“Season of the Force” has arrived at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and officially opened to the public on November 16, 2015. This Star Wars themed area includes special attractions, food, and merchandise and will be open for the next few months in Tomorrowland (no end date has been released yet). We attended the official opening day and here’s a round-up of the new offerings:

Hyperspace Mountain and Path of the Jedi are just some of the experiences at Season of the Force | Photo Credits: Krista, Lloyd, DL PhotoPass

ATTRACTIONS

Hyperspace Mountain – Be sure to grab a FastPass for this one and/or ride it first thing in the morning. The Star Wars overlay to Space Mountain is spectacular! If you have an opportunity to ride it, I would!! If you won’t be making it to Season of the Force, but want to experience a first person point-of-view (POV) account of the ride, there are many options posted on YouTube.

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue – There is a new destination from Star Wars: The Force Awakens that has been added to this ride. I’m not sure if every ride includes it, but when we rode Star Tours we visited this new location.

Tomorrowland Theater – Star Wars: The Path of the Jedi – This movie is a montage of video clips from the first six Star Wars movies along with some previews of Episode VII. The movie plays multiple times each hour and is a great way to revisit some of the favorite scenes from the Star Wars saga and see some clips from the new movie, The Force Awakens.

Star Wars Launch Bay – The former “Innoventions” building has been taken over with Star Wars on the first floor and Marvel Super Heroes on the second floor. This attraction has interactive areas, movie props, special merchandise, and opportunities to meet your favorite characters. You can also simply visit the galleries and shop without waiting in the lines for the characters.

Character Meet-n-Greets – Inside the Star Wars Launch Bay, you can choose your destiny and either go to the dark side by visiting Darth Vader or go to the light side by visiting Chewbacca. Throughout Tomorrowland, Stormtroopers can frequently be sighted and will pose for action shots and selfies.

Stormtroopers at Star Wars Launch Bay | Disneyland | Tomorrowland | Photo Credits: Krista & Lloyd

FOOD

Many special Star Wars related foods and food containers have been added to Tomorrowland for Season of the Force. Be sure to check the menus at Galactic Grill and Red Rockett’s Pizza Port for new foods. Other “hot items” include TIE Fighter premium popcorn buckets, BB-8 sipper drink containers, Chewbacca drink containers, and Darth Vader containers. If you like collectible glassware, there are 4 glasses that will be available at Galactic Grill and Pizza Port.

Light Saber umbrella (miniature replica) | Star Wars bookends | Empire lamp | Photo Credits: Krista

MERCHANDISE

The Star Wars merchandise offerings go beyond the typical t-shirts and figurines. At the Launch Bay there is a store inside with some items unique to this location – including personalized smart phone cases from D-Tech. The Launch Bay is also the place to bring home a light saber umbrella, an Empire and/or a Rebels lamp, or some Star Wars bookends. Across the way at Star Traders, the entire store is now Star Wars and Star Tours merchandise. Star Traders is the place to build your own mini droid or a full-scale light saber. If you’re looking for a novelty souvenir, be sure to check out the new Star Wars or Star Tours personalized name tags which can be customized in many ways and personalized with your name translated into Aurebesh. These new nametags seemed to be the hot item on opening day – we opted to skip the line this time and plan on getting some on our next trip.

These new Star Wars and Star Tours name tags are one of the hot new items at Season of the Force | Photo Credit: Krista

If you are a Star Wars fan, be sure to visit Season of the Force while it’s here at Tomorrowland. In the next few weeks, a new Jedi Academy experience will return – check official website for details. I predict that Tomorrowland will be a popular place for the upcoming weeks due to Season of the Force. Want to “see it all” on your visit? Here’s how we did it on opening day:

• Arrive at park opening and go straight to Tomorrowland. (Be sure to check the official website for daily opening times.)
• Get FastPasses for either Hyperspace Mountain or Star Tours. (We picked FPs for Hyperspace Mountain.)
• If the wait times are reasonable, hop into one of the other lines or wait until you can get another FastPass. (We waited until we could get FPs for Star Tours.)
• Visit Star Wars Launch Pad early – especially if you want to meet the characters. When you enter the Launch Pad, you’ll decide which experience you want to do first (i.e. meet Darth Vader, meet Chewbacca, or visit the galleries).
• In your “down time” watch the movie montage “The Path of the Jedi”, go shopping at Star Trader, and/or sample some of the Star Wars food.

As is typical of Disney, no detail has been overlooked in this new Season of the Force event. My favorite detail is the cast members have specialized nametags with Star Wars locations as their “hometowns”.  May the Force be with you!

Have you visited Season of the Force? What was your favorite part? If you haven’t visited yet, what are you looking forward to most?

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