For as long as Star Wars has been around we've all been fascinated by the lightsaber. If you were a Star Wars fan as a kid you likely grabbed any cardboard tube or other cylindrical object you could find to be your lightsaber as you played a Jedi. The only problem with those toys, and even most other actual toy lightsabers was that they never disappeared into the hilt the way the real thing did. There was always something that separated the lightsabers in the real world from the ones in a galaxy far, far, away. Until now.
On May the Fourth Walt Disney World dropped a little update on its currently under construction Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. The three day, two night experience is part hotel, part inclusive cruise ship-like experience, and it's all themed around Star Wars. However, the biggest reveal is a clip of a device that is the closest thing to a "real" lightsaber that we've ever seen, and you need to see it to believe it. There is no CGI in what you're about to see.
The new lightsaber comes from the people at Walt Disney Imagineering and it will be something guests will be able to actually use during their stay at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. It fires upward from a realistic looking hilt and it glows just like the real thing. From what we can see it's as "real" as it can get. It just doesn't cut through anything.
A few weeks ago, during a virtual press event, the same one that first showed a Groot animatronic that will equally blow your mind, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro revealed the item to the media. We weren't allowed to share images but this is exactly what we saw. Exactly how the device works is unclear, but some patents filed by Disney would seem to indicate that is uses a collection of small flexible LED lights that can be pulled up when activated and brought back down when done.
Concept art from the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience has included an image of somebody using a lightsaber to block blasts from a targeting drone as part of a sort of "real Jedi training." It would seem that this is where guests will be able to use this lightsaber.
The lightsaber itself was certainly the biggest part of the May the Fourth details dropped about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. The rest of the update spoke in general tones about the experience, much of which we've heard before. It's construction, like that of so many other theme park plans, was significantly delayed by the global pandemic. Originally, reservations were supposed to open up last year, with the hotel set to open this year. Now, the hotel was officially delayed into 2022, though that was the only window we were given, so whether it will be early in the year or late is anybody's guess right now.
