How bringing Star Wars to DHS would rival Harry Potter.

[darthmacho]

I was looking at the DHS map and I decided that pretty much everything from Star Tours all the way to the Backlot Area, with a few exceptions, is pretty much outdated and a waste of space. The only thing relevant is Muppets 3D and maybe Mama Melrose but we could always work around that considering the recent Muppets revival.

Anyway, here's my plan to bring Star Wars to DHS, and make Harry Potter and Avatarland look like a waste of time and money. These are just preliminary thoughts by an amateur, so just think what the Imagineers could come up with!

Get rid of/retool the following:

• Backlot Tour
• Backlot Express
• Stunt Show
• Streets of America
• Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Area
• Muppets 3D (bear with me Muppets fans)
• Sounds Dangerous
• American Idol
• Toy Story Planet (move to Pixar Place?)

The Layout Options:

• Two areas: Original Trilogy/Prequel Trilogy
• Several Areas: By planets (Coruscant, Tatooine, Endor, Death Star, etc.)

Ideas for Attractions and Restaurants:

• A Podracing Ride (Using Soarin' technology? Perhaps a souped up Speedway?)
• A sound/CGI show or demonstration. (Replaces Sounds Dangerous)
• A walkthrough area with movie props and costumes.
• Character meet and greets!
• Jedi Academy can move indoors to where American Idol is and be expanded.
• A Death Star themed attraction (???)
• Make Streets of America into Streets of Coruscant or Streets of Mos Eisley.
• Jabba's Palace (not sure what that would be, but maybe put it where Honey I Shrunk thing is.)
• Admiral Ackbar: It's a Trap! The Ride (I have no idea what that would be, but I just liked the name.)
• The Bounty Hunter's Guild: Like the Pirate's League, where kids can be dressed/made up to look like bounty hunters?

Restaurants:

• A Creature Cantina
• Dexter's Diner
• Keep Sci Fi Dine in, but make movies and posters all Star Wars themed.

Issues:

Probably a lot more than I could imagine, but I think Muppets is a big one, and Mama Melrose of course, would be a poor fit.

One option would be to re-tool Muppets into a SW parody, perhaps casting it as Pigs In Space. At least there is a decent tie-in with Muppets and Star Wars with Frank Oz and such.


Well, that's my idea, knowing that it would never happen, it's nice to dream.

Please give opinions to my ideas, give your own, or add anything at all to this pipe dream of mine!

[SBETigg]

No thank you! That's too much Star Wars for me. I wouldn't mind some refurb and new touches, but would not be excited about changing all of that to Star Wars themes.

[Gator]

Well....I love the idea! It would be difficult with the Muppets being right in the middle of it, but I think that's a great idea. The key to attracting new people is making one of those "geeky" things huge in the park. Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Tron - any of these things could be used to attract people who have to go and have to go back again and again. I really don't see AvatarLand doing that. You have to put in movie-attractions that have loyal fans. Will Disney do it? Who knows. Perhaps a 5th park that has their newly acquired Marvel section in it....

[caryrae]

No thank you! That's too much Star Wars for me. I wouldn't mind some refurb and new touches, but would not be excited about changing all of that to Star Wars themes.

That's how I feel about Avatarland.

[SBETigg]

That's how I feel about Avatarland.

Yeah, I agree on that. The Star Wars idea makes more sense than that one.

[caryrae]

How about a sci-fi land with Star Wars, Tron, Wall-E and whatever else would fit?

[HackLaSalle]

How about Lucas Land? Expand Star Wars expand Indy add a little Monkey Island! Maybe an expansion of the muppet area DHS needs some TLC.

[MOJoe]

As much as i love Star Wars Weekends at the Studios, i think this is a little over the top. BUT, i could see dramatically expanding the Star Wars footprint. There are already rumors that Sounds Dangerous may be rethemed as a Star Wars venue. Changing the Backlot Express into a "Cantina" would be great. And turning the Indy Stunt Show into a Star Wars Battle sounds exciting.
One can only hope.

[PopPhan]

No thanks. It is Disneys HOLLYWOOD Studios, not Disneys Star Wars Studios.

Upgrade/update some of the current attractions (Backlot Tour anyone?); Get rid of the LMA abomination; Get some REAL Studio stuff back; etc.

This is the park we spend the least amount of time in/on.....

[ChipNDale79]

I get LMA, I understand why it's there, it's kind of neat to see how stunts are done in a movie. However, it takes up a TON of space and for me after you watch it once, you've seen it.

I'd like to seem them extend Pixar Place, which is something i totally see them doing in the next couple of years. Toy Story is a HUGE hit for DHS, so they will expand on this at some point, I'd bet money on it. There's too many films in the Pixar library to not expand it.

The streets of America is a huge miss IMO. You've got all these store fronts just sitting there, nothing to do here but walk the streets. Either demolish it and put some attractions there, or open up the store fronts and offer more restaurants and stores. World Showcase is widely popular during the evenings partly because the massive amount of restaurants that it holds, you can do the same thing with streets of America.

I do think the best thing that Disney can do to help DHS is to bring tv shows and film making back to the studios, I think this would be a huge draw. IMO Disney is totally missing the mark on DHS right now.

[Clay Ransone]

This is a fantastic idea! The only problem I see is the Muppets and what to do with the Osborne Lights. I would like to see a Jar Jar dunking booth in there some place too.

[joonyer]

Ask yourself the question: why has Universal been so successful with the introduction of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at IOA?

Of course it is done well (state of the art attraction), but the main reason it is so popular is because it is based on a book/movie franchise that has millions of devoted followers who are willing to travel and pay big $$ to visit the WW, when they wouldn't have otherwise been Universal/IOA customers. And many of them will visit multiple times in their lives. I expect that the Harry Potter franchise will continue to develop new fans for decades to come, just like the Star Wars franchise has.

The Star Wars franchise has the same type of fan base, with millions of followers all over the world, and an expanded land of the park would likely attract (and re-attract many new visitors) to DHS for years to come. Even though some of us may not be Star Wars fanatics, I have no doubt that such an area would be very successful for Disney, if they wanted to put the money into developing it properly.

Somehow, I don't see or perceive the same type of fan base out there for the Avatar movie franchise. Sure, the land may be a very well executed when it is completed, and will probably be fun to experience, but it does not have the large fan base that will drive park attendance like Harry Potter does at IOA or Star Wars could at DHS if it was expanded.

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

I don't think it should take over the park, but it could be expanded beyond what it is now. I completely agree that DHS needs some TLC, updating, make it current. Add something with Tron, add more tie-ins with more current live action movies. Expand the Pixar area or move it completely into it's own park.

But all Star Wars all the time in one entire park - that would get old fast for those that aren't Star Wars fans. (Don't get me wrong - I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Tron, Star Gate and other Sci-Fi shows/movies.)

[darthmacho]

For those that don't like the idea of too much Star Wars taking over DHS, admittedly, my plan is a bit grandiose. Perhaps a better plan would be something like this:

Star Wars Expansion:

• Add a Creature Cantina (Perhaps where Pizza Planet is?)
• Add one more Star Wars themed ride or attraction near Star Tours. (I'm still thinking pod-racing?)
• Change Indy Stunt Show to either Star Wars, or build the Indy ride in its place. (A good show might be the Geonosis battle from EpII?)
• A permanent SW meet and greet.

Muppets Expansion:

• Update Muppets 3D (I'm torn on this one, I'd hate to lose so many good gags.)
• A Muppets themed ride, basically a clone of TSM, only Muppets theme, to help spread out the crowd evenly.

Pixar Place Expansion:

• Put Pizza Planet over in Pixar Place.
• Make more Pixar themed rides and attractions, one right there where Mermaid is, expand into the Backlot area.

Marvel:

• Stunt show with Marvel super heroes.
• A roller coaster where Backlot Tour is.
• A Marvel Meet and greet.

That still leaves Sounds Dangerous, American Idol, and ABC Commissary that all could use a serious makeover, but this plan would leave the beloved Sci Fi Dine In and Mama Melrose just as it is!

Better?

[SBETigg]

Much better! I like your new plan.

[darthmacho]

Much better! I like your new plan.

I really sold myself on the Muppets version of TSM. I think that's one idea that could really work and spread out the crowd.

[ChipNDale79]

For those that don't like the idea of too much Star Wars taking over DHS, admittedly, my plan is a bit grandiose. Perhaps a better plan would be something like this:

Star Wars Expansion:

• Add a Creature Cantina (Perhaps where Pizza Planet is?)
• Add one more Star Wars themed ride or attraction near Star Tours. (I'm still thinking pod-racing?)
• Change Indy Stunt Show to either Star Wars, or build the Indy ride in its place. (A good show might be the Geonosis battle from EpII?)
• A permanent SW meet and greet.

Muppets Expansion:

• Update Muppets 3D (I'm torn on this one, I'd hate to lose so many good gags.)
• A Muppets themed ride, basically a clone of TSM, only Muppets theme, to help spread out the crowd evenly.

Pixar Place Expansion:

• Put Pizza Planet over in Pixar Place.
• Make more Pixar themed rides and attractions, one right there where Mermaid is, expand into the Backlot area.

Marvel:

• Stunt show with Marvel super heroes.
• A roller coaster where Backlot Tour is.
• A Marvel Meet and greet.

That still leaves Sounds Dangerous, American Idol, and ABC Commissary that all could use a serious makeover, but this plan would leave the beloved Sci Fi Dine In and Mama Melrose just as it is!

Better?

I like this plan

[DizneyFreak2002]

I don't see Disney doing anything more with Star Wars than it already does, much to my discontent... And there is a such thing as too much... There were wild rumors (more like fanboy dreams lol) about that section of the park being rebranded as LucasLand, but I don't see that happening either...

Anyway, I wish they would add Mos Eisley Cantina... And some sort of dueling indoor coaster (X-Wings vs Tie Fighters, interactive coaster shooting game indoors, in the dark of space)... Other than that, I don't want to see too much because it may wind up over kill... Ohh and bring over the Indiana Jones ride, only bring a different story than the one on DL so there are two unique rides, not a clone... And presto: LUCASLAND...

As for the Muppets, adding a section calling it Muppet Studios is the way to go... Build the Great Muppet Movie Ride (which was in original plans if I am not mistaken) showcasing the Muppets as characters in popular movies NOT already in the Great Movie Ride... And trash Pizza Planet and make it Swedish Chef Cafe... Pizza Planet can be revamped and made as a place that you can actually eat in and not feel like you are eating astronaut paste food in a Pixar Place expansion...

And we have to forget anything with Marvel... Uni has that all tied up...

[disneynarula]

I love Stars wars but am not a big fan of all the Stars Wars theming ideas. I can see it being popular with people who grew up with Star Wars. but I think it is becoming less and less popular in today's generation. Harry Potter is today's Star Wars as far as popularity is concerned. Universal finally has an edge on Disney and I bet Disney is hating it!

I think it would be nice if they put in the Indiana Jones Ride like at DLR. Of course Indy is sort of old school too! It is just something I would like!

As much as I am not a fan of carnival type rides, the Pixar Land at DLP is very popular and I can see it doing well at HS. I didn't like it at all but my boys LOVED it.!

I would love to see some sort of Cars Land too.

[darthmacho]

I don't see Disney doing anything more with Star Wars than it already does, much to my discontent... And there is a such thing as too much... There were wild rumors (more like fanboy dreams lol) about that section of the park being rebranded as LucasLand, but I don't see that happening either...

I agree. I don't see anything like this ever coming to fruition. Bringing it up and talking about it is kind of like speculating on blockbuster trades for your favorite sports teams, that is, fun to discuss, unlikely to happen, and often absurd from a business perspective because we're on the outside looking in.

Star Wars might not be as hot with the younger crowd as of now, but it has endured for far longer as a franchise, and has more potential to continue. I still say if WDW wants something to rival HP, SW is the way to go.