Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is a themed area inspired by the Star Wars franchise in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, and Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. It encompasses 14 acres (5.7 ha) at each park, and is set in the village of Black Spire Outpost, on the remote frontier planet of Batuu, featuring attractions, shops, restaurants and entertainment based on elements of the fictional Star Wars universe. The lands were announced on August 15, 2015, and construction at both parks began on April 14, 2016. The Disneyland version opened May 31, 2019, and Disney's Hollywood Studios' version opened August 29, 2019. Walt Disney Imagineering executive Scott Trowbridge supervised development and construction at both parks.
Development In the early 2010s, Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) had initially developed plans for a Star Wars-themed land at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. Based on characters and settings from the original trilogy of Star Wars films, including Tatooine and Endor, the area was to have encompassed the park's Echo Lake area, replacing the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Sounds Dangerous attractions and incorporating the existing Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. In 2014, the Walt Disney Company CEO and chairman Bob Iger slowed all of WDI's development on Star Wars-themed projects, postponing any creative development until the release of the sequel trilogy. Iger explained: "I slowed it all down so what we come forward with will have a blend of the past, present, and maybe the future." On August 15, 2015, after a creative shift in design, a Star Wars-themed land for both Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland was finally publicly announced by Iger at the D23 Expo. According to Iger, the unnamed land would 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." Bob Chapek, then-chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, stated that the land would "introduce you to a Star Wars planet you've never seen before – a gateway planet located on the outer rim, full of places and characters familiar and not so familiar."
In an interview for the winter 2015 issue of the official Disney fan club publication Disney twenty-three, senior creative leader Scott Trowbridge stated: "[O]ur intent is to make it feel as if you just walked into one of the movies... Bringing Star Wars to life in the physical world gives us the opportunity to play with a whole bunch of things we've never done before... to really engage all of the senses. What does that street feel like? What does that animal smell like? What does blue milk taste like?"
In March 2016, Iger announced that construction on both versions of the land would begin the following month, in April 2016. Construction began at both locations on April 14, 2016. In February 2017, Iger stated that the lands were scheduled to open in 2019 at both Disneyland and Hollywood Studios. In July 2017, at the D23 Expo, Chapek revealed that the themed lands would be called Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Chapek also announced that the Disneyland version would open first. In November 2017, Trowbridge announced that the planet portrayed by the land is called Batuu, which appears in the 2018 novel Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances. In May 2018, Trowbridge revealed the village in which the land is set would be called Black Spire Outpost, a location briefly mentioned in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story. It was also announced that the Disneyland version of the land would open in summer 2019, followed by the Disney's Hollywood Studios version in late fall 2019. The names of the two new attractions at each location were announced in November 2018, during the D23 Destination D event held at Walt Disney World. A five-issue comic miniseries by Marvel Comics introduced the area's location in April 2019. Iger announced the opening dates for both locations on March 7, 2019. The Disneyland version was dedicated on May 29, 2019. In attendance at the dedication ceremony were Iger, Star Wars creator George Lucas, and series actors Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Billy Dee Williams. The Disneyland version opened to the public on May 31. Because of its high popularity before opening, access to Galaxy's Edge during its initial few weeks of operation required a reservation, and a virtual queuing system was later implemented on June 24. The land at Disney's Hollywood Studios opened on August 29, 2019.
Design Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) designed the project in collaboration with the Lucasfilm Story Group, with Imagineer Scott Trowbridge supervising the project, Asa Kalama and Chris Beatty serving as executive creative directors, Bryshere Casiano as the structural engineer, and Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo and designer Doug Chiang of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) involved as consultants. Together, the team decided to set the lands on a new planet, located within the Outer Rim of the Unknown Regions. Described as a "remote frontier outpost", the planet Batuu has not previously appeared in other media, although it has existed within canon "for thousands and thousands of years." The team chose to create a newly designed world instead of using an existing planet from the films, such as Tatooine or Hoth, because those locations evoked a pre-existing familiarity with guests, with Trowbridge explaining, "We wanted to build new Star Wars stories, new Star Wars destinations." He says of the new planet,
This used to be a vibrant trading port back in the old sub-lightspeed days, but now with advent of hyperspace, its prominence has kind of fallen and faded a little bit which has made it a great spot for those who didn't want to be on that kind of mainstream path. The smugglers, the bounty hunters, the rogue adventurers looking to crew up, the people who don't want to be found – basically all the interesting people.
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