Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Part 1

The Planet of Batuu

We are a little bit over 4 months from the opening of Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World, the most anticipated and largest expansion Disney Parks has ever seen. I wanted to start this series for us to delve into all details concerning this new land. Each week I will tackle a new aspect while also providing some of my personal thoughts on each section

We have to start at the beginning. Disney Company bought LucasFilm on October 30th 2012 for a cool $4.05 billion. I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news, my eyes filled with tears and I shouted out loud “we are getting a star wars land”. I would have to patiently wait until August 15th, 2015, when Bob Iger finally announced 2 Star Wars Lands coming to the U.S. parks.

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge (proper name for the land) encompasses 14 acres inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The area used to be home to Backlot Tour featuring Catastrophe Canyon, Lights, Motor, Action Extreme Stunt Show, Streets of America along with some backstage areas of the park

Everything in Disney has a story, nothing is left there at random or by accident, Galaxy’s Edge is no different, in fact, not only do we have Imagineers involved in this massive project but also creative people from LucasFilm and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). They have brought us to the planet of Batuu and the Black Spire Outpost. Batuu sits in the outer rims and is described as a remote frontier outpost. Supervising Imagineer Scott Trowbridge says ” This used to be a vibrant trading port back in the old sub-lightspeed days, but now with the advent of hyperspace its prominence has kind of fallen and faded a little bit which has made it a great spot for those who didn’t want to be on that kind of mainstream path. The smugglers, bounty hunters, the rogue adventurers looking to crew up, the people who don’t want to be found-basically all the interesting people.”

Another amazing thing worth pointing out is that Galaxy’s Edge along with Batuu and Black Spire Outpost are now considered “canon”. For those not familiar with the term this means that it is intertwined with all other Star Wars stories, movies, comic books. And even though Batuu will be new to us mere humans, it has existed in the Star Wars universe for a long time. More specifically the story will be presented to us during the new sequels, particularly between Episodes VIII and XI. The small settlement of Black Spire Outpost is now over run with First Order and some Rebels in hiding. The people that live there are just trying to coexist and go about their day while keeping a suspicious eye on everyone.

As if this wasn’t enough to bring the average Star Wars fan to leap and shout with joy, we will have everything wrapped in a beautiful sound bow with the music from famed composer John Williams who wrote specific pieces for both the land and the attractions. Disney has spared no expense and, if they have done their job correctly, we should completely feel like we are in another world once we enter through the arches of Galaxy’s Edge. I’ll be there bright and very very early on August 29th 2019.

Next week I’ll talk about the attractions of Galaxy’s Edge…and as always, May The Force Be With You.