That's No Moon. It's a Star Wars Land Rumor

So here we are, 9 days before the Disney Parks presentation at this years D23 Expo. This date has been circled on everybody's calendar for what seems, well, really, weeks because that's when Disney announced the specific day. 

But the Expo, that's been circled since the day Disney announced they bought LucasFilm. 

---

Written by Gregg Condon (Title by CoasterMatt) 

A little late night photoshop fun

Pretty much since Day One of the LucasFilm purchase, rumors have been flying about Star Wars, Star Wars Land, Star Wars Rides, on both coasts, on every continent and today, 9 days before the announcement the internet is positive it's figured it out. 

For sure you have already read at least one article about this latest possible rumor, so why read another one? We have no idea, but we hope to have something a little different with ours and maybe a bit of logic. 

Ok, let's first start off with what we DO know. The only thing that is 100% as of today is that Disney bought the Carousel Inn a few months ago. At the time everybody kept insisting that they would be keeping this hotel as a kind of "value" hotel. If there's one thing Disney doesn't do, at least not in CA it's value. If you look at this hotel on the map, it's strategically placed for what could possibly, someday be where a pedestrian bridge could be. We all saw it. 

Other than that, there's nothing known by anybody who's saying anything. If people do know it they aren't talking, or rather, they shouldn't be talking. 

That's where the speculation comes in, so why the hell not. 

Below is the land that Disney has supposedly purchased (supposebly, supposebly) in red along with the Carousel and the existing Pumbaa lot. 

Now, looking at this right off the top it's a pretty nice chunk of land. The Pumbaa lot itself is big enough for another parking structure that the resort has needed for years, why this hasn't happened yet is beyond us. 

The rest of the red is how the rumors got started. And that rumor is that certain backstage area's/buildings at Disneyland will be moving over to this area to make room for Star Wars Land which will be placed in the area now reserved for ToonTown along with the aforementioned backstage area's. 

And at first glance, this seems like it would be a great idea, until you start looking at the logistics. 

We've also highlighted above (in green) the current hotel/bus/tram drop off area's. Because conceivably, if a new structure is built across the street, and a pedestrian bridge is built (the blue), the hotel drop off can also go across the street and then this area could be used to expand either DL or DCA ... but that's another story for another day. We'll just keep that as a nugget for future reference. =)

So let's move over and look at the area's where this new land could possibly go. 

Let's start off with Toontown, above in Blue. Obviously too small for Star Wars Land in and of itself, which brings us to the green area. 

These are some of the possible buildings that could get moved across the street in order to make room. Sure this could cause issues with certain things like maintenance, but that's not our headache. 

We've also included the Festival Arena and Big Thunder Ranch just for shiggles. 

So first issue we see here ... the yellow space. This is Circle D Ranch. Sure they could just bypass this and build Star Wars around it. But this is a spot that can't be moved off site. You aren't going to have horses coming across Harbor Blvd every day. So it's either gotta be worked around or moved to a different spot backstage, which is possible of course. 

Second issue ... the red dot right in the middle of that, and something we mentioned on our Facebook yesterday. Fireworks. yes, this is where they are fired off from. Due to their proximity to Toontown that area of the park closes nightly in order for Disneyland to perform the fireworks show. It's a headache as it stands now, and that's just Toontown, which has one standard roller skater and a great dark ride in Roger Rabbit. 

Imagine them trying to close a Star Wars Land early every night? It's simply not going to happen. 

And you may be saying to yourself ... "Self ... couldn't they just move the launch point of the fireworks back". They could, but then you'd get close to Ball Road and eventually the 5 Freeway and that's a whole other issue. 

At the end of the day, being Disney we're sure they'll find a way to make that work. Figuring that stuff out is above our pay grade. =)

So we've outlined a few things so far, but not once have we gotten to something Disney prides themselves on ... and that's themeing. 

So let's say they did buy the land, let's say they do move the buildings across the street, let's say that everything we hope for comes true and they build a Star Wars land in this spot ... where would they even dream of putting an entrance? Small World doesn't exactly blend in with Star Wars. With Toontown it's acceptable, but not with Star Wars. 

How about over by Big Thunder Ranch? Sure, it could work. But then you are getting into Firefly territory with Space Cowboys and while that would be pretty awesome, wrong park chain for that one. 

That's also not even taking into consideration the other Star Wars themed ride the park has, which if it's built where Toontown is will be about 0.2 miles. While not really that far from a walking standpoint, from a themeing standpoint it sure is. 

So what have we learned? Absolutely nothing, but we'll learn something in 9 days, maybe. Because who even knows if Star Wars is going to be a part of the Parks Presentation? They could say they are building one, but not where which puts us right back where we are today. 

But it sure is fun to speculate ... =)

---

---

If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram. 

If you have any comments, please share them below