Disneyland brings back attractions that were closed for Star Wars land construction
A year and a half after they were closed to make way for construction of a new Star Wars land, four Disneyland attractions along the Rivers of America are set to reopen.
The Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes and the Disneyland Railroad will relaunch July 29, featuring new waterfalls and elevated trestles.
Construction of the new 14-acre project, dubbed Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, also closed Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland, Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue, Big Thunder Ranch petting zoo and Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree. Those attractions, which shut down last year, aren’t coming back.
According to artist renderings and scale models, the Star Wars land will be a space outpost, dotted by hoodoo-like rock towers, trees and domed buildings. It will be located near the banks of the Rivers of America in the northwest corner of Disneyland.
Fantasmic, the nighttime water, fire and light show that erupts from the river, also closed for more than a year during construction. It reopened July 17. The show includes new projection technology and new scenes from Disney animated films “Aladdin” and “The Lion King.”
The Star Wars expansion will include two attractions — one that lets guests fly the Millennium Falcon spaceship and another that puts visitors in the middle of a battle between the Resistance and the First Order. It is set to open in 2019, with a similar attraction opening later that year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
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