How Disney Imagineers brought Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to life

To create Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Walt Disney Imagineering needed to make everything as authentic as possible, as one can when talking about a galaxy far away.

To do this, they needed to draw inspiration for Batuu and Black Spire Outpost from a variety of places, including film sets, archival documents and trips to some real-world locations.

The architecture of Black Spire Outpost is anchored by strong geometric forms. Many architectural components are fragmented and asymmetrically arranged, with thick walls often coated with heavy, ancient plaster to tell the story of a mysterious land with a deep, rich history.

To get this, Disney said, Imagineers studied real-world locations to learn how time and history reveal themselves in architecture and environments through erosion and visual wear.

Heading to real-world locations such as Morocco and Turkey to visit open-air markes helped Imagineers when creating Black Spire Outpost.

According to Disney, Imagineers took thousands of reference photos for street market items, ancient stonework, landscaping, lighting, electrical wiring and even the cracks in the pavement.

In addition to the real-world trips, Imagineers visited George Lucas’ private archives in California to study original Star Wars concept artwork created by Ralph McQuarrie, the artist who helped Lucas shape the look of the universe. They also visited active Star Wars film sets in the United Kingdom. There they studied everything from ships to costumes to props.

Here’s a quick look at where the Imagineers found some of the specific inspiration for items in the land, according to Disney:

The sounds in the land: Imagineers worked with Skywalker Sound to create more than a thousand sound effects that play throughout the land. Skywalker Sound provided classic sounds from the Star Wars films and collaborated with Imagineers in creating new audio effects specifically for Batuu.

The trees in the land: The trees in the land were selected for distinctive bark, wild character and smaller or pendulant foliage. These characteristics suggest the trees are survivors and descendants of a cataclysmic event that claimed the ancient forest and left the large petrified spires now scattered across Batuu.

Props and décor for the land: Imagineers tried whenever possible to use pre-1980 materials to best capture the look and feel of the props in the first Star Wars films.

Merchandise: Disney designers were granted access to the Lucasfilm archives to study original props and costumes. In many cases, a digital scanner was used to take 360-degree images of these artifacts; 3D prints were used to create new molds for items replicated as merchandise.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat snack kit: This special kit offered in Resistance Supply is based off Luke Skywalker’s kit from “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” Disney used set references as well as recollections from actor Mark Hamill (who played Luke Skywalker in the film) to select many of the snacks featured in the kit.

Robes and tunics: The items you can purchase in the Black Spire Outfitters are inspired by the costumes for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” as well as Rey from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

Custom Astromech Units: The inspiration for these items available in the Droid Depot come, in part, by young Anakin Skywalker tinkering with C-3PO in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.”

Savi’s Workshop – Handbuilt Lightsabers: The idea for this comes from episodes of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” where Jedi padawans learn how to build their own lightsabers.

Toy Stormtrooper: This toy that is seen at the Toydarian Toymaker is modeled after the prop young Jyn Erso holds in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”