Where Will We Find Him First? In addition to Disney’s Magic Kingdom and the Galactic Starcruiser Hotel…
The question is, which one will come first?
In Disney’s Magic Kingdom, The Mandalorian is expected to eventually make an appearance. But there is an increasing interest amongst Star Wars fans as to which area we’ll see Mando and Baby Yoda in first: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios, or in the new Galactic Starcruiser Hotel?
When The Mandalorian first debuted, the entire Star Wars fan base, as well as many other people on the internet and throughout the world, fell in love with Baby Yoda and his surrogate father, Din Djarin.
Everyone was expecting to see the characters make an appearance in the Star Wars-themed section of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Galaxy’s Edge. But much to their surprise, the Mandalorian (also called Mando) and Baby Yoda still haven’t made it to the Disney parks yet.
It’s sparking a lot of debate, and Star Wars fans are divided on which park we’ll see them at first.
Here’s what we do know so far:
1. In Addition to Disney’s Magic Kingdom, The Mandalorian Was Expected to Make An Appearance at Galaxy’s Edge When The Show First Premiered
Premiering in November 2019, The Mandalorian took on the Star Wars fandom by storm. Not only did it feature harrowing tales of a brave bounty hunter and amazing action sequences, it also featured a tiny little green character that the internet immediately dubbed, “Baby Yoda” or “Grogu.”
Even though the show was intended to feature Mando at the forefront, the internet fell in love with Baby Yoda, and immediately began to generate memes, video clips, and homemade Baby Yoda merchandise.
In an interview three months after the show aired, Lucasfilm’s senior Vice President of Licensing, Paul Southern, said, “The reality is that we feel it’s really important for our guests at the parks to be able to meet all of our key characters on a first-hand, personal basis… I think it’s something the guests at the parks can look forward to in the very near future.”
Unfortunately, Mando and Baby Yoda still haven’t made their Disney park appearance yet; and Star Wars fans are divided as to why.
2. Some Fans Think That It’s Because Of The Timeline
Everything at Galaxy’s Edge takes place during the sequel Trilogy, which is a good 25 years after the events of The Mandalorian take place. If Mando were to be included during this time period, he would have to be in his late 60’s or early 70’s.
This led to another fan theory – that the first time we would see Mando and Baby Yoda walking around would be when the Galactic Starcruiser hotel opens its doors!
The Galactic Starcruiser is set to be a three-day, two night experience that will completely immerse guests into the world of Star Wars. Guests will be able to interact with droids, characters from the movies, and others as they stay on-board the Halcyon – a luxury space cruiseliner, and carry out the mission they’re given at the beginning of their stay.
We don’t know all of the details about what this mission will involve, but we do know that it’s been confirmed that we will see characters like Chewbacca, Rey, and Kylo Ren aboard the ship!
While this would still take place several years after Mando’s prime, fans argue that it’s still much more plausible for him to make an appearance at the resort. In order to keep guests returning, Disney’s writers are planning on adding multiple missions and storylines to the hotel’s puzzles.
Guests are already making a few off-ship excursions to the planet of Batuu and the Black Spire outpost, so it makes sense to add extra excursions to the story. While Galaxy’s Edge doesn’t have much room for physical expansion, the area around the Galactic Starcruiser does. Therefore, it’s much more likely that guest experiences from different timelines would be added to the action at the Halcyon, and not at Galaxy’s Edge.
3. Other Fans Think That Disney Will Add Attractions from Multiple Timelines in Galaxy’s Edge
In a podcast earlier this year, Disney historian Jim Hill stated that characters from The Mandalorian may be seen soon roaming about Galaxy’s Edge. His reasoning was that Disney seems to favor removing older characters and replacing them with newer ones. Since the characters from The Mandalorian were released after the characters from the sequel trilogy, it makes more sense to have those characters wandering around the parks versus the others.
Proponents of this theory are all for it, stating that mixing up park timelines isn’t new to Disney. They’ve already added mixed attractions in Frontierland and Adventureland, and have been selling Mandalorian merch at Galaxy’s Edge shops for a while now.
The biggest indication that this may happen is that last year, they added a PhotoPass opportunity with Baby Yoda. When wandering around Galaxy’s Edge and Disney’s Magic Kingdom, The Mandalorian could easily make an appearance.
It certainly seems Disney wants to include them in Galaxy’s Edge. So why haven’t we seen them yet?
4. Disney Usually Waits For a Big Event Or Movie Release To Introduce New Characters To The Parks
If you look at dates that other characters were introduced to the parks, it usually coincides with release dates of movies and TV shows. Anna and Elsa appeared a month before Frozen was released into theaters. Wreck-it-Raph and Vanellope made their appearance on the very day that Ralph Breaks The Internet came out in theaters.
Since The Mandalorian season 2 has been out for a while now, and nobody has been seen in Disney parks yet, it stands to reason they’re waiting for another big Star Wars event to set up a meet and greet. The opening of the Galactic Starcruiser Hotel just may be the event that they’re looking for.
If you’re also looking for an opportunity to meet the Star Wars characters, you can give World Class VIP tours a call at (407) 270-0956 to get a free quote for a Disney VIP tour. We’ll take care of all your Disney visit arrangements, so you can have a great time in a galaxy far, far away.