Some Disneyland fans this month learned the old lesson, “be careful what you wish for — you might get it.”
The resort announced earlier this year that it will bring Star Wars characters from the original film trilogy to its Galaxy’s Edge land, starting April 29. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa will come out to meet and greet fans in what has been the First Order side of the land.
Disneyland announced the change to timeline for the eastern part of Galaxy’s Edge following years of guest complaints and frustrations that they could not meet the franchise’s most popular characters in the Star Wars land.
ALSO SEE: Disneyland drops strict Star Wars timeline in Galaxy’s Edge
Disneyland brought Luke Skywalker to the land for a short while last year in what now seems like a test. Last week, Disneyland released short social media videos offering a first glimpse of its new Han Solo and Princess Leia characters.
Many fans howled online in response. They complained that Disneyland’s characters did not look enough like the characters as portrayed in the films.
Well, duh. For years, theme parks have been wrestling with the challenge of developing attractions featuring characters associated with specific actors. Parks can hide its character actors behind masks and makeup when those are part of the character’s look. On rides and in shows, parks can record video of the original film actors for screen media in the attraction. But paying Hollywood A-listers can blow up a project’s budget, and fans have been complaining for years about too many screens on attractions.
So it is not surprising that parks have not bothered with creating meet-and-greet versions of certain characters. You will not find walk-around versions of Harry Potter in Universal’s Wizarding World lands, for example. The masked Darth Vader was an easy add to Galaxy’s Edge. But the problem with face characters was part of the reason why Disney did not initially try to bring non-masked film characters to Galaxy’s Edge, save for Rey, who simply is nowhere near as popular or well-known as the original trilogy trio.
ALSO SEE: When will Disneyland add Star Wars prequel characters to Galaxy’s Edge?
The actors who portray characters in theme parks have earned my unconditional love and respect. That’s a tough job that tests any actor’s patience, stamina and improvisational skills. Disneyland’s Luke Skywalker drew a lot of skepticism when Disney first teased that character last year. But many fans loved the character and praised the experience once they met him.
Disneyland’s Han and Leia deserve the same chance. Yet too many fans have succumbed to the “dark side” — not of The Force but of algorithmic social media. Those algorithms crave the conflict that will elicit reactions and keep users scrolling indefinitely. So it’s no surprise that Disneyland fans see a lot of complaints about any move that the park makes.
After all, praise just encourages fans to close their apps and head to the parks. No social media app wants that. Complaints help keep fans angry and scrolling online. It’s the Sith version of a Jedi mind trick. We all should work on learning to resist it.