When guests walk into Tomorrowland at Disneyland today, they’ll be given a choice: on one side of the entryway, on the wall towards Star Tours, a giant symbol of the Rebellion (now called the Resistance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens) is illuminated in blue lights; on the other side, towards Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, is a giant red symbol for the Empire. Memorable music from the Star Wars series booms from newly installed speakers on the former PeopleMover track. Light and smoke effects erupt from overhead. The atmosphere is palpable. Simply walking into the land means you’re asked to make a decision: the light side … or the dark. This wonderfully sets the tone for everything that’s been added to the land as part of the Season of the Force celebration (due to last until sometime next year), which fully immerses you in the world of Star Wars, while still maintaining what makes Tomorrowland so special and beloved.

We’ve experienced almost all of the Season of the Force (Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple doesn’t open until December 8) and wanted to give you an idea of what to expect from the Star Wars-inspired offerings. First, a word of advice: to get through all of the Season of the Force’s facets, you’re going to want to give yourself a fair amount of time (we suggest an evening jaunt, to really take advantage of all the lighting and sound effects). Now, without further ado, let’s jump to light speed and travel to a galaxy far, far away …

Hyperspace Mountain



Tomorrowland’s premiere attraction gets a truly nifty Star Wars overlay. But it isn’t just projections and a John Williams-inspired soundtrack that makes Hyperspace Mountain such a thrill; it’s the fact that the Imagineers, true to form, immerse you in a captivating narrative. As you enter the attraction, you’ll notice new signage and a new video message, hosted by Admiral Akbar, informing you of your mission. There’s been a Star Destroyer spotted just outside of Jakku (one of the planets featured heavily in Star Wars: The Force Awakens). As a member of the Resistance, you’ll be asked to take down treacherous TIE fighters and ultimately detonate the Star Destroyer (all backed by that soaring soundtrack). The story plays out thanks to communiqués that play over your onboard speakers and on projections placed throughout the attraction. Our favorite part was the new effects installed to simulate laser fire from both the Resistance X-Wings and First Order TIE fighters. The “blastoff” sequence has also been redesigned to simulate taking off into hyperspace. Sure, a few Star Wars nods would have made Hyperspace Mountain really fun, but the extensiveness of the additions and the careful attention to storytelling really makes this something else entirely. It feels like a brand new ride while retaining that singular Space Mountain flavor. In short: we can’t wait to ride it again.

Star Tours



Star Tours is incredibly important in the link between George Lucas and Disney. It was the second collaboration between the two entertainment titans (after Captain EO, which premiered a year earlier) and the opening of the refurbished Star Tours – The Adventures Continue was instrumental in Lucas ultimately entrusting the franchise to Disney. So it makes sense that the attraction would get a brand new sequence, tied to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and premiering as part of Season of the Force. This new sequence is locked, so every guest who rides Star Tours will get to experience it. It’s the first sequence and has your StarSpeeder 1000 traveling alongside the Millennium Falcon on the desert planet of Jakku. Star Wars: The Force Awakens star John Boyega even makes an appearance, followed by a holographic cameo from everyone’s favorite adorable spherical droid, BB-8. The sequence is rollicking Star Tours fun and fits into the overall attraction seamlessly. It gives you a wonderful peek into the new movie’s world as well, without giving anything specific away. (We can’t wait to ride the attraction again after we’ve seen The Force Awakens.)

Star Wars: Path of the Jedi



Housed in the Tomorrowland Theater—former home to Magical Journeys, Captain EO, and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (plus recent previews of Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Hero 6, and Tomorrowland)—Star Wars: Path of the Jedi is a 10-minute montage that charts the entire arc of the Skywalker family through the first six Star Wars films (plus some footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, towards the end). And while the film isn’t in 3D, it does feature some in-theater lighting effects that are very cool, along with the seats rumbling at key moments. Star Wars: Path of the Jedi (not to be confused with the Star Wars Rebels episode of the same name) does a really terrific job of summarizing the franchise in a way that feels both concise and thorough, and does an even better job of getting you really, really excited for the new movie.

Star Wars Launch Bay



Talk about a complete transformation—the Star Wars Launch Bay, a kind of interactive museum, meet-and-greet area, demo space, and high-end retail location, takes over the bottom level of the circular Carousel Theater and totally transforms it. (This space was formerly home to Innoventions and before that America Sings and was the first post-World’s Fair home of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.) Walking into the Launch Bay, you see a giant printed opening crawl—like from the films—on the floor. “Our journey begins with an awakening. Welcome to a new era …” it says. To the left when you walk in is that high-end retail experience, where you can get all sorts of exclusive, hard-to-find items (we’ve got our eye on that $750 Han Solo costume). To the right is a small theater space, which we saw run episodes from Star Wars Rebels, and an incredible behind-the-scenes Star Wars documentary, featuring interviews with people like Gareth Edwards (director of the upcoming Rogue One) and Rian Johnson (writer-director of Episode VIII). Flanking that entryway are an amazing assortment of props and costumes from the new movie, including a full-sized Flametrooper and Rey’s Speeder. Further into the space there are additional props and costumes from older films, a demo area with video game systems set up to play Disney Infinity 3.0 (with exclusive content that you can’t get anywhere else) and, perhaps best of all, unique meet-and-greet opportunities with both Darth Vader and Chewbacca. We’ve been asked to keep the details to a minimum, but just know that if you enter a space with either one of these two, you’re going to get a truly personal experience thanks to some cutting-edge Disney magic.

Galactic Grill



Taking over the Tomorrowland Terrace, which is one of our favorite dining locations in all of Disneyland, is the Galactic Grill, which again offers you the opportunity to choose the light side or the dark side of the Force. If you choose the light side, you get the Jedi Order Grilled Chicken Sandwich, a tasty five-spice chicken sandwich with fried green beans, pickled red onions, purple watercress, and wasabi mayo. However, if you’re feeling a bit more Sith-like, you can grab the equally delicious First Order Specialty Burger, an angus beef and chorizo patty topped with fried cherry peppers, and spicy lime aioli that’s served on a dark bun. We also loved both of the new drinks (the dark side is a strawberry lemonade with a light-up Death Star cube, while the light side is an apple lemonade with yogurt meteors and a light-up Millennium Falcon), and of course, the desserts. The Pastry Menace was an artful éclair filled with hot pepper and milk chocolate—which had a nice kick to it—but our favorite by far was the Darth by Chocolate, an extremely rich parfait with layers of dark chocolate ganache, red velvet cake, and chocolate sponge. It’s got crushed Oreos on top, along with a dark chocolate Darth Vader mask. This is also a spot to pick up some of the amazing souvenirs, like the X-Wing popcorn bucket, BB-8 sipper, and Chewbacca stein. We didn’t get to take any of those home, but we’ll be back for them. Oh, yes we will …

So that’s it (for now) from Season of the Force. Remember that it opens today at Disneyland and that the Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple, will be up in December. Let us know what you’re looking forward to the most in the comments, and may the Force be with you!

Posted 5 years Ago