New Scenes to Debut at “Star Tours – The Adventures Continue”

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

March 6, 2024

 

Star Wars fans, mark your calendars!  Starting April 5, 2024, “Star Tours – The Adventures Continue” will be adding new scenes to your flights to hyperspace.  The Star Tours  3-D flight simulators at Hollywood Studios at Disney World, Disneyland California, and Disneyland Paris will all be adding the new scenes, bringing the possible story combinations to more than 250.

The new scenes will feature characters and locations from the Disney+ series Ahsoka, Andor, and The Mandalorian.

  
If you’ve never had the opportunity to board a Starspeeder 1000, you’ll grab your 3-D glasses, and settle in for your flight. Protocol droid C-3PO takes the controls, but then things go terribly awry.  You are intercepted by Imperial or First Order forces, who are searching for the Rebel spy.  Is it you?  C-3PO will help you try to escape, but the trip is going to be a bumpy one.

The plot twists to the ride are randomly generated, so you never know what planet you’ll be heading to, or what Star Wars saga characters you may encounter along the way.  You just might run into Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Master Yoda, Boba Fett, or Poe Dameron on your daring journey.

According to Scott Trowbridge of Walt Disney Imagineering, “Urgent transmissions from Ahsoka Tano, Cassian Andor, Din Djarin and Grogu may soon be part of your next Starspeeder flight.”

The ride has a height requirement of 40 inches. 

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. More information at

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Have the Prayers of Star Wars Fans Been Answered?

 by Ray Keating

News/Analysis/Commentary

DisneyBizJournal.com

November 21, 2023

 

Star Wars fans haven’t exactly been pleased with the results since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012. Is that about to change?

 

The three sequel films – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) – were particularly bad for so many reasons. And then there was the incredibly disappointing Disney+ live-action series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), along with the muddled The Book of Boba Fett (2021).

There, of course, have been middling-to-pretty-good efforts, such as Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) in theaters – although I’ll get some debate on those points in Star Wars circles.

 

And on Disney+, The Mandalorian (2019), Andor (2022), and Ahsoka (2023) have been excellent.

 

Overall, Disney’s Star Wars record has been terribly disappointing. But now comes news via Vanity Fair that Dave Filoni has been promoted. 

 

According to the report, Filoni said, “Now I’m what’s called chief creative officer of Lucasfilm.” This “places him into the development process much earlier and in a much more expansive capacity than his previous advisory duties. ‘In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into it, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways.’ Filoni will now work more directly with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and alongside Carrie Beck, a veteran producer turned head of development, to originate and shepherd the next generation of Star Wars shows and movies.”

 

Vanity Fair also reported: “‘I’m not telling people what to do,’ Filoni says. ‘But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.’ He described his responsibilities as understanding the intent of the filmmakers and being a resource to them, based on his mentorship under Lucas himself, and his years spent steering The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Ahsoka.” And later: “Filoni will continue developing his film, as well as exploring a possible second season of Ahsoka, while serving in his new position.”

 

It also was noted: “As president of Lucasfilm, Kennedy will continue leading the overall company, and Beck’s role will involve recruiting other storytellers into the Star Wars fold, while Filoni weighs in on a narrative level.”

 

The inevitable question that arises from Filoni’s promotion is this: Will Filoni eventually succeed Kennedy to helm all of Lucasfilm, or perhaps co-run the Disney-owned studio with someone else more plugged in to the business side of things? That would be the answer to Star Wars fans' prayers. After all, Kennedy has taken the brunt of the criticism for the under-performance of Star Wars, and she hasn’t helped her own case over the years with some comments that were out of touch with Star Wars material and fans, along with the greenlighting of an assortment of Star Wars movies that then quietly disappeared.

 

In the end, at the very least, Filoni’s promotion is good news for those who seek storytelling that makes more sense in terms of the characters and overall Star Wars universe and themes.

 

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Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, the Alliance of Saint Michael novels, and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

Support the Daily Dose of Disney with Ray Keating Podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1724143. Subscribe at the $8 or $10 level, and get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. Remain a supporter and you'll get a FREE BOOK by Ray Keating every six months going forward. Thanks!

 

Consider books by Ray Keating, including…

 

• The Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries. There are 18 books in the series now.

 

• Order The Weekly Economist II: 52 More Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Kindle editions and paperbacks via Amazon here and signed books here. And don’t forget the first book in this growing series, i.e., The Weekly Economist: 52 Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist at Amazon.com.

 

• Cathedral: An Alliance of Saint Michael Novel is at Amazon. 

 

• The Lutheran Planner: The TO DO List Solution combines a simple, powerful system for getting things done with encouragement, inspiration and consolation from the Christian faith.

 

• Signed editions of Ray’s books are at www.RayKeatingOnline.com. 

 

Also, check out Ray’s podcasts – the Daily Dose of Disney, Free Enterprise in Three Minutes, and the PRESS CLUB C Podcast.

Breaking News from Destination D23 at Disney World

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

September 9, 2023

 

Many of you were glued to your computers this morning watching the Destination D23 livestream from the Contemporary Resort at Disney World in Florida. D23 is the official Disney Fan Club.

This fan-gathering is always the home of breaking Disney Parks news, amidst the fun and interesting discussion panels, entertainment segments and, of course, merchandise shopping, and today didn’t disappoint. Here are some of the bulleted highlights of the Saturday event (September 9, 2023), many of them announced by Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products himself.  If you haven’t been hovering over YouTube all day for the latest news, here are some of the scoops.

Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

NEW AT EPCOT:

• “Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana” will be officially opening to the general public on October 16th. There will also be a Moana character meet-and-greet there. (DVC and Annual Passholder Previews will be underway shortly.)

 

• World Celebration will open in EPCOT in December.

Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

• Figment fans, make your way to EPCOT this weekend – your favorite purple Figment will begin meeting and greeting in person, tomorrow (September 10, 2023) in the Imagination pavilion. Be warned – he is HUGE! The walk-around character was taller than most of the cast who joined him on stage for a rousing chorus of Figment’s “Imagination” theme song.

• In more EPCOT news, the new fireworks show now has a name and debut date:  “Luminous: The Symphony of Us” will arrive on December 5, 2023.

 

Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

• The upcoming film Wish will introduce folks to Asha, and she will subsequently be appearing in EPCOT, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

• Guests who wax nostalgic about the old version of Test Track will be pleased to hear that Disney will be partnering with Chevrolet to reimagine Test Track and will take as its inspiration the original World of Motion.

Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

• At this afternoon’s panel, “EPCOT: Always in a State of Becoming,” it was announced that for a limited time, guests at EPCOT will be able to experience the original cut of “Soarin’ Over California” as part of the Disney100 celebration, beginning September 22, 2023.

NEW AT HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

• The “Star Tours” attraction will be adding “Ahsoka” to the lineup in the spring, including at Disney World, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

 
NEW AT MAGIC KINGDOM:

• The “Country Bear Jamboree” will be getting new songs for a new act, with the atmosphere being classic jamboree/Nashville-style in tone. Disney also revealed new artwork for the show, “Country Bear Musical Jamboree,” opening in 2024.

• Over in Adventureland, near Pirates of the Caribbean, there will be a new pirates’ themed tavern introduced, with the name and opening date of the restaurant/lounge to be shared later.

• Construction on his new home has already been underway, but at long last, the Hatbox Ghost will be arriving at Magic Kingdom in late November!

• Imagineer Bruce Vaughn joined D’Amaro and talked about the possibilities with the proposed expansion in the area “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” first broached in the Blue Sky projects at the last D23 gathering.  While the specific attractions and shows haven’t been named yet, Vaughn indicated that the scope of the project will be similar in scale to the Galaxy’s Edge and Pandora expansions – in other words, a very large addition to that end of the park!

NEW AT ANIMAL KINGDOM:

• The biggest news out of the Animal Kingdom is the long-anticipated revamp of DinoLand – to “the Tropical Americas.” According to Disney, they are “diving deep into their research” and “New experiences inspired by Encanto – the Academy Award winning Walt Disney Animation Studios film – and the fan-favorite adventurer Indiana Jones are being considered for the reimagined land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort.” (Before you throw on your fedora and grab your bullwhip, note the wording “are being considered” in the language... though there were very broad hints about these IPs during the discussion of the land.)

Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

• The Tree of Life will be getting a new show inspired by Zootopia, likely to be replacing “A Bug’s Life” inside the theatre in the base of the Tree of Life, though that wasn’t explicitly stated. Since the show will include animatronics, that indicates to us that it won’t just be an evening projections’ show on the outside of the Tree, but an overhaul of the show inside.

 

NEW AT DISNEY CRUISE LINE:

• Disney Cruise Line announced the name for the new, 7th ship in its fleet: the Disney Adventure.  This cruise, featuring Disney, Pixar, and Marvel stories on board, will be home ported in Singapore.

• In another Cruise Line announcement, the name of Disney’s newest private port will be “Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point” in the Bahamas. (The first cruise sailing there will be the Disney Magic, on June 16, 2024.)

 

NEW AT DISNEYLAND-CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE:

• Avengers Campus is getting a new attraction, where guests will be able to battle alongside the Avengers, and come face to face with big bad villain Thanos, complete with new ride vehicles in a hub for the multiverse! New Avengers “technology” will allow “recruits” to connect to the multiverse, and will transport participants on a multi-world mission. D23 guests got a peek at the ride vehicles.

 

NEW AT INTERNATIONAL PARKS:

• D23 fans also got a look at Hong Kong’s “World of Frozen,” opening November 30, 2023.

FUTURE FAN EVENT:

 

• Looking forward to the next big D23 event?  It was announced that next year’s event is being called “D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event,” and will take place from August 8th-11th in and around Anaheim, California. The D23 kickoff celebration will take place at Disneyland Resort on August 8th, 2024, with other panels and exhibits happening during the day on August 9th through 11th at the Anaheim Convention Center, providing more space for more guests. At night, participants will head to shows in the indoor NHL hockey arena at the Honda Center.

 

Tickets for these events aren’t on sale yet, but mark your calendars now, because when they do drop (sometime in spring 2024), they are certain to go really fast!  They typically sell out in a matter of hours.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

Josh D’Amaro wrapped up “A Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” by saying, “We are going to speed up; we are not going to slow down, and over the next decade, we are going to have more projects under way than at any point in our history – any point in our history.  We are planning to invest billions of dollars in our destinations around the world.” 

 

Disney fans will be looking forward to it.

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

Disney Announced “Ahsoka” Viewership … in an Unusual Step

 by Ray Keating

News/Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

August 30, 2023

 

Yesterday (August 29, 2023), The Walt Disney Company decided to announce its estimate for viewership of the first episode of the Star Wars show Ahsoka on Disney+. This was a very unusual step for Disney, which rarely – and I mean rarely – shares audience numbers for shows or movies on Disney+.

At StarWars.com, Disney announced “that Part One of Ahsoka, 'Master and Apprentice,' was the most-watched title on Disney+ this past week. The debut episode garnered 14 million views, making the series number one globally on the streaming platform.”

 

Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president, was quoted, “Ahsoka has become a fan favorite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series. I want to recognize the fantastic work done by our creative team, led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the incredible cast led by Rosario Dawson, and our talented crew — and on behalf of the team and all of Lucasfilm, we give our thanks to all the fans who have been with Ahsoka on every step of her journey and to all those who are just learning about her now in Ahsoka on Disney+.”

 

So, why did Disney take this unusual step? It seems that there are two possible reasons. One is that the online buzz was saying that the Ahsoka debut numbers were unimpressive, and Disney had to move to counter that. Or, Disney wanted to take a small victory with some good numbers. Of course, it could be both.

 

Deadline reported the following on outside estimates of Ahsoka’s audience: “Samba TV reports that the Live+5 day viewership for the first episode of Disney+/Lucasfilm’s new series Ahsoka drew 1.2M households. Disney+ dropped the first two episodes of the Dave Filoni-created series on Tuesday, August 22. The second episode clocked 956K U.S. households.”

 

How does that compare to other Star Wars projects on Disney+? Deadline reported:

 

“Ahsoka‘s first episode ratings are even with the first episode of the Tony Gilroy-created Star Wars series Andor, which also pulled in 1.2M households over its live+5 day. Andor debuted on Disney+ on September 21, 2022. However, the ratings for Ahsoka Episode 1 “Master and Apprentice” are down by 50% from the Live+5 day of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which dropped on May 27, 2022, with that Jedi force pulling in 2.4M households. Ahsoka Episode 1 also is down from the first episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian by 29%, with that series from Filoni and Jon Favreau earning 1.7M U.S. households in its L+5D.”

 

Samba TV tweeted the following:

 

So far, on RottenTomatoes.com, Ahsoka has rated 89% fresh with critics, and 76% fresh with audiences.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, the Alliance of Saint Michael novels, and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right? (Keating is a Disney shareholder.)

 

Consider books by Ray Keating…

 

• The Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries. Here are 18 books in the series now with the latest being Under the Golden Dome: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel and For Better, For Worse: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story.

 

• Order The Weekly Economist II: 52 More Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Kindle editions and paperbacks via Amazon here and signed books here. And don’t forget the first book in this growing series, i.e., The Weekly Economist: 52 Quick Reads to Help You Think Like an Economist. Signed paperbacks at RayKeatingOnline.com or paperbacks, hardcovers and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.

 

• Cathedral: An Alliance of Saint Michael Novel. Signed paperbacks and/or paperbacks, hardcovers and the Kindle edition at Amazon. 

 

• The Lutheran Planner: The TO DO List Solution combines a simple, powerful system for getting things done with encouragement, inspiration and consolation from the Christian faith.

 

• Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York  –  signed books  or at  Amazon.

 

•  Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know is available at  Amazon  in paperback or for the Kindle edition, and signed books at  www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

Also, check out Ray’s podcasts – the Daily Dose of Disney, Free Enterprise in Three Minutes, and the PRESS CLUB C Podcast.