Disney Parks on Tuesday revealed a "brand-new, more realistic lightsaber" that's set to debut at Walt Disney World Resort next year. The tease, appropriately, dropped on May 4th, which fans celebrate each year as Star Wars Day.
The lightsaber, which was developed by Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development, has an actual retractable "blade" of light, according to CNN, and Entertainment Weekly notes it's Disney's first such realistic retractable lightsaber. It's set to be used as part of the new "all-immersive, two-night vacation experience" called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This new lightsaber creates dramatic in-person moments previously only seen in films or shows," Disney said.
While Disney didn't delve into how the lightsaber was made, The Verge wrote that it appears to work like a "motorized tape measure, retracting and extending a sheet of plastic and LED lights to mimic the ignition effect." Sadly, though, the lightsaber isn't "real" in the sense that it can legitimately slice through Sith flesh and chop Supreme Leader Snoke in half, but don't put it past Disney's Imagineers to make one of those some day. Never tell them the odds. Brendan Morrow
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Grace Wales Bonner change Hermès for the better?Podcast Plus will nuclear fusion deliver us from climate change? Is humour the best way to take on Trump?
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A fluffy hug, a toppled tower, and more
-
Common signs of a romance scam and what one could cost youthe explainer Don’t let love cloud your judgment
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
