But frankly, we wouldn't be surprised if this concept went on to influence Shanghai's TRON ride, or if this idea appears somewhere else in a new context. Our chances of seeing this coaster come to life now seem very small, since even a well-disguised roller coaster would still look pretty out of place in the hyper-immersive Galaxy’s Edge. Whether or not you agree with Disney’s decision to set their Star Wars land in the timeline of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren rather than that of Luke, Leia, Han, and Darth Vader, it’s fun to imagine what a racing “Speeder Bike” experience might’ve looked like, and thanks to The Art of Galaxy’s Edge, we have a much better idea. Eschewing the “Wizarding World formula,” Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge was ultimately not set in any single, physical place from the series, but on an original planet where guests could live their own Star Wars adventure… all set in the timeline of the Disney-produced “sequel trilogy.” At the time, it was clear that the future of Star Wars lay in looking ahead, not backwards. Like all of “Star Wars Land 1.0,” this concept likely went out the window when Lucasfilm executives prodded Disney to think bigger. The Art of Galaxy’s Edge makes it official, with Imagineer Margaret Kerrison stating explicitly, “In the early days, we talked about a fast-action speeder bike chase.” With guests straddling Speeders (in the style of the Modern Marvel: TRON Lightcycle Power Run), the Speeders would’ve “raced” through the crashed ruins of Star Destroyer (with old Tie Fighters hanging like bats), around alien landforms, and into the hairpin turns of a remote marketplace, bobbing and weaving around crowded stalls as Stormtroopers give chase. (The ride likely would’ve replaced the Autopia in California and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular in Florida). ![]() In both iterations, it was long believed that one of the E-Ticket attractions Imagineers envisioned was a Speeder Bike roller coaster based on Luke & Leia’s escape through the forests of Endor in Return of the Jedi. ![]() Likewise, Florida’s version of the land would’ve reportedly been built around its existing STAR TOURS, overtaking Echo Lake and creating an “Immersive Lite” land stylized as Tatooine. Rumors persisted for years that in California, Tomorrowland would simply be “rewrapped” as a Star Wars land, upgrading the Lost Legend: STAR TOURS, parking the Millennium Falcon atop the old Rocket Jets platform, permanently converting Space Mountain to its Hyperspace overlay, and giving Buzz Lightyear a Clone Wars redesign. It’s pretty well known that the first conceptual iteration of a Star Wars land was of a much less ambitious scale than Galaxy’s Edge ended up being.
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