Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: Breaking down the BTS trailer

Disney Parks released a behind the scenes trailer for their upcoming park expansion, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. Here’s a breakdown of what they revealed.

For those who may have missed it, a new Behind the Scene’s promotional trailer for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge was released on Christmas morning.

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is an upcoming Star Wars-themed expansion of the Disney parks, with two locations currently in development. As of now, two of these additions are currently in development, with one in Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California set to open in Summer of 2019, and the other in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, scheduled to open in Fall 2019. Each park will encompass about 14 acres.

A major Star Wars-themed addition was first announced back in 2015 and construction on the parks began in 2016. The name Galaxy’s Edge was officially announced in July 2017 at the D23 Expo, and Disney CEO Bob Iger stated in a press release that the park will be “occupied by many inhabitants; humanoids, aliens and droids … the attractions, the entertainment, everything we create will be part of our storytelling. Nothing will be out of character or stray from the mythology.”

The trailer it released on the Official Disney Parks Youtube channel gave us a behind the scenes look at the development of the park and what we can expect from it.

Disney Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge and Lucasfilm Story Group VP Carrie Beck are interviewed as they describe what to expect from the park. Some quick glimpses of concept art for the park are shown, along with some of the characters that will be featured and a life-sized replica of the Millennium Falcon.

While all of that is interesting on its own, the highlights of the trailer are the two Star Wars rides that were announced along with some quick previews on what to expect from them.

The first attraction shown was called Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. The premise of this ride is, as the title implies, the rider pilots the Millennium Falcon through an adventure in space. Despite being called Smuggler’s Run, a few Tie Fighters are heard and fly in front of the ship’s display, meaning the rider will be likely dealing with the Empire as well.

Similar to the now closed Star Tours ride Disney originally had in several of their parks, the Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run appears to be an interactive flight simulator, meaning that it will take place in a stationary room, designed to be like the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit, and will involve moving seats and a giant display screen with surround sound, along with other effects.

Trowbridge really hypes this ride, stating it “puts you straight in that cockpit, right behind the controls, whether your one of the pilots, or gunners, or flight engineers that are keeping ship operating. It is gonna be an intense, super fun experience on the fastest ship in the Galaxy.”

More from Disney

• Seasons of the Force and new Star Tours coming to Disneyland
• Galaxy’s Edge delights fans revealing three new roaming droids
• New Young Jedi Adventure trailer gives first look at Bell Zettifar
• Interview: John Jackson Miller discusses transition from EU to Disney
• Ahsoka Tano is coming to Disneyland’s Star Tours

The other attraction announced for Galaxy’s Edge is called Rise of the Resistance. Carrie Beck described this ride, stating “any great story has conflict and tension, and it’s not Star Wars without the war, so it was absolutely fundamental that the story of the land actually finds the guest between the Resistance and the First Order”.

Trowbridge also chimes in on this new addition to the park as well, calling it “the most epic attraction (they’ve) ever built”.

The premise of Rise of the Resistance, is that the rider is a new recruit for the Resistance and is sent on a mission to help take down the First Order, which will include coming face to face with Kylo Ren. The footage released on the attraction also shows the rider being shot at by AT-AT’s at some point during the ride.

Unlike the first ride, this one will appears to involve a different mechanical set up. While Smuggler’s Run was a simulator, this is designed to be on a more traditional moving track. The group of park guests will enter a cart on the track which will take them through the ride, which is shown to involve them going through the insides of a First Order base.

If you haven’t seen the trailer already, it’s linked at the top of the page and I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge appears to be shaping up quiet nicely and clearly has a lot of creative people working to make it. Star Wars and amusement park fans alike are eagerly awaiting its release next year, and as the date gets closer, expect Disney to keep dropping trailers like this to promote it.