Rumor: Disney Puts Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Expansion On Hold

John F. Trent |

Apr 14, 2021

A brand new rumor claims that Disney has put an expansion for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on hold.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the Star Wars-themed land Disney created at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

The original idea for the land was supposed to be based on George Lucas’ original trilogy and would welcome visitors to Tatooine, but according to former Vice President of Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom Dan Cockerell those plans were scrapped.

Cockerell explained that Kathleen Kennedy specifically wanted to make the land based on the new Disney Star Wars stories rather than Lucas’ classics.

He stated, “And Kathleen Kennedy, her point of view was, there are way more Disney Star Wars stories ahead of us than behind us.”

“So we really should think about do we want to build a Tatooine, and build what all the fifty-somethings remember Star Wars is or do we want to build something else which is going to appeal to all the upcoming generations who are going to know the new stories,” he continued.

He then added, “And that day Tatooine was killed at the Studios.”

Given the Disney sequel films have ruined the entire Star Wars brand with divisive identity politics and just overall bad storytelling including the complete destruction of Luke Skywalker, Galaxy’s Edge opened up to less than stellar crowds.

Disney Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy revealed attendance was lower than expected when the land opened up.

She stated, “I just want to put more granularity on the Disneyland results for the quarter. As I said, the attendance was down 3% but the paid attendance was up in the quarter and that lower attendance was primarily driven by the annual pass holder visitation and when we look at the, the per cap spend across Disneyland all categories, they were up significantly year-over-year.”

Then Disney CEO Bob Iger also revealed attendance was down. He said, “And so all of those factors contributed to attendance that was below what we would have hoped it would be.”

This new rumor about an expansion being put on hold comes from WDW Pro at Pirates and Princesses.

The scooper claims, “Signs point to what was internally referred to as Phase 2 being phased out.”

He went on to detail that the previously planned gateway for Phase 2 is now being repurposed as a terminal for Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser guest arrivals and departures.

The Galactic Starcruiser is described by Disney as a 2-night all immersive adventure at the Walt Disney World Resort.

WDW Pro cites a photo shared to Twitter by user @sw_edge that reveals construction of an area that they claim “will be ‘landing’ area for the shuttle transport between the Galactic Starcruiser and Galaxy’s Edge.”

As for why Disney is reportedly putting the Galaxy’s Edge expansion on hold, WDW Pro claims, “it appears to have been discarded along with the expansion, due to convenience and lower capital expenditure.”

Disney reported huge declines in revenue and income in its First Quarter Earnings For Fiscal 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020.

Total revenue declined 22% from the first quarter a year ago. Their net income declined 99% to just $29 million in 2021.