Season of the Force: Star Wars at Disneyland Part 1!
Jedi Jondee here on Jakku,
Disneyland is celebrated it’s 60th anniversary with a decorated castle and diamond Minnie ears. There is also Christmas with a massive decorated tree in Main Street, lights along the store fronts, and Christmas music. Still, in Tomorrowland it was all about Star Wars. There was a Season of the Force placard above the walkway on the former Peoplemover rail. This was the second day of Season of the Force. Pass that and it’s Star Tours. It is the same attraction except the first destination and hologram message. The first planet is Jakku where you race with the Millennium Falcon through the ship graveyard with two TIE fighters blasting at it. On the right corner screen, Finn (John Boyega) gives the parting advice, “Put the shields up if they work.” Nice to see a main character appear on the ride. The Starspeeder crashes into the interior of a spaceship and slides to a stop. Scavengers point a flashlight beam at the cockpit screen and one manages to pull off the Star Tours logo from the front of the ship and raise it in victory. Artoo gets the Starspeeder free from the ship and into hyperspace. A transmission is from BB-8. He needs to send you on a mission. BB-8 makes a sound like “Wah Wah” to which C-3PO says, “Good luck? Where are we going?!” Which leads to the next destination which may be random, we got Coruscant.
Star Tours lets out in the store which has been stripped down though it still has the build your own lightsaber section. The rest of the merch has been moved out to the larger store. In the back of the store is the little kids’ section. The front of the store is women’s wear. Nothing really for guys, there were two of the regular action figures, no Force Awakens t-shirts. There was a selection of pins; Captain Phasma, BB-8 “Join the Resistance” with a rotating ball, and pins of Finn and Rey. What was a top seller was the BB-8 sippers. These were at Pizza Port and also the fruit stand. They run for about $14, about the size of a handball, the top opens and you can pour in your favorite drink. Another nifty collectible was the black TIE fighter popcorn bucket. It is massive with pop-out panels, handy strap to carry it, and a cockpit hatch to put your popcorn though your popcorn is given separately in a bag. The fruit stand also has light-up X-Wing fighter clips, $4.50. The Galactic Grill restaurant has Star Wars themed food. It has light side and dark side items, a Darth Tamale for breakfast, and First Order Specialty Burger, sounds tasty, but I ordered the chicken nuggets. I really hope to see nerf nuggets that is more Star Wars based and not just Star Wars themed. The nicest dessert item is a BB-8 Rice Krispies treat with a frosted BB-8 on the front and chocolate in the rice krispie, delicious!
At the former Captain EO theater is Path of the Jedi. What is surprising is that there is very little signage on the walls outside of the theater. A print of the characters or scenes from the movie, blueprints, vehicles, something. I can still see the screws in the wall when they had the wonderful Tomorrowland presentation. This is course a 4D experience. Basically, it’s constructed around Obi-Wan Kenobi’s explanation of the Jedi to Luke, this unveils scenes from all of the Star Wars films. The Dark Side is seen with Grievous, Darth Maul, and the Emperor. Darth Vader telling Luke that he is his father. The clips are cut together well and this leads to a combination of the trailer material for Force Awakens. There is some wind effects, rumble in the seats, and lights which are ok. Overall, it will get seats in the theaters for Force Awakens if there are any seats after the sell-outs. So Star Tours, the merch, and Path of the Jedi, yup, next is Hyperspace Mountain and Star Wars Launch Bay!
