Star Tours upgrade / Star Wars land (Rumours)

[PirateSteve]

As a huge lifelong Star Wars fan I'd be thrilled if this happened, but where would they have suddenly got the money to process this when Ratatouille was such a chore to push through?

[dagobert]

But why continue to fill a land with material that isn't theme-perfect and when there is plenty other material to draw on that better fits the theme of the land? Keep Star Tours and upgrade it - I'm happy with that. But adding more (I feel) would be sacrificing the brilliant, unique design and concept that Discoveryland has.

In my opinion Discoveryland was ruined in 2005 with the addition of Buzz Lightyear. I know many will disagree, but that ride shouldn't be there. It is a nice attraction and I also enjoy it, but WDI should have put it into WDSP.

A Star Wars mini land would be nice, because that area behind SM feels like a dead zone. But didn't Mr. Gas say in a round table discussion last year that he doesn't want to spend so much money just for a revamp of an existing ride. According to him guests are still fine with Star Tours. A Star Wars mini land without ST II wouldn't make any sense. If it's just another meet and greet I really don't need it.

Disney should also get rid of that ugly Toy Story restaurant. And one day I hope WDI will add Tourney to the Centre of the Earth behind SM. It would fit so perfectly into the Discovery theme. I know it's just wishful thinking, but that ride would make so much sense in Discoveryland. Disney should also retheme SM back to De La Terre A La Lune with that fantastic soundtrack.
Buzz Lightyear sould be moved to the Studios, because in my opinion that attraction ruins the look of Discoveryland. It just doesn't fit the visionary theme. It could be replaced with a wonderful Jules Verne inspired restaurant.

As long as there is no official announcement, any CM confirmation or construction, I doubt that the Star Wars mini land is coming.

[littlemermaid83]

I'm so against a Stars War land!

[BadKid]

I don't want Discoveryland to be destroyed. There are several ways of expanding a park. They should think of "The Little Mermaid", "Splash Mountain".

I agree.

[JelleP]

I don't want Discoveryland to be destroyed. There are several ways of expanding a park. They should think of "The Little Mermaid", "Splash Mountain".

I agree.

I couldn't agree more...
Especially the first sentence: "I don't want Discoveryland to be destroyed!"

[dagobert]

I don't want Discoveryland to be destroyed. There are several ways of expanding a park. They should think of "The Little Mermaid", "Splash Mountain".

I agree.

I couldn't agree more...
Especially the first sentence: "I don't want Discoveryland to be destroyed!"

I doubt that a so called Star Wars mini land would ruin Discoveryland. There is already the Star Wars based Star Tours and so that theme is already part of Discoveryland. If they are going to expand Star Wars than it has to be done outside the berm, like Lorum showed in his map. That wouldn't interfer that much with the existing Discoveryland. And when speaking of ruining the land, Buzz Lightyear did a lot more to ruin it. According to Tim Delaney, creator of Discoveryland, they wanted to do a collection of the future and I don't see how Buzz fits. Even Wall-E would fit better, because one could argue that he is Pixar's view of the future.

I also would like to see a new attraction in Frontierland or in one of the other lands. Splash Mountain in its current form wouldn't fit into Frontierland with the Thunder Mesa theme. Now we can say that it's in the back of the land, it wouldn't matter. But that's the same with Star Wars in the back of Discoveryland. However since Disney CEO Robert Iger doesn't want the Song of the South to be used anymore, WDI would have to come up with something new. Currently WDI is experimenting with a new ride system for POTC in Shanghai and they also wanted to bring it to Frontierland in DL Anaheim, but Tomorrowland needs a new attraction first. So maybe in the future this new system is also a possibility for Paris.

Adventureland doesn't have many attractions and so it would make sense to add one there, butIndy is too expensive and that means WDI has to create a smaller ride and given Disney's current attraction policy, I can imagine that it would be a character based one. So in my opinion Fantasyland would be the best choice if WDI wants to add a new toon inspired ride. Little Mermaid would be the best choice, since it is currently built in Florida and that would reduce costs, because DLP wouldn't have to pay for the whole research and development costs.

However I guess none of these things are going to happen in the next years and I still have my doubts about Star Tours II upgrade and the mini land. It's more likely to see Captain EO return for the summer season.

[Scissorsboi]

They're addressing a problem with this idea though aren't they, how often do we complain that behind Space Mountain ruins the theme, the buildings don't fit and are all different, Pizza Planet is just wrong in every way, and Star Tours feels out of place and belongs in Studios?

Surely by taking that whole area at once and making it visibly different and flowing as one then it will address that problem, you will have Discoveryland with it's Verne style (and Buzz would then become the obvious flaw to the land) and Star Wars Land (which I hope isn't called that if it goes ahead..) would be one flowing area. It'd remove a lot of the mish-mash of themes we've been left with as additions were tacked on without much thought.

It's not ideal no, but it'll tidy up an unsightly area which few people actually bother to go to!

[Anthony]

Surely by taking that whole area at once and making it visibly different and flowing as one then it will address that problem, you will have Discoveryland with it's Verne style (and Buzz would then become the obvious flaw to the land) and Star Wars Land (which I hope isn't called that if it goes ahead..) would be one flowing area. It'd remove a lot of the mish-mash of themes we've been left with as additions were tacked on without much thought.

Agreed. It actually seems like a sensible way to at least bring some cohesion to the land, at the same time as investing in the Star Tours upgrade.

I wouldn't like to see it as Star Wars Land and Discoveryland, though. It should be that there's a Star Wars area and a Mysterious Island-type area both within Discoveryland. In the same way Adventureland is a single land of "Adventure" themes but contains wildly different locales such as the bazaar, Africa, India and the Caribbean. That's the beauty of our Disneyland park compared to the other resorts: the lands are larger and less one-dimensional.

Personally I'd love a whole land dedicated to Jules Verne-type ideas, but that actually would make Discoveryland really lack the variety of the other lands in the park. Expanding the Star Wars presence means the land would have enough franchise-based stuff to justify balancing it with a better Verne area, perhaps. The major problem remains Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, built in entirely the wrong spot.

The only thing I dislike is "Star Wars Land". Please no! Call it anything but that. I'd like to see the whole area themed as the exterior of a much larger, more commercial Star Tours Astroport terminal.

[dagobert]

I guess Star Wars miniland is just a nickname given by the one who started the topic on DCP. I also hope that it will not get that name. In the end it's still a single attraction with a restaurant and a stage for kids to be a Jedi. At WDW that Jedi training was very small. POTC includes also a restaurant and asmall meet and greet with Jack in front of the building and it doesn't have its own Pirates Land name.

[Columbiad]

In the same way Adventureland is a single land of "Adventure" themes but contains wildly different locales such as the bazaar, Africa, India and the Caribbean.

I rephrase my opinion - if it was going to be done, it would have to done really well. The various area's in Adventureland work because of the one overarching feature they share - the greenery. The jungle greenery blends the area together, with subtle changes suggesting the various locales. But Discoveryland doesn't have that - Discoveryland is mostly architectural and it would be much, much harder to blend the warm, coppery Victorian retro-future with the cold, industrial white style of the Star Wars universe.

This is why I think it'd be better to use that space for more Mysterious Isle-style features, which is already perfect.

[dagobert]

I rephrase my opinion - if it was going to be done, it would have to done really well. The various area's in Adventureland work because of the one overarching feature they share - the greenery. The jungle greenery blends the area together, with subtle changes suggesting the various locales. But Discoveryland doesn't have that - Discoveryland is mostly architectural and it would be much, much harder to blend the warm, coppery Victorian retro-future with the cold, industrial white style of the Star Wars universe.

This is why I think it'd be better to use that space for more Mysterious Isle-style features, which is already perfect.

That's definitely true. That's why I suggested to expand Star Tours behind the railtrack berm, like it's shown in Lorum's map.

TDS has so many gret rides that would perfectly fit into Discoveryland. Most of them are inspired by the first Discovery Mountain envisioned by Tim Delaney. Journey to the Centre of the Earth ot 20000 Leagues under the Sea would be a perfect addition behind SM. It seems there's enough land, but not enough money. Under Eisner in his first years it would have been possible, but franchise lover Iger would be against that.

[|Q|]

But Discoveryland doesn't have that - Discoveryland is mostly architectural and it would be much, much harder to blend the warm, coppery Victorian retro-future with the cold, industrial white style of the Star Wars universe.

Actually, that's true only for the original trilogy. Being Star Tours II a prequel to the original one set between the trilogies, they could go for a more Coruscant look, that's plenty of gold and bronze and has a cool art-deco style that i think would fit really well in the overall style of the land.




(but of course, then the super-awesome Cantina Restaurant wouldn't not fit that well anymore, and what about that x-wing? lol)

Surely by taking that whole area at once and making it visibly different and flowing as one then it will address that problem, you will have Discoveryland with it's Verne style (and Buzz would then become the obvious flaw to the land) and Star Wars Land (which I hope isn't called that if it goes ahead..) would be one flowing area. It'd remove a lot of the mish-mash of themes we've been left with as additions were tacked on without much thought.

They could just try to restyle the exterior of Buzz's attraction, giving him a more steampunk look:






Q

[Columbiad]

They could just try to restyle the exterior of Buzz's attraction, giving him a more steampunk look:

That'd be amazing.

[CafeFantasia]

All this talk of Steampunk Star Wars reminds me of this:

[|Q|]

They could just try to restyle the exterior of Buzz's attraction, giving him a more steampunk look:

That'd be amazing.

The theme could be "mechanical toys", lol.

Q

[mattboywonder]

TDS has so many gret rides that would perfectly fit into Discoveryland. Most of them are inspired by the first Discovery Mountain envisioned by Tim Delaney. Journey to the Centre of the Earth ot 20000 Leagues under the Sea would be a perfect addition behind SM. It seems there's enough land, but not enough money. Under Eisner in his first years it would have been possible, but franchise lover Iger would be against that.[/quote]

Totally agree

[dagobert]

Doesn't Mysterious Island look great? I wish DLP's Discoveryland would be more like that.

[|Q|]

Doesn't Mysterious Island look great? I wish DLP's Discoveryland would be more like that.

Actually that's why i'm in NO HURRY to see something new in Discoveryland

Q

[Columbiad]

Even much of Port Discovery in DisneySea would fit beautifully in our Discoveryland, but Mysterious Island would be even better.

[Josh]

They definitely couldn't build Mount Prometheus, though, unless it was on a smaller scale. Sometimes, I wish they could demolish Space Mountain and build the original Discovery Mountain, but that's never going to happen. XD