Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

[darkridelover]

Elements of that, but it'll be closer to Ghost Town Alive at Knott's. every character will have a 'home/shop/cantina/general area where they are in the land where you report to other characters, interact, they'll send you on missions, it's one of the best immersive theme park experiences currently around. It's a concept Disney has been testing the past few years in Fronteirland (in CA), and Knott's was the first do it almost park-wide.

If you've never seen Ghost Town Alive check it out. I suspect it'll be the very same concept but set in the Star Wars universe obviously.

I can see this concept working very well in California. Well known characters can freely move around there and interact with guest and create an immersive atmosphere because 80% of the visitors are locals who come all the time. They'll say hi to Peter Pan in passing and move on.

But NOT IN FLORIDA. The culture here around characters is completely different. They constantly get mobbed for pictures and autographs. Brazilian Tour Groups swarm and mob characters even cutting in front of families and children. They grab characters constantly going to and from set and try to force a picture. I've seen this over an over again. Forgive me for being cynical but this type of environment would be very challenging in Florida where the majority of the guests come only once every so often. That's why most characters have lines, and back drops, an attendant, a photopass person and everything is very controlled.

Were talking about a land that will be packed with several thousand people at all times with several thousand more waiting outside the land for their return time. I just don't see random droids roaming about everywhere.

I could definitely see a stunt show breaking out every hour around you, but it won't be in the middle of the street. It will be on buildings and platforms located around the land.

No doubt this land will be the most amazing land in theme park history. But I'm just not on the over hype train yet because I completely understand the limitations of the culture in Florida.

 

[epcyclopedia]

But what about capacity?

An early capacity fix for KP was to have guests locate other agents in the same area and then all push the button to activate an effect together.

Guests flat out refused to seek each other out and do so.

So Disney knows this and interacting with any non-player-character is going to need some way to deal with capacity demand.

Otherwise it brings up the question of why you're paying so much for staffing and infrastructure for a few guests an hour.

 

[amityboattours]

In terms of guests becoming 'involved in the story', I have great hesitatation with this because of a previous experience at Secret Cinema's version of Star Wars held in London. We were playing cards with Lando in a bar in Tatooine (which was brilliant, obviously!) but then a couple of real geeks came in and pretended that they were holding up the bar with their plastic blasters (i realise how pathetic this sounds when typed). The Lando actor just became really embarrassed whilst still trying to keep in character and play along with them, but ultimately, it got to a point where the crowd just turned on these guys and asked them to simply shut up.
The idea of full guest interaction can quickly be ruined when certain guests just don't seem to hold the social skills necessary to behave in a required manner.

 

[k_peek_2000]

I can see this concept working very well in California. Well known characters can freely move around there and interact with guest and create an immersive atmosphere because 80% of the visitors are locals who come all the time. They'll say hi to Peter Pan in passing and move on.

But NOT IN FLORIDA. The culture here around characters is completely different. They constantly get mobbed for pictures and autographs. Brazilian Tour Groups swarm and mob characters even cutting in front of families and children. They grab characters constantly going to and from set and try to force a picture. I've seen this over an over again. Forgive me for being cynical but this type of environment would be very challenging in Florida where the majority of the guests come only once every so often. That's why most characters have lines, and back drops, an attendant, a photopass person and everything is very controlled.

Were talking about a land that will be packed with several thousand people at all times with several thousand more waiting outside the land for their return time. I just don't see random droids roaming about everywhere.

I could definitely see a stunt show breaking out every hour around you, but it won't be in the middle of the street. It will be on buildings and platforms located around the land.

No doubt this land will be the most amazing land in theme park history. But I'm just not on the over hype train yet because I completely understand the limitations of the culture in Florida.

That is a great mental image of Disneyland 10 years ago. Have you been to Disneyland Recently? It's mostly the same, most non-obsessed locals are getting priced out and tourist numbers are on the rise. Replace Brazilian tourist groups with Chinese tourist groups and there ya go.

I HIGHLY doubt any of the legacy or any recognizable characters will be used for the interactive experience, remember the emphasis on "locals" to this world during the panel, that's who you'll be interacting with, not Han Solo or Luke or Vader.

 

[darkridelover]

That is a great mental image of Disneyland 10 years ago. Have you been to Disneyland Recently? It's mostly the same, locals are getting priced out and tourist numbers are on the rise. Minus the Brazilians.

That might be a little overstated. The way Disneyland handles their Character interactions has not really changed in that time. There is still a lot of freedom of movement. I just was there last month and have not noticed anything different when it comes to these interactions.

But I will be cautiously optimistic about the possibility of more immersion in Star Wars Land.

 

[quinnmac000]

That is a great mental image of Disneyland 10 years ago. Have you been to Disneyland Recently? It's mostly the same, most non-obsessed locals are getting priced out and tourist numbers are on the rise. Replace Brazilian tourist groups with Chinese tourist groups and there ya go.

I HIGHLY doubt any of the legacy or any recognizable characters will be used for the interactive experience, remember the emphasis on "locals" to this world during the panel, that's who you'll be interacting with, not Han Solo or Luke or Vader.

Still people will be clamoring to take pictures to post on snap/insta/facebook/twitter/imgur/reddit/orlandounited/magic/etc because that is the societal norm now. Why do you think meet and greets are becoming so big now? Before they were cute things for kids and families now its more so people can post it online get likes based on nostalgia, etc and provide companies free marketing.

 

[epcyclopedia]

In terms of guests becoming 'involved in the story', I have great hesitatation with this because of a previous experience at Secret Cinema's version of Star Wars held in London. We were playing cards with Lando in a bar in Tatooine (which was brilliant, obviously!) but then a couple of real geeks came in and pretended that they were holding up the bar with their plastic blasters (i realise how pathetic this sounds when typed). The Lando actor just became really embarrassed whilst still trying to keep in character and play along with them, but ultimately, it got to a point where the crowd just turned on these guys and asked them to simply shut up.
The idea of full guest interaction can quickly be ruined when certain guests just don't seem to hold the social skills necessary to behave in a required manner.

When they did KP they were worried about a similar issue with shaming and bullying - they found essentially none of it, citing their theory it's much harder to pick on a little girl in person than it is to do so anonymously online. They're going to need some "policing" if they expect to have large groups interacting in any way.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Still people will be clamoring to take pictures to post on snap/insta/facebook/twitter/imgur/reddit/IU/magic/etc because that is the societal norm now. Why do you think meet and greets are becoming so big now? Before they were cute things for kids and familys now its more so people can post it online get likes based on nostalgia, etc and provide companies free marketing.

Fixed that,

 

[bob albert]

Never thought about the fact that coke wasn't in harry potter lands as there are sufficient offerings to not care. Also that character actress looks almost nothing like Daisy Ridley but it really doesn't matter if it serves a purpose. I am not confident they can make decent interactivity happen considering this is going to be mobbed with people.

 

[k_peek_2000]

That might be a little overstated. The way Disneyland handles their Character interactions has not really changed in that time. There is still a lot of freedom of movement. I just was there last month and have not noticed anything different when it comes to these interactions.

But I will be cautiously optimistic about the possibility of more immersion in Star Wars Land.

When they did KP they were worried about a similar issue with shaming and bullying - they found essentially none of it, citing their theory it's much harder to pick on a little girl in person than it is to do so anonymously online. They're going to need some "policing" if they expect to have large groups interacting in any way.

You guys both seem to have the mentality that these interactive experiences are the same as meet and greets. They're not.

For starters at both Disneyland's test and Ghost Town Alive, the characters pick the guests who do the missions, that alone will control capacity. You don't just walk up to an actor and say "send me on a mission" there is a story that evolves throughout the day. Different characters will be about at different times of the day.

 

[epcyclopedia]

No.. i'm citing the company's own words on how they handle "gamification" of guest experiences from a tech talk they did.

 

[epcyclopedia]

And for the "it wont be like M/G's, there wont be lines..."

Their experiment with KP showed that guests would self-form queues to experience interactive elements and activate the trigger themselves instead of any suggestion of a group interaction.

Guests dont want to roleplay with each other in groups.

 

[darkridelover]

And for the "it wont be like M/G's, there wont be lines..."

Their experiment with KP showed that guests would self-form queues to experience interactive elements and activate the trigger themselves instead of any suggestion of a group interaction.

Guests dont want to roleplay with each other in groups.

Exactly, you see this lines self form when people placy Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. It's not a free roaming experience even through people can opt in or out. In Disney Springs outside of the World of Disney store people line up just to take a picture next to a statue of the princesses.

 

[k_peek_2000]

And for the "it wont be like M/G's, there wont be lines..."

Their experiment with KP showed that guests would self-form queues to experience interactive elements and activate the trigger themselves instead of any suggestion of a group interaction.

Guests dont want to roleplay with each other in groups.

This isn't going to be anything like KP though, TOTALLY different system... There may be shared elements (unlikely) but this is all story based with your interactions with actors as the foundation.

 

[epcyclopedia]

This isn't going to be anything like KP though, TOTALLY different system... There may be shared elements but this is all story based with your interactions with actors as the foundation.

And actors will be at predetermined locations with scripted responses.. they can just improv, unlike a robot or video clip. Because of the importance of the "self achievement" they discovered working on KP (guests really want the satisfaction of triggering events themselves, not witnessing others doing it) they've expanded it some but it's the same basic idea.

It's a live side-quest from a video game.

 

[epcyclopedia]

And really, you know it's "TOTALLY" different base on.. what exactly..?

Right now it looks like blind brand loyalty and a rejection of all historical precedence.

 

[k_peek_2000]

And really, you know it's "TOTALLY" different base on.. what exactly..?

Right now it looks like blind brand loyalty and a rejection of all historical precedence.

Because I have experience both Disneyland's Fronteirland experiment and Ghost Town Alive (both created by the same individual btw). KP happened over a decade ago and is irrelevant now, the technology is prehistoric by today's standards.

And actors will be at predetermined locations with scripted responses.. they can just improv, unlike a robot or video clip. Because of the importance of the "self achievement" they discovered working on KP (guests really want the satisfaction of triggering events themselves, not witnessing others doing it) they've expanded it some but it's the same basic idea.

It's a live side-quest from a video game.

Right, but who says that the satisfaction of triggered events has to be something personalized, why can't 3-4 different stories merge at a given point and have a different ending depending on how the interactions took place that day? We've seen choreographed fight scenes and know performances of sorts will break out throughout the land. The entire land is being designed as a stage essentially.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Then you instead appear to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how those other offerings work at a nuts and bolts level.

 

[k_peek_2000]

Then you instead appear to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how those other offerings work at a nuts and bolts level.

Meaning?

I just know what I've experienced personally and what was said at the Star Wars Celebration panel is extremely similar to what's been tested in SoCal the past year or 2. I'm just trying to explain how it can work in the context of Star Wars Land. The basis of an interactive live experience in a huge theme park setting is not as far-fetched as some think it will be.

Nothing like this has been done in a Florida park before.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I just know what I've experienced personally and what was said at the Star Wars Celebration panel is extremely similar to what's been tested in SoCal the past year or 2. I'm just trying to explain how it can work in the context of Star Wars Land. The basis of an interactive live experience in a huge theme park setting is not as far-fetched as some think it will be.

I know it may be a bit of an odd thing, but perhaps explaining how it more works in deeper detail..may be a good idea to show what we may possibly see.