Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is now fully operational. Both of its marquee attractions – Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run – are online more often than not, and the land’s crown jewel – the unimaginably-immersive Galactic Starcruiser resort experience – is currently scheduled to open to the public (or at least, the segment of it that will be able to afford what’s sure to be a steep price tag) in 2021.
The natural consequence of so much new coming in is that the old must inevitably be pushed out. Such is the case with the outdoor stageshow Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away which had been presented at the end of Hollywood Boulevard, the park’s arterial thoroughfare, in the Center Stage area in front of the replica of the Grauman Chinese Theater since 2016.
The roughly fourteen minute performance includes clips from all generations of Star Wars films, from the Prequels to the Originals to the Sequels, on towering digital screens, and is described as “a live-action adventure” in which “Rey, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, BB-8 and Darth Maul take the stage,” with appearances by “favorite Characters like Darth Vader—and new ones from the latest releases.” Among those additional characters played by live cast members are C-3PO and a mechanical R2-D2, Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett, First order commander Captain Phasma and a pair of Imperial Death Troopers.
The decision is presumably being made in order to centralize the Star Wars content of Hollywood Studios in the Galaxy’s Edge section of the park, with the former processional March of the First Order having been discontinued in early July in preparation for the August 29th opening of Galaxy’s Edge, at which point the First Order was said to be “redeploying their troops to patrol” Black Spire Outpost on the frontier planet of Batuu.
Additionally, the removal of A Galaxy Far, Far Away will clear the area in front of the Chinese Theater for the March 4th arrival of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. That attraction will fill the space formerly occupied by The Great Movie Ride, which had been the last of the Studios’ original opening-day attractions before shutting down in August of 2017. Runaway Railway is a 2½D experience described by Imagineer Kevin Rafferty as “one of the boldest, most impossible things I’ve ever worked on in almost forty years of being an Imagineer.”
The final performances of Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away will take place this Saturday, February 22nd at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with the last one scheduled for 5:30 PM. FastPasses for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway can be booked now.
Published: Feb 20, 2020 09:56 am