The franchise awakens…

Image: Disney

The announcement of Disney purchasing the rights to Star Wars in 2012 changed everything. What George Lucas only partially succeeded in doing through the Star Wars prequels and Clone Wars series, Disney accomplished in spades—reviving the Star Wars franchise to become king of all sagas once more. Disney threw all their chips into the most beloved mythos of geek culture, and the payout has been spectacular.

Star Wars has become a ubiquitous presence in Disney parks. For one thing, it has single-handedly revived the atmosphere of the previously-dwindling Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Star Wars merchandise can be found almost anywhere in Walt Disney World (except for Animal Kingdom, where Pandora holds the geek-culture throne). With the announcement of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, coming in 2019 to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney has set the bar higher than ever before for the future of theme parks.

Instead of trying to force Star Wars into the structures of Disney past, Disney has embraced the very elements geek culture values: innovation, role-playing, gamifying, even snarky humor. The March of the First Order has become the perfect welcome for guests arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios—a literal parade celebrating geek culture. The park's flagship fireworks show is entirely a celebration of Star Wars. We’ve gushed before about how marvelously geeky Star Wars Launch Bay is, a secret haven for Star Wars fans to enjoy props from the films (and even the cartoons!), translate Aurebesh artwork, and search out myriad Easter eggs from the films. All of Disney’s plans for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge seem tailor made with geek culture in mind, even down to the toys that will be sold in shops, designed to replicate items made in the Star Wars universe (no action figures!).

Oh, and there’s another area of geek culture Disney has embraced to great profit…

Unlikely inspiration…

Image: Disney

We explored recently how Disney’s ambitious plans for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge carry some stunning similarities to video games. The same techniques that video game developers use (particularly in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) to make players feel fully immersed match those that Disney is planning to use for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. The land’s two flagship attractions won’t just be “tours” of the Star Wars universe. Rather, guests’ choices on those two attractions (which may have “gamified” interactive components) will affect how cast members and elements in Galaxy’s Edge interact with them, similar to how faction standings work in video games. While this may sound far-fetched, Disney already has the perfect mechanism by which to do this through MagicBands (pay attention to the posters in the queue of the Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster to see this technology already demonstrated).

Guests staying in the new Star Wars themed resort won’t just bed down in a cool themed hotel. They will actually role-play, in a way, as denizens of the Star Wars universe, right down to the clothes they wear while staying there. Everything from food and drinks to the merchandise available to purchase will be designed to make guests feel (as much as is reasonable) like they are truly visitors to that galaxy far, far away. Even now, before Galaxy’s Edge has landed, Disney has already proven video games can make spectacular inspiration for an attraction through the successful launch of “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire”, a hyper-immersive virtual reality experience at Disney Springs which might be the best attraction in all of Walt Disney World.

Endless financial opportunities

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega

Embracing geek culture has already proven hugely successful for Walt Disney World, and it appears they are going to keep running with the shift. Even beyond Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney’s plans for the inclusion of the upcoming Tron roller coaster in Tomorrowland and a Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster coaster in Epcot echo this. While merchandise will likely remain the most ubiquitous area where Disney cashes in on geek fandom, even upcharge experiences like the Star Wars Guided Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the Galactic Spectacular dessert party prove that the landscape has changed. The outliers have become one of Disney’s most embraced demographics, and we couldn’t be happier about it.

In what other ways do you think Disney is going to embrace geek culture in the future? What do you think about this shift so far?