Disney Overlays Star Wars Land!
By: R.A. Rayne
Just in time for the May 4th Star Wars celebration, Disney unveiled the new overlay for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Nearly 50 years ago, George Lucas took us to a galaxy far, far away, and in 1999, he took us even further back with the Prequels. Well, staying true to Star Wars fashion, Disney has brought its Star Wars Land theme park back to the OG era.
On August 15, 2015, at the D23 Expo, former Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the expansion would occupy 14 acres at both Disneyland Park in California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. At the time, Disney was in the middle of producing the ‘Sequel Trilogy’ to Star Wars, and decided to tie the land to the new movies.
The plan was to set the land in the fictional world of Batuu. Batuu is a remote Outer Rim planet and trading post introduced as the setting for Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park lands. You might say it’s “A wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Batuu is known as a haven for smugglers, traders, and travelers. The planet is defined by ancient petrified trees, and the infamous Black Spire Outpost is the center of the planet’s commercial and social hub.
Disney’s announcement of the land was ambitious to say the least.
The original design and concept art were equally ambitious. When announced, Batuu was going to be teeming with alien life, including costumed Twi’leks, Rodians, Zabraks, and droids, with droves of spaceship-shaped vehicles flying overhead. As with most concepts, some elements were left behind or put on hold, and others were changed for budgetary and practical reasons.
Costumed alien drones and droids were shelved for another time, though we have seen some of these concepts re-emerge in one form or another, such as the adorable BDX droids, R2-D2, and the modified R1-series astromech droid Bard, who works with the Tohan Lege. Through ‘Disney Magic,’ they tell the story of the “Fire of the Rising Moons,” a fireworks show added in May 2024.
And while they may not be walking around the outpost, there are characters such as Hondo Ohnaka. A Weequay pirate and “businessman” who first appeared in the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, he now owns the ‘transport’ company where guests can help him by flying the Millennium Falcon on a ‘smuggling run.’ Black Spire’s local cantina is run by Oga Garra, a crime boss who controls many businesses, including the cantina where former Star Tours Captain Rex now DJs. If you’re looking to buy and sell rare artifacts, Dok-Ondar was the man, well, Ithorian to see.
And then there is Vi Moradi, one of General Leia Organa’s top spies, who was sent to Batuu to recruit allies and establish a Resistance presence. Vi was also the first new Star Wars character to appear at the meet-and-greet. While the character, like most of the residents of Batuu, has yet to appear in a film or television show, they have been featured in MARVEL comic books and novels, such as Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn: Alliances, Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson, and A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova.
When Galaxy’s Edge opened to the public on May 31, 2019, I was lucky enough to be there, and as a lifelong Star Wars fan, I will never forget the moment. My wife took my phone so I wouldn’t miss a moment, and I didn’t. It was as close as any of us could come to stepping onto another planet, let alone one straight out of the Star Wars galaxy. The moment I turned the corner and stood face-to-face with the Millennium Falcon brought tears to my eyes. The level of detail in the Falcon, as with the rest of the land, was beyond belief. Everything from the sights and sounds to the interactions with the cast members transported you to the planet Batuu. It was by far the most immersive theme park experience, then and now.
For most of the past seven years, there have been few changes to Galaxy’s Edge. We saw the introduction of Star Wars nights, Disney bringing out characters exclusive to the event, and the introduction of the aforementioned BDX droids, Bard. But it wasn’t until after Mandalorian Season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett Disney+ shows aired that we started to see other familiar faces throughout the Black Spire Outpost. Characters such as Boba Fett, Din Djarin, Grogu, Luke Skywalker, Fennec Shand, and Ahsoka Tano could be seen wandering around. It quickly became apparent that Disney was moving away from the time period they had set for themselves within Star Wars Land.
On January 14, 2026, via the Disney Parks Blog, Disney announced that on April 29, 2026, Galaxy Edge’s timeline would expand beyond the sequel era to include the original trilogy, just after Han was rescued in Return of the Jedi and The Mandalorian, and the Ahsoka series. It was determined that the change would only affect the Black Spire Outpost area from the entrance by the First Order hangar to the Marketplace. The change would allow characters like Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Leia to join Luke Skywalker, the Mandalorian, and Ahsoka, who were already there.
The forest area housing the hidden Resistance base would remain in the Sequel Trilogy era. This means that Rise of the Resistance, one of Disneyland’s most popular rides, would not be altered. Characters such as Rey, Chewbacca, and Vi Moradi would be available for meet-and-greets throughout the area.
Currently, these changes are officially announced for Disneyland Park, not Walt Disney World.
While it is not uncommon for Disney to update its theme park lands, many YouTube ‘Influencers’ began to speculate that the change was due to guests losing interest in the land, low sales at the retail shops, the lack of rides, and the poor reception of the Sequel Trilogy. As of the writing of this article, I have found no official evidence to support these claims. And as someone who goes to the park nearly every two weeks, I can tell you that interest in Galaxy’s Edge has never gone away. The Rise of the Resistance ride averages about a 70-minute wait time, and while the shops aren’t as busy as they once were, the merchandise sent to the Disney outlet stores is no more than any of the other lands. What many of these so-called ‘Influencers’ have failed to take into account and don’t seem to mention is that Disney’s announcement to make changes to Galaxy’s Edge coincides with the 50th anniversary of the original Star Wars film.
I was not in favor of Disney locking itself into a specific time period. When they first announced it in 2015, I was on the Nerdibles podcast, discussing this very topic and how, at some point, Disney would want to move away from being locked into the Sequel Trilogy, but after visiting Galaxy’s Edge, more times to count at Disneyland and Disney World, I did not want the land to change.
I know, I know. I had just said I was not in favor of locking them into a time period, and I had started listening to the ‘Livestreamers’ talk about the changes as if they were hearing them directly from the Imagineers. I didn’t want Disney to take away the immersive experience they had created. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I saw Galaxy’s Edge as more than just another land at Disney. It was the planet Batuu, a place where I could escape the troubles of the real world and, for the briefest of moments, get lost in the galaxy far, far away.
The overlay was minimal. Yes, Star Wars music played over Batuu’s traditional sounds, but you could still hear them, and the scores weren’t the ones I expected. As a fan, I knew where each piece came from, but they were subtle. They didn’t use the Duel of Fates score or the main theme, and the only time the Imperial March played was when Darth Vader descended from the TIE Echelon. I stood watching my daughter talk to Princess Leia and realized there was a new princess at Disneyland.
I was glad I was wrong about Disney making the change to the land. I had forgotten what it was like to see Darth Vader for the first time. When I was in 2nd grade, my dad knew someone who had a Darth Vader costume, and for my birthday, he arranged for Darth Vader to visit me at school. I was so scared when the dark lord came through the door looking for me that I hid in my coat cubby. Okay, yes, this was back in the 1970s, and cosplay was not as common as it is today, but still, there is nothing like seeing these characters for the first time, or watching your children see them, and that is why Disney is making this change.
MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU!
“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” -Walt Disney-
