ORLANDO -- Disney Parks experiences and consumer products
chairman Bob Chapek made several announcements on Saturday about new park
activities, and he provided additional details about previously announced
attractions.
When the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area opens in Disneyland
next summer and in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in fall 2019, Chapek
said visitors will be able to assume three different roles on the "Millennium
Falcon: Smugglers Run" attraction, and join in a battle between the First
Order and the Resistance -- including a face-off with Kylo Ren -- at "Star
Wars: Rise of the Resistance."
He said that Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway will open
at Hollywood Studios in about a year. It will use "breakthrough technology
to transform a two-dimensional cartoon into an amazing real-world experience."
The train will take passengers through an attraction themed to Mickey Mouse
using a new original story and theme song.
Chapek also announced that the nature-inspired Disney World resort
announced last month will be called Reflections -- a Disney Lakeside Lodge. The
resort will be built on the shoreline of Bay Lake, between Disney's Wilderness
Lodge and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
In addition to 900 hotel rooms, the resort will have Disney
Vacation Club villas. No opening date was announced.
As part of a multi-year initiative to transform Epcot, a new
nighttime spectacular will celebrate Disney music with massive floating set
pieces, custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, lights,
pyrotechnics and lasers, to debut in 2020. And, in fall of 2019, a limited run
of an "Epcot Forever" show will feature classic Epcot tunes.
A cinematic nighttime experience, "Wonderful World of
Animation," will debut at Disney's Hollywood Studios in May 2019, as part
of the park's 30th anniversary celebration. The show will use state-of-the-art
projection technology to take guests on a journey through more than 90 years of
Disney animation.
Mickey's Soundsational Parade is set to return to Disneyland
in January 2019, featuring a new float with Mickey Mouse leading a celebration
down Main Street, U.S.A.
At Disneyland, "Get Your Ears On -- A Mickey and Minnie
Celebration" will be a theme for new entertainment, food and merchandise.
Beginning Jan. 18 and running through Sept. 30, "Mickey's Mix Magic"
will light up the night with all-new music, projections and lasers that set the
scene for an epic dance party which will take over much of the park.
And at Disney Cruise Line, a "Mickey & Minnie's
Surprise Party at Sea" will be a new "high-energy deck party"
aboard the Disney Fantasy, beginning next summer.