At this point the disturbance in the force has calmed down quite a bit from the long awaited Star Wars announcement at this year's D23 convention. Wow...what an announcement it was. Time for the rumors and speculation to begin.
Before we dive into what could be coming I want to state that this is all opinion. None of this...NONE OF THIS...has been leaked or announced. It is all opinion and not necessarily opinion of what we think WILL happen but what COULD happen. We know a lot of our readers, like ourselves, can be passionate and want to initiate dialogue and have fun. Pour yourself a plastic cup of blue milk and let's get started.
The 14 acres
14 acres is a pretty big space especially for Disney-MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios/Disney's Hollywood Adventure (or whatever it will be?) but what has to be questioned is how much will be expansion vs. re-purposed?
Expansion versus re-purposed? What does it matter? We still get new stuff right? Yes and no. We could be talking about the difference between new structures housing new rides, shows and attractions or existing areas with nothing more than painted concrete. The area around Echo Lake (in front of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular) could easily be re-themed and painted as a transition area leading into the new Star Wars area. No...nothing of real substance but could and would easily be included in the 14 acres.
A rumor going around the internet is that American Idol or the old Sounds Dangerous stages will be re-purposed as a Jedi Training Academy. (*Interesting side note that some rumors suggest that an advanced audio-animatronic Yoda figure will be incorporated into the new show.) That building is pretty big and easily contributes to the overall 14 acres.
Even with the general transition area (Echo Lake), American Idol and Sounds Dangerous areas you probably still have 12 acres or more to play with.
To be fair the announcement did not mention how much of the 14 acres was guest area and how much was backstage. To prove my point when Disney's Animal Kingdom opened it was herald as "the largest Disney theme park ever built." What guests did not realize was that even though it was the largest park most areas were designated as backstage animal areas and the park opened with the smallest guest area of any Disney park at that time.
Two "NEW" Attractions
The Indiana Jones First Order / Rebellion Adventure
For years fans have wanted a version of the Indiana Jones Adventure from Disneyland to be built in Florida (even though you have Dinosaur...but I guess it is not good enough?). Well, your wish is about to come true...sort of.
It is really easy to use an existing ride system ( a good one at that) as the backbone of an epic battle between the Empire (First Order) and the Rebellion. Imagine being loaded onto Rebellion emergency evacuation vehicles escaping peril until something goes terribly wrong putting you in the middle of peril.
Of course this would probably be Indy 2.0 but this is our take and wish on what we would like this attraction to materialize into being. FYI the Indiana Jones Adventure in California is right under 1.5 acres.They can even use the same exact ride layout as Indy. It's not like they haven't done it before...right?
Millennium Falcon Tours
"Take the controls of the Millennium Falcon" can mean so many things. That could mean almost anything. When you whiz around the track at the Indy Speedway in Tomorrowland you are technically "taking the controls" of the car but then again you also "take the controls" in Mission: SPACE at Epcot. The point is even if you "take the controls" you really...don't. Our guess is you will "take the controls" in the new Millennium Falcon attraction just as much as you do in Star Tours which brings us to an interesting point... (hold on to that Millennium Falcon attraction thought for just a moment)Say Goodbye to Star Tours
Disney Cast Blast what are you talking about? Did you not see the announcement? They announced new destinations for Star Tours! It's not going anywhere...or is it? Our theory is that Star Tours is not long for our galaxy and here is why.The new destination(s) announced is merely something to whet the appetite until the first "new" attraction is open. (see Indiana Jones First Order/Rebellion Adventure - IJFORA). Once the IJFORA opens Star Tours will go dark and retrofitted to reopen as the "new" Millennium Falcon attraction. Quite easy to retrofit the cabins to look like the Falcon cockpit allowing you to "take control"...blah, blah, blah...
Something else to support this theory requires us to take a look at Disneyland. We know Disneyland is getting an almost identical version of the announced Star Wars Land. What we know is that it is NOT going into Tomorrowland. What is currently located in Tomorrowland? Star Tours. It does not make sense to have a Star Wars attraction separate from a sparkling brand new multi-billion dollar addition to the park. They will shut it down, convert the simulators into Millennium Falcon simulators and re-install them into the new land in their new location in the park. This will create a huge empty spot in Tomorrowland but that is not for us to discuss what they will do with that spot right now in this post.
There is our take on what was announced. We know there are some things cooking that were not announced. Don't get us wrong. We are excited about the announcement and cannot wait to see what is in store. Hopefully we are wrong about a few things and in a way we wouldn't mind seeing some of the things above actually happen.
Even though what we mentioned is a conservative look of what could happen we could be totally wrong and they could add four attractions on a plot that is a true 14 acre expansion. Most of the fun of announcements is the speculation and excitement of what is coming. The problem is we will probably not see any of this come to fruition any sooner than 2021.
What are your thoughts? Drop us an email at DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com.
