Scott Trowbridge, the Disney Imagineer leading the creative vision for its Star Wars-themed projects, has revealed details of the operator’s planned Galaxy’s Edge lands, coming to California and Orlando in 2019.

Speaking at the Legends panel hosted by BRC Imagination Arts’ Bob Rogers, Trowbridge said the experiences would “change the lens” on who is the protagonist in the theme park experience, something Disney wants to apply to all of its projects going forward.

“You go into some traditional theme park experiences and you’re kind of invisible,” he said. “With Pirates of the Caribbean for example, you go and ride it but the pirates don’t acknowledge you.”

Trowbridge, who has the task of taking the work of Star Wars creator George Lucas and translating that into a physical world, wants to do more than just recreate famous scenes from the franchise. Instead, he is in the process of creating something completely new but also distinctly Star Wars, placing visitors right at the heart of the immersive story playing out over multiple days to encourage repeat visits.

“It would have been easy to tell you Luke’s story on Tatooine - an iconic scene from the first movie - but we all know those scenes and we all know Luke’s story. We know we’re not in that story and that we have no business being on that planet with Luke as some kind of weird voyeur,” he said.

“Instead what we want to do is create this universe, laying out and introducing new stories, characters and places, and to include you in these stories should you want to take part. There’s no obligation to do this but there’s a significant part of our audience who want to feel more engaged and more connected to the stories they are experiencing, so we’re trying to find ways to take that and extend it to our parks.”

According to Disney, both Star Wars-themed lands will transport guests to a never-before-seen planet, a remote trading port and one of the last stops before “Wild Space”. The lands will have two signature attractions: one allowing guests to take control of the Millennium Falcon, and another that puts guests in the middle of a giant battle between the First Order and the Resistance.

“There’s an invitation to engage, there’s an invitation to play,” said Trowbridge. “Stay tuned, we’re very excited about it.”

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