Disney CEO Tours Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and Directors Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams

The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Imagineer Scott Trowbridge guided Lucasfilm [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and Disney Imagineer Scott Trowbridge guided Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and directors Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams on a tour of Disneyland park's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge expansion.

The personal tour, shared by Iger on Twitter, offers new looks at the land's Star Wars-inspired architecture and its Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction, which allows guests to step aboard and then pilot the iconic ship once belonged to legendary outlaws Han Solo and Chewbacca.

"I think when we say immersive, I think that means it's big. It has scale," Trowbridge, the creative force behind the 14-acre expansion, told CNN. "It doesn't just reveal itself all to you in one view. You actually have to explore it a little bit. There are things to discover. It's also immersive because it has that attention to detail, and that attention to authenticity."

The land, filled with Easter eggs from across the Star Wars galaxy, is set in Black Spire Outpost on the remote planet of Batuu. The tucked away planet is a playground for smugglers, pirates, and other rogues, all under the watchful eye of the oppressive First Order.

When guests step into the land, they create and live their own Star Wars adventure.

"The events that happen here in Black Spire Outpost are true in the world of Star Wars. They're not isolated from the rest of Star Wars storytelling," Trowbridge said.

"The things that happen here are true throughout this entire kind of canon of Star Wars storytelling."

Decisions you make when traversing the land have consequences, and your personally crafted Star Wars story is determined by actions you take — or don't take — as the newest resident of a galaxy far, far away.

Should your handling of the Millennium Falcon prove less than satisfactory, "You might sidle up to the bar, and the bartender at the cantina might lean over and say, 'Hey, word on the street is Hondo's not too happy with you. I'd watch out if I were you, because I think your name's on the list of the local bounty hunter,'" Trowbridge said.

"For those guests who want to play Star Wars with us, we have ways. Using their own personal technology, if you opt in, and want to play with us, you don't have to, there's no obligation, but there's an invitation to come and play Star Wars with us."

For that level of interactive play, guests simply have to download the free Play Disney Parks app, which offers tools for hacking, scanning, translating, and tuning — all used to better immerse yourself in all things Star Wars when exploring the land and its many secrets.

This new story centered around Galaxy's Edge belongs to the same canon created by visionary George Lucas and now steered by Kennedy and Abrams, who teamed for 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens and again on December's The Rise of Skywalker.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens May 31 at the Disneyland Resort and August 29 within Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort.

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