I Was Pumped About Those Galaxy's Edge Changes, But There's One Downside We Need To Talk About

When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland, it was not an understatement to say it was among the biggest days in the history of the 70-year-old resort. It was the biggest single expansion the park had ever seen, and it brought one of the biggest franchises ever to Disneyland in a way that people had never experienced before.

One of the unique concepts that came with it was the idea that the land would be set during the sequel trilogy, so only characters from the later films would appear. This made it a big deal when it was recently announced that this would be changing, as Han, Luke, Leia, and more are set to come to Disneyland in April. It’s exciting for a lot of reasons, but it’s also a bit upsetting for another reason.

The End Of The Timeline Is A Step Backward For Themed Entertainment

Universal Orlando Resort is credited with starting the trend of building theme park lands around single franchises. The first Wizarding World of Harry Potter encouraged guests to put on robes, purchase wands, and become part of the Harry Potter movies. Disney attempted its first land like this with Pandora: The World of Avatar, but it took it to another level with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

This wasn’t just a land themed to Star Wars, but a land that encouraged guests to live a Star Wars adventure, to play a role in a story that was taking place around them. It wouldn't sell Star Wars t-shirts; it would sell the things you might expect to buy on a Star Wars planet. It was a new level of themed entertainment inside a theme park that offered immersion into the story that hadn’t been available before.

The immersion was even deeper at Walt Disney World when the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opened. It offered a Star Wars story playing out around you for multiple days, with a variety of ways you could choose to take part in it. It was a huge step forward in themed entertainment.

Of course, the Galactic Starcruiser closed for business, which was the first nail in the coffin of this new era of Disney themed entertainment. The end of the timeline is the next one. At this point, it seems unlikely Disney will be trying anything like it again anytime soon, and if Disney couldn’t make it work, we probably won't see any other theme parks try it either.

Original Trilogy Characters At Galaxy’s Edge Is Still Cool

To be clear, I’m not saying that I am upset or frustrated that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is abandoning its timeline. Having these classic characters in the land is still going to be incredible. For a lot of people, this was a trade worth making.

And, Walt Disney World is still moving forward with the original vision for the land. Perhaps it will continue to add to it and find a way to create the Star Wars story that fans will embrace. Although if Disneyland's new version is a runaway success, a transformation in Florida eventually seems likely.

As a fan of themed entertainment broadly, I wanted what Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was to succeed. It was a new frontier that Disney Live Entertainment and Walt Disney Imagineering clearly wanted to pursue. If it had worked, there were any number of new things we might have seen at Disneyland or Disney World that would have expanded on the concept, creating new types of attractions we’d never seen before.

Maybe theme parks just aren’t the right place for this kind of more immersive entertainment? It's maybe not a surprise, but it's still a bummer.