This may shock some of you. When the Walt Disney Company first bought giant Lucasfilm back in 2012. People assumed a themed land or a entire theme park to Star Wars was in the works. It wouldn’t be until 2015 that the company would announce the official Star Wars Land project. Before that time Walt Disney Imagineering was working hard on the concept of Star Wars Land. Yet, the two companies operated like two separate companies. The Lucasfilm people weren’t sharing what they were planning for the new trilogy with Imagineering. So this lead to Imagineering designing Star Wars Land around the past trilogies. I’m assuming the original trilogy not the prequel trilogy. The prequel trilogy has received a lot of backlash over the years.
So Walt Disney Imagineering designed an original concept for Star Wars Land. Ironically that day they were revealed the future of Star Wars. Once seeing the future glimpse of Star Wars. Imagineering totally changed the plans to create a land around today’s version. Instead of the Empire enter the First Order. I would love to see concepts of the original Star Wars Land. Would the land be split into smaller lands? I didn’t get to ask any follow up questions but I sure wish I did.
I would assume they were designing attractions based off of notable planets not galactic outposts. I would assume that there was a pod racers ride despite some fans disdain for the prequel trilogy. Maybe we we’re going to get a glimpse of what it was like on Hoth or Tatooine. It’s fun to speculate.
Ironically I’m sure we could’ve had the Millennium Falcon ride in the old Star Wars Land too. It’s funny how a remnant of the old trilogy survived into this new era. The same argument could’ve been made for the Death Star and Starkiller Base. What if WDI wanted a Death Star they still could’ve put one in. Although WDI went the smarter route. If you add a Death Star. Theme park “critics” would question why it’s not floating. Similar to the same people that wanted to see actual “floating mountains” in Pandora: World of Avatar. Although I doubt Walt Disney Imagineering even acknowledges those “critics” it still would’ve been a design challenge.
Now we have a Star Wars Land that is named Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Which is surprising due to Samsung Galaxy Edge is a real thing. The name makes sense because we are at a remote frontier outpost on the Outer Rims. Another reason why the Imagineering team created a new land instead of one from the past was because fans already would have familiarity with the land. The team wanted to create a brand new experience for Star Wars fans.
This brand new experience is turning out better than most expected. The land looks huge and it will be accompanied by a hotel. At least for Florida’s version of the land. The immersive storytelling will be groundbreaking for the entire themed entertainment industry.
Although we are getting this brand new experience that could even appear in future Star Wars films. It’s still cool to think of the “What If?” That Walt Disney Imagineer made me think about the previous concepts. What could of been? Also how long were they working on the original concept? He made it seem like they had to throw away a ton of work. Maybe someday this concept art will get leaked on a message board. Until then it’s fun to speculate the What-If Star Wars Land.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief at the Boardwalk Times.
