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4. Themed upcharge experiences

Guests exploring Black Spire Outpost - Concept Art

Image: Disney

We know Disney loves upcharge experiences. They’ve gone a bit wild with them these days but Disney’s exclusive collection of tours, dessert parties, and VIP experiences have been part of the resort’s DNA for decades. It would be crazy if Disney didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to provide some exclusive experiences for guests surrounding Galaxy’s Edge. We are already aware of some coming with the park’s opening, such as lightsaber building in Savi’s secret workshop or the upcoming role-playing experiences at the new Star Wars resort. It seems likely these are just the tip of the iceberg for many more upcharge events to come.

Consider the standard Disney dessert party. There is already a Star Wars themed one for watching the nightly fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but what if Disney were to embrace in-world immersion and create a dinner party experience in Galaxy’s Edge where the entire night is about figuring out who the First Order spy among the guests is? It could be almost like a murder mystery theater night, only in Star Wars. Disney has touched on this sort of thing before with some of their dinner shows.

Stormtrooper looking right at camera

Exclusive in-world quests are another possibility. Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at Disney Springs proved it is possible to place guests in an ultra-realistic mission that isn’t as crowded as a standard ride. Secrets of the Empire uses “hyper-reality” VR and a giant maze to allow guests to experience a hands-on mission for the Rebel Alliance where they can run through the environment, pick up in-world digital objects (using physical counterparts), fire blasters, and solve puzzles with jaw-dropping realism. It would be difficult to pull off this sort of thing as an attraction drawing thousands of guests a day, but it works as an upcharge experience.

How cool would it be if the Black Spire Outpost included something similar, such as a Star Wars-themed escape game-- one that ties into the world’s story and involves escaping from captivity (either from a bounty hunter or because the First Order thinks you’re a Resistance spy)? Escape games have become extremely popular in Orlando, and Disney even dabbled in making their own as a team building activity. It would be difficult to make this concept work as a regular queued attraction, but as an upcharge, it could become hugely popular and also act as another means for guests to enjoy Galaxy’s Edge without adding more bodies to queues.

5. Getting off-world

Star Tours Lightspeed and Boarding Gate sign

Both of the major attractions at Galaxy’s Edge share something in common: they both give guests an opportunity to get off of Batuu and into space.

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run completely surrounds the concept of flying the Falcon on a smuggling mission for Hondo Ohnaka. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is partially set off-world as well, with guests being transported off Batuu during the course of the attraction. With a little magic, Disney could take guests just about anywhere in the Star Wars universe if they wanted to.

There are some limits to this, of course. One of the minor flaws in Star Tours (aside from the fact its varying versions tend to time travel all over Star Wars history) is the fact that we know from the Star Wars films that hyperspace travel isn’t instantaneous. It does take a little time to get wherever you are going. It might strain credulity to have guests transported from Batuu to Coruscant in the blink of an eye, but this wouldn’t be that hard to overcome, as we’ve already seen with the plans for Rise of the Resistance. Wherever upcoming Star Wars films go next, so long as they fall in the same spot in the timeline, Galaxy’s Edge will likely be able to accommodate attractions that follow. This could make for some very fun opportunities to experience beloved off-world locations like Endor, Tatooine, Coruscant, and more in an immersive form beyond Star Tours.

The stars are the limit. Dreaming big, what sort of things would you love to see in future phases of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Respond in the comments or on our Facebook page!

 
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Comments

It would be awesome to see an attraction that utilizes the Flight of Passage technology, for pod racing!!

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