired products and much more—and intergalactic tourists needn’t fret, as all merchandise will be labeled in dollars.

Meanwhile, at Savi’s Workshop, guests are given the opportunity to draw upon the Force as they build their own elegant lightsaber. At the heart of every saber is a kyber crystal, and during a guided tour, each guest will have four options to choose from: Peace Justice (modeled after Jedi from the Republic era); Power Control (a nod to the Sith); Elemental Nature (harnessing air, earth, fire, and water); and Defense (shrouded in mystery). Will you embrace the light side of the Force, like Luke Skywalker, or the dark side of the Force?

Inside Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, visitors will find a selection of mysterious and rare items for sale representing different eras of the Star Wars galaxy, including ancient Jedi and Sith artifacts, holocrons, lightsabers, and more. As they explore the shop’s nooks and crannies, they will find Dok at his desk, checking his inventory, taking calls, and barking orders at his assistants.

Guests who venture to the Creature Stall will find some fascinating and unusual beasts from all across the galaxy, ranging from the friendly (porgs, tauntauns) to the not-so-friendly (rathtars, wampas). Nearby, you’ll find the Toydarian Toymaker stall, offering items crafted by its namesake alien, first seen buzzing around Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. It peddles artisan-style plush characters, wood and tin toys, and instruments.

Resistance Supply is a “makeshift” resource location at the Resistance’s hidden command post, selling badges, hats, pins, and other accessories to help guests feel like part of the cause. On the flip side, First Order Cargo is a temporary storage dock located near the market. Easily identified by a never-before-seen First Order TIE echelon, it gives interstellar tourists a chance to pledge their loyalty to the First Order by purchasing caps, gear, model ships, pins, and more.

“This is the first place they touched down,” Brad Schoeneberg, director, Merchandise Strategy & New Park Experience Development, Walt Disney World Resort, says of First Order Cargo’s vendors. “They are trying to win the hearts and minds of locals with propaganda and merch.”

One thing you won’t find: “evergreen” Star Wars products. Everything was created specifically for Galaxy’s Edge. Or, as Brad puts it, “We’re giving today’s consumers an experience only we can deliver.” Items reflect the stories of yore, as they’ve been told throughout Black Spire Outpost. With a vast array of innovative goods, he adds, “[There are] many levels of discovery.”

Make the most of your first—or hundredth—visit to Batuu by downloading the Play Disney Parks mobile app. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the first land designed to integrate with the one-of-a-kind app, which debuted last summer and offers interactive adventures and experiences that bring surrounding environments to life at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort.

The app will provide new opportunities for guests to engage with the land, like translating a galactic language, learning what’s hidden inside crates and containers, or accomplishing certain tasks by participating in missions. Guests also can use the app to interact with a variety of elements, like antenna arrays, door panels, drinking fountains, droids, media screens, and ships.
 
Interesting stuff from the ew.com article.

Smugglers Run
At this point in the Falcon’s history, Han Solo is no longer with us, but Porgs are. Chewie has partnered with the Weequay space pirate Hondo Ohnaka, a charming scoundrel from The Clone Wars and Rebels animated shows, to fund refurbishment of the Falcon while using it to run contraband throughout the galaxy.

The ship is parked facing outward with its engines flanking a curved loading dock embedded in the mountainside that frames Black Spire Outpost, the Casablanca-like crossroads where this real-world chapter of the Star Wars story is set. (Here’s where you can read more about the mythology of this community and its home-world of Batuu.)

Inside that mountain is a shipping operation where visitors will wait in line for their chance to climb into the cockpit. As with everything in Galaxy’s Edge, this becomes part of a story. You’re not tourists waiting in line for an amusement park ride; you and your fellow guests are signing up to be freelance smugglers for Ohnaka Transport Solutions.

Like the Indiana Jones ride that opened in Disneyland in 1995, the Millennium Falcon line will zigzag through passageways and storage rooms that serve as a prologue to takeoff.

The line starts at ground level curves along the back of the Falcon, so visitors can get a closer look from that perspective. From there, you climb a set of stairs that lead to catwalks circling the mechanic shop, where other ships and engines are under repair.

Soon, you’ll enter the control room. Standing on the bridge, waiting to greet you with his sales pitch, is Hondo Ohnaka.

Slight spoiler — using the Disney Play app to scan shipping crates along the wait-line will reveal that he’s running blasters to help the Resistance. So he’s not all bad.

“The Resistance gets some supplies they need, and make Hondo a very, very rich Weequay,” Trowbridge says. “We’ll, of course, share in the profits with Hondo if we’re successful on our mission. We’ll split it 90/10, carry the one, minus the 10 percent. It will all work out in the end somehow.”

Okay … he’s a little bad. At least as a boss. But he has his charms, too.

“The opportunity to bring a character from animation into real life was something that we’ve never done before,” says Carrie Beck, the Lucasfilm story group’s VP of animation and live-action shows. “But he’s not reliving a moment that you’ve seen in the animation. This is actually a new moment in his journey that you’ll get to experience just here in the park.”

While the Hondo animatronic assesses the roomful of would-be smugglers, his assistant — the grubby astromech droid R5-28, summons the Falcon.

In the “windows” behind Hondo, which are actually a video screen, you’ll see the Falcon rise up from its place in the courtyard and lower down into the interior docking back. (The Falcon outside never moves, of course, but this explains how you are able to board it from within the attraction.)

The final moments of waiting may be just as exciting as the ride itself. After consulting with Hondo, guests will be led down a jet bridge into a familiar location — the Falcon’s “chess room,” where C-3PO once advised: “Let the Wookiee win.”

At this point, guests have already been assigned a flight group and a number. Hondo and Chewie need two pilots, two gunners, and two flight engineers for each run.

An operator will call out the number of each group when it is time for takeoff. In the meantime, you are free to roam about the cabin.

The Smugglers Run ride has a choose-your-own-adventure quality that allows your actions to determine the outcome of the mission.

“They really are in control of the ship. It’s a completely interactive experience,” Trowbridge says. “If [gunners] don’t fire and hit that TIE Fighter, maybe you’ll get some shocks and take some damage on the ship and then you’ve got to fix it.” That’s the job of the flight engineers, seated in the back, who will have to push buttons to extinguish fires or redirect power. “And if [pilots] don’t fly right to avoid that oncoming mountain, your ship is going to smash into that wall,” Trowbridge says. “You’re truly in control of what happens on your mission.”

When the flight is over and you return to Batuu, you land in the same town square, then descend into the basement of the shipping center for an exit on the outside. There you’ll see the Falcon parked right where you left it.

Your reputation as a smuggler will travel with you, however. The Disney Play app on your phone tracks your experience and transmits that information throughout Galaxy’s Edge.
 
Rise of the Resistance from EW

On the Rise of the Resistance ride, you’ll be joined by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver, who have created footage to give Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren a presence in the attraction.

As part of EW’s tour of the Disney theme park attractions, we’re taking you on the tour we received of this as-yet-unfinished ride, which will take you off-world aboard a Resistance transport, into the belly of a First Order Star Destroyer, and into the crosshairs of a pair of giant AT-ATs.

The wait line begins beneath a mobile cannon turret, which forms an archway to a path leading to ancient alien ruins carved into the rocky cliffs of the planet Batuu. (You can see it just to the left of the A-Wing in this model image.)

The ground is hardened mud (actually concrete, but … go with it) where you can see the footprints of Resistance soldiers and the tracks of an R2 astromech droid.

Actually, it’s the R2 astromech — R2-D2. For real.

We got access to one of the original Kenny Baker, A New Hope 1976-1977 era droids, and we took rubbings of the bottom of the droid feet,” says Paul Bailey, a show systems engineer with Imagineering.

He then digitized those treads and turned them into three wheels on a little trolley.

“I’ll set the scene for you,” says Kirstin Makela, art director for Imagineering. “There’s a busy construction site. There are lots of people around, pouring hardscape concrete. All of a sudden, one of them just jumps on this little trolley, and someone else pulls him through the concrete.”

Like that, R2-D2 has left his mark.

Even though no Star Wars fan has ever studied the bottom of that droid’s rollers, it shows the extreme effort at fidelity that the art directors pursued.

The R2 tracks continue down this curving, tree-lined path until we arrive at the caves, which are man-made — or alien-made, depending on what we think lived on Batuu centuries ago.

“The idea is [the Resistance] set up only a week ago. And if they need to run, they can abandon this place fast,” Larena says.

Inside the Pueblo-like carved living spaces of the ancient Batuuans, the line of would-be Resistance volunteers passes an animated Gonk droid, which is basically a walking battery, powering the lights and communications gear.

“There’s a lot of Resistance tech in here,” Larena says, waving at the cables and communication screens hung haphazardly on the cave walls. Throughout the line, guests will pick up on transmissions that hint of an encroaching First Order legion.

But there are other things to explore, too. The line winds through a cave with a dry aqueduct and shallow dips in the flat shelves of rock.

little further along, the line weaves through an ancient worship site, although the little alcoves in the wall, lined with mineral-weeping stones, are missing the sacred objects they once held.

The Play Disney Parks app on visitors’ phones will share information with them as they go through the line, though sometimes it only raises questions without answers.

Nearby is another mysterious room, with numerous archways in the stone sealed shut with smaller, smooth rocks.

“Is this where people would sleep … or is this where beings are interred?” Larena says.

The good guys aren’t very careful with ancient archeology sites. They’ve used laser torches to carve open the ruins to create wider space for their blaster arsenal and flight equipment. Indiana Jones would not approve, but in the heat of battle, you do what you have to do.

The Play Disney app can be used to read the names on some of the X-wing suits, printed in the Star Wars language of Aurebesh.

As you enter the heart of Resistance command, a familiar droid appears: BB-8. He comes bearing a hologram of Ridley as Rey, telling visitors they have to board a transport soon for a mission led by Poe Dameron.

An animatronic version of the character barks at his passengers from the front, his jowls flapping like a stack of pancakes. For the voice, Imagineers hired Kenyan actor Kipsang Rotich, who spoke the dialogue for the character in his native Kalenjin and Kikuyu languages in both Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

Like R2-D2’s tracks, no detail was too small for authenticity.

Once the transport doors close, visitors watch on monitors as they are cleared for take-off. Before the ship rises, Isaac emerges from the control center and climbs into his X-wing, continuing to communicate with Nunb and your ship as you all lift off into space.

Before long, the convoy is intercepted by a First Order Star Destroyer. Poe can’t fight it off on his own, so he has to retreat, promising to bring back help.

A tractor beam pulls the transport into the Destroyer, and when the doors open guests are standing in a giant auditorium-sized First Order hangar, filled with scores of Stormtroopers, and hung with TIE Fighters along the walls.

The stormtroopers will be animatronic, with slight movement suggesting they are alive, but they’ll also be slightly smaller than visitors realize to create the illusion that the hangar — which is truly massive — is even bigger.

You can see the disparity in this image, showing the TIE Fighter on one distant wall is significantly smaller than the humans working on it.

From there, the visitors are hustled into a room similar to the one where Kylo Ren once tortured Poe Dameron. You don’t stay here long. Soon, you learn something valuable that the Resistance will need to fight the First Order, and once you get broken out of this cell the real ride continues.

Disney Parks officials won’t say exactly how long Rise of the Resistance lasts, but they say it’s not the 28 mins that has been rumored online.

Once you flee the interrogation room, you board a trackless cart that will guide you through the rest of the ride, gliding through one hangar that contains two towering AT-ATs, and eventually bringing you face-to-mask with Kylo Ren.

Exactly how he and Finn appear in the ride is still under wraps, but Imagineers confirm that both Driver and Boyega are involved in bringing the characters to life.

It’s unclear how the ride will conclude, but it’s safe to assume it ends up returning you Black Spire Outpost, most likely near the wreckage of a giant starship where scrap merchant Savi, the local secret lightsaber builder, is known to recovering materials.
 
EW on The incorporation of the Play Disney Parks app in the land

As they explore Black Spire Outpost inside the Galaxy’s Edge attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, guests will be able to use the Play Disney Parks app on their devices to learn more about the events unfolding around them and become part of the story themselves.

“Since the First Order arrived at Black Spire Outpost, they’ve started uploading a surveillance system to the door control panels to monitor what’s going on in the outpost,” says Anisha Deshmane, an assistant producer with Imagineering who helped develop the interactive elements. “Obviously, the Resistance may not want their actions to be tracked. They’d like to fly under the radar, so they’re trying to fight back.”

There are scores of these surveillance boxes embedded in the walls around town, and you can use the Play Disney app to “hack” into them by solving a simple puzzle. Then you can choose to either deactivate them to help the Resistance, or reactivate them to aid the First Order. As time goes on, the game runs out and a winner is declared.

The Play Disney app will read markers on containers and buildings that reveal a little more about what’s inside. On the Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run rides, it’ll pass the time in line by filling you in on facts about the impending missions.

Some of the labels will be encrypted, so users will have to solve a simple puzzle as a description key that will allow them to reveal the contents.

The app will also make it easier to be a stranger in a strange land.

“As you walk through, there are amazing languages written on walls and carved into stone,” says Imagineering concept designer Casey Ging. “You’ll hear characters speaking in their native alien tongue. The translate app is a way for you to actually understand what they’re talking about. You can automatically hear audio or scan some of the written text.”

Wherever you see the Star Wars language of Aurebesh, the app will help you translate — revealing that this sign above an entryway reads: Savi & Son Salvage.

There’s a story behind these supposed junk dealers, too. They’re secretly aiding the Resistance by manufacturing lightsabers for Force-sensitive allies.

Another function on the Play Disney app inside Galaxy’s Edge is “tuning.” This means listening in on the broadcasts happening between the Resistance, the First Order, and various underworld gangs.

“There’s communications going through all the antennas that you see scattered about,” Ging says. “To get an idea of what those transmissions are, you open your tuning tool, and you can locate transmissions that are being passed back and forth, sometimes between factions, sometimes just between villagers.”

Occasionally, the intercepted texts look like gibberish, and another puzzle must be solved to decode them. “This one might be something that somebody doesn’t want you to hear, so you can actually use your data pad to unscramble that transmission, isolate the signal, and understand that there is a secret transmission being sent by one of those factions,” Ging says.

Who wants to take a job while you’re on vacation at Disneyland?

If it means joining the fight, for either the heroes or the villains, Star Wars fans may consider signing up for duty.

You never actually choose a side, light or dark, in Galaxy’s Edge. It’s not about waving a flag or putting on a uniform (although this will be the first place in a Disney park where adults are permitted to wear a costume).

Your unique story is dictated simply by the actions you take, and which side you choose to support. It’s also possible to go rogue by siding with one of the local gangs who are playing both sides against each other.

The Play Disney app allows visitors to engage with some of the full-scale droids rolling around the village, which will help them learn more about the word on the street and who is looking for help. Visitors can also sign on to take “jobs” with characters like Hondo Ohnaka, the pirate proprietor of the Millennium Falcon ride, who may ask you to help him by finding and transmitting schematics for a First Order starship.

There will be points and rewards for completing tasks, adding heft to your digital Star Wars profile, but the main thing visitors get is more personal involvement with the story of Galaxy’s Edge.

“That ship schematic becomes something that you have a copy of,” says Deshmane. “That adventure within the land means that you’re collecting more and more information as you loop around.”
 
EW on merchandise

Dok-Ondar is an Ithorian (better known as “Hammerheads,” after the nickname given to the one who first turned up in the cantina in 1977’s original Star Wars. This one is older, with a wisp of white hair, and an elegant cloak swirling around him as he presides over his shop of artifacts. He’s also the central figure in writer Ethan Sack’s upcoming Galaxy’s Edge comic book.

“He is the gatekeeper of the black market,” says Margaret Kerrison, managing story editor with Walt Disney Imagineering. “If you are from somewhere in the galaxy and you have a one of a kind, valuable, rare item that you want to sell, you know to come to Batuu to look for Black Spire Outpost and look for an infamous Ithorian.”

You can see some of the collectibles in his shop. In one large glass aquarium, there is a pustule of a creature that looks like a baby dianoga — the eyeball-on-a-stalk creature our heroes once encountered in the Death Star trash compactor.

Against the far wall is a taxidermized Wampa, similar to the abominable Hoth snowbeast who hung Luke Skywalker up as a snack in The Empire Strikes Back. In fact … maybe it’s the same one?

“We wanted to match him exactly to the film,” says Imagineering propmaster Eric Baker. “We went as far as taking our vendors who were helping with the fur, and matching all the colors on the fur exactly to the Wampa in the film. There were about three different Wampas. It was kind of a process of matching all three and turning it into one big creature.”

Some of the Ithorian’s valuables are not for sale, but a great many statues of Sith and Jedi, as well as holocron cubes containing the wisdom of the the light and dark side, and assorted historic lightsabers will be for sale to Earth visitors to take home.

Guests will sign up for a build session, and can choose from assorted parts to assemble a lightsaber that is unique to their personalities. This isn’t the plastic Hasbro Bladebuilder you can buy in any terrestrial store.

These are a bit more detailed and advanced, with the finished hilt costing about $109.00 and the blade itself running $49.99 — just for starters.

They’ll also encounter shop employees known as The Gatherers. “They have dedicated their life to balancing the Force through sharing their knowledge of it,” says Brian Loo, an Imagineering creative director focused on merchandise. “In this experience, our guests will go on a guided tour with the Gatherers to build their lightsaber.”

There are several styles you can chose to build: Peace and Justice, which includes designs you’d see on Jedi from the Republic era; Power and Control, which includes more Dark Side styles; Elements and Nature, which features more raw, natural materials in the hilt, like a Rancor tooth of sacred wood; and Protection and Defense, which is a more ancient and archaic version of the weapon (think Star Wars goes medieval.) “Some have little engravings on them that we can’t read,” says Cody Hampton, a senior merchandiser.

The colors of the lightsabers run from Sith red, to Jedi blue and green, and Mace Windu purple. It all depends on the type of kyber crystal you purchase to power your sword, and each colorful gem has readable tech inside that can also be removed and added to a holocron cube, to hear lessons from long-gone heroes and villains.

Outside this shop, the tech-savvy proprietor Mubo has set up four droids as display items — just like the Jawas set up for Uncle Owen and Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars. They’ll be beeping, squawking and swiveling, but generally stay put (in case you want a picture).

You won’t be able to walk out with one that’s as large and elaborate as those, but you can purchase a smaller droid (about the size of a coffee machine) that can remote-control around Black Spire Outpost. They also use beaconing technology to receive signals from other robots in the vicinity.

As with the lightsabers, each one is built to your specifications. You can choose two basic models: an R (like R2-D2 or R5-D4) or a BB unit (the ball-droid style similar to BB-8 and the evil BB-9E).

The store is set up almost like a cafeteria. There’s a conveyor belt where you walk along and choose the pieces to build your droid, an assembly area where you put it together, a chip station, where you select a personality circuit, and finally an activation center where your personal robot first comes to life.

Larger-scale droids circulate around the shop while you work, and parts of protocol robots dangle from conveyor hooks above like clean clothes in a dry cleaner’s shop.

As you depart, there’s even a jacuzzi for droids outside — an oil bath, just like C-3PO got in the first Star Wars — for when your robot needs to unwind and refresh.

Remember, everything in Galaxy’s Edge is in-character, so you may not be buying a stuffed porg doll in this shop — you’re buying a pet.

The baby tauntaun squawks and coos when you pet it; the miniature tentacle-beast rathtars shudders savagely; the worrt frog lashes out its tongue, and the pufferpig growls sweetly. Larger, animatronic versions of these creatures will populate some of the cages and aquariums around the shop – but those aren’t for sale.

Star Wars loves puns, so of course this plaything stall is overseen by Zabaka, one of the winged, blue creatures similar to Watto from The Phantom Menace.

Again, this isn’t Earth, it’s a galaxy far, far away, so they wouldn’t be selling our action figures. The toys here are more like the kind of handmade stormtrooper young Jyn Erso used to play with, or the X-wing pilot doll that Rey grew up idolizing.
 
Food and Beverage...

Ever since it first appeared in the original 1977 movie, moviegoers have been wondering what Luke Skywalker’s favorite beverage would taste like.

They’ll finally get their chance to try it when the Galaxy’s Edge theme park attractions open at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. All the comfort food served here has a galactic twist.

For instance, there are no chickens in the Star Wars universe, so you can enjoy fried “tip-yip,” which are the large, flightless bird seen pecking around the Ewoks’ village on the forest moon of Endor.

In the First Order-controlled sector of Black Spire Outpost, there’s a cart set up just across from the TIE Echelon fighter where you can get a cool glass of blue milk — or green, if that’s your preference.

Okay, why is this a big deal? It’s the drink Luke shared during a meal with his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen in A New Hope. It was a visual that was never explained, meant to underscore the strangeness of the universe by highlighting how exotic the ordinary could seem.

I will tell you it’s not actually milk,” says Scott Trowbridge, the Imagineering creative executive in charge of Galaxy’s Edge. “If you’re walking around Florida in the middle of August, the last thing you want is, uh, a huge glass of milk.”

The blue milk is actually plant-based dairy — essentially rice milk — which makes it easier for everyone to enjoy, even the lactose intolerant. And it’s soft-frozen, like a milkshake.

Galaxy’s Edge beverage director Brian Koziol says it has been sweetened and infused with berry and melon flavors. “It’s a lot like a smoothie.”

After Luke was seen in The Last Jedi milking a sea creature known as a Thala-Siren, park directors decided to add a second flavor to the menu: green milk, which is the same substance, but with lemon and other citrus flavoring.

You can also find a blue milk in this establishment in an indoor watering hole across town, but it’s served a little differently.

The blue milk in Oga Garra’s cantina is called the Blue Bantha, and it comes garnished with a sugar cookie, topped with rice crisp and a Bantha horn made out of frosting — essentially, the Star Wars version of classic cookies and milk. (You can see it and some of the other drinks in this gallery.)

The Blue Bantha is non-alcoholic, but Oga’s Cantina will be the first place guests in Disneyland will be able to drink booze in the Southern California park. Among the adult beverages is the Bloody Rancor (a variation on the Bloody Mary), a Fuzzy Tauntaun (think: fuzzy navel), and a Bespin Fizz (kind of a rum-based, bubbling twist on the cosmopolitan.)

Is that Oga in the concept art? Maybe. But probably not. Few people have laid eyes on the local crime lord, who has business entanglements all through this corner of the galaxy, and she doesn’t socialize with the clientele.

The character who most dominates this space is one Disney theme park visitors have encountered before: RX-24, a.k.a. Rex, the hapless droid who made all the wrong moves as the original pilot of the Star Tours ride in 1987.

Rex has since been replaced on that attraction by C-3PO, but Imagineers decided to show that he had a happy ending pursuing his dream of making music.

“He’s such an endearing character for a lot of Disney fans because he makes mistakes,” says Margaret Kerrison, managing story editor with Walt Disney Imagineering. “He’s not perfect at his job, and we can all understand that. Some days are rougher than others, and now Rex is reprogrammed to be a DJ in the Cantina because Oga needed entertainment.”

Located in the heart of downtown Black Spire Outpost, you can spot this sit-down restaurant from around Galaxy’s Edge thanks to the delivery shuttle parked on top.

Chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs is the proprietor, and that’s his kitchen — a modified Sienar-Chall Utilipede Transport. In other words, a flying food truck.

He’s dropping off meals for the customers below, and the trailer-size food crates themselves are marked with a sly Easter egg.

The first one is stamped 77, the middle one — which is dangling through an iris in the restaurant ceiling as it is delivered — is marked with 80, and the other one still aboard the ship is No. 83. Those are the three release years of the original trilogy.

We don’t know much else about “Cookie” Tuggs, except that he honed his culinary skills working in the kitchen of Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana.

Despite looking like flightless dragons, rontos are cow-like beasts of burden. They’re also tasty.

In this food stand, a weary droid turns a crank that spins slabs of their meat beneath a slow-roaster made out of an old podracer engine. The food being cooked by the robot is just a prop; the real stuff (actually barbecue pork accompanied by grilled sausage and coleslaw on a chalupa) is prepared in the kitchen.

This sandwich also comes with “clutch sauce,” which chef Jason Martin says is a unique Szechuan peppercorn condiment that they created and named after Darth Vader’s Force-choke. “It kind of gets you right here,” Martin says, touching the sides of his throat.

Kat Saka lives outside the city walls of Black Spire on a nearby farming homestead. That’s where the Saka family has been growing the grain that they heat into a fluffy, flavored treat to peddle in the marketplace alley.

Basically, space popcorn — which comes in a variety of sweet, salty, or spicy varieties.

Like a Rancor devouring Jabba’s Gamorean guards, once you start crunching, it’s hard to stop at just one handful.
 
I've gotta be Debbie Downer on the new revelations.

1. I wish this was based on the original movies

2. How long until the menu is gutted because the food is not usual fare (like Pandora's food).

Other than that everything looks great.
 
Interesting stuff from the ew.com article.

Smugglers Run

Notice it mentions that your performance is tracked through the Disney Play app ... will that be for both coasts or just CA? Wondering if Magic Bands can/will be used in WDW

Mostly asking as the play app doesn’t work so great on my phone and drains the battery and I’d rather not have to get a new phone just for this
 
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