DIS Walt Disney Co

By Erich Schwartzel 

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A galaxy far, far away is colonizing Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks.

This summer vacation season, Disney will open a Star Wars-themed attraction here at Disneyland and another at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Each will be a 14-acre expanse of rides, shops and restaurants that represent the largest single expansion in either park's history.

At $1 billion each, the attractions fulfill ambitions first discussed when Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and are a bet the franchise's appeal will last even after the Skywalker trilogy ends when the final installment hits theaters in December.

Soon after the Lucasfilm purchase, Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger huddled with his parks team. "Be more ambitious than you've ever been," he told them.

The company ended up spending more than any investment in Star Wars yet, and moved a Disneyland train and river to clear the space they needed.

The attraction, called Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, presents an intergalactic world known as Batuu that is designed to be all-encompassing. It is anchored by a version of the Millennium Falcon, the "hunk of junk" flown by Han Solo. The noise of adjacent Disneyland crowds and roller coasters is drowned out by new orchestral music by John Williams, who composed the original Star Wars theme.

"We've recognized that the deeper the immersion, the better the experience," Mr. Iger said Wednesday in an interview inside a re-creation of Oga's Cantina, not long before he was scheduled to show the bar to Star Wars creator George Lucas for the first time.

Since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion, the property has become a pillar of the company's strategy of focusing on franchises it can mine for sequels, theme-park attractions, toys and more. Galaxy's Edge, which is expected to require reservations and limit visits to four hours for the first several weeks, is seen by Disney and analysts as turbocharging theme-park revenue when other divisions of the company such as its cable channels face an uncertain future.

Galaxy's Edge opens at a turning point for the Star Wars movie franchise. The Skywalker trilogy is said to conclude with the December release, and the company's future movies may not be surefire hits like recent installments that reunited Luke and Leia. A spinoff series, "The Mandalorian," is expected to launch with Disney's new streaming service in November, but other theatrical releases have been delayed following the disappointing performance of "Solo."

The Disneyland Galaxy's Edge opens Friday, with the Orlando location following in late August.

Jesse Silva, a 27-year-old die-hard Star Wars fan from San Diego, has already reserved two days at Galaxy's Edge, including opening day. Mr. Silva, who works in insurance, estimates he has been to Disneyland between 300 and 400 times, but said, "I'm a bigger Star Wars fan than I am Disney fan."

With an $800-a-night hotel reservation and two-day tickets for himself and three friends he is treating, Mr. Silva expects to spend about $3,000 on this first visit, including about $500 set aside for lightsabers and other souvenirs.

He takes one or two Disney trips a year. "If I don't, I go crazy," he said.

Galaxy Edge will try to make visitors forget that they are in an amusement park and living in the Star Wars galaxy.

Visitors will make their own lightsabers, eat smoked kaadu ribs and drink cocktails called Jedi Mind Trick. There will be Coca-Cola bottles with Batuu script and Disney employees greeting visitors with a cheery "bright suns" -- a way the people of the Batuu world say "good afternoon."

Disney has released four new Star Wars movies since buying Lucasfilm, including the mega-blockbuster "The Force Awakens" and the underperformer "Solo." The next installment, "The Rise of Skywalker," is due Dec. 20.

A consistent bright spot has been Disney's theme parks, the fastest-growing division for the company. Operating income for the division hit $4.5 billion in 2018, more than double the amount five years earlier, with attendance frequently hitting capacity.

Galaxy's Edge will open with a ride in the Millennium Falcon, and a second attraction, known as Rise of the Resistance, will open by the end of this year. Much of the experience is dominated by the cafes and souvenir stores, where a lightsaber will run about $129. Photo opportunities will abound in a place where even the trash cans are designed as they would be on Batuu.

"The first attraction is the land itself," said Bob Chapek, Disney's chairman of parks, experiences and products.

The theme-park addition has already been incorporated into Disney's franchise machine, with books that mention Batuu on shelves and allusions to the coming "Mandalorian" series scattered throughout the park. Classic characters such as Chewbacca appear alongside newer ones like Kylo Ren.

Thirsty visitors can choose between the blue milk Luke Skywalker drank in the original 1977 film and a green variety he quaffed 40 years later in "The Last Jedi," though both of the $7.99 beverages are more of a Slushie-type concoction than actual milk.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 30, 2019 06:59 ET (10:59 GMT)

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