Star Wars themed lands announced for DL and DHS

[Sith]

I really dislike toontown and find it incredibly tacky. I would like it better if it wasn't so "cartoony". I know silly but it seems so unlike Disney. If Walt wanted his place to look cartoony he would have done Fantasyland that way. I've been going to DL since 1962 and I'm still mad they took out the Monsanto house of the future. I don't handle change well. To me, toontown is new. As Elsa would say "Let it go".

TOONtown is too cartoony...

 

[disneychrista]

Did they confirm that this is going in ToonTown? I have not seen anything that confirms this.

 

[Jafar30]

I'm excited for this

 

[Mr. Bastos]

Definitely looking forward to this. I was at the panel, and couldn't contain my excitement.

 

[VandVsmama]

I am totally excited about Star Wars Land. My sister and I grew up playing with the action figures. In fact, I still had them until last year when I passed them down to my 3 yr old nephew, who sings all of the Star Wars theme songs to himself when he is putting his toys away.

I'm Generation X and we grew up with Star Wars...grew up waiting in huge lines at the movie theater for every one of the movies when they first came out.

Star Wars embodies so many cool things that go along with the Disneyland part of "enter the world of yesterday, today, and tomorrow." It's like the Old West of the future. Where instead of a shoot out at the OK Corral, it's a shoot out with blasters between Han Solo and an alien. And Han shot first. Lol

It's also a world of incredible imagination. With human-like robots that have personalities, with cool space ships and creatures you have never seen before.

Then there are knights (Jedi) who train for years in their craft. On top of that, you have all of the cool classic good vs evil stories on top of it.

And princesses, too.

I can't wait to go to Star Wars Land. I won't miss the sad little petting zoo at Big Thunder Ranch.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Did they confirm that this is going in ToonTown? I have not seen anything that confirms this.

No, it's not going into ToonTown.

The land in Disneyland will be roughly two acres larger than neighboring Disney California Adventure’s Cars Land, which opened in 2012, and absorb the Big Thunder Ranch area and surrounding warehouses backstage.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-677863-land-star.html

Also, see post #72 on this thread for a map.

 

[VandVsmama]

Also wanted to add....

this is why I love Disneyland. It's just like Walt said...Disneyland will never be finished. It will always be changing and doing new things. If Disneyland had not embraced that idea, then we would still have a sad ineffective motor boat ride going around a lagoon with the boats breaking down. And we never would have had Carsland. Or DCA at all.

 

[Sherry E]

It's not just the petting zoo (with the adorable baby goats) that will be gone. It's the BBQ restaurant at the Ranch, which is extremely popular. It is the whole Festival Arena. It's the pumpkin carvers, the egg decorators, and Santa Goofy, the Halloween Carnival, the Jingle Jangle Jamboree, the Springtime Roundup, etc. Disney will have to find another place to put them (probably in DCA), because those things are important to their respective holiday seasons (especially the Halloween Carnival and the Springtime Roundup, as the Halloween and Easter offerings are very slim without that area).

I think that the new land will be very exciting and I look forward to it, but there are some of us who will also miss what is being taken out.

 

[disneychrista]

No, it's not going into ToonTown.

I saw that (after I posted this). Everyone was saying RIP to ToonTown.

 

[4Mickeys]

I just don't get why would they put Star Wars in Disneyland! Wouldn't it be better to have it at DCA? I don't want to see princesses on one side and then look the other way and see Darth Vader!

This kind of already happens - There is currently the Star Tours ride and the Jedi Training Academy with Darth Vader and Darth Maul. As a family with a girl and boys it meant they were all happy on our last trip. A visit to BBB for a Princess Makeoever and meet and greet one day then a visit to Jedi Training Academy the next for my son to be a trainee Jedi. Another day the Jedi Training Academy was cancelled but they did a meet and greet which meant my older boy got photo ops with Darth Vader (his favourite) - so all were happy.

I would hate to see elements of Toon Town go e.g. Mickey and Minnie's houses but the rest of it needs a serious overhall. But so to does Tomorrowland - hopefully as Star Tours is already there they will expand Tomorrowland for the new Star Wars theming. I can live without Autopia and the Submarines.

Also my DS 14 is excited for the rumoured Marvel attractions as well.

Ah now the problem is to start saving so we can see all the new stuff when it opens.

 

[Sherry E]

There's no way the Subs would be going anywhere with "Finding Dory" coming up next year. Maybe Disney would let them go in 2017, but I don't think so. Disneyland has to change and evolve, but I really do think they want to keep some 'vintage' aspects of each of the older lands as well. It will always be a blend of old and new.

 

[sheetz]

Logistically an area dedicated to Star Wars, being Disney's most valuable IP, makes sense at the back of DL because there is a lot of future potential expansion room there. As Disney continues to buy more offsite land it's conceivable that nearly all of that backstage area could become Star Wars expansion.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Country Bear was just cute. I admit I don't remember much about it. I liked the idea of friendly bears entertaining. Also it was cool in there.

Star Wars I have never been into. Sure I did enjoy Star Tours when it first opened and for a while after that. I never thought of that as part of the movie even though it was. As for Marvel, growing up I did like Superman and even He-Man, remember him? My cousin who is older than I am is huge on Spiderman or was and would probably like Marvel stuff. I'm also not at all into superheroes so that is a taste/choice factor too. I would rather a new Disney Land be introduced instead.

For the subs, I like the idea of them. The current Nemo version just doesn't do much for me. Would be cool if the ride were a little more interactive somehow or took you to clearer different lands.

 

[VandVsmama]

I expect that Disney will move the seasonal activities to another area of one of the parks. It brings a lot of locals back to the parks on a regular basis, so there is a good financial reason to put it somewhere.

 

[figment_jii]

I don't really care about Toontown, most of the ranch, the subs, Autopia, etc. being taken out for Star Wars Land. BUT, I would be so sad if Big Thunder Ranch BBQ had to go! I love that place so much, I look forward to it every trip.

I'd miss the BBQ as well. I'm curious to see, in the end, how accurate the maps that Micechat posted are. I'm hoping they're right because at the moment neither of the map versions actually have the entire BBQ highlighted in red, but it could just be how they've chosen to map out the approximate location. It might be that they just opt to use the Big Thunder Ranch Carnival area, but the BBQ could remain (maybe even share a kitchen with one of the Star Wars themed dining areas depending on how the new land is laid out).

 

[Lauren in NC]

I'd miss the BBQ as well. I'm curious to see, in the end, how accurate the maps that Micechat posted are. I'm hoping they're right because at the moment neither of the map versions actually have the entire BBQ highlighted in red, but it could just be how they've chosen to map out the approximate location. It might be that they just opt to use the Big Thunder Ranch Carnival area, but the BBQ could remain (maybe even share a kitchen with one of the Star Wars themed dining areas depending on how the new land is laid out).

That's what I'm hoping as well, though I wonder how the transition from BTR to Star Wars land would work. Perhaps the first area will be Tatooine so you can kinda ease from California desert to "I'm on an alien planet" desert The Al Lutz piece mentioned the Circle D ranch would be impacted, which I think is a backstage area, right?

 

[Oswald23]

Sorry to hijack this highly interesting topic. But a last question about something that @Sherry E said.

Do you also think Olaf Will stay put in the mean time to do meet and greets?

 

[Sherry E]

Sorry to hijack this highly interesting topic. But a last question about something that @Sherry E said.

Do you also think Olaf Will stay put in the mean time to do meet and greets?

Of course I have no way of knowing, but my guess is that if he is there in DCA now, at the meet & greet, he will stick around and then just move back over to the Snow Fest area whenever it reopens. He's so popular that I can't picture him going on hiatus. I am guessing that Disney wants to bring back the Snow Fest to have something 'wintry' in DCA during some part of the holiday season, especially if they don't have the Jingle Jangle Jamboree in Disneyland. I just don't know if Snow Fest will be back in mid-November, or by Thanksgiving, or sometime in December -- but based on the fact that first round of auditions for musicians already took place (even before the second round of Christmas Parade auditions), it looks like Disney is aiming for Snow Fest returning at some point during the holidays. Snow Fest debuted earlier this year, and they were auditioning musicians for it last October, if I recall correctly. So, August auditions would seem to imply that they are planning to reopen it well before January!

 

[BobearQSI]

No, it's not going into ToonTown.

The land in Disneyland will be roughly two acres larger than neighboring Disney California Adventure’s Cars Land, which opened in 2012, and absorb the Big Thunder Ranch area and surrounding warehouses backstage.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-677863-land-star.html

Also, see post #72 on this thread for a map.

The map in post #72 only covers about 11 acres, and Disney has confirmed it is going to be 14. The MiceChat map showing toontown gone is right around 14 acres.

Now, they could remove other backstage buildings too. The OC Register article and the LA Times article seem to indicate Toontown will stay, though. Let's just hope so - adding something with removing as little as possible is always better. That, and my kids loved playing in Goofy's house there - it's a nice break for the adults!

 

[Oswald23]

Thanks @Sherry E

I'll wait and see. He is on my top 2 characters I want to see half october
That's why i was asking.