Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Part 2
The Attractions of Batuu
Last week I gave you an overview and brief history on Batuu, today I will get to the fun part, the attractions of the Land. Keep in mind that not only did Imagineers work on this but also Doug Chiang from LucasFilm and members of ILM so everything you will see is pretty authentic. The settlement of Black Spire Outpost has two attractions and they are:
Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run: This six person capsules simulates the cockpit of the most famous piece of junk in the Galaxy: The Millennium Falcon. But the story starts way before you enter the cockpit and whisper, Chewie, I’m home. The Imagineers have given us a great story to go along with the ride itself.
First off you encounter the Falcon itself, sitting in the docking bay, thrusters going, sounds emitting, smoke billowing. If you can pry yourself away from this awesome site you make your way inside the port where huge panoramic windows will allow you to continue to look at the Falcon while you wait.
The area you are in is called the Ohnaka Transport Solutions. Hondo Ohnaka is a smuggler, you may have seen him on Clone Wars and/or Rebels. Hondo will now ask of you to join his crew and run a shipment using the Falcon, no questions asked on what the cargo is or where you are going, you have one mission. Deliver the cargo intact.
You then step into one of the most iconic rooms in all of Star Wars lore, the Chess room. No expense was spared in building this exact replica of what we have seen on screen, there’s the Dejarik board from the famous scene where C3PO tells R2D2 to “Let the Wookie win” is right here, plus the medical bay, while you oohh and aahh and take a couple (or hunderds) of pictures someone will come and you will be given your position inside the cockpit.
There are two pilot positions, two gunners and two flight engineers. The success of your mission will be determined on how well all of you work together. You will always reach your destination but the success will be measured in how intact is the Falcon at the end of the ride. If you all worked well together the Falcon will be mostly intact and the exit tunnel will be beautiful BUT if you encounter trouble and cannot seem to work things out properly, the Falcon will see heavy damage, including the exit hall might have some sparks flying, some lights out and maybe even a smell of smoke.
Not only that but your end result on this flight will follow you around the land, you might be at Oga’s Cantina grabbing a nice drink and the bartender might start up a conversation about what you did to the Falcon…
This amazing attraction is opening with the land here at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 29th. Even though the attraction does have a fast pass line, it will not be available for the near future as Disney has decided to give everyone an equal opportunity to ride it. Height requirement for Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run is 38″.
Rise of the Resistance: This attractions is a huge trackless “dark ride”. Since you cannot see a track it makes it knowing where the ride vehicle is going almost impossible. Again Imagineers have provided you with a story.
The Rebels have only landed on Batuu a couple of weeks before you step in, they are in hiding in the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost which is where you will find this attractions.
You enter the heart of the Resistant command. BB-8 appears and bears a hologram of Rey telling visitors to board the transport for a mission led by Poe Dameron. Guests are then moved past Poe’s black X-wing and into the cargo bay where an animatronic Nien Nunb talks to passengers. While you are waiting for your flight to clear you are intercepted by the First Order and stormtroopers surround you and make you walk into another room where you board the vehicle itself.
The rest of the story has not been divulged yet as this attraction will be opening later this year and not with the land opening. We do know from the recent Star Wars Celebration Panel that the original voices have been brought back to this attractions and also they used an original R2D2 unit to make the droid tracks outside this attraction keeping it as real as possible. It has been said that this will be the absolute in latest attraction technology, with real size AT-AT and dozens of Stormtrooper Animatronics and maybe a surprise or two. Height requirement for Rise of the Resistance is 40″
Lines for both rides when they open are expected to be very long, maybe even putting the usual 3 hour line at Flight of Passage in Pandora to shame. There is a plan for a bathroom pass over at Disneyland that we will probably see implemented here so no worries on that front.
Next week I’ll talk about the interactive aspects of the land…May the Force Be With You.