On June 3, 2011, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue opened at Disneyland and quietly changed what a Star Wars ride could be. The original Star Tours was already a landmark: a motion-simulator trip through the galaxy before Disney owned Lucasfilm, before Galaxy’s Edge, before Star Wars became a full theme park land. But The Adventures Continue did something smarter than just making the ride shinier. It made Star Wars unpredictable. The Same Ride, But Never Quite the Same Trip The big hook was randomization. Instead of sending every guest on the same fixed adventure, The Adventures Continue mixed different destinations, characters, transmissions, and action beats into multiple possible ride combinations. Wired’s 2011 preview of the upgraded Star Tours: The Adventures Continue noted that the ride could produce 54 different story combinations. For a theme park attraction, that was a brilliant little trick. You were not just riding Star Tours. You…
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On This Day: Galaxy’s Edge Opened and Turned Star Wars Into a Real Place
On May 31, 2019, Star Wars stopped being something fans only watched, read, played, or argued about online. It became a place you could physically walk into. That was the day Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland Resort in California, inviting visitors to step onto Batuu, a new planet built specifically for the theme park experience. StarWars.com confirmed the May 31 opening date, with the Walt Disney World version following later that same year. Seven years later, Galaxy’s Edge still feels like one of the boldest Star Wars experiments ever made. Not quite a movie. Not quite a game. Not quite a museum. More like a playable piece of the galaxy. Batuu Was a Smart Choice The clever thing about Galaxy’s Edge was that it did not simply rebuild Tatooine, Hoth, or Coruscant. Disney and Lucasfilm created Batuu instead, a new frontier world that felt familiar without being trapped…
Disney Just Turned Smugglers Run Into a Mando and Grogu Ride
The Millennium Falcon just got a new job, and naturally, Grogu is involved. A new Mandalorian and Grogu mission has officially arrived for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, launching at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort alongside The Mandalorian and Grogu hitting theaters. That timing is not exactly subtle. But honestly, neither is putting Din Djarin, Grogu, Hondo Ohnaka, multiple planets, branching destinations, and the Millennium Falcon into the same attraction update. This is Star Wars synergy with the hyperdrive fully repaired. The Falcon Has a New Mission The updated Smugglers Run mission sends crews after ex-Imperial officers, with Hondo Ohnaka once again turning your vacation into unpaid space labor. The adventure begins on Tatooine, because apparently every Star Wars mission is legally required to touch sand at some point. From there, the ride can branch toward several major locations, including Bespin, Coruscant, and…
Disney Is Turning Galaxy’s Edge Comics Into Limited-Edition Collectibles
Disney is giving Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge one of the most dangerous things in collecting: a limited-edition comic set with figures, coins, and a very obvious “this will probably sell out” energy. As part of its Star Wars Day merchandise push, Disney is releasing five all-new limited-edition Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge comic sets through Disney Store and the Disney Parks. Each set includes a full-size comic book, a sculpted collectible coin, and a Star Wars action figure, with an edition size of 5,500 each. The sets launch May 4, 2026, at 8 a.m. PT on DisneyStore.com and will also be available at Disney Parks. Batuu Gets the Collector Treatment The sets are built around characters tied to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, including names like Chewbacca, DJ R-3X, Dok-Ondar, and more. Disney’s official merchandise preview frames the release as part of the wider May the 4th wave, which means these are…
Disneyland’s New Leia Look Has a Battlefront II Twist
Princess Leia is heading to Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland on April 29, but the really fun part is not just that she is joining Black Spire Outpost. It is which Leia Disney appears to be bringing with her. Lucasfilm says this new park version uses Leia’s “adventure look,” inspired in part by her appearance in Star Wars Battlefront II, making this a surprisingly neat crossover between Star Wars game design and Disney park canon. That gives this reveal a little extra juice for game fans. On the surface, this is part of Disneyland’s larger Galaxy’s Edge timeline expansion, which begins April 29 and opens the land up to more eras of Star Wars storytelling. StarWars.com says guests will begin seeing characters like Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Darth Vader in Black Spire Outpost as the land moves beyond its old, narrower timeline setup. But Leia’s costume is where…
Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge Is Finally Letting More of Star Wars In
Batuu is getting bigger without physically getting bigger For years, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has looked incredible while also playing by some oddly narrow rules. Batuu was locked mostly to the sequel-era timeline, which meant the land could be stunning, expensive, and immersive while still feeling a little boxed in. That is finally changing. Beginning April 29, 2026, Disneyland’s version of Galaxy’s Edge will expand its timeline to pull in more Star Wars eras, including characters and story elements tied to Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka. And honestly, it feels overdue. Darth Vader, Luke, Han, and Leia are coming to Batuu The biggest headline is the character roster. Darth Vader is coming to Batuu alongside Imperial stormtroopers, while Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa are also being added to the land’s evolving story. Disney and StarWars.com both frame this as a major shift away…