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6. The Disney Skyliner

Disney Skyliner interior
Image: Disney

With the upcoming opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (more on that later), Disney knew they needed to solve long-standing problems surrounding limited transportation between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios—a fleet of friendship boats wasn’t going to cut it.

Despite a few hiccups, the Disney Skyliner really was a pleasant surprise for families upon its opening. The system is surprisingly fast—offering similar or faster transportation times between parks compared to walking or taking friendship boats. The gondolas also offer amazing views of the resorts and waterways between the two parks. If you aren’t afraid of heights, the Skyliner is seriously fun, and I’ve seen a number of kids really enjoy their rides. It’s like an upgrade of the old Magic Kingdom Skyway!

7. Disney’s Hollywood Studios gets its first major expansion

Slinky Dog Dash coaster
Image: Disney

Disney’s Hollywood Studios has always been a bit of an odd duck, housing some of Disney’s best thrill attractions while simultaneously feeling like its content is all over the place. Since opening, it long suffered from a reputation as a “half-day” park.

In the late 2010’s, Disney set out to fix that reputation, and it started with giving DHS its first major expansion.

After the success of Toy Story Mania as well as Cars Land in Disney’s California Adventure, it made perfect sense that this first expansion turned out to be Toy Story Land. It solved a significant problem for the park in offering a major draw for families with small kids, as well as offering the park’s first kid-friendly coaster in the form of Slinky Dog Dash. While the land didn’t necessarily delve into the ultra-immersive elements we saw in New Fantasyland and Pandora, it did accomplish its goal by bringing kid-approved rides and character encounters to the park.

However, it’s not hard to guess that Toy Story Land was put in place to serve other purposes tied to Disney’s most ambitious project to date…

8. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Galaxy's Edge opening ceremony
Image: Disney

When Disney announced their purchase of the Star Wars franchise in 2012, fans knew it was only a matter of time before the greatest saga of our time exploded into Disney parks.

While Star Wars has long had a presence at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland thanks to Star Tours, Star Wars Weekends, and Jedi Temple Training, the Star Wars buyout meant something different—it meant “Star Wars Land” was coming.

The official announcement came at D23, and fans lost it. This wasn’t just going to be a land celebrating Star Wars—Disney intended to transport fans into a specific moment in the Star Wars canon with connections to the entire saga, and to put you at the helm of that adventure. Within the year, Star Wars began a fresh invasion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, complete with the arrival of Star Wars Launch Bay and the March of the First Order (which remains one of the most ridiculously cool things ever for a Star Wars fan).

We’ve written at length about the controversy-fraught opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.  Disney ran into some snags with bad press regarding attendance early on due to a mix of issues including contention among Star Wars fans, guests staying home to await the opening of the land’s second attraction, and even the land’s excellent crowd control systems creating the appearance of emptiness. Despite this, the land itself was met with critical acclaim and the Walt Disney World opening went smoother (to the point Disney had to open the park early for the massive opening day crowd).

Stormtroopers in Rise of the Resistance Star Destroyer
Image: Disney

I would go so far as to say Galaxy’s Edge is a masterpiece among theme park lands. The entire land is an attraction, an all-encompassing experience of interactive elements, subtle character encounters, and mini-stories unravelling throughout the day. You could spend hours just taking it in and never step onto a ride. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is, in so many ways, the ride Star Wars fans have been dreaming of for decades—getting to pilot the fastest hunk o’ junk in the galaxy. Disney did a brilliant job finding ways to tie in every era of the franchise, from references to the Old Republic, appearances from Clone Wars and Rebels favorites like Hondo Ohnaka, tie-ins to the original trilogy, and a storyline with direct links to the recent films.

On top of this, kids and adults alike can enjoy so many incredible experiences, from building a real droid or lightsaber, to playing Sabaac with a shady card dealer, to interacting with elements throughout the land using the Star Wars Datapad app, and even “Batuu-bounding” as their own Star Wars character. Even the shopping and food is all made to feel straight out of Star Wars.

The real gem of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, however, is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This insanely complex symphony of ride technology did something Disney fans had never seen before—making guests the heroes of an ultra-immersive adventure across four different ride systems. If that’s not enough, it’s even more mind-blowing to realize that the story of the ride has an actual effect on events in the Star Wars canon. Rise of the Resistance proved so successful that it basically broke Walt Disney World—fans showed up in such immense crowds that they broke long-established crowd calendars and forced Disney to implement new policies on the fly! Without question, it’s definitely the new favorite attraction of many kids who got to enjoy it during those opening months.

9. The return of wandering characters

Vi Moradi hiding from stormtroopers
Image: Disney

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge brought us another sweet surprise—the return of wandering characters.

Wandering characters used to be the norm at Disney parks throughout the 80’s and 90’s. Once smartphones took off in popularity, guests could take thousands of pictures a day—meaning much longer wait times for character meetings. Disney changed their policies and wandering characters disappeared.

Throughout the 2010’s, wandering characters have started to make a comeback—in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, they’re actually the norm! Guests can randomly encounter stormtrooper patrols, Rey, Finn, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and Leia’s spy, Vi Moradi at any point during a visit, and they even take guests on secret “missions” sometimes. The spontaneity of these encounters can make for some pretty incredible moments (like the time I saw a young woman burst into tears of joy when she realized that Rey was standing in front of her inviting her to join the Resistance).

While we don’t know how current events will affect the use of wandering characters in the future, we hope Disney brings this trend back eventually—it made for some incredible memories for kids and adults alike!

10. Lines get WAY less boring

Kids playing Star Wars Datapad in Galaxy's Edge
Image: Disney

“10 hour lines are not a sign of success. It should be seen as a sign, frankly, of failure.”

This was a quote from Disney parks chairman, Bob Chapek, and it sums up a major philosophic shift Disney embraced this past decade—one that proved a major win for kids.

Lines are the worst part of visiting a theme park… so Disney set out to fix them.

The 2010’s saw Disney parks make some significant strides in improving queueing woes throughout their parks. The opening of New Fantasyland marked the beginning of Disney using interactive queue areas like those in Dumbo and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Interactive elements were added to queues throughout the parks like games in the Space Mountain line and trivia challenges on Soarin’. Avatar: Flight of Passage is a great example of a queue filled with story elements that keep guests engaged until the ride pre-show begins.

The biggest step forward—one Disney is admittedly still getting the hang off—is the arrival of virtual queues. Virtual queues were used heavily for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World to mitigate initial crowds, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance acted as Disney’s first challenging experiment with using the system to handle crowds on high-demand rides. While the system definitely has its issues, there’s no question that getting to enjoy hours of fun doing what you want in the parks is way more fun than standing in line—especially from a kid’s point of view.

What does the future hold for Walt Disney World beyond 2020? We are certainly facing some uncertain times, but part of the magic of Disney parks is enjoying the fruit of the creativity, determination, and ingenuity of Walt Disney’s many successors—the Imagineers, creative minds, businessmen, and dreamers who make the Most Magical Place on Earth a reality. The minds behind Disney parks have overcome challenges before, and we look forward to seeing how they do it again.

Did you enjoy this series? Check out our other entries from Disney decades past:

 
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