An ever-expanding Stars Wars festival returning to Disneyland brings a new interstellar destination to the Star Tours attraction that will take riders through a pod of massive space whales undulating through the sky above a watery planet.
The annual Season of the Force event returned Friday, April 5 and will run through June 2 at the Anaheim theme park with a new Star Tours destination in Tomorrowland, a fireworks show with a galactic soundtrack in Galaxy’s Edge, the return of Hyperspace Mountain, new Star Wars character appearances plus specialty themed food and merchandise.
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For a limited time, every Star Tours voyage will include one old destination followed by a new trip to Seatos — or at least the skies above the Star Wars planet of red forests and vast oceans.
The new scene opens with the parting of some ominous storm clouds. Accidental pilot and perpetual know-it-all C-3PO explains the new planetary destination and the pod of space whales heading our way.
The Purrgil space whales on the Star Wars planet of Seatos are both beautiful and terrifying as the massive beasts roll through the sky like the next foes in a Godzilla movie.
Concept art of the new Star Tours scene at Disneyland with the Starspeeder 3000 flying amid Purrgil space whales on the Star Wars planet of Seatos. (Courtesy of Disney)
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Star Tours riders weave among the Purrgils’ fins and tentacles before Togruta rebel Ahsoka Tano pops up on the screen of the Starspeeder 3000 to warn us of incoming fighters.
With Ahsoka’s help, our Starspeeder successfully fends off the fighters and barely avoids flying into the gaping mouth of a Purrgil. A celebratory barrel roll completes the mission before we make the leap to hyperspace and relative safety.
The Purrgils were seen during an episode of the “Ahsoka” live-action Disney+ television series that served as an inspiration for the new Star Tours scene.
“It always starts by going through the scripts on the shows with the filmmakers,” Walt Disney Imagineering Senior Creative Executive Tom Fitzgerald said. “I’m looking for what would make a good sequence. The Purrgil being such a cool new creature seemed like a natural. That feels like something that would be very different from the other sequences and a lot of fun.”
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In between planets, a new transmission comes into the Starspeeder from Cassian Andor or Din Djarin. While the message from Andor is suitably stern and anxious, the transmission from the Mandalorian is playful and silly thanks to the antics of Grogu — better known as Baby Yoda. Without ruining the gag, let’s just say a 3D floating frog is at the center of a lot of laughs.
Over in Galaxy’s Edge, there will be a few new Star Wars additions as well during the Season of the Force.
Force-sensitive Mandalorian Sabine Wren joins the walk-around characters in Galaxy’s Edge. The Jedi trainee will pose for photos and talk with visitors about her storylines in “Star Wars Rebels” and “Ahsoka” as well as her reasons for being on Batuu — the Star Wars planetary setting at Disneyland.
The adorable BDX droids that made a test run in October are back during Season of the Force making appearances throughout Galaxy’s Edge. The free-moving Audio-Animatronics are truly a marvel to watch as they scan the crowd for bounty hunters, wiggle their antennas, nod their heads and dance to the delight of the audience.
The BDX droids finally pay off Imagineering’s long-time promise of having droids roam through Galaxy’s Edge. Appearances of the duck-like droids will be scheduled but seemingly random — so ask a Disney cast member for help in seeing the performances.
The annual Star Wars event continues to grow in size and scope. What started out as an unofficial annual celebration on May the Fourth of all things Star Wars has evolved into an eight-week tribute to the 1970s sci-fi epic space opera.
Doubling in length from 2023’s month-long fest, the 2024 Season of the Force runs for a month on either side of May 4 — the unofficial holiday of the epic saga.
