Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker officially opened this weekend and though audiences and critics are split as to how good the final installment of the Skywalker saga is, Disney parks are still rolling out some interesting changes to celebrate the opening of this brand new movie.
A whole new Star Tours
By now we’re used to periodic new locations added to Star Tours to celebrate film releases, but it looks like Disney went all out for the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, adding two new locations and a new character! Spoilers follow, so if you don’t want to know where you’re going the next time you experience this attraction (coordinates are locked for the near future), skip ahead to the next page!
First off, riders will splash down on Kef Bir, the ocean moon of Endor that is showcased in the first half of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. However, instead of seeing the heroes from the film, riders will explore the wreckage of the Death Star, eventually encountering a few dianogas (you might remember these one-eyed creatures from a certain trash compactor scene featured in the original Star Wars film).
After this segment, guests will see Lando Calrissian (as he appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) who will recruit guests to join the epic climactic space battle taking place in The Rise of Skywalker on the planet Exogol. Interestingly, once you finish your battle, you do not end in Batuu (where almost all flights had previously ended) and instead return to a Star Tours hangar.
With these new additions, there are now more than 100 combinations of scenes that can be presented in the attraction, and though we’ll probably see a return to randomization sometime next year, for now coordinates are locked on these new locations. However, this isn’t the only Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker addition at Disney Parks.
2. Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular getting a refresh early next year
Right now the nighttime spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!, but when this show ends for the season in January, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular will return with new scenes inspired by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We don’t know what these scenes will be quite yet, but it will be nice to see this long-running Star Wars show get a little bit of a refresh with all new scenes, music, and effects.
New scenes from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be a part of the show when it returns at midnight on January 1 2020.
3. Star Wars: Launch Bay displays updated
Though the other Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker additions have been focused on bringing guests into the experience of the film, those who are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the film can return to the Star Wars: Launch Bay, which has several new exhibits inspired by the film featuring props, costumes, models and more from this movie, many of which are on loan from Lucasfilm itself.
