Disney Shows Off Amazing Real Working Lightsaber For Their Galactic Starcruiser Hotel In Disney World
On May the 4th aka Star Wars Day (man I wish it was a real national holiday for day off reasons), new art was added to Disney+. Lucasfilm also premiered its highly anticipated newest animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+. In addition to all of the new content that was released to the millions, Disney announced a very cool and groundbreaking achievement in the history of all of Star Wars fandom: a real working lightsaber for their Galactic Starcruiser Hotel in Disney World! It’s been a long time coming for every fan in a galaxy far, far away.
This past week, Disney Parks Blog released brand new information about the upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opening at Walt Disney World in the year 2022, and they lit up the lightsabers created for this experience. The information from Disney Parks Blog regarding the Galactic Starcruiser experience will be an adventure for two nights in which guests, via launch pad, will be transported from Walt Disney World to the Halcyon starcruiser. Also, when entering through several airlock doors, the guest will have the opportunity to interact with an "eclectic group of characters both familiar and new." For instance, the guest will enjoy entertainment from “a Twi'lek superstar who performs aboard the Crown of Corellia Dining Room.”
There is brand-new concept art that was unveiled on May the 4th, detailing the experience as "enticing:"
"The enticing supper club’s name is an homage to Corellia, the planet known galaxy-wide for its shipyards that gave us not only the Halcyon starcruiser, but also the Millennium Falcon. The dining room is a bright and welcoming hall that will offer breakfast and lunch to passengers before transitioning each evening into a lavish multi-course menu of both otherworldly and familiar origins."
Other than the intergalactic dining to entertain guests, the Halcyon will also travel to Batuu or Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios along with lightsaber training. What the reveal did was to go more in depth in the Disney Parks Blog which released a video of Rey activating an incredibly realistic (and insanely cool) lightsaber created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
So how did Disney pull off this craziness? There were some clues regarding a working Disney lightsaber back in 2017. CNET has more of a breakdown:
"(No, it doesn't chop off limbs, but it does have a retractable, internally illuminated blade.) In it, we see that inspiration for the design comes from a very basic tool: a tape measure. But with multiple spools of materials that need to extend and retract in an instant, the build itself is far from basic.
"In the video embedded above, I show off Disney's new footage of the lightsaber and break down the materials Disney may be using to create the effect as described in its patent -- including an LED light strip. And by trying to make my own sample, I hopefully demonstrate how complicated it really is to make everything work perfectly when you don't have the Force on your side."
Disney also described this whole new experience as the following:
“This isn't storytelling – it's storyliving, where you'll see, feel, and live Star Wars in a whole new way."
This is new, innovative, and bold to have for Walt Disney World, and I am sure other studios and hospitality companies will come up with fresh ideas for their many many franchises that exist. On a personal note, I am glad that Star Wars is breaking new ground with this cool idea.
Source(s): CNET, The Direct