Disneyland Galaxy's Edge Changes Start April 29, 2026

Published on Jan 15, 2026, 11:39 am CST

7 min read

Key points

Disneyland will expand Batuu storytelling across multiple Star Wars eras starting April 29, 2026
Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Darth Vader will appear in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland Park
John Williams film score themes will play throughout the land instead of mostly ambient soundscapes
Several Black Spire Outpost shops will adopt updated backstories, including First Order Cargo becoming Black Spire Surplus
Walt Disney World's Galaxy's Edge is expected to keep its current approach, creating different experiences on each coast

Impact

Where Changes Are Most Noticeable: Expect the biggest differences in roaming characters, landwide music, and shop storytelling across Black Spire Outpost starting April 29, 2026
Character Access And Lines: Popular Original Trilogy meet and greets can create localized crowding near the Millennium Falcon and the TIE Echelon area
Park Planning And Reservations: Travelers should prioritize park reservations for Disneyland Park, then build the day around Galaxy's Edge peak character windows and nighttime entertainment
Two Coast Experiences: Trips that include both Disneyland and Walt Disney World may feel less interchangeable because Batuu's story beats and character mix will diverge
What Travelers Should Do Now: Decide whether your must do list is characters, music ambience, or Rise of the Resistance, then pick dates and arrival buffers that match that priority

Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, will expand the in world timeline of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge beginning April 29, 2026, adding Original Trilogy era characters and new story and audio elements across Batuu. Guests most affected are Star Wars fans planning character focused visits, plus families trying to keep ride plans and dining reservations on track during peak crowd windows. The practical move is to treat April 29 as a soft relaunch day, build extra time into your morning and evening plan, and avoid stacking tight dining and show commitments until you see how lines and crowd flow settle.

The Disneyland Galaxy's Edge changes broaden what stories can be told in Black Spire Outpost, which can shift where crowds gather, how long lines hold, and what the land sounds like throughout the day.

Disney says Batuu will now represent multiple eras, including the Galactic Civil War and the New Republic, while still keeping the Age of the Resistance anchored around the Resistance camp area. The headline additions are Darth Vader with Imperial stormtroopers, plus Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo joining existing roaming favorites like Chewbacca, R2 D2, Ahsoka Tano, and the Mandalorian and Grogu. Disneyland also plans to roll out musical selections built from John Williams themes across the land, including at the entrances, where familiar motifs are meant to replace the mostly ambient sound design that defined the original land opening.

On the environment side, Disney and Lucasfilm describe the change as a rollback by decades in Black Spire Outpost, with some props, graphics, and shop narratives shifting to match. First Order Cargo is slated to become Black Spire Surplus, positioned as a military salvage operation that can plausibly stock gear tied to Rebel and Imperial eras. Other location backstories are also expected to evolve, including Dok Ondar's Den of Antiquities rotating its displayed items over time, and Droid Depot being framed as operated by an earlier generation of the Mubo family while still offering the same build experience.

Who Is Affected

Travelers with spring and early summer Disneyland trips are the core audience, especially those building itineraries around character photos, lightsaber building, and nighttime entertainment inside Galaxy's Edge. If a trip includes a single day at Disneyland Park, the addition of top tier characters can pull time away from classic headliners elsewhere in the park, because roaming character encounters and short stage moments can still create long pause points even when they are not formal meet and greets.

Visitors comparing Disneyland Resort with Walt Disney World Resort should also pay attention. Reporting tied to Disney briefings indicates the storyline at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, is expected to remain on its current approach, meaning travelers will not necessarily get the same Batuu character mix or landwide atmosphere on both coasts starting this spring. For families trying to replicate a prior trip, or travelers planning a dual resort vacation, that difference can change which park day gets the longer time block and which resort wins if only one can fit in the budget.

The operational ripple reaches beyond the land itself. Onsite and nearby Anaheim hotels can see higher demand for the April 29 week as fans try to be early adopters, and that can raise room rates and tighten last minute availability. Dining and lounge demand often spikes when a land adds a new reason to linger, so Downtown Disney and Harbor Boulevard dining can become harder to book on the same days guests also want to be in Galaxy's Edge for characters and nighttime moments, which is where Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby coming to Downtown Disney is a useful planning reference for travelers mapping evening options that do not require park hopping.

What Travelers Should Do

Travelers with tickets for April 29, 2026, through the first two weeks after should plan for demand that looks more like a special event day than a routine operating day. Arrive earlier than usual, keep mobile food and beverage ordering as your default inside Galaxy's Edge, and avoid locking yourself into back to back reservations that assume you will be able to leave the land at an exact minute. If you fly in the same day, build a buffer for Southern California delays and ground traffic from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), John Wayne Airport (SNA), or Long Beach Airport (LGB), because a late arrival can easily turn a character focused plan into a missed window.

Decision thresholds matter because the changes are experience oriented, not a single attraction opening with a guaranteed standby cadence. If your priority is Rise of the Resistance, plan around the ride first and treat characters as opportunistic add ons, since Disney has indicated the attraction itself is not changing as part of the April 29 update. If your priority is Original Trilogy characters, accept that you may need to wait and watch for where they roam rather than rushing to a fixed queue, and be willing to shift lunch and snack timing to when crowds loosen. If you are traveling with children who are sensitive to long waits, consider visiting Galaxy's Edge early, then returning later if the day's rhythm reveals a quieter period.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours before your park day, monitor Disneyland reservation availability, park hours, and any posted entertainment schedules for Galaxy's Edge, since those variables control how concentrated crowds become at night. If you are also targeting limited time offerings like after hours ticketed events, keep the full Disneyland calendar in view, because Star Wars themed nights can overlap with Galaxy's Edge demand and change the park's late day crowd pattern, which is why Disneyland After Dark 2026 Events, Dates And Tickets is worth checking when you pick travel dates around Star Wars focused weeks.

How It Works

Galaxy's Edge was originally designed as a highly controlled story environment, where Batuu sits within a specific slice of the Star Wars saga. The April 29, 2026, shift loosens that rigidity by treating parts of the land as era coded zones, so that different characters can appear without breaking the internal logic of who should be present at the same time. In practice, that usually means operations and entertainment teams schedule appearances in a way that avoids obvious contradictions, while still delivering variety across the day.

For travelers, the first order effect is where people stop. A new character with strong fan demand creates instant crowd magnets, which can slow walking speed through the narrowest paths, and can increase waits at nearby food windows, restrooms, and shops. The second order ripple spreads into reservation strategy and transportation choices. When a land becomes a must do again, guests tend to front load mornings, which can increase pressure at park entry, security, and rope drop attractions across the park, not just in Batuu. That can then push more guests to seek mid day breaks at hotels, and it can create a sharper evening return wave that affects dining, rideshare pickup zones, and late night traffic out of Anaheim.

Music changes also have an operational angle. A more recognizable landwide score can encourage lingering, and lingering raises queue times for quick service, retail, and popular photo locations. Disney has also signaled that some updates may appear gradually before the official debut date, which means traveler reports and on the ground conditions could evolve over several weeks rather than flipping in a single overnight change. Separately, a new Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run mission featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu is scheduled to launch May 22, 2026, which can create a second demand spike that impacts the same pathways and dining nodes even after the April 29 adjustment settles.