My relatives snapped their photos, rode the attractions and still enjoyed their time. But to them, the trip is one remembered as being slightly incomplete.<\/p>\n
Apparently, someone at Disneyland agrees that more Vader is better.<\/p>\n
The park recently confirmed a shift in philosophy, and the land will no longer \u201cbe primarily set in the time period of the recent \u2018Star Wars\u2019 sequels,\u201d according to my colleague Todd Martens<\/a>.<\/p>\n Martens noted the park soon will include more of Darth Vader and the other classic characters on which the franchise was built.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at some of his reporting.<\/p>\n What the changes will look like<\/p>\n Modern villain Ren, played in the movies by Adam Driver, will be out, at least as a walk-around character, while so-called \u201cclassic\u201d characters such as Vader, Solo, Luke Skywalker, Solo and Princess Leia Organa will head into the fictional galactic town of Black Spire Outpost.<\/p>\n The changes, for now, are specific to Disneyland<\/a> and not planned for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.<\/p>\n A different vision for the park<\/p>\n The adjustment also marks a significant tweak from the intent of the land, which was designed as an active, play-focused area that broke free from traditional theme park trappings \u2014 character meet-and-greets, passive rides and Mickey-shaped balloons.<\/p>\n Instead of music, guests heard radio broadcasts and chatter, as the goal was to make Black Spire Outpost feel rugged and lived-in.<\/p>\n It was to be a place of living theater, where events unfolded in real time. That tone will now shift, and while the in-land radio broadcasts won\u2019t go away, Disneyland will soon pipe in composer John Williams\u2019<\/a> \u201cStar Wars\u201d orchestrations throughout the area as well.<\/p>\n The changes are set to fully take effect April 29, although Disney has stated some tweaks may roll out earlier.<\/p>\n What is Disney saying<\/p>\n A reworking of the land to incorporate the franchise\u2019s classic (and arguably more popular) characters feels in some part an acknowledgment that park visitors likely crave familiarity over ongoing narratives designed to play make-believe. Or at least it\u2019s an acknowledgment that such a direction is easier to maintain.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the very inception of Star Wars: Galaxy\u2019s Edge, we really always imagined it as a platform for storytelling,\u201d said Asa Kalama, a creative executive with Walt Disney Imagineering, the company\u2019s arm devoted to theme park experiences, at the media briefing. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the reason we designed this neutral Wild West space town because it allowed it to be a framework in which we could project different stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Kalama pointed to next year being the 50th anniversary of the initial \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie, since renamed \u201cStar Wars: Episode IV \u2014 A New Hope,\u201d and this May\u2019s theatrical release \u201cThe Mandalorian & Grogu\u201d as to why this is an opportune time to shift the direction of the land. To coincide with the release of the latter, the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction will receive a new mission May 22<\/a>, meaning the land\u2019s two rides will soon be set in different \u201cStar Wars\u201d time frames.<\/p>\n There\u2019s much more to absorb from Martens\u2019 article. Check out the full version here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You’re reading the Essential California newsletter The week\u2019s biggest stories (Brandon Bell \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n ICE shooting in MinnesotaRams battle Seattle for trip to Super BowlCrime, court and policingGlendale firefighter arrested for killing wifeSundance Film Festival and entertainment newsWhat else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Affairs<\/p>\n Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time I hosted my out-of-town family at Disneyland was in 2023. That year, two young cousins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-148996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769353028_965_.jpeg\")
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<\/a> <\/p>\n
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n