The rumours of last month have been confirmed, so now we know exactly what the Star Wars Season of the Force will include. But the rumours have kept coming, and they could spell the end of a dark ride – either Buzz Lightyear or Snow White – at Disneyland Paris.
Space Mountain: Unlikely to get a Star Wars overlay
The details for the Season of the Force have been announced, and it now seems that rumours suggesting Space Mountain: Mission 2 could receive a Star Wars overlay were unfounded, or at least, won’t come to fruition! The new additions for the season are all based in the Walt Disney Studios Park, and there has been no mention at all of any Star Wars rollercoaster – and, let’s be honest, if there was going to be one they would mention it! The Jedi Training Academy was mentioned in press material as a sort of “hey, there’s also this bit of Star Wars in the other park”, but there was no mention of any more Star Wars in the Disneyland Park.
Personally, I think a great candidate for a Star Wars overlay would be Rock’n’Roller Coaster. All they’d need to do would be to change the video in the pre-show and play Star Wars music instead of Aerosmith on-ride. It would be a shoddy overlay, fine, but they did it in America, and let’s be honest it’s not a well themed attraction in the first place!
Inspections at Buzz Lightyear’s Laser Blast
This month, Imagineers have been seen inspecting the facade of Buzz Lightyear’s Laser Blast in Discoveryland. Initial speculation suggested that maybe some more Star Wars would be coming to Discoveryland, but with recent confirmation that the Disneyland Park won’t be part of the Season of the Force, this now seems unlikely. If you’re really craving for Star Wars, then it is still possible that Buzz Lightyear could be re-themed to Star Wars later, given that a blaster attraction and the Star Wars IP would fit like a hand in a glove!
Otherwise, suggestions have been that maybe they want to make the facade of the attraction look less, well, tacky. Personally, I think it’s a bit too plastic looking, and could do with a colour scheme more similar to that of Autopia and Space Mountain. Many would say that the massive Buzz Lightyear should also be taken down. Discoveryland is getting good treatment as part of the Experience Enhancement Programme, with Star Tours and the entrance to the land from the main plaza being refurbished as I write this – but if they want to refurbish the Buzz Lightyear facade by summer 2017, they need to crack on with it!
The end of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?!
And now for a more outlandish rumour. disneylandparisbonsplans.com has suggested that the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs attraction could close to make way for an expanded princess Meet & Greet. The chances of this, I would suggest, are very low. The site claims that this would be part of more major changes to Fantasyland occurring in the next two years, but if you scroll back through this article series you’ll find very few rumours about Fantasyland, so I’m not convinced that any major changes to Fantasyland are really on the agenda. (WDSP is a much bigger problem!!) The rumour isn’t completely unfounded though, because it’s abundantly clear to everyone that the current Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland isn’t big enough for demand. It wouldn’t a a surprise to see the Princess Pavilion being moved to a larger space, but at the cost of a classic dark ride? I don’t think so.
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