The theming has begun
As Disney is brainstorming Star Wars ideas for its parks, Disney Cruise Line has already announced a Star Wars-themed voyage on its ships called, “Star Wars Day at Sea.” The preview shows even less than the trailer for Episode VII, but still shows that some ideas are moving forward for themed Star Wars experiences from Disney. Perhaps we are in store for some seafaring adventures in The Force Awakens?
Disney releases an official teaser trailer for its newly announced Star Wars – Day at Sea offering on its Disney Cruise Line. YouTube videom from Disney.
There is also a story of a George Lucas art museum opening at the lakefront of Chicago in 2018. It will heavily feature Star Wars art, props, and other pieces (CNN covered some details here). Although it is a ways off in the future, this could be a permanent home for ideas and memorabilia of the movies.
A concept rendering of the Lucas Art Museum set to open in Chicago in 2018. Photo © Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
The cruise and the art museum aren’t the only places where Star Wars experiences are coming alive. There is also a new wax exhibit coming to Madame Tussauds museum in London this May. The exhibit features favorite characters set in familiar scenes from the films, allowing visitors to view the three-dimensional re-creations. It's interesting to note is that the same museum and its work early last century influenced many ideas for Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean.
Yoda, the first wax figure destined for the new Madame Tussauds Star Wars experience is revealed, in an atmospheric recreation of his Dagobah swamp scene. Photo courtesy of starwars.madametussauds.com
At one time, Pirates was going to be a walk-through wax museum—but of course that was but the germ of the idea that grew from strength to strength to become one of the most detailed and celebrated attractionw ever at Disney parks. Walt Disney had said regarding Pirates, “We can’t do the pirates as a walk-through. I mean, we can’t handle the number of people that are going to want to come, and it’s not the kind of show that we really ought to be doing.” Imagineering legend Marty Sklar also said, “Sure it would have ‘worked,’ but it wouldn’t have taken us to another level with Disneyland attractions.” For the Star Wars park, the ideas the Imagineers have now will grow and absolutely must take us to another level of experience.
From film to park
So it seems there are a lot of Star Wars-themed attractions popping up everywhere. This should challenge the Imagineers to “up” their game and “plus” the heck out of the new Star Wars land in the parks. Imagineer John Hench said in 1984 about Pirates, “We do try to use the material that’s in film [like Treasure Island] because people know it and recognize it. It helps a great deal to have something they already know, something we know they already love.” The pirates in the ride are fun-loving and not like the non-fiction tales of pirates—Disney took the approach that people saw in movies, books, and any of the more romanticized versions of pirates in media. Pirates are fun!
Well, what about some ideas of Star Wars, such as Stormtroopers and Darth Vader? Are they fun? Not necessarily; however, a lot of media have made them fun already. From parody YouTube videos to episodes of Robot Chicken and even to Disney themselves with Star Wars weekends, the Empire can be seen in a non-threatening way. Stormtroopers march to fanfare and applause while little boys and girls try their lightsaber skills against a light-hearted Vader. So the “evil” Empire has already been softened quite a bit over the years. Is that softening a problem? It is potentially from the standpoint of the new films; it is certainly a challenge to face for J.J. Abrams as he directs The Force Awakens. On the other hand, these aspects are favorable to making a fun day at a Star Wars park while still presenting some challenges to its design.
The Castillo del Morro, the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World is inviting, but gives a feeling of mystery. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
While early plans for Pirates of the Caribbean were inspired by Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum and its Chamber of Horrors, it was the expansion of Disneyland with an area based on New Orleans—being known for pirates and voodoo and lots of cemeteries—that was going to open the park to something with a darker edge. At the same time, with its jazz music and awesome food, there would be a taste of whimsy, too. With Pirates of the Caribbean, the characters are not bloodthirsty brigands, but comical rascals. Likewise, with the Haunted Mansion, the ghosts are not fiendish demons, but happy haunts dancing and singing. Both the darkness of the rides and the edginess of New Orleans Square were always balanced with light-hearted fare to make it feel safe for everyone. With Star Wars, this same balance is sure to permeate the land’s atmosphere.
It’s all about the feeling
The atmosphere of any theme park is central to its success by influencing the feelings of guests. In Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Florida's Walt Disney World, when you walk down Main Street U.S.A., you enter into a simpler time in American history—but really you are entering into the memories of a child, and that child is Walt Disney. Main Street is an image from his childhood and he probably hoped that you feel something of your own childhood when you are there, too. Because of its atmosphere, you must begin the journey into the Magic Kingdom as a child and walking down a young innocent street where there are no cars (the roads will not even accommodate them) but there are candy shops, toys, cotton candy, popcorn, a movie theater, and all these things set you in the right mood.
In the distance is the castle, it is at the end of the path, you can see it and it is an attainable destination. Main Street is a very friendly atmosphere one that makes you happy, one that doesn't worry you, and it is one that doesn't have surprises around the corner where you would find something undesirable. It is a single path that every guest safely takes.
What feelings should the Star Wars park invoke in its guests? In general terms, the guests should feel the same as when they saw a Star Wars movie. Those are feelings of exhilaration, of adventure, and of the unknown—but also of finding friends and allies while realizing that you are part of something larger than yourself. Like Luke Skywalker, you want to feel that no matter where you came from, you can hold the key to save the galaxy.
If Main Street U.S.A. and all the Magic Kingdom wants to evoke childhood wonder and spur you to walk ahead and take a journey, what should be your journey in Star Wars? Are you a young person on the way to the Jedi temple for your training? Are you an anonymous smuggler in the city just passing through on your way to some other world? Are you the unknown hero on your home planet just trying to find your way in the galaxy? It is the beginning of your journey, it is the beginning of your destiny, and it all starts when you enter the new park.
However, in a Star Wars park, just like the movies, there is danger. Unlike Main Street, there may be scary things around the corner, there may sometimes be a sense of uneasiness. In the movie narratives, there is the light side and the dark side. Both sides are ideas we enjoy playing with. We like the Jedi and lightsabers as well as scoundrels with blasters. We also find the villains captivating in a mysterious way. Both sides ought to be present in a Star Wars park but at the same time, Disney certainly does not intend guests to feel uncomfortable or uneasy just by walking into the place. And yet, the Star Wars saga is about the struggle against evil—the evil within and without.
Perhaps the atmosphere can present both sides and even allow guests to make a choice between the two. Looking back at the Magic Kingdom entrance again, once you cross the threshold of Main Street guests are given a choice to pick from Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland. You get to create your own journey from that point. So, in the same way, perhaps with Star Wars, guests could pick their destiny between the light and the dark. Presenting this choice could open up the possibilities for visuals and rides that involve both heroes and villains.
If it’s an adventure you want, then conflict you’ll get
In the movies, we see that struggle play out with the main characters, in numerous locations, each with a different environment, each with a different emotion attached. Sometimes the settings are foreboding, sometimes they are pretty, sometimes harsh. The stories run the gamut of scenery and emotions. There are exotic places often populated with strange creatures. However, the center is always on humanity. And humanity overcomes the forces outside it, including the surroundings and the high technology, as well as inside it, including the betrayals of people and their selfish choices. Those are some of the themes of the movies.
So, what would be the major theme of this theme park? Remembering that this is indeed a theme park and a Disney one at that, guests should feel safe, welcome, and happy. Evoking a sense of adventure means there is conflict and conflict means there are things that get in the way of the end goal. The park must enable guests to get by the conflict on the adventure and at the end have a feeling of, “I made it!” and “I did it!” But how do you create an atmosphere, a setting, and a series of rides and attractions to do all this? I believe it can be accomplished by looking at the design of Epcot and how it presents two areas with their own identities.
Epcot gives guests such a sense of discovery. When we walk around World Showcase and Future World we are rewarded for our curiosity by looking around the corners, seeing a sculpture of great beauty, finding an entrance to a gift shop off the path, or noticing a little setup or pavilion that is “off the map.” Think: the model train set near Germany. It’s not on the map, it’s not really talked about much or featured in pamphlets, but there it is just off to the side. Many guests walking past to get to Italy or China may only think the little area is another nice bit of landscaping that Disney keeps up everywhere. Guests at a Star Wars park should also have that sense of discovery.
Model railroad village in Germany Pavilion. 2002 MousePlanet archive photo.
What is it guests should discover? Well, what did we discover in the movies? We discovered a vast alien world, new ways to travel across the galaxy, that there are evil forces at work out there, and that there is potential for goodness inside us. We discover friends as well as enemies. We discover the power within us to help our friends, to turn enemies into allies, and to overcome evil without resorting to violence and greed.
How do you evoke these feelings with the architecture? Certainly the rides and attractions can focus on such tasks as discovering the good and defeating the evil, but what about when you are not on a ride, but walking around and wondering what to do next? There are choices around the corners. How will those choices be presented? What will make you want to take one path over another? What will entice to you to step up to that choice?
You choose where to go and once you set out, there ought to be a world of possibilities. Maybe you’ll discover a little shop to build a lightsaber, a Jawa trying to sell you droids, Obi-Wan’s home off to the side where a Jedi is ready to show you on your way, or turn the corner into docking bay 94 where the Millenium Falcon itself is ready for takeoff.
