It’s almost here… an overlay in Tomorrowland that means it doesn’t matter what winter holiday you normally celebrate. It’s LIFE DAY! Wait a minute… that’s not canon. But it is the Season of the Force at Disneyland starting Monday, November 16 (Disneyworld will being celebrating in early December.)
That means the opening of the Star Wars Launch Bay, an interactive exhibit that will offer you the chance to follow a path along the Light Side of the Force or the Dark Side. (My money is on Chewbacca being more huggable.)
But it won’t just be paths to the Force taking over what used to be known as the Innoventions Pavilion.
Enter on the ground floor of the Launch Bay and you can discover:
- Dark Side Gallery – Get a look at authentic pieces of stormtrooper armor as well as famous Sith lightsabers once wielded by masters of the dark side.
- Light Side Gallery – Explore a gallery filled with Rebel flight helmets and lightsabers once wielded by Jedi Knights.
- Preview Gallery – See items built exclusively for Star Wars Launch Bay by the same prop makers who worked on the upcoming film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
- Starship Gallery – Discover models of famous starships from throughout the Star Wars saga.
As we’d mentioned before, Space Mountain will become Hyperspace Mountain, as Disneyland guests will get rocketed into a battle between X-Wings and TIE Fighters.
But as also promised at D23, Star Tours is getting a little bit of a freshening, with an environment from The Force Awakens.
It’s also, apparently, the Seasonings of the Force, as Disney has prepared special food items at the Galactic Grill. For some reason, The New Order seems distinctly spicy, as many of the offerings involve chilis and peppers of some kind… even the desserts.
Breakfast
- Darth Tamale – Blue corn tamale with scrambled eggs and chorizo, red chili sauce and tomatillo
Lunch and Dinner
- First Order Specialty Burger – Angus beef and chorizo patty topped with fried cherry peppers, spicy-lime aioli on dark bun
Desserts
- The Pastry Menace – Éclair with milk chocolate filling and a hint of cayenne pepper
Don’t despair… there’s a Resistance menu, too, with what looks like a chicken sandwich and a slice of vegetarian pizza…
Disney will also be offering new collectibles for your shelf — a super-sipper in the shape of BB-8, and a TIE Fighter popcorn bucket. Do I need another one of these? Perhaps.
The Tomorrowland Theater (where Captain EO and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience played) will now feature Star Wars: Path of the Jedi, which sounds like a collection of clips abbreviating Luke Skywalker’s arc over episodes IV, V, and VI. Once upon a time, Disney touted Captain EO as being set in the Star Wars Universe, but now it’s just a Legend.
On December 8, the Tomorrowland Terrace will update its Jedi Academy to become Trials of the Temple, with a scenario closely tied to Star Wars Rebels.
This Season of the Force event is allegedly for a limited time, but it seems hard to imagine that the footage from The Force Awakens would disappear from Star Tours, and Launch Bay will likely do more traffic than the House of the Future it replaces. Still, if you can get to Disneyland this winter, and you’re a Star Wars fan, it will be worth the trip.
All photographs from the Disneyland Blog
