Disney’s new ‘Star Wars’ land is a 24-hour immersive experience

Walt Disney Co. said it will build an immersive “Star Wars” hotel at its resort in Orlando, Florida, as part of a flurry of investments announced Saturday by the company’s theme-park division.

Disney revealed the two “Star Wars” themed lands it is building will be called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, with the one at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, set to open first in 2019 and the Orlando one opening later that same year.

Disney parks and resorts division chairman Bob Chapek made the announcement Saturday at the company’s D23 Expo, a biennial event for fans held at the Anaheim Convention Center, near the company’s Disneyland and California Adventure parks. Theme parks are Disney’s second-largest division after television. The company has been investing heavily in the business on the premise that park attractions can’t easily be copied by competitors or made obsolete by new technology.

“There’s no virtual-reality experience in the world that’s going to replicate what you get physically by walking down that Main Street,” Chapek said earlier this year in reference to one of Disneyland’s signature features.

The theme-park business is betting heavily on its own characters, much as Disney’s movie division began to rely more on company-owned intellectual property following the acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012.

A ride based on the film “Tron” that has been a hit at Disney’s new Shanghai resort will be replicated at Orlando’s Magic Kingdom park. The Paradise Pier at Disney’s California Adventure park in Anaheim will be revamped with a Pixar theme. That same park will get Spider-Man and Avengers attractions in a new Super Hero land.