By Charly SHELTON

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is a huge land, recently opened at both Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, Florida. The two lands were built at the same time and are roughly the same in size, shape and offerings. But there are a few differences. And since jetting off to Florida for a day to see the differences is not economical, we at CV Weekly did it for you.

Firstly, for those unfamiliar, the new land at Disneyland and DHS is the first Star Wars-based land in any park, and the largest single expansion to Disneyland since it opened. At 14 acres, this land is massive and occupies a space that stretches back behind the existing lands of Frontierland, Critter Country and the Rivers of America.

The land itself is referred to by many names. The project title, and the official land title itself, is Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (SWGE). Within the story of the land, the planet guests are “on” is called Batuu, and the settlement on that planet is called the Black Spire Outpost. The California land opened on May 31, 2019 and the Florida land opened on Aug 29, 2019, each with one attraction – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. The land opened to mixed reviews, due to being an incredibly immersive, fun experience but having hardly any connection to the Star Wars universe other than the Millennium Falcon being there and stormtroopers walking around with Kylo Ren.

The lands are nearly identical though for the moment there is one big difference. Florida’s land opened its second attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, back in December. This same ride is set to open on Jan. 17 at Disneyland’s SWGE. The rides were slated to open with their respective lands but were delayed by several months, contributing to the mixed aspect of the reviews. The ride opened Dec. 5 in Florida and has received nearly all positive reviews despite long downtimes plaguing the attraction, leading to Disney having to reissue complimentary tickets to return to the park another day to try again. The California ride is coming soon and, after the “new ride smell” wears off, the downtimes will be an issue here I’m sure. With an attraction as complex and high tech as Rise of the Resistance, said to be the best new ride system in the world, it’s bound to be an unwieldy beast until the maintenance team gets its feet under them and learns to manage the new attraction style.

Beyond the momentary difference in attractions, the other differences are in layout. The Florida land and the California land are nearly identical in size but the shape is different, with three land entrances in Disneyland and two entrances in DHS. This minor change makes for a different feel between the lands. The Disneyland version feels bigger, more spread out and has more of an anticipatory lead-in to a sweeping view upon arrival than Florida, which has a more abbreviated entrance and thrusts guests into the land faster. Florida feels more fast-paced and tighter, more like a city than California’s feel of an outpost.

But Florida’s version feels more alien and genuine. Florida has weather more befitting of a muggy forested/desert alien world whereas California’s weather overall doesn’t make you want to rip your skin off because you’re so sweaty. Also, something I didn’t think would be so impactful: the wildlife. California has sparrows and ducks walking around the parks. Florida has cranes and herons and weird swamp birds. And for bugs, there are these little insects called love bugs. Two of them hook up back to back and latch on with their back legs, making for a dozen-legged double bug that looks very alien. I never thought about the natural wildlife being so important in “selling it” as an alien world but when 12-legged bugs go flying past your head, it feels very alien.

Overall, the lands are both cool and a good way to spend an afternoon.

To read more about SWGE in depth, check out our story online from July 2019. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opens in Disneyland on Jan. 17.

  Charly Shelton