Thursday, September 24, 2015

Sydney Summer: Star Wars Spaceport

Part 2: Theme Park Overviews
Part 3: The Resort Outside the Parks
Part 4: Main Street and Fantasyland
Part 5: Adventureland
Part 6: Discoveryland
Part 7: New York Harbor
Part 8: Hollywood Boulevard
Part 9: Disney Animation Studios
Part 10: Marvel City


Sorry for the few weeks of silence! Now I'm back for a new post to finish up the Sydney Resort. This post will cover Star Wars Spaceport.

Its also going to be a little shorter than past posts because of the topic.

I had planned to give a full description of the Star Wars land I had designed here, but since the unveiling of Disney's plans, I have decided to rethink a lot of things. However, I am still presenting the old version here, hence less descriptive text.





The pathway from Marvel City leads under a pair of enclosed bridges to block further views and transition architecturally from the New York style city to the Coruscant style city. Basically the transition is a progression of materials from stone and brick to metal and concrete. 



Straight ahead is the Millennium Falcon, which is fully explorable. To the right of the entrance path is retail on the ground floor and a table service restaurant on the upper floor, looking over the Star Wars city. Past that is an X Wing fighter in dock, as the entrance to an X Wing spinner attraction. It is not a standard kid spinner however. The central axis rises up into a projection dome and tilts 45 degrees off axis. The slightly faster spinning vehicles rise high into the dome and swiftly fall back as they cycle. 

Next is the Jedi Training Academy theater, which presents a version of the show much like the existing show, but with an animatronic Yoda figure. 

Back across by the Millennium Falcon is a two story complex of retail and dining. A snack location and large retail space is on the ground floor. The Cantina counter service restaurant is on the top floor. 

Also on the ground floor is the entrance to a theater based attraction that is mostly on the upper floor. This is a 4D movie with live actors and effects, like Terminator, that tells the story of the history of the Jedi. It enters on the ground floor and exits on the upper floor. 

Last, the main attraction of the land is Star Wars: Flight of the Force, which is a modified Kuka arm attraction. Guests ride in X Wings and join the Rebel Alliance as they attack the Death Star. It ends with an encounter with Darth Vader and a run through the iconic trench. This is an attraction I have been working on for another location, so it will probably show up again later on. 



So since seeing the concept art of what Disney is building, I have started to reconsider a lot of my choices. Such as my decision for an existing planet (Coruscant) vs original plant, my decision for basing the land on the original trilogy vs the new films, and my attraction lineup. 

I really like the Disney concept art, and look forward to seeing what actually gets built. In the mean time, I will probably try another version or two. Maybe. 


The last post will cover the nightime shows for the two parks, and will be another short one, so should be up next week. Then things are going to change. Thanks for reading!



5 comments :

  1. Very nice post. I like this Star Wars Section a lot. With the amount of space that it is allotted it seems you have used it to its full potential with an existing planet. Well Done.

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  2. I like the idea of redoing the Star Wars areas in order to use ideas from Disney's new Star Wars concept Maybe you could use a cityplanet like Taris from the Star Wars EU in order to bring a sense of uniqueness.

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  3. Do you have plans to eventually do a buildout for either of the Disney parks in California?

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    1. Eventually. I only like to design plans for parks that I have actually visited so that I really understand them. I haven't been to Disneyland yet, but will be going in December. So maybe next year. Though I will say that I can't imagine there is much to fix at those parks.

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