Animatronic shopkeepers, droids and creatures bring Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to life at Disneyland

The new characters, powered by Disney's latest audio-animatronic technology, will have more precise and natural movements than their predecessors.

A collection of next generation audio-animatronic figures coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland will bring to life alien pilots, black market shopkeepers, disc jockey droids, space pirates, cuddly creatures and stormtrooper battalions.

The new Galaxy’s Edge themed land set to debut May 31 at the Anaheim theme park will be filled with animatronic droids like BB-8, R-3X, R5-P8 and 8D-J8 as well as life-like “Star Wars” creatures such as Nien Nunb, Dok-Ondar and Hondo Ohnaka.

The animated characters found in the rides and throughout the land will be powered by Walt Disney Imagineering’s latest A-1000 series audio-animatronic figures. The next generation figures operate electronically rather than hydraulically like the earlier A-100 series animatronics. The more compact A-1000 figures have more precise movements, more fluid transitions and smoother facial gestures than the A-100 figures. Imagineers employed computer pre-visualization tools and motion-capture technology to program the A-1000 animatronics to mimic how humans move.

A behind-the-scenes media tour of the Imagineering animation building in Glendale showed off the Hondo Ohnaka, R-3X and Dok-Ondar animatronics bound for the Galaxy’s Edge themed land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. (The Disneyland figures had already been shipped to Anaheim.) Reporters saw several of the newly-installed animatronics during a construction tour of Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland.

The new animatronics will populate the attractions, shops and restaurants in Black Spire Outpost, the remote outer rim village where Galaxy’s Edge is set on the “Star Wars” planet of Batuu. Tensions will be high in Black Spire Outpost as the bad guy First Order soldiers search for the good guy Resistance rebels amid the day-to-day life of the Batuuan villagers, according to the backstory developed for the land.

Let’s take a closer look at the key audio-animatronic figures coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

The Hondo Ohnaka figure in the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction will be the most sophisticated animatronic in Galaxy’s Edge.

The dreadlocked space pirate with six tusk-like protrusions on his chin will serve as the proprietor of Ohnaka Transport Solutions and host of the Smugglers Run flight simulator. Hondo appears in the “Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels” animated television series.

During the Imagineering tour, the fully-costumed Hondo audio-animatronic pivoted back and forth on feet-less legs as he repeated his pre-ride spiel that riders will hear as they wait in the attraction queue.

The Hondo figure has 50 movements, making it the second most-complicated animatronic in any Disney theme park. Only the Na’vi Shaman in Pandora: The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida has more, with 40 functions in the face alone.

Next to Hondo, his trusty animatronic droid R5-P8 will keep the boss on schedule and fix failing equipment in the Command Center of Ohnaka Transport Solutions.

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Visitors will encounter several animatronics in the Rise of the Resistance attraction, including ball droid BB-8, jowl-faced pilot Nien Nunb and a battalion of fierce-looking First Order stormtroopers.

Riders will meet an animatronic BB-8 in the Ready Room of a Resistance base camp as a holographic Rey from “The Force Awakens” asks us to take part in a dangerous off-planet mission against the First Order.

An animatronic Nien Nunb will bark orders at his passengers from the cockpit of a Resistance Intersystem Transport Ship at one point in the attraction. About 50 riders will board the ship and depart Batuu before being tractor beamed aboard a First Order Star Destroyer.

Fifty stormtroopers await in formation aboard the Star Destroyer as the doors to the transport ship open. A few of the animatronic stormtroopers will make slight movements as they track the progress of the riders passing through the hangar.

Oga’s Cantina

DJ R-3X, also known as Rex, will spin an alien soundtrack described as Jawa-meets-new age-meets-1980s pop in Oga’s Cantina. The former Star Tours pilot, once known as RX-24, remains as quirky and talkative as ever.

During the Imagineering tour, an animatronic R-3X played tunes behind a disc jockey console in a cavernous warehouse-like space next to a welding shop. The animatronic figure employs an original outer shell from a Star Tours Rex figure with new electronic functions on the inside.

Rex will DJ a 3-hour show at the cantina in 1-hour segments that vary slightly. “Hey everyone, who’s ready to boogie?” Rex said during a demonstration at Imagineering, voiced once again by “Pee-Wee Herman” star Paul Reubens.

During a Galaxy’s Edge construction tour, crews were installing an animatronic DJ R-3X in an alcove of the cantina at Disneyland. (The R-3X animatronic figure on display at Imagineering was destined for Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.)

Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities

The animatronic Dok-Ondar in the Den of Antiquities store will barter with customers who want to haggle over prices with the help of a shop employee.

The mysterious Ithorian collector and trader has eyes that bulge from the side of his hammerhead and a mouth in his curved neck.

During the media tour, an Imagineer peppered Dok with questions and the surly alien creature responded in an alien tongue, the lips along his two mouths moving as he spoke.

While most visitors won’t understand what Dok is saying, they will be able to discern two distinct moods: happy or frustrated. Throughout the workday, Dok may get a call from somebody trying to rip him off that makes him angry. Counting his money or looking at a bookkeeping ledger could brighten his mood.

Dok’s seemingly-randomized responses are built out of blocks of animation clips that combine into a playlist of short scenes.

During the construction tour, an animatronic Dok-Ondar remained covered in bubble wrap inside his Disneyland shop. (The Dok animatronic figure on display at Imagineering was destined for Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.)

Droid Depot

A wide collection of animatronic droids will be found inside the Droid Depot store as well as in the front and rear of the shop.

The remote-controlled mini-droids created by visitors in the build-your-own droid workshop will be able to communicate with full-sized units found throughout Galaxy’s Edge.

Inside the workshop, droid fans will enjoy exploring the animatronic astromechs and BB units lining the walls of the shop.

In front of the shop, animatronic droids will be lined up in a scene reminiscent of the used droid sale that Luke Skywalker took part in on Tatooine in front the Jawa Sandcrawler during the original 1977 “Star Wars” movie.

Behind the shop, another animated scene will be set up in an intimate courtyard with two animatronic droids getting an oil bath amid stacks of droid pieces and parts.

Concept art of the Droid Depot shows BB-8, R2-D2 and R5-D4 near the horseshoe-shaped build station.

Creature Stall

The cramped Creature Stall marketplace space will be chock full of cages filled with cuddly and creepy animatronic beasts from the “Star Wars” universe.

A cute Loth Cat from the Disney animated series “Star Wars Rebels” will be napping on a little bed in the shop, his breathing body suggesting that the animatronic creature is alive.

A bulbous-eyed Worrt creature will flick its tongue at fireflies flying around a glass case in the marketplace stall.

Some of the hanging cages in the shop will have creatures that appear to come to life with the help of special effects like moving leaves and glaring eyes.

Ronto Roasters

The Ronto Roasters quick-serve restaurant will offer barbecue meats from a grill fired by a repurposed podracer engine.

An audio-animatronic droid standing on a plinth will endlessly turn a spit of meat over the flame while constantly complaining about his thankless job.

Smelter droids like the 8D-J8 unit that will be employed at Ronto Roasters typically work in the harsh environments of ore-extraction facilities. Smelter droids show up in “The Return of the Jedi” and “The Phantom Menace.”

Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo: Step inside an intergalactic food hall at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland

Inspired by a Tokyo fish market, the eatery will serve items from a galaxy far, far away that actually have terrestrial origins.

Step into the Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo restaurant in Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and you’ll find hungry Star Wars fans dining inside special effects-laden shipping containers beneath a food freighter spaceship operated by a surly alien cook.

Docking Bay 7 will offer an intergalactic twist on the latest food hall and food truck trends in the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the new 14-acre themed lands coming to the Anaheim theme park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.

The quick-service restaurant takes its inspiration from a lively Japanese food marketplace, said Walt Disney Imagineering executive creative director Chris Beatty.

“Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo was really inspired by the Tsukiji fish market,” Beatty said. “It’s incredible. Tsukiji fish market is the world’s largest fish market in Tokyo, Japan. It’s just crazy.”

Docking Bay 7 will be run by chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs, who makes regular intergalactic stops at the Galaxy’s Edge eatery with his food truck-like Tuggs Grub spaceship, according to the restaurant’s backstory.

The surly, disfigured cook formerly worked at the castle of pirate Maz Kanata before it was destroyed by the First Order in “The Force Awakens.” Now Cookie travels the Star Wars galaxy in his mobile kitchen starship and fills his pantry with exotic interstellar ingredients that he uses to create otherworldly dishes. Cookie’s Tuggs Grub traveling food shuttle bills itself a “traveling diner for diners traveling.”

Docking Bay 7 will be easy to find in Black Spire Outpost, located directly across from the docked Millennium Falcon. Cookie’s modified Sienar-Chall Utilipede-Transport ship will sit atop the cylindrical-shaped restaurant. The cargo doors will be flung open on the weathered and battled-damaged food freighter as its cargo is lowered into the hangar-like dining room below.

Inside Docking Bay 7, visitors will enter under a cargo pod being lowered from Cookie’s ship docked on the restaurant’s roof. Customers will order at a cashier station and pick up their food in the back of the restaurant, which sells food truck-style dishes in a food hall setting.

“The flavors in Galaxy’s Edge and Docking Bay 7 are going to be very bold, a lot of spice forward,” said Brian Piasecki, Disney World culinary director for concept development.

Diners can eat inside cargo containers that double as seating areas and sit on barrels and crates that serve as chairs. Each heavily-propped cargo container will have a different theme and be run by a Black Spire vendor.

One of the cargo containers inside Docking Bay 7 belongs to a fishmonger.

“This vendor here has got a miniature carbonite freezing machine,” Beatty said during a tour of the restaurant. “It has special effects and steam coming out of it. It’s just stacks and stacks of weird fish and creatures that have been frozen in carbonite.”

Another vendor has set up an alien distillery.

“They’re packaging things to drink,” Beatty said.

A fruit vendor has taken over another shipping pod, which will be filled with produce procured from planets around the Star Wars galaxy.

“You can dine in any of these pods or you can walk over and dine in a little storage room,” Beatty said.

Docking Bay 7 diners can choose between dishes like smokey barbecue ribs from a Kaadu beast found on Naboo, an oven-roasted Burra Fish native to the planet of Dathomir or a deep fried Tip-Yip bird from Endor.

Each Docking Bay 7 entree will have a Star Wars name and a description of its Earth-bound ingredients.

Members of Disney’s culinary team took inspiration from the creatures and plants found in the Star Wars universe as they prepared a menu of familiar Earth-based foods like sweet and spicy pork ribs, dijon-crusted mahi-mahi and fried chicken with potatoes.

“We know that we are stuck with serving food within our planet, but we had to think about it differently,” Piasecki said. “We had to think about some of those flavors of Morocco and those flavors of Asia because of that yin and yang, that sweet and that spicy. It all became very important in the development of the story.”

The Docking Bay 7 menu will also include kids meals, desserts and signature drinks like the Moof Juice fruit punch and a Phattro iced tea and lemonade blend.

Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo opens in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on May 31 at Disneyland and Aug. 29 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Where to shop in Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Depends on whether you’re a loyalist, sympathizer or scoundrel

The new themed land will have three distinct clothing stores for the First Order, the Resistance and Black Spire Outpost villagers.

Where you shop in the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge coming to Disneyland will depend on whether you favor the light side of the Force, lean to the dark side or prefer to keep you options open.

Theme park visitors will be able to pick their team and dress the part. Are you a First Order sympathizer? A Resistance loyalist? Or a rogue scoundrel hoping to mix in with the villagers?

Your allegiance will determine where you shop for clothing, accessories and supplies in the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the new 14-acre themed lands coming to the Anaheim theme park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.

Those loyal to the good guys will find everything they need at Resistance Supply. Bad guy sympathizers will gravitate to First Order Cargo. Scoundrels and villagers will head to Black Spire Outfitters.

Because of Disneyland’s costume policy, guests over the age of 13 will not be able to wear some items of Star Wars clothing while in the park.

Galaxy’s Edge apparel shops will sell clothing inspired by movie wardrobe pieces to help visitors live their own immersive Star Wars story. Disney’s merchandise team worked closely with Lucasfilm’s archives division to turn costumes from the “Star Wars” cinematic universe into authentic-looking clothing. If they opt to participate, visitors to the new land will play a role in a continually developing story line that evolves and progresses throughout the day.

First Order troops arrived in Black Spire Outpost a few weeks ago in search of Resistance soldiers rumored to be hiding in the forest next to the village, according to the backstory created for the land. Villagers have been gossiping about the shifting alliances of their neighbors and whispering about the loyalties of outsiders dropping in from Fantasyland and Frontierland.

How you dress says a lot about which side of the conflict you’re on. Let’s take a closer look at the three clothiers in Black Spire Outpost.



First Order Cargo

A menacing gunmetal grey First Order TIE fighter, never before seen in any “Star Wars” movie, will serve as the entry marque for First Order Cargo. Stormtroopers have set up the temporary shop in Docking Bay 9 of the Black Spire village.

Concept art shows a gray interior cast in an eerie blue glow from stark overhead lighting. Red flags bearing the First Order insignia hang from the ceiling. Stormtrooper helmets, Kylo Ren masks and First Order blasters fill the store’s shelves and displays. An intimidating stormtrooper with his rifle at the ready stands guard near the front of the store. Shiny black R2-unit droids with silver trim wait nearby.

The store will be run by First Order troops from the 709 Legion, also known as the Red Fury. The shop doubles as a propaganda outpost where the First Order will try to win the hearts and minds of locals in Black Spire Outpost.

Shoppers can purchase First Order recruitment gear and supplies such as helmets, armor, pins, patches, caps, model ships and memorabilia.

Merchandise is expected to include TIE fighter and AT-ST walker toys, stormtrooper action figures and First Order logo clothing.



Resistance Supply

The Resistance has set up a military outpost in the nearby forest to avoid detection by stormtroopers stationed at the First Order base in the village. X-wing and A-wing fighters sit partially hidden in the woods near the rebel camp. High-tech military gear is scattered amid the trees and a warren of cavernous tunnels carved by an ancient civilization.

The Resistance has been hiding in the woods for a few weeks. Everything has a temporary nature to it, ready to be swept up by the rebels as soon as they receive the signal for the next mission.

Resistance Supply serves as a makeshift depot at the hidden command post as well as a gift shop for rebel gear and supplies in Galaxy’s Edge. The secret Resistance post also doubles as recruiting station for those who want to join the cause and help defeat the First Order.

Concept art shows an impromptu market that looks like a cross between a swap meet and a garage sale. Camouflaged kiosks with fold-up sides and patchwork tents serve as improvised storefronts in the shadow of a towering rock outcropping. Pilots, soldiers and droids mill about the slap-dash retail shop. Battle helmets sit atop cargo crates scattered throughout the camp.

The merchandise stall will sell Resistance hats, pins, badges and accessories.

Black Spire Outfitters

Want to blend in with the locals? Getting ready to head out from Batuu on a smuggling run aboard the Millennium Falcon? Hoping to avoid the notice of that bounty hunter looking to collect a few galactic credits from you in Oga’s Cantina?

Black Spire Outfitters will offer a wide selection of clothing to help you look like a Batuuan.

The apparel shop in the outdoor marketplace will sell a line of handmade robes, tunics, hooded scarves and belts based on wardrobe pieces from “Star Wars” films.

Employee costumes

Disneyland workers will build their own personas, backstories and wardrobes to help them become inhabitants of Black Spire Outpost.

Cast members, Disney parlance for employees, will wear costumes that place them into three distinct camps in Galaxy’s Edge: First Order soldiers, Resistance rebels or Black Spire Outpost villagers.

Employees dressed as villagers will get to choose from a mix-and-match collection of costumes that can be assembled into 80 combinations. Cast members will get to pick their own pieces from a selection of tunics, wraps and vests as well as accessories like necklaces, scarves, hats and belts.

The First Order and Resistance looks will be more pre-determined for employees. The bad guy First Order soldiers will wear sleek military-style uniforms. The good guy Resistance rebels will wear flight crew gear with a jacket, vest and goggles on their hat.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens on May 31 at Disneyland and Aug. 29 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

HanSolo a écrit:Pour améliorer l'immersion, il faudrait proposer aux visiteurs déporter une tunique "starwarsienne" au dessus de ses vêtements

Because of Disneyland’s costume policy, guests over the age of 13 will not be able to wear some items of Star Wars clothing while in the park.

Galaxy’s Edge apparel shops will sell clothing inspired by movie wardrobe pieces to help visitors live their own immersive Star Wars story. Disney’s merchandise team worked closely with Lucasfilm’s archives division to turn costumes from the “Star Wars” cinematic universe into authentic-looking clothing. If they opt to participate, visitors to the new land will play a role in a continually developing story line that evolves and progresses throughout the day.

Disneyland won’t loosen costume policy for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Visitors will be able to buy authentic-looking Star Wars clothing but won't be allowed to wear some items in the park.

Visitors to Disneyland’s new Galaxy’s Edge themed land will be able to browse through clothing inspired by movie wardrobe pieces, but Disneyland’s strict costume policy means they won’t be able to wear some of the clothing they buy within the Anaheim theme park.

An apparel shop in the Black Spire marketplace will sell a line of handmade robes, tunics, hooded scarves and belts based on wardrobe pieces from the “Star Wars” cinematic universe. Disney’s merchandise team worked closely with Lucasfilm’s archives division to turn movie wardrobe pieces into authentic-looking clothing.

Visitors over the age of 13 will not be able to wear the Star Wars robes and some other Galaxy’s Edge merchandise in the theme park, Disneyland officials said. Disneyland currently sells stormtrooper helmets and other items that violate the costume policy and can’t be worn in the park.

Disneyland visitors 14 and over are not permitted to wear costumes into the parks although “Disney bounding” is permitted. Disney bounders dress in color schemes and design patterns that mimic the look and style of their favorite characters. Visitors of all ages can wear costumes during some separate-admission after-hours events at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

“We believe that our current costume policy allows a lot of Disney bounding and opportunity to come and live your story,” Disneyland Vice President Kris Theiler said.

Ronto Roasters: Step inside a ‘space meat’ restaurant in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland

The restaurant in the new 14-acre land will sell barbecue and cold drinks in the Black Spire Outpost village.

Step inside the Ronto Roasters restaurant in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and you’ll find an animatronic droid complaining about his never-ending job turning a spit of “space meat” over a fire stoked by a repurposed podracing engine.

Ronto Roasters will offer spit-roasted barbecue meats and cold drinks in the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the new 14-acre themed lands coming to the Anaheim theme park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.

“This location is super fun because it’s all about meat and it’s all about heat,” said Brian Piasecki, Disney World culinary director for concept development.

The quick-service food stand takes its name from the strong yet skittish Rontos ridden by Jawas on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe.

Ronto Roasters will be run by a podracing fan named Bakkar who pays tribute to the sport throughout his Black Spire eatery, according to the restaurant’s backstory.

“He loves podracing,” said Walt Disney Imagineering creative producer Brian Loo. “You’ll see a lot of the podracing flags around his area.”

The dangerous and deadly racing sport popular on the Star Wars planets of Tatooine and Malastare features single-racer pods propelled by large engines.

An audio-animatronic smelter droid named 8D-J8 will endlessly turn a rotisserie spit at Ronto Roasters while constantly complaining about his thankless job.

Smelter droids, which show up in “The Return of the Jedi” and “The Phantom Menace,” typically work in the harsh environments of ore-extraction facilities.

Ronto Roasters will serve barbecue sausage sandwiches and hand-torn turkey jerky that appear to be cooked by a repurposed podracing engine.

“It’s shaking and rattling,” said Imagineering executive creative director Chris Beatty. “It’s heating this giant foil that sits at the bottom. There’s space meat that’s on a rotisserie spinning around. Our droid is standing over here on this plinth and he’s turning the spit, complaining about his job.”

The Ronto Roasters menu will play off a mix of sweet and spicy flavors in a culinary nod to the eternal battle between the light and dark sides of the Force.

“We know that we are stuck with serving food within our planet, but we had to think about it differently,” Piasecki said. “We had to think about some of those flavors of Morocco and those flavors of Asia because of that yin and yang, that sweet and that spicy. It all became very important in the development of the story.”

Several of the food and beverage items at Ronto Roasters will have a spicy kick that you might not expect from a theme park restaurant.

The Ronto Wrap handheld sandwich will come with a spicy Portuguese-style sausage and sliced roast pork on a pita with a Szechuan peppercorn “clutch sauce.”

The house-made turkey jerky will be offered in two flavors: Spicy herb or sweet teriyaki.

“You’ll see these hanging strips of leather that’s actually house-made turkey jerky,” Piasecki said.

Even the Sour Sarlacc raspberry lemonade will have a spicy mango kick to it.

“That drink is a little bit sour, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy,” said Disneyland food and beverage director Michele Gendreau.

Ronto Roasters opens in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on May 31 at Disneyland and Aug. 29 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.