New themed lands at Disneyland and in Florida t will be based on “Star Wars” and “Toy Story.”
ANAHEIM, Calif. — “Star Wars” and “Toy Story” will be heading to the Disney theme parks in a big way. Themed lands that were once based around ideas of the frontier, the future or fantasy will share property with ones based entirely on “Star Wars” galaxies, “Toy Story” backyards or “Avatar” planets.
It’s the trend in theme parks (see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal parks), and it’s one already embraced by Disney with Cars Land (at California Adventure in the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim). Yet for a company that still proclaims, “It was all started by a Mouse,” the change represents a bold shift away from the characters and the hand-drawn animation that defined Disney in the Walt era.
Although the charm of the so-called happiest place on Earth may come from the dolls in It’s a Small World or the singing parrots of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, a Disneyland amid its 60th-anniversary celebration must think of how to stay relevant for another 60 years.
Enter the Millennium Falcon as well as the characters and story lines of the upcoming “Star Wars” trilogy, whose first film, “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” will be released in December.
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Disney theme parks, of course, have always enjoyed a tight relationship with films and television. Before the Jungle Cruise became the pun-filled journey it is today, the once-serious ride took its inspirational cues from “True-Life Adventures,” Disney’s classic nature documentaries of the ‘40s and ‘50s.
Branding has also always been a heavy component of the Disney theme parks, be it the pirate-themed Chicken of the Sea Restaurant or a corporate-sponsored Tomorrowland exhibit dedicated to the wonders of aluminum (both lost to history).
Large-scale changes to Disney theme parks are relatively rare, and even small ones bring heightened concern from the dedicated fan base whose devotion is often tied up in childhood memories and nostalgia that play tricks with the mind, erasing the low points (see the aforementioned aluminum exhibit).
No doubt, the “Star Wars” addition to Disneyland announced in August will do the same for many. Ground won’t be broken in Anaheim until the end of 2017 at the earliest, offering fans plenty of time to debate the challenge ahead: how to blend the new with what Walt built.
“You can’t have precious ideas,” said former Imagineer chief Marty Sklar when asked how he balanced Disney tradition with the need to keep the parks fresh. And, he added, you can’t be afraid of failure.
“If you don’t fail,” he said, “you’re probably doing nothing new.”
The 14-acre “Star Wars”-themed lands coming to Disneyland and to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando will be “the largest single land expansions either of those parks have ever had,” said Scott Trowbridge, an Imagineering executive overseeing the project. By comparison, California Adventure’s Cars Land stands at 12 acres. For Disneyland proper, it is arguably the biggest addition to the park since 1959, when Walt introduced the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail System, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Submarine Voyage.
A company spokesperson confirmed that the “Star Wars” area would replace Disneyland’s Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland and nearby backstage areas currently off-limits to guests. It’s possible that backstage areas for the “Star Wars” land will be located on 14.7 acres the company recently acquired near Disneyland and California Adventure.